Authors You Used to Love, But No Longer Read

[SherriAnt]

I'm getting close to quitting the Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell. The problem I have is the character of Marino. He's gone from being the "gruff, lovable cop" type to an abusive drug addicted (steroids count, right?) RAPIST!! Did Cornwell think we'd be as stupid as Kay and forget when he attacked her? I just don't believe an actual doctor would work with people like that, especially by choice. And doesn't  Kay always have someone out to get her? I'm just not interested in spending time with twits.

[Lovecat]

Oh, I broke up with that series a few years ago when it took a left turn into Crazytown. I don't find it entertaining to spend time with characters that are all so very damaged.

[BlackberryJam]

Sue Grafton, the A is for Alibi series. I used to enjoy them, quirky Kinsey, but the mystery aspect has gone totally to hell and she keeps injection 2010+ social ideas into novels taking place in the 80s.

I am ashamed to have read any of the Mary Kay Andrews Queen Betsy series. They were terrible to begin with but you could read them in an hour. Now, the characters have become not just vapid, but unbelievable stupid. Ugh.

The Agatha Raisin series and Hamish MacBeth series by MC Beaton. Just...nothing happening with either one. 

I dropped Scarpetta years ago and now I am even more thankful.

[bkathi]

Nora Roberts - all of her plots were the same - just plug in different locations and occupations.

[Hanahope]

On 9/10/2016 at 11:56 PM, BlackberryJam said:

 

Sue Grafton, the A is for Alibi series. I used to enjoy them, quirky Kinsey, but the mystery aspect has gone totally to hell and she keeps injection 2010+ social ideas into novels taking place in the 80s.

 

It is interesting to look for the little inconsistencies. I like reading them also for the 80s nostalgia. The series is nearing the end though, only a couple more to go.

[galax-arena]

Orson Scott Card. Dude has issues. 

[MelinaBallerina]

Jonathan Saul.   I started his books back in high school (80's) and was wowed.  Seriously creepy/scary books.  I started reading everything he put out.  Then I realized how every book was the same - creepy happening in the past prologue, creepy happening in the book, people die, gets solved, then creepy happening in the afterwards to show that evil never dies.   It got really depressing that no one ever escaped and got a happy ending.

[craziness]

I quit Patricia Cornwell when she wrote that new (a few years back) series with Hornet's Nest and Southern Cross.  After reading those horribly written books, I couldn't even go back to the (formerly) good series with Scarpetta.  Those were the worst things I ever read (only read the second to see if the first was an anomaly).  I have some of the later Scarpetta books, but can't bring myself to read them (and thanks for the head's up about Marino posted back in July 2016 - now I'll probably never read them, and that's fine).  I think she tried to start a third series and I can't even recall its name/plot.

[afterbite]

I've finally admitted that I'm quitting Cornwell too. She had that run of books a bit back in the series, around the time of the loup garou, where it seemed clear (to me) that she hated all of her characters. She made Lucy mysteriously fat, turned Marino into that thing he became, etc. It seemed as if she was punishing her readers for wanting to read more about these characters she was obviously done with. Things got a little better once she worked through that, but I miss the old days, when Scarpetta would describe each coroner's tool in meticulous detail and everyone was more or less happy. Now I hear she's written a second non-fiction book on the Ripper, and yeah... The first one was so poorly written it nearly made me cry, and I speculate that obsession is what drove her over the edge. Now that she's written another, I can't see anything good coming of it.

[DearEvette]

I gave up on Cornwall back in the late 90s with Unnatural Exposure.  Kay had become unbelievable, her love life eye roll worthy and Lucy had become this uber, awesome, sexy Goddess.  I couldn't take it anymore. And it pains me that I still remember all this almost 20 years later.

I gave up on Janet Evanovich (solo) sometime around Book #9 of the Stephanie Plum series.  I couldn't take her endless waffling between Ranger and Joe and the stories became more manic and less naturally funny, imo.  However I still adore the Fox and O'Hare series she co-writes with Lee Goldberg. 

I gave up on Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake around book #14 where so many chapters devolved into describing what black bondage gear the various characters were going to wear to their confrontations and it became clear that all Anita had to do to vanquish her enemies was to have sex.  And then Her Merry Gentry series followed the same path and I gave up on that one in Book #7.  Interestingly these two came out within a year of each other. This was particularly painful since the early books in each series, especially the Anita Blake series were really good.

