I did 6 Components of a Truly Great Book a few weeks ago (http://bookwormsarah.blogspot.com/2009/04/6-components-of-truly-great-book.html), so now it is time for an opposite post.
1. Reading is a chore. You make yourself read a certain amount of pages to get it done and/or hate every page you read.
2. It fails to catch your attention.
3. The thought of finishing the book makes you nauseous.
4. You tell everyone how horrible the book you are reading is.
5. The book ruins your mood.
6. The language is so hard to understand that you have a dictionary by your side and dread having to pick up the dictionary again.
7. You have to use sparknotes in order to understand the basic plot.
8. There are spelling or factual errors.
9. A nine year old could write a better book.
These things are stong indicators that I need to stop reading a book. I guess I need to take my own advice and stop reading a certain book!
What makes you stop reading a book?
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Components of a Truly Horrible Book
Posted by Sarah at 4:39 PM
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2 comments:
I think #6 CAN make for a good book. For me, Tom Jones is a great example of it. I kept a running tally of all the words that I didn't know, but then gave up about half way through. Still, one of my favorite books...I adore an author that can be comical in an intelligent way.
I haven't stopped a lot of books in my life, maybe a handful, but the most recent was Escape by Carolyn Jessop. It was a memoir picked out by my library's book club--we don't typically read nonfiction--and the premise was interesting, but the writing was just really bad. She's had a unique life, for sure, but she needed a better editor. I stopped maybe 1/3 of the way through and skipped book club.
Editors can make or break a book, in my opinion. (Good list, by the way.)
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