Otto is right - in my distressed state I wrote that instead of who, and KneqdToKnow, I bet she’s a spits kinda girl. Another appalling author who is very popular is Amy Hoag - gargh. I’ve struggled through Ashes to Ashes, which was kinda okay, but then I read one set in the Florida Everglades and it made me want to gouge out my own eyes. I had to wash the print off my brain with a long cool Michener.
Otto is right - in my distressed state I wrote that instead of who, and KneqdToKnow, I bet she’s a spits kinda girl. Another appalling author who is very popular is Amy Hoag - gargh. I’ve struggled through Ashes to Ashes, which was kinda okay, but then I read one set in the Florida Everglades and it made me want to gouge out my own eyes. I had to wash the print off my brain with a long cool Michener.
This is why I meant Ayn Rand and not Anne Rice. That whole book you reference reads like John Galt goes to fantasy land. So:
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He has the politics of someone who just read Ayn Rand and is really excited. Really, new Objectivists are significantly worse than newly reborn Christians.
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He writes fantasy, but has admitted to never reading fantasy. This is a great way to load up on clichés while thinking you are being original.
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He has some serious issues regarding sexuality. You are very lucky if you make it two chapters through his book without someone getting brutally raped. He goes into detail. Hell, the main couple go for several books really intending to sleep with each other at some point, but never actually getting there. During this time dozens of rapes and tortures are described, including of those two characters. Loving, or even consensual, sex is foreign in his world.
They man is messed up, and worst of all he is not a good writer.
My problem is with his prose. I finally read The DaVinci Code last month after having been given a copy as a gift several years ago. The first couple chapters are painful due to the poor quality of the writing. After that is got easier as I was barely more than skimming my way through it. I am in the process of cleansing myself with The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler. That is slow reading as I am enjoying it so much. I often find myself chuckling as I am tickled by his particularly skillful use of the language.
On the contrary. Reading it offers an intellectual challenge. You get to play the detective and find all the logical fallacies in her arguments.
But do it with a library book. No point in throwing any more money her way.
Who, Clive Barker? 
I too love “The Long Goodbye” (and every other book he wrote - and even the short stories) but I also enjoyed “The Da Vinci Code.” I must admit I am far more likely to read Chandler for a tenth time before reading Dan Brown a second time.
If you’re looking for someone to avoid at all costs I highly recommend anything by John Grisham published in the last 5 years, but to be safe skip them all.
Oh naughty! I love Clive Barker! The first page of Weaveworld is beautiful. Imajica, the Great and Secret Show, the Damnation Game are great. So was Coldeart Canyon. There are even a few gems in the Books of Blood. However the Thief of Always was obviously aimed at 10 year olds and Arabat was simply dreadful!
Naughty BrainGlutton!
umm…Cornwall, perhaps?
Your both half right.
It’s Cornwell.
I paid $1 for a copy at the thrift store. I was overcharged.
There sure are different tastes out there. The only book I’ve read in the last several years that I gleefully tossed in the garbage so that nobody else would have to read that piece of crap was a P D James.
DellieM, if you think the first Karin Slaughter book was funny, you really should read the second one. It’s a hoot. (They’re not meant to be funny).
I checked out Da Vinci Code from my library and felt overcharged.
I found a copy of that one at a bus stop. I felt overcharged for picking it up and carrying it home.
I presently am reading–or was until I set it down in disgust-- the latest Laurell K. Hamilton book about Anita Blake, vampire hunter, zombie queen, and too many other roles to count involving werecreatures.
I shouldn’t complain–it’s not like I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. But I’m seriously annoyed by how much of the book feels like I’ve read it before. (And I’ve only read the first 120 pages).
The absolute worst book I’ve ever read is The Lucifer Gospel by Paul Christopher. Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick … I literally ended up throwing the book across the room, it was so obnoxious and stupid. (And I admit to liking the tripe that is The Da Vinci Code – “literature” it is not, but it made a long plane ride go quickly.)
God, I hated The Lucifer Gospel.
Haha my mom LOVES her. I look at all the book descriptions on the inside of the jacket and just laugh my butt off.
AH-HA!
I went to the used bookstore and told them some styles I likes - they recommended this book - I could not remember the title but I did not finish it, I couldn’t, I *hated * it and until now the only other book I hated was a Dean Koontz book.
I have no idea why they recommended it - it has nothing in common with anything else I read. At least you knew what to expect.
Pomme de Sang indeed.
I read one of these. I didn’t mind the crotchety old lady stuff. I didn’t mind the Mayberry type setting. What I minded was the reference to her housekeeper and others like her as “ebony” people. Huh? The “ebony” people go on to say things like “are yo’ sure yo’ wants us at the front door, ma’m?” and things like that.
Ugh. I read *Miss Julia Throws a Wedding *(not sure if that is the exact title).
I actually rather liked Abarat. 
It may not have much of a plot, but I enjoy the “random slices of a weird, weird world” it embodies. It reminds me of my childhood and the “personal Terabithia” my closest friend and I had, except that I didn’t drown.
No one should be allowed to write fantasy unless they have read 100 or so of the worst of all possible fantasy novels. (It’s more important to learn what NOT to do first.) I think I’ve read almost twice that amount in utter tripe, but I’ve only quit about seven or so books. (Yes, I’ve kept count.) So I’ll make sure to avoid further Goodkind, even though Wizard’s First Rule got me mildly interested.