It’s been a long time since I have read good novels. Books that have me riveted to them and ones for which I have given away hours of sleep just so that I can complete that chapter that I was reading. I have spent many a sleepless nights reading such works only to be reminded very late into the night that I had to get to office the next morning. Oh, how enjoyable were weekends with a novel in hand where I did not have to think about getting to work the next day.
The past few months, I have bought myself a few novels off online stores in the hope that I might have some nice material to read. While choosing the book to buy, the first incentive was the exciting discounts on offer and the next being the reviews of the books on many a websites. Now it seems to me that these discounts and reviews go hand in hand. In order to make a bad book sell, first write rave reviews on it, and then put it up for sale with a tempting discount.
I have fallen victim to one such book at least. I have bought three books online in the past month, 2 States, Dork, and May I Hebb your Attention Pliss!. The first two books had rave reviews but were decent works. I could read them without my head hurting and some parts of it were nice and enjoyable. 2 States was quite nice now that I have read the other two books. I felt some facts were a little twisted, but if you just read the book for the story and not try to relate it to actuality, then it is a good book.
Dork on the other hand was a disaster in terms of expectation. If you read the reviews of the book, you will think that it is the greatest work of art after Shakespeare. The reviews warn you to read the book alone so that your roaring laughter is not heard in public and induce people to thinking you are demented. Nothing of that sort. I might have barely let out a simper reading that book. The book itself was not bad, but it was far from being as great as it was made out to be.
And then I thought of buying what eventually might have turned out to be the greatest mistake of my life. I bought the book ‘May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss!’. I think I should have first read the author’s blog to see what kind of stories he wrote and then decided whether to buy his book, which is essentially his blog in print. I must the appreciate the author and the publisher for that con they pulled over the public’s eyes. Of course some of the rave reviews were indeed being truthful in saying that I should treat each chapter as a blog and not read the whole book in a single go. Understandably they did feel the need to be humane enough to forewarn people who were going to buy this book.
I should have read those warning signs before venturing out to buy that book. I have not been able to get past more than a few chapters. The writings are filled with so much cliché and coffee table talk that I feel this is an appropriate way for loners to involve themselves in a conversation. Read the book the feel that you are with demented people sharing your thoughts. Random thoughts a demented mind is right, and that is exactly what you get with this book.
After the disaster that the last book was, which made my previous two buys seems like I struck gold, I am now in need of some good fiction and original stories. I have pre-ordered the latest book by Jeffrey Archer – And Thereby Hangs A Tale. This is his sixth collection of short stories and I am expecting this author to live up to his reputation and deliver me from the literary hell that I have inadvertently dragged myself into.
Maybe I should think about joining a library and read some classics and works from the 90s and early 2000s, which are at least original and written with a story in mind and not just for the sake of writing and publishing a book.
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Tagged: authors, books, fiction, indian, library, novel, purchase
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2 Comments
I would strongly recommend the Millennium trilogy by Steig Larsson if you are a detective / pulp lover. I enjoyed it immensely!
That so? Putting it next on the line of want-to-read books. Time to start searching for a library that has it.