Scott MacDonald
from UK is reading PerfidiaAugust 6, 2012 - 2:50pm
Adverbs should be used carefully and sparingly.
avery of the dead
from Kentucky is reading Cipher SistersAugust 6, 2012 - 3:25pm
@Nick - When I'm famous, I'll make it a point not to like you.
Nick Wilczynski
from Greensboro, NC is reading A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. MartinAugust 6, 2012 - 4:05pm
There's no such thing as bad publicity.
We could go all Biggie and Pac on it, it would be great for the medium of literature.
Fylh
from from from is reading is from is reading is reading is reading reading is readingAugust 7, 2012 - 5:50am
Adverbs are like drugs: the more someone in authority is officially "at war" with them, the more you wonder if other problems are being ignored. Like PROSTITUTION AND TAX EVASION.
OtisTheBulldog
from Somerville, MA is reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot DiazAugust 7, 2012 - 6:13am
I've twice tried reading Kerouac's On The Road and just can't get through it. It never draws me in. I made it about a 1/3 of the way both times. As a guy who's been to a lot of concerts and hippie festivals, it's the one book that seemingly everyone I know has read. And when I tell them I can't do it, it's like I said I don't like pizza.
avery of the dead
from Kentucky is reading Cipher SistersAugust 7, 2012 - 6:19am
I read a book recently and it was full of adverbs. To the point I noticed.
It was a neat story and I really enjoyed it. And at one point is said that "September oranged into October" and I thought that was lovely. No occurance of the letters "ly" made that less pretty to me.
jyh
from VA is reading whatever he feels likeAugust 7, 2012 - 7:56am
Adverbs are...
nevermind.
Kerouac isn't all that great. I think his popularity is more due to people identifying with the actual content rather than the quality of writing itself; I think that's true of lots of books and I don't think its an invalid way to get readers, but, if you want to criticize writing itself, you can find boring / uninspired passages in just about any popular book (be it Twilight-popular or War & Peace-popular.)
avery of the dead
from Kentucky is reading Cipher SistersAugust 7, 2012 - 7:58am
"nevermind."
is two words.
(otherwise I just agree with what you said - how dull)
OtisTheBulldog
from Somerville, MA is reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot DiazAugust 7, 2012 - 8:41am
September oranged into October
Living in New England, I now love that sentence. It's the most beautiful time of the year this-a-way. Nothing against summer, but I'm looking forward to that small window of time.
J.Y. Hopkins - excellent point. And it's one of the reasons that someday, I am going to finish that book. And it's been well over 13 years since I last tried. Sometimes you need to see things with new eyes.
Dwayne
from Cincinnati, Ohio (suburbs) is reading books that rotate to often to keep this updatedAugust 7, 2012 - 2:08pm
Think of the worst book you read. Don't go for something easy like Twilight, but a classic that you hated, or a book all of your friends encouraged you to read, or a book you were so eager to read that it felt like a punch to the face when you realized how terrible it was.
What made it so bad? Limp plot? Lifeless characters? Was the story and setting entrancing, but the style boring?
The Game of Thrones series. George R.R. Martin rights very realistic characters. They are just like a collection of everyone I don't like in real life, even the kids. I was literally wanting everyone just dead or on a bus in like 4 pages.
Could you read a book that featured a character with absolutely no personality if the writing was beautiful?
It seems unlikely. The story and setting seem neat when I glance at the wiki for the books, but in the book it reminds me of a some one taking a poop in the living room. No matter how nice the decor you are primarily going to pay attention to the man defecating.
Do you think that it's possible to have such a dichotomy -- horrible characters but great plot, gorgeous writing but terrible, stuttering dialogue -- or do the qualities of "good" writing go hand in hand?
Possible yes, but that doesn't make it worth reading/watching. I loved Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt as Arthur (I really think he would have been a better main character, but that's a whole different debate) in Inception, but still consider it one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Hard to use a book as an example here because I'd have just stopped reading something I hated that much, but I'd paid for the movie so I finished it out hoping I was wrong.
You can show up and do an awesome job on one thing (character, plot, works use) but if you generally build a sewer people tend not to notice/care about the part you got right.
jyh
from VA is reading whatever he feels likeAugust 11, 2012 - 6:10pm
This shit is awesome. It's a real palate-cleanser.
Seb
from Thanet, Kent, UK
September 4, 2012 - 4:37am
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I know it's not a classic, but it was the first Dan Brown I read, after all the hype and it being on bestseller lists. I usually ignore books like that and will in future. It has nothing good going for it at all, as I'm sure you all know. I then got given Deception Point by Brown as a Christmas present, and dutifully read it once. Awful, the Da Vinci Code wasn't a one-off, the guy is terrible.