I gave up on Anne Rice once she started championing every special snowflake author who got butthurt over bad reviews and co-signed on her fans to harass reviewers. 

[Ciarrai]

Emily Giffin. Loved her Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and Baby Proof. Then I read Love the One You're With and absolutely hated it; what is with her obsession with cheating wives? The first three were light and fluffy, and then suddenly she veered into Serious Topics and I just couldn't anymore.

[Athena]

On 2017-04-20 at 5:22 PM, Ciarrai said:

Emily Giffin. Loved her Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and Baby Proof. Then I read Love the One You're With and absolutely hated it; what is with her obsession with cheating wives? The first three were light and fluffy, and then suddenly she veered into Serious Topics and I just couldn't anymore.

I didn't love Giffin, but I found her books easy to read and did like some of her protagonists. She usually gave them a lot of character growth; I've read most of her books. I think the first couple and "Where We Belong" (about a woman who reunites with the girl she gave up for adoption) are her best ones. I decided to stop reading Giffin after the negative review controversy and reading "The One & Only" which was the most saccharine and cheesy of her novels. I think she really phoned it in with that one.

[festivus]

On 4/2/2017 at 1:15 PM, craziness said:

 

I quit Patricia Cornwell when she wrote that new (a few years back) series with Hornet's Nest and Southern Cross.  After reading those horribly written books, I couldn't even go back to the (formerly) good series with Scarpetta.  Those were the worst things I ever read (only read the second to see if the first was an anomaly).  I have some of the later Scarpetta books, but can't bring myself to read them (and thanks for the head's up about Marino posted back in July 2016 - now I'll probably never read them, and that's fine).  I think she tried to start a third series and I can't even recall its name/plot.

 

Yeah, those Scarpetta books got so terrible that I sold all of mine in a yard sale even the earlier good ones. None of them exist for me now. 

[henrysmom]

Quote

I gave up on Janet Evanovich (solo) sometime around Book #9 of the Stephanie Plum series.  I couldn't take her endless waffling between Ranger and Joe and the stories became more manic and less naturally funny, imo.

I lasted a little longer, I think until about Book #13.  Every once in awhile I run across a later one at a library book sale or garage sale or whatever and pick it up.  They are pretty much rote now:  Stephanie chases after a few wacky criminals, her car blows up/catches on fire/she flirts with Ranger/she sleeps with Joe.  Toss in a few random scenes of Lula and Grandma being crazy, and the book calls it a day.  

 

And oddly unmemorable. I read a plot review of one on Amazon that mentioned a giraffe on the loose in New Jersey.  I thought to myself that it sounded different, if nothing else.  So when I ran across the book I picked it up only to realize I had actually read it already.  How on earth do you forget a rogue giraffe unless the book is so dull and by the numbers that the giraffe just became yet another wacky thing in a series of wacky things?

[starri]

This may be an odd choice, since I doubt he'll ever publish another book, but Thomas Harris.  I'm a big re-reader, 

Silence of the Lambs was the first "adult" book I ever read, and it fueled my interest in psychopathology that's endured for over 25 years, and had me wanting to be a forensic psychiatrist for a long time (and may still, if I want to do a fellowship at the end of my residency).  

But holy shit, did the homo- and transphobia that slaps you in the face every other page fly over my 11-year-old head.

There is some manner of subversive pleasure in seeing his work used as the basis for something as intentionally homoerotic as Hannibal.  I honestly wonder what he thought of that.

[festivus]

I read those books so long ago that it went over my head too. Me & my kid have been re-watching Hannibal and I've been thinking about reading Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs again. My copies are long gone and the only one I ever see at the thrift store is Hannibal and I refuse to read that one again. 

[Katy M]

I still read his stuff, but nowadays, it sometimes seems like John Grisham thinks he can just publish any old crap and people will buy it.  Apparently he's right since all his stuff still ends up on the best-seller list, but one would think this would catch up with him shortly.

My favorite book is Lonesome Dove, but I can't stand anything else I've read by Larry McMurtrey.

[Lovecat]

On 4/26/2017 at 9:59 AM, henrysmom said:

And oddly unmemorable. I read a plot review of one on Amazon that mentioned a giraffe on the loose in New Jersey.  I thought to myself that it sounded different, if nothing else.  So when I ran across the book I picked it up only to realize I had actually read it already.  How on earth do you forget a rogue giraffe unless the book is so dull and by the numbers that the giraffe just became yet another wacky thing in a series of wacky things?

