Rush on over to Feminist SF -- The Blog and read this very funny -- and thought-provoking, to boot -- post: How to know if you're reading a bad book.
Here's a couple of the short ones:
5. Does anyone lurk? If someone's lurking, you might be reading a Bad Book.11. Does the book begin with some sort of random sex scene meant to show you how desirable / virile one of the protags is because if you don't know about his / her addictive sexuality you won't understand why they're supposed to be attractive given their lack of any other character traits of note? If so, you might be reading a Bad Book. Actually, you almost certainly are. Hopefully you didn't pay money for it. If you did, I'm sorry. ... Did you keep the receipt?
Comments
There seems to be some overlap between "bad books" and "books with distasteful operating assumptions".
Posted by: phisrow | June 26, 2009 1:59 PM
Back in the days when I had to read slush I had rules like this, because you usually only had a few minutes for each manuscript. There was, for instance, the Striding Frame rule. In a thriler-type book, you come across a line like "Joe Blow strode through the door, his 6'2" frame swaggering manfully," or some such. As soon as the striding frame appeared, I was done. Next!
Posted by: Moopheus | June 26, 2009 2:50 PM
Yes, I can imagine. In fact I've just finished reading for a literary prize and a lot of the items in the list did come up. More than once.
Posted by: John Dupuis
| June 26, 2009 4:00 PM
A so far 100% reliable indication that I'm reading a lousy book:
"The protagonists flee from their tall albino cultist masochist hitman hidden in the back of a Swiss' banks armored car."
It's never failed me yet.
Posted by: Janne | June 26, 2009 8:41 PM
How to know if you’re reading a bad book
For me, the dead giveaway is always the loud "splat!" sound I hear as the book hits the wall across the room and slides to the floor.
Posted by: melior | June 29, 2009 10:54 PM
Ha! Yes, I think we've all got experience with that. However, I do think that sometimes books are so infuriating that they demand to be read, although that's more for non-fiction.
Posted by: John Dupuis
| June 30, 2009 11:22 AM