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19
BTT: Worst Book I've Ever Read (or, why I still *heart* Nancy Pearl)
2009 at 8am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
This week’s topic: What’s the worst ‘best’ book you’ve ever read — the one everyone says is so great, but you can’t figure out why?
I had to think on this one for a while because I generally don’t finish reading books I don’t like or can’t get into. Life is too short. Or, as Nancy Pearl puts it, “nobody is going to get any points in heaven by slogging their way through a book they aren’t enjoying but think they ought to read.” Right on, Nancy, right on.
In the last couple years, the only books I’ve finished reading even though I didn’t want to were the Twilight series. I had to read them for work, since we had events to plan and book groups to lead, but I really did want to throw them at the wall. Several times. I’ve ranted about my reaction to the series pretty extensively, so I won’t get into the hairy details. Suffice it to say that, while I understand the appeal—they’re total brain candy, easy to read, allegedly romantic—I think they are antifeminist, unrealistic, and riddled with stereotypes about race, class, and relationships in general.
(Not to mention that they romanticize what is essentially an unhealthy, abusive relationship and encourage young girls to hold impossible ideals and expectations for their poor, unsuspecting boyfriends.)
The fact that a book doesn’t contain premarital sex does not make it “clean.” Meyer’s characters obsess constantly about the sex they’re not having, the sex they so desperately want to have, and come on, people…what good is it that they’re not having sex when Edward is sneaking into Bella’s room at night and staying beside her while she sleeps? I can’t imagine that many of the conservative parents who like these supposedly “clean” books would appreciate or agree with that behavior.
And don’t even get me started on the double standards about gender and sexual behavior.
I am by no means conservative, and I definitely wouldn’t want my teenage daughter to read them.
See? I said I wasn’t going to rant, but here I am, revving up…..so, moving on.
I can’t really think of any other books I’ve read (and by read, I mean finished) recently that would fall into the category of “worst books” or “books everyone else seems to like but I don’t get,” though I definitely felt that way about Kerouac’s On the Road when I read it several years ago. My ginormous (and always growing) TBR pile provides pretty good motivation to walk away from a book I’m not enjoying because there’s always something good waiting in the stacks.
If you’ve been finishing books you really would have preferred not to finish, let me offer you Nancy Pearl’s “Rule of 50,” because “time is short and the world of books is immense.”
If you’re fifty years old or younger, give every book about fifty pages before you decide to commit yourself to reading it, or give it up. If you’re over fifty, which is when time gets even shorter, subtract your age from 100. The result is the number of pages you should read before deciding.
Give yourself the permission to walk away from books that just aren’t doing it for you and to spend your precious reading time with something you’re actually going to enjoy. Nancy Pearl says so, and she’s a famous librarian. (Who knew you could be a famous librarian?)
And if you’re reading wallbangers and looking for better recommendations, you should definitely check out her Book Lust books. She does a great job of “If you liked this book, then you’ll also like this one (that you might not have heard of before).” I’ve discovered many great books and authors because of her, and I think her books are a great resource for readers. They make nice gifts, too.
Or, you can walk into your local bookstore and start talking to booksellers. Most of us love what we do and enjoy nothing more than talking to other readers and sharing our recommendations.
What about you? Worst book you’ve ever read?
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I guess you didn’t read the last book then were they have wild monkeysex, rough too. It was all very weird.
Haha.
Yes Twilight is badly written, but the 1st one was cute, it was soemthing I would have written in my diary when i was 13
I actually liked on the Road when i read it, big surprise to me.
I these days i do walk away, why waste time on books that truly suck
I also could never really get into On the Road. And I won’t read Twilight. Not for me!
“…they romanticize what is essentially an unhealthy, abusive relationship and encourage young girls to hold impossible ideals and expectations for their poor, unsuspecting boyfriends.”
You could say the same for many fairy tales (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, etc).
I read them because I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. They didn’t bother me all that much. Fiction, fairy tale, whatever…
Mary, you’re absolutely right….and that’s why, if I ever have a daughter, she’ll get to read fairy tales, but she’ll also get a healthy dose of “you know this is imaginary, right?”
I completely agree with your assessment of Twilight.
http://barneysbookblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/booking-through-thursday_19.html
I have an 80 page rule if by then I dont love it I just stop. I have been told by many friends that finishing every book you start is not the best use of time, I suppose I just hope it changes and becomes good. Totally agree regarding Twilight!
