# Re-reading authors of your youth & realizing they are really hacks **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 21, 2006, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-reading-authors-of-your-youth-realizing-they-are-really-hacks/377333 "2006-10-21T14:33:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Dob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Dob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dob)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-reading-authors-of-your-youth-realizing-they-are-really-hacks/377333/101 "2006-10-25T19:03:14Z")
I just have to ditto David Eddings. He recently re-published The Belgarid in two volumes. I couldn’t resist picking them up. I did read them, but honestly I just skimmed thru alot of it, which saddens me some. I remember walking to the local book store just waiting for the next to come out in this series, I thought it was the BEST ever! Way better than Tolkien at that age. (12) Now… ACK! Just horrible cookie cutter fantasy, bleh! ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-reading-authors-of-your-youth-realizing-they-are-really-hacks/377333/102 "2006-10-25T19:22:56Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] [QUOTE=Sevastopol] Roget. Anything by Roget. He seemed so deft and clever when I was young, but now I’ve got him beat, standing on my head. [/QUOTE] I still think his Thesaurus is pretty good. [/QUOTE] Actually the Wikipedia page shows him to be remarkable. I don’t know what I was thinking. [roget](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roget) > [@](#): > > …In 1815, Roget invented the log-log slide rule, allowing a person to perform exponential and root calculations simply. This was especially helpful for calculations involving fractional powers and roots. > > On December 9, 1824, Roget presented a paper entitled\* Explanation of an optical deception in the appearance of the spokes of a wheel when seen through vertical apertures.\* > > While Roget’s explanation of the illusion was probably wrong, his consideration of the illusion of motion was an important point in the history of film, and probably influenced the development of the Thaumatrope, the Phenakistiscope and the Zoetrope… ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-reading-authors-of-your-youth-realizing-they-are-really-hacks/377333/103 "2006-10-26T01:06:41Z")
I nominate Lavryle Spencer. Woman loses important man in her life in a horrible accident. Woman falls in love with man who has extremely close relationship (best friend, brother, etc) of dead man. Becomes couple with said man. Hides from society because she knows it is wrong. Finally comes out with relationship to society to approval from all despite inappropriateness of relationship. Good plot for one book, but for every single book she writes? Come now, that is too much! Teach me to read romance novels as a teen (though to be fair, I still love Nora Roberts and she is technically a hack. She has a few different story lines but uses them over and over again. Every story is a great read though!) ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-reading-authors-of-your-youth-realizing-they-are-really-hacks/377333/104 "2006-10-26T07:11:13Z")
[QUOTE=LavenderBlue] _Lucy Maude Montgomery_ of _Anne of Green Gables_ fame. I still like her sequels to the original book but after picking a few copies at a garage sale I realize how over-written they are. She really loved the over-the-top purple prose descriptions. I still want to go to Prince Edward Island though. [/QUOTE] Never read the books, but in high school we watched a movie adaptation, and afterwards, instead of discussing the themes of friendship or resourcefulness or whatever, the entire class just talked about how incredibly, incredibly gay Anne and Diana were for each other. Forget what’s-his-face, Anne’s love interest. It was obvious she and Diana were meant to be. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-reading-authors-of-your-youth-realizing-they-are-really-hacks/377333/105 "2006-10-26T15:10:36Z")
[QUOTE=Charlie Tan] CAVEAT: This is not meant to be inflammatory. In my early teens I read, loved and most of all believed in LoTR. It was magic on so many levels and Tolkien was just channling some unknown history that your teachers avoided in the classroom. About twenty years later (early to mid 90’s) I decided to revisit the stories of Middle Earth and found it terribly boring, the prose was stilted and awkward and the plotting tideous. [/QUOTE] Actually, LOTR still makes a good read about once every year or two. Just skip over the jeezly ghodsawful poetry and read the story. It cuts the reading time in half and makes the process far more enjoyable. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-reading-authors-of-your-youth-realizing-they-are-really-hacks/377333/106 "2006-10-26T15:28:56Z")
Misread as: **Re-reading authors of your youth & realizing they are really _blacks_** For the most part, I wouldn’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-reading-authors-of-your-youth-realizing-they-are-really-hacks/377333/107 "2006-10-26T15:48:24Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] Misread as: **Re-reading authors of your youth & realizing they are really _blacks_** [/QUOTE] Harriet Tubman was WHAT!?? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-reading-authors-of-your-youth-realizing-they-are-really-hacks/377333/108 "2006-10-26T22:17:10Z")
[QUOTE=Clothahump] Actually, LOTR still makes a good read about once every year or two. Just skip over the jeezly ghodsawful poetry and read the story. It cuts the reading time in half and makes the process far more enjoyable. [/QUOTE] I skipped the jeezly songs and the descriptions of every rock and tree in Middle Earth, and it was a very enjoyable read. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-reading-authors-of-your-youth-realizing-they-are-really-hacks/377333/109 "2006-10-26T22:34:39Z")
[QUOTE=Lynn Bodoni] I don’t recall that she got much better with the later books. I think that she should have stopped after the first two trilogies (Dragonriders and Harper Hall books). I really can’t blame her for putting out new books, though, if people are going to keep buying them. [/QUOTE] Heh. I picked up some used copies of the Menolly books and, well, they didn’t exactly live up to my childhood. :dubious: ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Khangol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecae2f/32.png) [@Khangol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khangol)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-reading-authors-of-your-youth-realizing-they-are-really-hacks/377333/110 "2006-10-27T20:03:42Z")
Burgess? Vonnegut? Hey, why stop there? What about Orwell? Joyce? Hemingway? And that Mark Twain. Geeze, what a hack! All those stories about people who talked in funny dialects and did crazy things. Might be cute for a child, but what adult could appreciate that stuff? And let’s not leave out that Shakespeare guy. Man, talk about a hack! Stole most of his plots, his characters are stereotyped, and every scene is riddled with cliches. Oh, and Dante? Total hack. That Divine Comedy wasn’t even funny! Makes me wonder what writers _aren’t_ hacks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-reading-authors-of-your-youth-realizing-they-are-really-hacks/377333.md?page=5)