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 Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 11:28 pm
I'm curious if anyone else thinks that best sellers, usually, suck. I don't like to read them because the writing is so bland. It's like the author let all their individuality and personality be sucked from their writing. They went with what English teachers taught them about using strong verbs and super crystal clear writing, which ends up being boring. Then the stories and elements seem like they've been plucked out of a hat and strung together, badly, into a story just meant to make money and become a blockbuster movie make more money.
This makes me sad. Writing and books don't have personality anymore. What happened to books like Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer? They're pumped full of personality and life. English teachers seem bent on beating creativity out of students so they produce "reports" instead of stories and essay worth reading. It seems to be about making writing uniform instead of special. Then some of these students grow up and become bland sucky writers bent on writing drivel to sell and become best sellers.
Rambling now sweatdrop
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Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 11:42 pm
I, personally, have only liked 2 "Best Sellers":
* Harry Potter (I considder all 7 to be one best seller)
* The Davinci Code
With the exception of those two (or those eight, depending on how you look at it) I find most "Best Sellers" to be either coffee-house bookshelf drivel not fit to even out the short leg of your coffee table or else terribly written and poorly thrown together fan-service that people gush over but don't get anything from.
(But once again, that is just a personal opinion.)
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Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:50 am
Coffee-house drivel? You're too kind. They suck. They just plain suck and shouldn't see the light of day. If we had a book burning, we should burn them. I'm very much opposed to book burning but these books are so bad I seriously would consider burning them and threatening people to write better "or else!"
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Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:59 am
But if we had a book burning it would violate the constitutional right of Freedom of the Press.
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Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:52 am
Actually, it would violate the First Amendment (freedom of speech, press, religion and assembly) only if the government mandates a burning of books. They can't at all. Individuals can burn books, it's your right as an individual to burn your own copy. It's your property and your right to express yourself by burning the hell out of books. It's like people being able to burn the American flag to show their disagreement with the government. Plus, remember all the crazy Christians burning Harry Potter books as satanic? They were within their rights.
So... You can get in trouble for violating burn bans and fire ordinances, depending on how and where you do it. But, yeah.
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Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 5:57 am
Generally best sellers do suck. There are a few exceptions- The Green Mile when it was first published as a serial novel. I tend to avoid them like the plague unless I'm looking for a quick mindless read while I'm on the train.
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Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 6:03 am
I am not exactly sure what you mean by "bestseller" since there are many different lists. I myself read the USA Today Top 50 list every week to see what's on there, and that's shortened from the top 150 they track.
I personally don't care what other people are reading, and while I don't find my reading list crossing paths with the best seller list much of the time, I don't see the need to be negative. For example...I have not read any of the Twilight books, but I find the haters to be a lot more irritating than the superfans. I hate Piers Anthony, but I don't feel the need to make a post about the fact.
Also, I am absolutely opposed to book burnings on principle. Sure, maybe you'll get a laugh when it's a book you hate, but if it becomes habit you've got Fahrenheit 451 and censorship of ideas.
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Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 6:22 am
I just had to look up the top 150 list online...I have read 15 of them:
-The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, which has the #1 spot. I admit I read it for the hype, and (big surprise) I hated it. Angels and Demons, which I read years ago and which I think is Brown's best book, is also on the list further down. Still riding the movie wave, I guess.
-Sookie Stackhouse - I think all nine of the series by Charlaine Harris are on the list somewhere, and I have read and enjoyed them all.
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Still hanging on, but at #66 it's dropping fast.
- The Host by Stephenie Meyer - Also dropping. Her only book not in the top 10...and also the only book of hers I have read. I liked it.
- The classics: both To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men are on the list, for what that's worth. Both of which I read in school.
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Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 8:06 am
The only time I've read a best seller was when a teacher forced me. Like any book it was a gamble if I was going to like it. I hated all of them after discussing them to death, but I liked a few of them prior to the discussion.
That being said, I try not to judge a book until I pick it up and see if it entices my brain or numbs it.
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Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 8:40 am
You must not like Stephen King that much because, even before his books hit the stores, they are called "Out of the Box Bestsellers." That being said, I don't think just because it's a Bestseller that it is going to be a bad book. I will agree with you that The DaVinci Code was a piece of garbage with no ending but I don't shy away from a book simply because it becomes a Bestseller.
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Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 2:04 pm
Best-sellers are just kind of a mixed bag in my experience. I've read some great books that have been best-sellers, but I've come across a fair number of junky fad books that were best-sellers too. I usually give the best-seller lists a look every once in a while to see if anything interesting is listed, but most of the time I don't pay a ton of attention to them and just find my books through recommendations or bookstore browsing instead.
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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:25 pm
Ronzer Bayleaf You must not like Stephen King that much because, even before his books hit the stores, they are called "Out of the Box Bestsellers." That being said, I don't think just because it's a Bestseller that it is going to be a bad book. I will agree with you that The DaVinci Code was a piece of garbage with no ending but I don't shy away from a book simply because it becomes a Bestseller. I agree wholeheartedly. I've read many New York Times Bestsellers and liked most of them. It's rather difficult to find books without some kind of "bestseller" branded unto them. Those that aren't renown in any way are practically invisible. Hell, any worthy series would have been a bestseller at one time or another.
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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:37 pm
Honorverse It's rather difficult to find books without some kind of "bestseller" branded unto them. Those that aren't renown in any way are practically invisible. Hell, any worthy series would have been a bestseller at one time or another. I wouldn't go that far. I am a science fiction fan and serious SF almost never makes it to the bestseller lists.
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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:44 pm
i don't go plunging straight for the best sellers, but i from time to time end up reading a few...usually without knowing it. ^^;
i also don't go looking at the best sellers lists when I want to read a new book either. I've read best sellers without caring if they were or not. Harry Potter, Sookie Stackhouse series (which is only get it's popularity from the show right now) and some others.
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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 4:42 pm
clovereffect Honorverse It's rather difficult to find books without some kind of "bestseller" branded unto them. Those that aren't renown in any way are practically invisible. Hell, any worthy series would have been a bestseller at one time or another. I wouldn't go that far. I am a science fiction fan and serious SF almost never makes it to the bestseller lists. I dunno . . . David Weber, Peter F. Hamilton, Issac Asimov, David Sherman, Dan Cragg, Tanya Huff, Karen Traviss, Troy Denning, Aaron Allston, John Ringo, Orson Scott Card, Frank Herbert . . . and many more. All had bestsellers. Sci-fi bestsellers. Yes, I've read other sci-fi novels that have yet to be bestsellers, but I preferred reading the former. David Weber, for example, is my favorite Sci-fi writer of all time.
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