Books I've Intensely Disliked

The Mermaid Chair; Sue Monk Kidd
was just embarrassing for the author! (She wrote a pretty good book a few years ago: The Secret Life of Bees, which I liked) Another (very tired) story of "woman:unfulfilled" walking away from "picture-perfect marriage" and "magazine-cover house" on a journey of "self-discovery." I don't have a problem with self-fulfillment, but I'm really not comfortable with it being accomplished by trampling on every other family member's happiness. This (pathetic) heroine goes on to have a steamy affair with a monk (that's right; a monk) and then decides she needs to return to hearth and home. I think this author may have spirituality confused with good sex! Don't waste a minute of your time reading this novel; life's WAY too short! And, what's even worse?? It's actually on the best-seller list right now!

The Devil in the White City; E. Larsen
is simply one of the most poorly written books I've read in years. I know I'm in the minority and you've probably already read it, but just in case, I thought I'd officially warn you: don't do it!! I can't figure out why it's so popular; maybe the Chicago connection and the Columbia Exposition story. After reading it, I immediately threw it away; I didn't want to ever accidentally pass it on to even my worst enemy!


The Bitch Posse; M. O'Connor
was officially publicized as NOT "chick lit" which is something I promised myself I would never read! It's a debut novel and had been well-reviewed. I thought it might be worthwhile, but I was dreadfully mistaken. I don't know what exactly "chick lit" is, except the titles in that section of Amazon are always awful and the covers always have pink in them; but I think this may actually have been something akin to it and I'm really mad at myself for wasting my time on it!