Ah-hahahah, I had almost the same experience, only it was the one where Grandma goes undercover in a nursing home or something.  I got the audiobook from the library, and about 15 minutes in realized I had already read the print version.  Derp.  I still love those books, though.  They're nice little palate cleansers for my brain if I've just finished something long or serious.

[BlackberryJam]

For fun, I used to read the Queen Betsy series by Maryjanice Davidson. They weren't very good or well-written, but they were fun. And then they turned into pure, unadulterated shit.

[GaT]

20 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

For fun, I used to read the Queen Betsy series by Maryjanice Davidson. They weren't very good or well-written, but they were fun. And then they turned into pure, unadulterated shit.

I keep eyeing this series, should I pass on it?

[DearEvette]

1 hour ago, GaT said:

I keep eyeing this series, should I pass on it?

Save yourself the agita.  Like @BlackberryJam says, they start out fun but turn to shit real quick. 

[GaT]

2 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

For fun, I used to read the Queen Betsy series by Maryjanice Davidson. They weren't very good or well-written, but they were fun. And then they turned into pure, unadulterated shit.

 

34 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

Save yourself the agita.  Like @BlackberryJam says, they start out fun but turn to shit real quick. 

Then I will walk away, LOL, thanks

[Athena]

15 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

For fun, I used to read the Queen Betsy series by Maryjanice Davidson. They weren't very good or well-written, but they were fun. And then they turned into pure, unadulterated shit.

This was me with Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire Mysteries. I read them around the time True Blood started and a friend and I went through them together. I kept at them until the end even with the diminishing quality. With the last book, I truly felt like i had wasted time in my reading life.

[BlackberryJam]

The last Southern Vampire book was an abomination. Way to take every bit of character and relationship development and throw it in a bonfire. I would have sworn the last three books were written by a superfan and Charlaine just rolled with it.

[Robert Lynch]

Anne Rice lost me when she refused to have an editor check her works. It was beginning with QOTD, but I think the main sin was that by 1997, she became grandiose in describing every detail in her VC books. It was overkill and that is when her works went downhill. It wasn't so much the bad reviews that started the whole feud that Anne Rice had. It was the lack of editing that affected her works. I know an artist loves the work not checked, but there is a time and day when you have to edit some material to be left out. That was her greatest flaw and it plagued her 20+ years.

[OtterMommy]

27 minutes ago, Robert Lynch said:

Anne Rice lost me when she refused to have an editor check her works. It was beginning with QOTD, but I think the main sin was that by 1997, she became grandiose in describing every detail in her VC books. It was overkill and that is when her works went downhill. It wasn't so much the bad reviews that started the whole feud that Anne Rice had. It was the lack of editing that affected her works. I know an artist loves the work not checked, but there is a time and day when you have to edit some material to be left out. That was her greatest flaw and it plagued her 20+ years.

I was never an Anne Rice fan, just because vampires aren't my thing.  However, I did make the mistake of reading "Christ Our Lord: Out of Egypt" and I will say that it is one of the worst books I've ever read.  I didn't have high expectations going into it--I thought it would be sort of gothic and sensational.  The good news is that it wasn't.  The bad news was that it was unbelievably boring.  Seriously.  Halfway through I started hoping that the vampires would show up!  The Washington Post had one of my favorite book review lines in its review of this book: "Anne Rice has sucked the life out of the greatest story ever told."  Spot on.

[starri]

Anne Rice always had her heart in the right place with social issues, and deserves all the credit in the world for being one of the first writers of popular fiction to truly embrace and normalize queer sexuality.  And she is so incredibly gracious to her fans--she kept her number in the phone book for a LONG time--which wins her all the points in the world.  But she's not exactly the most...stable person.

The story behind her Jesus fanfic and her return to the Vampire Chronicles is a very strange one.

[Robert Lynch]

I think the problem with Anne Rice is that while she is gracious to her fans, she had a tendency to attack anyone who would disagree with her point of view. It was not because of her writing that made fans turn away from her, but the lack of empathy she had when a scathing review criticized her work on Blood Caticles back in 2004.  Remember the Amazon.com fiasco? That was something else. It made Trump's tweet sound tame compare to this.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/books/the-people-have-spoken-and-rice-takes-offense.html

Edited October 14, 2017 by Robert Lynch

[JAYJAY1979]

Read8ng through some of these responses makes me wonder if perhaps quality is sacrificed for quantity?  Some of the greats only wrote a handful of novels, some only one novel. 

