Should I write about
books that I haven’t liked? The question came up today when I read a post by Cory Doctorow. He says that he won’t. According to him,
there are too many bad books to bother with and that a list of bad books is
less useful than the opposite. He quotes Michael Swanwick who states that it’s
useless to publically humiliate bad books, because they’re either overlooked
already or well-loved despite being lousy.
So far, I’ve only
mentioned books that I’ve liked on this blog – and yes, I did like Anna Karenina too, even though I was disappointed with how it ended. Would the blog
be more truthful if I brought up books I’ve disliked too? After all, it is
titled ‘All the books that I’ve ever read’.
What, then, would I
consider a bad book? I’ve read books that I’ve found too boring to finish. They
haven’t all been mass market copies of genre bestsellers either. I’ve tried and
failed to read classics that I’ve picked up solely because I thought I ought to
read them. I’ve already confessed on my other blog never having read The Lord
of the Rings so that’s safe to mention. It doesn’t mean they’re bad books; they’re simply books that don’t appeal to me.
I’ve read some poorly
written books. Since I write urban fantasy and paranormal romances, I naturally
read them a lot too. It seems inevitable that such a popular genre produces
quite a few weak books. A copy of a copy of a genre favourite is seldom worth
mentioning. They fail to engage me in any level and so I write them off as a waste
of my time and forget all about them. I doubt I’d be able to write a coherent sentence
about any of them if I had to.
I’ve read books that I
haven’t liked, because they haven’t behaved as I would have wanted them to.
Usually, this has to do with the brilliance of the author, however, so they’re
the opposite of bad books. Once I’ve recovered from the upset they have caused, I tend to
remember them fondly. Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott is a good example of
such a book. Why couldn’t Jo marry Laurie but the boring professor instead? It
took a few re-reads before I came to understand the choices the characters
made.
It’s very difficult to
find a book that I would have actively disliked yet finished. When I first read
Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter when I was a little girl, I hated the main
character. I found her really annoying. However, a re-read a couple of years
later proved to be a different experience and I liked her and the book very
much.
When I have disliked a
book that I’ve actually finished, it’s because I’ve been disappointed by it. It
hasn’t lived up to its promise or the ending has been a let-down; books that
carry me through the ups and downs and then drop me. I once read a long
fantasy series that failed right at the end so badly that I swore never to read
anything by the same author again – and I haven’t. Another example is a
cleverly written debut novel that got lost in its ingeniousness, leaving a bad
taste in my mouth. I came very close to writing a one star review of that one,
simply for disappointing me. When the second novel by the same author came out,
I didn’t read it.
A good critical review
of a bad book has its merits. The author can learn about it, if nothing else.
Personally, I’m a lazy reviewer and have only ever reviewed books that I liked.
Writing a good review of a bad book is difficult. And if the only purpose of
the review is to malign the book, it’s pretty much useless. So I believe I’ll
concentrate on books that I’ve liked, even if I’m critical of them. Luckily,
there is plenty to choose from. I’ve read many books and liked most of them. I
can keep this blog going on for a while.