I completely agree about On the Road! After I read it, I was like “Really? That’s it?”
I know most people will disagree with me, but for me the worst “best” book that I’ve read is The Life of Pi.
Totally agree about Twilight! Amen, sister!
I’ve never attempted On The Road, but I’m just really not interested in it, so I probably never will (also, you’re not the first person who has been less than impressed with that one!).
I feel I have to scale the “50 page” rule based on the length of the book. If I’m tackling something that’s enormous, I realize it may take more than 50 pages to warm up… that being said, for most books around 300 – 400 pages, I have generally found that if I do not enjoy them by page 50 or so, then I probably am not going to overall. I very rarely start off thinking a book isn’t that great only to change my mind by the end. And yet, I often persevere with books that aren’t doing it for me. Sigh.
I am not going to read the Twilight series. Ever.
Here is what I wrote
Amen Sister! I started reading Twilight while I was stuck in a New York hotel room for the day with a sick kid. It held my interest that day. I liked the series, even though I agree completely with everything you said. The writing was mediocre, but I enjoyed it anyway.
I LOVE the quote by Nancy Pearl. I definitely need to check out both of these books.
That funny that you should talk about reading 50 pages. I just finished a 342 page book and swore it was all background material until I hit page 320. And then it sort of wrapped itself up. I’m not ever sure what made me keep going. Funny to read so many anti twilight posts. here I thought maybe I was missing something but have no interest in vampires so didn’t bother. My BTT is here
I completely agree about the Twilight books. A friend lent me her copies and I couldn’t finish the first one. The writing was just awful! When I gave them back, she was amazed, and almost angry, that I didn’t finish them or enjoy them.
My pick for this week is Da Vinci Code. It doesn’t have any competitor. The literary blunders and infelicities just confound me.
You probably have to be of “a certain age” and to have read it at the right time to get On the Road. I read it at the right age and time. Haven’t looked at it in ummmm, say decades, so who knows what I’d think today.
Ugh, the Twilight series has *never* sounded appealing to me, and all the hype about it makes me just want to vomit. I will NEVER pick up one of those books!
I love Twilight rants. I can see the appeal, but I still don’t get it. They’re like really bad fan fiction. I actually enjoyed the last one, and most people hated it. I thought the first two were the worst. Painful to get through.
I think they are antifeminist, unrealistic, and riddled with stereotypes about race, class, and relationships in general.
Thank you for putting into words, so clearly and concisely, precisely what I’ve been thinking about these books!
I really have a problem walking away once I’ve started a book. The audio is a different story. I usually give an audio book at least one disc (usually 2) to keep me interested.
Oh, I love your rant on the Twilight series
Yes, thank you! I cannot for the life of me see the appeal of those horrible Twilight books. (For a much better vampire novel, try Elizabeth Kostova’s “The Historian.”) Not only are the dynamics of Edward and Bella’s relationship truly unsettling (my mother won’t even allow my 13-year-old sister to read them for that reason) they are so poorly written! I’ve literally read better stuff on fanfiction.net.
I agree with the other poster who mentioned “The Da Vinci Code.” The story was interesting, but Dan Brown’s really not much of a writer either. I’m also currently in the middle of Christian Jungersen’s “The Exception” (a internationally bestselling Danish novel), which is supposed to be about how evil human nature is, how we are all capable of committing genocide, etc. Unfortunately, it’s really just When Neurotic Danish Mean Girls Attack.
I’ve never had any trouble at all putting down a book I don’t like (see: Julian’s House; Trapdoor; every Sue Grafton book I’ve ever tried to read). I’m with Nancy. Life is too short to read bad books.
I’ve heard that the Twilight series is badly written, but the main reason I won’t read them is because VAMPIRES ARE MONSTERS!!!!! *Sigh* I’m not going to go off on that rant again …
[...] and in completely different ways. I discussed book-to-movie adaptations for Weekly Geeks and the worst “best” books I’ve ever read for BTT. And I did a little happy dance when I got an ARC of a book [...]
I think that when there is a lot of hype surrounding a book, it can oftentimes be a real letdown. I felt that way about The DaVinci Code too (and I have no interest in the Angels and Demons movie this summer… the plot sounds ridiculous). But the worst hyped up book I’ve read in recent years was The Kite Runner. it was such a frustrating reading experience for me as it was a good “story” but the writing itself was horrendous. The author’s second book was much better…