With that said, my late mother loved Lisa Gardner books, but she got turned off by the later books due to the violence in the writing taking prevalence over character/plot.

I would say Christopher Rice (son of Anne Rice) is one I read...but his later books got confusing.

[starri]

Like I said, she's not stable.  After she promised Jesus that she wouldn't write about supernatural stuff again, and when the Jesus fanfic didn't sell, she found a loophole that she'd never explicitly promised Jesus she wouldn't write about werewolves.  And even though fans have asked for another Mayfair Witches book for more than twenty years, she says she can't write another one because she doesn't own her New Orleans house any more and apparently couldn't write one anywhere else.  And she talked about how Lestat "left her" once, and made it sound like he'd actually left her life.  Nice lady, but weird.

4 minutes ago, JAYJAY1979 said:

I would say Christopher Rice (son of Anne Rice) is one I read...but his later books got confusing.

If his name was Christopher Smith, no one would care.  He had one decent idea for a beach read in Density of Souls, even though that was so clearly an authorial insert character.  Everything else he's tried is an off-the-shelf thriller, at least until he decided the formulaic romance thing was the way to go.

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, starri said:

she says she can't write another one because she doesn't own her New Orleans house any more and apparently couldn't write one anywhere else. 

Well, that kind of makes sense.  Writers get inspired in different ways.  

[Robert Lynch]

I am more interested as to how Anne and Christopher would make the Vampire Chronicle series. That would be something.

[Pandorap]

Terry Brooks with the Shannara series. Just too many, and the stories and writing devolved. Which kinda breaks my heart because my late mom read me the sword and elf stones as a child and instilled in me the love of reading and Sifi/fantasy.  And Terry Goodkind and the Sword of Truth Series. Again, just to many with the devolvment of story and characters. And then there’s Auel. And that’s “all” I have to say about that!!

[GaT]

Ever have something just pop into your head for absolutely no reason? I was eating lunch when all of a sudden I thought of the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost. It's a paranormal/urban fantasy/romance series about Cat (the Night Huntress) a heroine who is half vampire & half human & Bones, the hero who is a master vampire. It's a 7 book (with assorted short stories & novellas in between) series, & something happens in the last book which upset me so much that I won't read any more of her books. For people who may be interested in this series I will put it in a spoiler tag.

Spoiler

In the last book Madigan, a villain who has been in a few of the books, basically gets brought back from the dead as a brain damaged, child like man with absolutely no memory of what he had done. That's when Jeaniene Frost decided it was a good time to have the super strong master vampire Bones, beat Madigan for an hour. He hadn't touched him the entire time he was evil, & I would have been perfectly fine if he had, but reading about him torturing someone who was helpless & had no idea why he was being hurt just made me sick to my stomach & I haven't read one of her books since.

Also, she just had to come up with a convoluted plot that gave Cat a daughter, because as we all know, if you don't have children, you are not fulfilled /s

Anyway, I have no idea why this suddenly popped into my head out of nowhere, & I wish it didn't because I'm all upset about it again.

[proserpina65]

On ‎10‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 11:31 PM, Pandorap said:

Terry Brooks with the Shannara series. Just too many, and the stories and writing devolved. Which kinda breaks my heart because my late mom read me the sword and elf stones as a child and instilled in me the love of reading and Sifi/fantasy.  And Terry Goodkind and the Sword of Truth Series. Again, just to many with the devolvment of story and characters. And then there’s Auel. And that’s “all” I have to say about that!!

I only ever liked his first Shannara book.  Actually I loved it and re-read it until it split in half right where the Hildebrandt brothers illustration was.  Elfstones was okay, but after that I was done.

[jewel21]

I used to be big on John Grisham, especially in high school, but eventually I just got bored and gave up on him. 

Jonathan Kellerman is another one. I started off hardcore reading his books, and enjoyed that he wrote about the same characters, but after awhile, they started to bore me. And he introduced away too many secondary characters in his books. I couldn't keep them straight anymore. It's like I needed a flow chart. 

Lastly, Kathy Reichs. Her books started off great and then just became boring and repetitive.

[Neko]

John Irving. 

I read "The World According to Garp" years ago, and it's still one of my favorite books, but I stopped reading him once I realized he basically writes the same characters, over and over again.  A lot of authors do that, but with him, it's really obvious.

[Black Knight]

That explains why I've never been able to finish, or even get very deep into, any John Irving book. There are authors for whom I'll like one of their books but not another because they're rather different....but I've always bounced off Irving hard.

