# Good Bad Books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [August 27, 2026, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-bad-books/1032607 "2026-08-27T17:58:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-bad-books/1032607/21 "2026-08-28T06:26:54Z")
I think one could classify all the “generic” novels of PG Wodehouse as “good bad books”. By which I mean not the classic Jeeves and Wooster novels and short stories, nor the Blandings and Lord Emsworth series, nor the Ukridge or Drones Club collections, but the standalone novels. The “bad” part is that the plots are shallow and formulaic, but the “good” part is that Wodehouse was absolutely a master of language and some of his turns of phrase are absolutely hilarious! I suppose one could classify the other classics the same way as they’re essentially insubstantial though very funny. But as a devoted collector of Wodehouse first editions, I refuse to acknowledge any secondary status to these works of art! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-bad-books/1032607/22 "2026-08-28T10:08:33Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It’s my prejudice showing, I’m sure, but I’d classify Dan Brown books as simply Bad Books. I’d think you don’t get to be as popular as Dan Brown without at least being good at _something_. It’s been a long time since I read _The Da Vinci Code_, but I remember it being good at getting the reader to keep turning pages by raising questions in their mind that they want to find out the answers to. I wonder if, rather than classifying books as “good books,” “bad books,” “good bad books,” etc., it might not be more useful and more interesting to talk about what particular books are good or bad _at_. For instance, the Harry Potter books are good at some things and bad at others (which helps explain why some people love them while others are completely unimpressed, and why they’ve been some kids’ gateway into reading). I think a big part of their popularity is their accessibility. In them, Rowling is good at making things easy for the reader. She’s good at making readers understand what she wants them to understand and feel the way she wants them to feel. For example, in a reread of _Order of the Phoenix_, I noticed that every time Dolores Umbridge appeared, she was described in ways that made it very clear how we, the readers, were supposed to feel about her. Which could easily turn off more sophisticated readers who appreciate more subtlety. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-bad-books/1032607/23 "2026-08-28T13:12:31Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I’d think you don’t get to be as popular as Dan Brown without at least being good at _something_. It’s been a long time since I read _The Da Vinci Code_, but I remember it being good at getting the reader to keep turning pages by raising questions in their mind that they want to find out the answers to. That book was ripped off wholesale from an author who laid out the premise in writing as actual History. If the kook had (accurately) called his book fiction, Brown would have lost his entire fortune and career. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-bad-books/1032607/24 "2026-08-28T14:02:45Z")
The perfect example of a Good Bad Book, for me at least, is [_The Monk_](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/93159.The_Monk) by Matthew Gregory Lewis. It’s so very, very bad. Melodramatic, overwritten, ridiculous plot, proof the author had no idea about the culture he was writing about, but those very features make it [one of the funniest books I’ve ever read](https://eclecticreviewer.wordpress.com/2020/02/05/the-monk-matthew-gregory-lewis/). It was hugely successful when it was first published, but like _Twilight_ and _The Da Vinci Code_, it faded out of the popular consciousness within a few years. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-bad-books/1032607/25 "2026-08-28T19:24:51Z")
My rebel child once announced that he wasn’t going to read books: “If a book’s good enough, it’ll be turned into a movie, and I’ll watch that instead.” Then the first Harry Potter book arrived, and he was hooked. I read them at bedtime as each one came out, and he’d reread what I’d read the next day and try to get ahead of me. > [@CairoCarol](#): > > No argument from me about the “bloat,” but I’ve never been sure what the root cause is. That’s easy. A bad case of Being Too Big To Listen To An Editor. By the bye, I’m glad I already own the books (and Jim Dale’s masterful version of the audiobooks), so I’m not _currently_ contributing to a horrible human being. Okay… a human being with horrible hangups. ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2026, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-bad-books/1032607/26 "2026-08-29T02:21:09Z")
My wife loves a series of books starring(?) Anita Blake, vampire hunter. I would classify those as excellent trash books. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-bad-books/1032607.md?page=1)