Books
I've read quite a few books since I traded in my cable box for a library card. I've discovered something surprising: most books, like most movies and TV shows, are mediocre.
It surprises me because I know it's very difficult to get published. With so much competition, you'd think the books that do get published are top notch. Not so. Take the book I'm reading right now. It's a sci-fi book, written in 1993. As an aside.... it's not really a sci-fi book, in my opinion. I guess the publishers labeled it as sci-fi because the book briefly mentions the new-fangled internet (only the author calls the internet the "computer net", and implies it will never take off in the business world because of viruses).
Anyway, the book is about a contractor working on a project. An extortionist tries to squeeze the project leaders for money. The extortionist goes so far as to rig a device to electrocute someone. For reasons never really explained, the contractor, acting on his own, fiddles with the device in order to make the murder look like an accident (the project leaders are ok with this; in fact they approve, because police involvement would slow the project down). As the story goes on, the contractor gets more and more involved in this mess, and the reader is left asking, "why?"
Worst of all, one of the characters in the book is obviously working with the extortionist. The character drops incriminating statements, such as "it won't matter, I'll have a lot of money soon". The clueless protagonist can't seem to put two and two together.
The book I'm reading now was pulled randomly off a library shelf. Would it help to limit myself to award-winning books? Nope. I tried it. Awards don't mean anything. I finished an award-winning novel a couple of weeks ago that was so bad I had to wonder if the publishers purchased the reward.
Am I going to trade in my library card for a cable box? Nope. I'll keep trying to read. Maybe most novels are mediocre, but at least the library is free.
It surprises me because I know it's very difficult to get published. With so much competition, you'd think the books that do get published are top notch. Not so. Take the book I'm reading right now. It's a sci-fi book, written in 1993. As an aside.... it's not really a sci-fi book, in my opinion. I guess the publishers labeled it as sci-fi because the book briefly mentions the new-fangled internet (only the author calls the internet the "computer net", and implies it will never take off in the business world because of viruses).
Anyway, the book is about a contractor working on a project. An extortionist tries to squeeze the project leaders for money. The extortionist goes so far as to rig a device to electrocute someone. For reasons never really explained, the contractor, acting on his own, fiddles with the device in order to make the murder look like an accident (the project leaders are ok with this; in fact they approve, because police involvement would slow the project down). As the story goes on, the contractor gets more and more involved in this mess, and the reader is left asking, "why?"
Worst of all, one of the characters in the book is obviously working with the extortionist. The character drops incriminating statements, such as "it won't matter, I'll have a lot of money soon". The clueless protagonist can't seem to put two and two together.
The book I'm reading now was pulled randomly off a library shelf. Would it help to limit myself to award-winning books? Nope. I tried it. Awards don't mean anything. I finished an award-winning novel a couple of weeks ago that was so bad I had to wonder if the publishers purchased the reward.
Am I going to trade in my library card for a cable box? Nope. I'll keep trying to read. Maybe most novels are mediocre, but at least the library is free.