Dan Brown Sucks

MBuzzy said:
And she is STILL making an obscene amount of money, ever after all of the scandals.
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And the amount of money they make has nothing to do with Brown's sh*tty writing, or Spears' crap for that matter.
 
Yeah, the money's from easy digestible crap that you don't have to think about to enjoy. It's MTV's Jack##s against PBS's Masterpeice Theater. Or you could think of it in terms of music, Kanye West's strophic songs in 4/4 that's easy for anyone to follow, or Dmitri Shostakovich is constantly changing time signatures and keys that's usually over most people's heads.
 
Strange, I really like some of S. King. Adore "The Stand" and "The Shinning". I wouldn't say I am a Rhodes Scholar but I somehow don't think I'm a big dumb person who is just happy to have read a book. I read S. King to let my mind relax and drift. He tells a good story, well most of the time. "The Penal Colony" is not good bedtime fare.
lori
 
Hey, I loved the Hardy boys back when I was a kid! I won't read anything from Dan Brown.
 
Maybe, nope scratch that, I know I still need to be a kid sometimes, hell maybe that's why I enjoy S. King. Perhaps it appeals to the kid in me, the same way that I like watching Tim Burtton movies. Pure enjoyment, it entertains the brain without the need for deep analysis or doublethink or the ability to think around corners ( something I am terrible at, I am way way too linear). Simple, childlike, unsophistocated OK. Guilty
lm
 
stevebjj said:
Stephen King is on my list, but only for anything he wrote after and including It. Just about everything he wrote prior to that was terrific... but after, it's like he forgot how to end a story.
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Agreed. I was also a huge fan of King in the 1980s. But the reason why his writing tanked saved his life. Up to when he wrote It, he had a terrible problem with drugs and alcohol. His wife finally gave him ultimatum, which lead to him eventually becoming clean and sober. But, it did impact his writing.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...-addiction-drink-drugs-nearly-killed-him.html
 
Grendel308 said:
Strange, I really like some of S. King. Adore "The Stand" and "The Shinning". I wouldn't say I am a Rhodes Scholar but I somehow don't think I'm a big dumb person who is just happy to have read a book. I read S. King to let my mind relax and drift. He tells a good story, well most of the time. "The Penal Colony" is not good bedtime fare.
lori
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Both of those were pre-"It". I really like both stories! Carrie, Firestarter, Christine, The Pet Semetary... you name it.

Regarding things that suck that make money, can't we distinguish between marketability and quality? McDonalds makes a lot of money, but does that mean the food is good by any criteria beyond hot, cheap and easy to get? There are other meaningful qualities as well, such as taste, freshness of ingredients, artistry of presentation, etc.

Same can be said for books.

Since this thread came up again, I'll mention that I picked up my daughter's copy of Twilight to see what the fuss is about. I got about 100 pages in and just couldn't do it. I told my daughter I might be able to forgive the story if the writing were good, and I might have forgiven the writing if the story were good. But, this was neither. Can someone explain to me why this book is so popular? When I read Eragon, I could forgive the writing and the superficial plot knowing that it was written by a very young boy. Twilight, in exactly the same way, seems like it was written by a precocious 13 year old girl. Were that true, I might forgive it. But it wasn't.
 
Differentiate yes, be my guest. What I won't do is judge your daughter due to the fact that she likes the Twighlight series or anyone because they patonise McDonalds. I had a thing for A. Huxley, Ray Bradbury and George Orwell when I was young.

To differeniate is one thing to blanket judge and set yourself on high is quite another. It is the latter that I find bothersome and tiresome. I find the need to knock others down to raise one's self up odious and common.
lm
 
Ok - so in apparently everyone's opinion, who IS a good author? Throughout this thread, you've named quite a few authors whose work I enjoy that apparently suck. Now, they are by no means Shakespeare (I apologize if he sucks, I enjoy his work too), but I don't go into a Dan Brown book expecting a literary classic and I'm sure that when he wrote them, he didn't intend to write a literary classic. I assume that he meant to make some money - which he did. REALLY well. And apparently he is doing ok, because his books do tend to sell pretty well. Although most people are pretty dumb I guess.

I understand the idea of critiquing people's work, I read reviews of just about anything that I watch or read....but I'm really curious what everyone DOES consider good work?? Do I have to pick up a copy of Moby Dick or Crime and Punishment to be reading a good author? Lately, my serious reading involved non fiction works on Leadership and Management....but just like my fun reading, I'm interested in content, enjoyment, and what I get out of it. General Patton probably wasn't the greatest author in terms of language and literary devices, but he certainly had a lot of great things to say.

I agree with Grendel here....If you can't get through it because of the writing, fine...don't read it. I don't understand that....but it is your call. Because I like all of these mediocre authors doesn't make me a moron.

So seriously, I'm genuinely curious - who IS a good author?
 
stevebjj said:
Since this thread came up again, I'll mention that I picked up my daughter's copy of Twilight to see what the fuss is about. I got about 100 pages in and just couldn't do it. I told my daughter I might be able to forgive the story if the writing were good, and I might have forgiven the writing if the story were good. But, this was neither. Can someone explain to me why this book is so popular? When I read Eragon, I could forgive the writing and the superficial plot knowing that it was written by a very young boy. Twilight, in exactly the same way, seems like it was written by a precocious 13 year old girl. Were that true, I might forgive it. But it wasn't.
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I have a lot of problems with the twilight books, including the writing style, some of the grammatical errors, and some huge holes in the plot....not to mention the personalities or lack thereof of the characters. But that is when I stop to think about it. But when I shut my brain off and just read to enjoy, they aren't bad. I could do with less whiny inner monologue, but I think that they are popular because people like the story.

Particularly because it is a love story that I imagine teenage girls like a lot and maybe identify with - except the whole werewolf and vampire thing.
 
MBuzzy said:
Ok - so in apparently everyone's opinion, who IS a good author?
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Buzzy, you are taking it way too seriously, I posted the thread to poke fun at Brown's atrocious writing, not to condemn anyone who enjoys his work.

Good writers..well I guess in the thriller genre I enjoyed Len Deighton when I was younger, as for fantasy I think Piers Anthony is a much better writer than Rowling , so is LeGuin.

A recent favourite is Neil Gaiman who I think is vastly more talented than Rowling.

A friend of mine who is more literate (and also despises Dan Brown) recommends Thomas Pynchon, I intend to read Gravity's Rainbow in the next while.
 
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