Because... reading is fundamental...

[auntbijou]

We went for our usual weekend trip to the San Marcos library last Saturday, and I picked up a book that looked intriguing when I skimmed through it. Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir.

I thought, Okay, cool, I like historical novels from time to time. Call it a guilty pleasure, but if it's well written, fine... and I

Comments

[kaellite]

I have never read her fiction, but her actual biographies (I've read hers on the 6 wives, the children of Henry the 8th) are well done. You might try her in that aspect

[auntbijou]

Perhaps she was trying too hard to take a scholarly subject and make it interesting as fiction. Unfortunately, what she did was take these larger than life characters and make them two dimensional. And there were so many plot-points ignored, so many stones left unturned that should have been turned...

*sigh*

Nothing like expecting a good, meaty read, and getting fruit salad instead.

[realpestilence]

That's not even the kind of badly-written stuff you can get a good laugh over, reading it cuddled up on the sofa in your quilt, while snacking. Rainy day kind of reading, like. D:

[auntbijou]

No, it's the kind of reading that makes you get up and decide the tub needs a good scrubbing. Sad, innit?

[tilia_tomentosa]

That sex scene doesn't even seem to be the unintentionally hilarious kind of bad porn, from what you've posted of it.

[auntbijou]

I know! I couldn't even snicker! It was more like utter disbelief!! She was cherishing it in both hands... what????

Can a guy get off if you're cherishing his manhood between your hands??? You cherish kittens! You cherish babies! You do NOT cherish a man's cock, unless you're expecting to be there all night!!! Seriously!!

[brumeux77]

Can we at least give Alison a point or a tarnished gold star or something for spelling calluses right?

[auntbijou]

She gets an A for spelling, though her punctuation and grammar structure are somewhat haphazard. However, she gets a T (for Troll) for taking a juicy, meaty story and turning it to vapid commentary without justification or purpose!!

[luci0logy]

You know, I'm so sick of reading about calloused fingers in sex scenes. Why oh why is it seen as important? My other peeve of the moment is the 'much shorter/taller man' description that crops up endless times in the same story. I only need telling once for fucks sake.

[auntbijou]

Lol, callused fingers, quidditch toned thighs, and all the thrusting, too!! You wonder if these people have ever heard of a thesaurus, right?

Or how about the stuff that's being written, and you can tell that the writer actually has used spell check... and used it not wisely or well? It's even more horrifying to find that the story was betaed... also not wisely or well!

Even worse to find it in something published, and you want to write to the publishing house and ask who the hell are they hiring for copy editors these days!!