I'm relieved he's enough out of the spotlight now that I don't have people giving me Irving books as presents anymore. It was always a bad moment for me when I'd unwrap a gift to find an Irving book and have to pretend enthusiasm - especially since whichever it was (almost always World According to Garp or Prayer for Owen Meany) was usually one of the very favorite books of the gifter and so he or she would be so excited for me to read it and love it as much as they do...

[Madding crowd]

The World According to Garp is my all time favorite book. I stopped reading Irving at some point because his books didn’t appeal to me anymore and I don’t know why. 

Edited July 22, 2018 by Madding crowd

[Neko]

Well, another thing about Irving is that I got tired of his creepy, predatory characters who prey on little kids.  I realize Irving himself has a history of abuse, so I get why it's a running theme with his books, but after a while, you just don't want to read about teenage girls telling ten year old boys all about blow jobs, or whatever.  It's too much.

[LucidDreamer]

Elizabeth George. I loved her earlier books in the Inspector Lynley series but then the series just went off the rails for me -- WITH NO ONE AS WITNESS was the first death knell, then WHAT CAME BEFORE HE SHOT HER sealed the deal. Haven't read one of her books since. 

[GaT]

4 hours ago, LucidDreamer said:

Elizabeth George. I loved her earlier books in the Inspector Lynley series but then the series just went off the rails for me -- WITH NO ONE AS WITNESS was the first death knell, then WHAT CAME BEFORE HE SHOT HER sealed the deal. Haven't read one of her books since. 

I lasted longer than you (even though "What Came Before He Shot Her" was one of the worst books I have ever read). I think it was "Believing the Lie" that pushed me over the edge when 

Spoiler

Deborah was responsible for a woman getting killed, & nobody held her responsible, they just did the "there, there Deborah, poor, poor you" thing that they always do with her.

[DrSparkles]

On ‎7‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 2:10 PM, Sweet Summer Child said:

John Irving. 

I read "The World According to Garp" years ago, and it's still one of my favorite books, but I stopped reading him once I realized he basically writes the same characters, over and over again.  A lot of authors do that, but with him, it's really obvious.

Oh god, I love his books. But yes they are repetitive. Prayer for Owen Meany is one of my favorite books ever & one of 2 books that I've bought for dozens of people (the other being 100 years of solitude).

Anyway, 3 words for you: Joyce. Carol. Oates.

[The Red Queen]

Laurie R. King's Mary Russell series. I've had the latest one on ready to listen to on audio and just can't be bothered, the last several books have been hit or miss. She seems bored with it, and I am too.

On 8/29/2018 at 2:32 PM, DrSparkles said:

Oh god, I love his books. But yes they are repetitive. Prayer for Owen Meany is one of my favorite books ever & one of 2 books that I've bought for dozens of people (the other being 100 years of solitude).

Anyway, 3 words for you: Joyce. Carol. Oates.

Oh, I can't with her. Literature doesn't have to always be tragic, damn it!

[Bill1978]

I remember watching The Firm and rushing out to read the novel. And from that point on our was devouring every John Grisham book, but then I just stopped reading cause I got bored with the stories he was telling. I feel his earlier books were written like he was hoping a movie could be made out of the story but then he stopped caring and the general plots of his books became boring or less 'action packed'. And just looking at his Wikipedia page it seems I stopped caring about him with in 2003 with King of Torts. Wow I had no idea I dropped him so long ago, I do think maybe I might try to see how his stories are today, see if I can enjoy his writing again.

I remember being a bit obsessed with Phillipa Gregory for a while, cause of my Tudor love. While I know her views of motivations etc at the Tudor court can be a bit out there, I did enjoy The Other Boleyn Girl but by the time I got around to finishing a couple more of her books I realised that her writing style was just too repetitive (even though I own all her Tudor/Plantagenet books I haven't read them all). And after watching the White Queen and White Princess series I'm glad I stopped reading Phillipa's book.

[Hanahope]

On 10/2/2018 at 8:49 PM, Bill1978 said:

I remember watching The Firm and rushing out to read the novel. And from that point on our was devouring every John Grisham book, but then I just stopped reading cause I got bored with the stories he was telling. I feel his earlier books were written like he was hoping a movie could be made out of the story but then he stopped caring and the general plots of his books became boring or less 'action packed'. And just looking at his Wikipedia page it seems I stopped caring about him with in 2003 with King of Torts. Wow I had no idea I dropped him so long ago, I do think maybe I might try to see how his stories are today, see if I can enjoy his writing again.

