Hmmm. So, the last time I posted here was October 10th. Almost three weeks ago. Shows you what my life is like right now. If you read my most recent entry in the windmills you'll have an even better idea.
I've read some truly awful books in those three weeks, gotta tell ya. Not a pretty picture at all. But after I finished The Tree Bride and realized I had absolutely no coherent idea of what it was all about (a complicated story of India when it was the British Raj, told in contemporary voices as well as historical ones; ranging from coastal California, to England, the high seas, and the sub-continent of India), I decided I was currently too stupid to read complicated literature.
So, my diet of dreck has included two of the worst books ever: Hawke's Harbor, by S.E. Hinton, a foray into supposedly adult literature by a young people's author of some note, and Playing with Boys, by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez. I read the Hinton book only because it was placed, give me a break, in Delaware. The location is fictional, in more ways than one, it matches noplace I know in coastal DE. And it includes a vampire. And it has a happy ending, sort of. Bad bad simplistic sappy writing, terrible story, implausible characters. Don't bother.
Valdes-Rodriguez wrote a silly but enjoyable book a year or two ago, The Dirty Girls Social Club, about a group of Latina women friends and their lives, loves and shopping. It was a fun read, so of course I thought this one would be too. It was probably the worst book I've ever read. But, what about this, I read the whole damn thing! I kept believing, hoping, that it would get better any minute. It didn't. If you enjoy reading mainly about brand-name clothes, shoes, handbags, cars, and how to wear and accessorize the former while riding in the latter - then, sure, go ahead, knock yourselves out, read Playing With Boys. Otherwise, go have a partial lobotomy, it will feel just about the same.
And why am I so stupid right now? It's the election, my friends, it's deep levels of worry and stress. I've been reading lots of other stuff besides crappy novels (And I didn't even mention Robert Parker's Melancholy Baby, the latest, and the worst, in his female PI series starring Sunny Randall. At this point I'm sure Parker's computer writes his books all by itself, he's put in some kind of program that just changes a few locales, a few wisecracks, a few names.), mainly having to do with Dubya's insane and insaner conviction that Jesus talks to him and he's the only one he's listening to. Most people who believe this sort of thing are tightly wrapped in institutions, but this one is our president.
So I'm off to the library for a new collection of crappy novels. There's still a week of latenight reading to go. After the ballgames are over.
4 comments:
Everytime I see "chick lit", I cringe, because I will hate it for sure. I haven't read one I liked yet, except for "The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing" by Melissa Frank.
For a guilty pleasure I'd rather turn to mystery/detective novels, of which I know you're a fan, too.
I'm surprised by your comment about S.E. Hinton's new book. Most of the time I share your views on most of the books you have read, our tastes run along the same lines. I'm reading S.E. Hinton's new book now and quite enjoy it. But I agree with you about reading some crappy books. Gets you all downspirited about reading.
I just gave up on Cold Pursuit by T.Jefferson Parker and The Way The Crow Flies by Ann-Marie Macdonald. I was hoping both were better than they were. Don't bother reading those.
I hope you don't mind this comment, I read your reviews all the time. and enjoy your journal.
So I need to make an amendment to my last comment.....
I just finished Hawke's Harbor yesterday and was quite dissappointed.
It's a great book right up untill the middle. Then after that there's no story.
Sure, it still goes on for another fifty or so pages but there's nothing there. And I loved Jamie Sommers, he was the best character. But the book as a whole was very dissappointing and I was so looking forward to this book and had such high hopes for it. Oh well. Guess I've learnt my lesson! LOL!
I know you posted this long, long ago...I just wondered if you read Parker's book Double Play...the hero is kind of like another Spenser but the baseball part of the story with Jackie Robinson was great, I really enjoyed the book. I agree with you on Parker's last few books with Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone (isn't that his name?) and Spenser, they're all kind of interchangeable but that's okay, I just go back and re-read his classics, like Early Autumn and Catskill Eagle, and feel thankful that he wrote those books and that I found and read them!
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