I also found Trevayne by Robert Ludlum a struggle. I love Ludlum, the Bourne series are excellent, and the Road To... double bill are great entertainment reading. His other stuff often falls into typical spy fare (except the Osterman Weekend, an ingenious claustrophobic thriller) but Trevayne is overly political - all the Watergate stuff and chapters describing business deals, I still haven't finished it after five years.
On the flip side, a book everyone told me is a struggle and you cannot get through is The Last Man by Mary Shelley, but I found it beautifully crafted, elegantly written, and gripping. Couldn't put it down.
Adverbs should be used carefully and sparingly.
@Nick - When I'm famous, I'll make it a point not to like you.
There's no such thing as bad publicity.
We could go all Biggie and Pac on it, it would be great for the medium of literature.
Adverbs are like drugs: the more someone in authority is officially "at war" with them, the more you wonder if other problems are being ignored. Like PROSTITUTION AND TAX EVASION.
I've twice tried reading Kerouac's On The Road and just can't get through it. It never draws me in. I made it about a 1/3 of the way both times. As a guy who's been to a lot of concerts and hippie festivals, it's the one book that seemingly everyone I know has read. And when I tell them I can't do it, it's like I said I don't like pizza.
I read a book recently and it was full of adverbs. To the point I noticed.
It was a neat story and I really enjoyed it. And at one point is said that "September oranged into October" and I thought that was lovely. No occurance of the letters "ly" made that less pretty to me.
Adverbs are...
nevermind.
Kerouac isn't all that great. I think his popularity is more due to people identifying with the actual content rather than the quality of writing itself; I think that's true of lots of books and I don't think its an invalid way to get readers, but, if you want to criticize writing itself, you can find boring / uninspired passages in just about any popular book (be it Twilight-popular or War & Peace-popular.)
"nevermind."
is two words.
(otherwise I just agree with what you said - how dull)
Living in New England, I now love that sentence. It's the most beautiful time of the year this-a-way. Nothing against summer, but I'm looking forward to that small window of time.
J.Y. Hopkins - excellent point. And it's one of the reasons that someday, I am going to finish that book. And it's been well over 13 years since I last tried. Sometimes you need to see things with new eyes.
Think of the worst book you read. Don't go for something easy like Twilight, but a classic that you hated, or a book all of your friends encouraged you to read, or a book you were so eager to read that it felt like a punch to the face when you realized how terrible it was.
What made it so bad? Limp plot? Lifeless characters? Was the story and setting entrancing, but the style boring?
The Game of Thrones series. George R.R. Martin rights very realistic characters. They are just like a collection of everyone I don't like in real life, even the kids. I was literally wanting everyone just dead or on a bus in like 4 pages.
Could you read a book that featured a character with absolutely no personality if the writing was beautiful?
It seems unlikely. The story and setting seem neat when I glance at the wiki for the books, but in the book it reminds me of a some one taking a poop in the living room. No matter how nice the decor you are primarily going to pay attention to the man defecating.
Do you think that it's possible to have such a dichotomy -- horrible characters but great plot, gorgeous writing but terrible, stuttering dialogue -- or do the qualities of "good" writing go hand in hand?
Possible yes, but that doesn't make it worth reading/watching. I loved Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt as Arthur (I really think he would have been a better main character, but that's a whole different debate) in Inception, but still consider it one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Hard to use a book as an example here because I'd have just stopped reading something I hated that much, but I'd paid for the movie so I finished it out hoping I was wrong.
You can show up and do an awesome job on one thing (character, plot, works use) but if you generally build a sewer people tend not to notice/care about the part you got right.
This shit is awesome. It's a real palate-cleanser.
http://www.nickpage.co.uk/worstweb/home.html
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I know it's not a classic, but it was the first Dan Brown I read, after all the hype and it being on bestseller lists. I usually ignore books like that and will in future. It has nothing good going for it at all, as I'm sure you all know. I then got given Deception Point by Brown as a Christmas present, and dutifully read it once. Awful, the Da Vinci Code wasn't a one-off, the guy is terrible.
I also found Trevayne by Robert Ludlum a struggle. I love Ludlum, the Bourne series are excellent, and the Road To... double bill are great entertainment reading. His other stuff often falls into typical spy fare (except the Osterman Weekend, an ingenious claustrophobic thriller) but Trevayne is overly political - all the Watergate stuff and chapters describing business deals, I still haven't finished it after five years.
On the flip side, a book everyone told me is a struggle and you cannot get through is The Last Man by Mary Shelley, but I found it beautifully crafted, elegantly written, and gripping. Couldn't put it down.