Very funny user name, John Galt, considering the subject of your post.
No, I skipped the broadcast. I think it was something like 40 pages, and I had been getting her philosophy all through the story and I didn’t need the rehash.
Although it was too long, I did like Atlas Shrugged.
I will again bump this thread because I don’t want to start my own.
Yes, the Elmisnster books are aweful, but right now I have to go with Anne Rice, too.
I was loaned Memnoch the Devil by a friend the other day, and I have to say I really hope all of her books are’nt like this. Unfortunately, I think they are.
Incredible, that she should make this trash so respected and popular.
I have made it to page 300 in a 430-page book and I still have to idea what the hell the actual point is.
There have been two occasions where a single character talks for for than 40 pages without a break, and the first one had *absolutely nothing * to do with the plot.
The characters, whom you actually like in the film Interview with the Vampire, are childish simpletons and whiny, effeminate poofters.
And her writing style … [shiver]
Seemingly every paragraph she uses single words to stress the importance of what is going on. No. Significance. Yes. Significance is the word I’m looking for.
I really don’t want to finish this book. It’s terribly uninteresting and I really want to smack all the characters.
I’ve seen the movie Queen of the Damned, and I have to say as awful as it is, it must be better than the book if it is written anything like this.
I agree with those whose nominated The Celestine Prophecy. I read it for a book club that I belonged to long ago. Because I was reading it for this club, I felt obligated to finish it. I felt sorry for my poor husband, who had to listen to outbursts such as, “Oh my God, listen to this! [I would quote a particularly awful passage.] I can’t believe how bad this is!! How much worse can it get?!!” And then, it did get worse.
Anyway, I enjoy Kenneth Moyle’s website, Why I Hate The Celestine Prophecy.
For bad writing that is referred to as “classic literature” I nominate “The Last Of The Mohicans”. In fact, nearly all of James Fennimore Cooper’s work does not deserve its classic status. I found his frontier stories to be extremely dull, lacking in substance and not very entertaining: plus I would venture as far as to wonder whether or not any of his devoted followers have read him recently. The only real reason for any of his work to exist is the hilarious essay that Mark Twain wrote bashing it entitled “The Literary Offenses Of James Fennimore Cooper”.
As far as Stephen King goes, I would say that he is hit-or-miss when it comes to writing. When he hits (as in The Shining and Misery) he delivers an entertaining read. When he misses (as in Cujo and Christine) the results are nothing pleasant.
Out of current fiction writers that I enjoy reading, some definite out of the mainstream ones that I like include Michael Chabon and Carl Hiaasen and James Ellroy. And there is also Jonathan Franzen.
Just for the record, I would like to say that this is the most un-Sawyer like of his books. It is as if he tried to write a space opera, realized he couldn’t really do it, but had to finish in order to fulfill a contractual obligation. He actually writes rather touching (for science fiction, anyway) novels about people who are seriously ill who also are grappling with Big Issues. Try Calculating God - if you don’t like that, then you really don’t like Robert Sawyer. But please, don’t judge him on the book that is most unlike anything he has ever written.
One author that hasn’t been mentioned is Harry Turtledove. There is a man who has perfected the ability of turning a 150 page novel(la) into a 450 page monstrosity by repeating the same ideas and thoughts over and over and over again. My God, if I ever read some schlub think/say some variant of “but the Big Boys* don’t bother to tell us Little People** anything” again, I’ll probably scream.
But, damn it all, I can’t stop buying and reading his books - in hardback even!! ( :o ) I curse him even while I’m encouraging him. Don’t you hate it when that happens?
I feel compelled to throw in God-Awful Fan Fiction, which isn’t professional but agonizing nonetheless.
I’ve got a book and a movie
Spawn when the mentor (?) puts his hand on Spawn’s shoulder, and says “you have much to learn my son”, I groaned out loud and put my head on my knees. My friend patted my shoulder and told me the movie was almost over, but it was too late.
Saucer by Stephen Coonts (audio)
Mr. Cynical and I purchased this piece of tripe while on a spur of the moment LONG road trip. I cannot believe we listened to the entire thing. Actually, I’m not sure we did. At any rate, the guy reading the book was inconsistant with his accents, English becoming American, women becoming men…he was just BAD
You know you have made a poor purchasing decision when you hear “He had the strength of ten men” and it’s not part of a joke.
:rolleyes:
You seem to love making this criticism; you’ve posted it at least once before. I’m sure it was explained last time, but here goes: within the context of the novel, it makes perfect sense. He is speaking in “the language of snakes,” and hence, his hissing is a “translation”. It does does not refer to the way he is meant to have pronounced the word in English.
Jean M. Auel.
Her stories are an excuse for an anthropology lecture - and her concepts of “science” are crap! It’s counterintuitive and even lacks internal logic.
I read “The Pigeon.” Young-adult murder story, pretty good so far. But he kept on saying the character had a wild look on his face, when you are inside the character writing from his p.o.v.
I remember some Michael Korda book, it wasn’t Queenie but something else. Some sweet young thing was hooking up with an elderly billionaire and he invited her to his house for lunch.
While sipping tomato soup, he asked about her work. She replied, “Oh, it’s very varied.”
When writing jolts you out of the story, all you can do is shut the book and get rid of it as quickly as possible, leaving no traces or clues.