Worst books ever read (was: Re: Freaks and Geeks LONG and uncoherent ramble

[Lee Kaiwen]

Kemper now:
> Da Vinci ... was painfully predictable. ... the author wrote 
 > as though his audience was stupid.

Correct on both counts. Not to mention insipid writing, paint-by-number 
character development (let's see, Sophie's ("'Sophie'? Please!") 
mysterious back-story  needs, umm, sex ... check ... murder .. got it 
.... intrigue ... working on that now), and "impeccable" research that 
was wrong more often than not (any first-year art student could tell you 
  The Last Supper is *not* a fresco).

I once wrote a review of DC that ran something like this: "The book hits 
you with what is undoubtedly it's greatest blunder before you've even 
opened it. The man's named is Leonardo, please. Vinci was his hometown. 
How can you take seriously a piece of historical fiction whose very 
title screams out 'Penned by an historical ignoramus!'?"

About two-thirds of the puzzles Langdon encountered I had figured out 
before he did (and, like you, even many of the puzzles themselves I saw 
coming well in advance), which left me spending most of the book waiting 
for the idiot main character to get a clue. What was the device he 
carried around for half the book before discovering it was actually a 
key? The first time I read its description I said (actually out loud), 
"It's a key." And it took Langdon in excess of another hundred pages to 
figure that out.

As for insipid writing, the scene where Teabing "reels back in shock" on 
his crutches in seeing Silas on his patio springs to mind as one of the 
more egregious examples. Please! When have you *ever* seen anyone "reel 
back" for any reason? The whole book had the feel of B movie full of 
high school acting.

> As for Shadow, I threw it across the room when I was done.

A la Dorothy Parker, yes? "This is not a book to be set down lightly. It 
should be thrown with great force."

> Similarly, Cool World was the movie I learned I could walk out on.

Well, that was one I couldn't walk out on, as I watched it at home.

> Kemper, who believes some books should be burned

> CJ: As an act of mercy, yes.

> Kemper now:
> And as an act of vengeance.

I was thinking of saving the next poor soul the torture. Though I did 
actually once shred a book a mail it back to the author :-)


CJ