They're very hit and miss, imo.  I had done the same thing, bought and read a bunch at the begnning, then stopped.  a couple years ago, I went to the library and started reading the books I missed.  lets just say I don't regret not buying them.  The last few I read were very unsatisfying at the end, and didn't have real good character development, imo.

[Rosieroo]

I saw the thread title and came to post about Patricia Cornwell but can only add that I quit Scarpetta for the same reasons as other posters...crazy town moved in and I moved out.  The same with Nevada Barr whose Anna was the love of my life there for many years but then all the killers became crazy batshit psychos  and I  had to stop.  But I re-read the first ones over and over.  Still love my early Anna.  

John Grisham to me is like empty calories.  Enjoyable while I'm reading it but it just doesn't stick to the bones.  I stopped actively seeking them out many many books ago but if I'm in a pinch I'll pick one up and read it.  

[babyhouseman]

Anne Tyler. She's a great writer, but I got bored with her. 

I can see what people mean by Scarpetta and Janet Evanovich. I get the books from the library because I don't want to buy them, but I want to keep up with them.

[dubbel zout]

On 3/15/2016 at 12:49 PM, henrysmom said:

Quote

Angela Thirkell. I love her gentle little comedies of life among the English gentry. Again, some of my all time faves among them. (Pomfret Towers and Before Lunch have moments that actually make me tear up). Toward the end of her career her snobbery becomes more apparent and that makes her later books far less enjoyable. Not to mention that after 20 or 30 books, there are so many characters you can hardly keep track! The plots are paper thin, pretty much, which is fine, I want to curl up with the folks in Barsetshire and know that despite all the merry hi jinks, all will be well in the end.

I too love Angela Thirkell.  Somebody asked me once what her books were about and I was kind of stymied, then said hesitatingly "they have tea a lot."  

But it is more the way they have tea that makes them fun.

One of my favorite authors for light, purely entertaining reads. She is a snob, definitely, but I think she also does a good job of skewering everyone, regardless of class.

An author I've given up on? Diana Gabaldon. I'm tired of all the rape and her blithe excuse for it (basically, it's historically accurate). I'm tired of her editor not doing a better job with cutting out all the excruciating minutiae of daily life. Just because you researched it doesn't mean it has to go in the book, Diana. And finally, the characters are boring, the worst sin of all.

On 3/15/2016 at 1:44 PM, Advance35 said:

[Suzanne Brockman's] writing began to center on her political views, most of which I actually agree with but it just seemed to drive the stories much more then it should. 

I agree. I don't mind politics in books, but Brockman has become so heavy-handed with hers. 

On 7/13/2018 at 11:05 PM, jewel21 said:

Lastly, Kathy Reichs. Her books started off great and then just became boring and repetitive.

Same. I regret giving up Kathy Reichs, because I really enjoyed the Temperance Brennan series in the beginning. The cases themselves are still really interesting, but Temperance always ends up trapped/conked on the head/injured and unable to escape. And the science seems to have gotten denser and denser. 

I hate read Dan Brown. He's the hack's hack (and I don't mean that in any sort of complimentary way), with his absurdly Mary Sue/Gary Stu characters who always just happen to have the one thing to get them out of their life-and-death situation. Spare me.

[BookWoman56]

On 10/13/2017 at 9:03 PM, starri said:

Anne Rice always had her heart in the right place with social issues, and deserves all the credit in the world for being one of the first writers of popular fiction to truly embrace and normalize queer sexuality.  And she is so incredibly gracious to her fans--she kept her number in the phone book for a LONG time--which wins her all the points in the world.  But she's not exactly the most...stable person.

I had the opportunity to interact with her a bit decades ago, sometime around 1990. At that time I was the author liaison for a large book fair, and she was one of the authors invited for that year. Most of the authors much preferred to give talks or be on panel discussions, but she would agree only to do signings. Per her publicist, Rice had major stage fright and couldn't deal with doing a presentation. But even doing just signings, she seemed a bit nervous. IIRC, both the publicist and her personal assistant had to be there at the table with her the entire time, and they would allow only one person to approach the table at a time to get his/her book autographed. Of course, I can easily imagine that she attracted some major nut jobs as fans, so I understand her reluctance to allow several fans at once to approach her. And to give her credit, she exchanged comments with the individual fans; it wasn't just her sitting there silently autographing books. Even then, though, there seemed to be a fragility to her mental/emotional state.