Re: Bad books you can't help re-reading

On 26 May 2006 08:50:42 -0700, "Hoi-Polloi" <terry_tn@xxxxxxxxx>
allegedly declared to rec.arts.sf.written...
Perhaps "bad books" is too strong of language, but lately I've noticed
that there are a number of deeply flawed novels that I cannot help but
re-read every so often. Some examples:

Eddings' Belgariad:
Well-known problems with ethnic determinism and Recurring Bad Guys
Butt-Kick Syndrome and it seems the main characters all share the
same sense of humor. Even so, it is a charming story, and the dialog
is lively, and several scenes redeem the series:
-- (Any of) Mandorallen's piously innocent mayhem
-- Cenedra's reunion with Garion and (ahem) Adara. "Even her name
was pretty" Heh.
-- Belgarath's battle with Ctuchik ... one of the few times it felt
like the
good guys were in danger

I was finally able to kick my regular re-reading of Belgeraid/
Malloreon/Belgarath/Polgara about three years after the last was
published.

(I've had the occasional temptaiton to re-read the 12 books over
subsequent years -- The Elenium/Tamuli never raised such notions
-- but I've been able to very successfully suppress said
temptation with a fix of Brust or Bujold.)

[...]
Weber and White's Starfire books:
These can get annoying in that the bad guys are not very
interesting or well-motivated, and I'm sure that nobody can
possibly talk about his honor as much as the good guy
characters. But sometimes one *needs* exploding starships
and ichor-laden alien scum to battle, and these books
supply that sort of thing in spades.

Oh yeah. Things blowed up *real* good. I even picked up the
"expanded" version of _Insurrection_ as part of _The Stars at
War II_ ebook.

(Hrm. It's been a while since I've read these...)

Anyone else have a problem with flawed novels that keep sucking
you back in? (Yeah, yeah, I can hear you now, "well these books
certainly keep sucking!" I know you have a copy, and the cover is
held on with tape.)

I've got a complete (modula omnibus collections consisting entirely
of previously published books) Pern collection. I even have most of
them as unabrdiged audiobooks.

Gym "Okay, I haven't read a Pern book since Todd McCaffrey's from
last year, but they keep calling out to me..." Quirk

--
Capt. Gym Z. Quirk (Known to some as Taki Kogoma) quirk @ swcp.com
Just an article detector on the Information Supercollider.
.

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