Hmmm…. I don’t know if there are any that are considered terrible that I would claim to love, but there are some I’ve enjoyed reading for one reason or another. Dan Brown has come in for a lot of criticism, I think, but I did enjoy reading The Da Vinci Code and one or two other books by him when they were everywhere. Similarly I think Stephen King is a bit of a marmite author and often maligned as writing overly padded books that don’t justify their page count. That may be true, but I read some of his books when I was in high school, and they aren’t all like that. A couple of his short stories had a big impact – notably the one upon which the film The Shawshank Redemption was based, which is a widely loved and respected film. And finally, though I’ll never defend their quality, I did enjoy reading the Twilight books – they were great cotton candy books that I lost myself in between very difficult and mentally exhausting university semesters. Sure, they’re problematic and written in overly angsty prose with lots of plot holes, but they’re fast-paced and pull you along if you can suspend your disbelief and (at least temporarily) lose yourself in the stories. So sure, they’re not great literature, but they’re awfully fun to read if you need a good distraction.
There have been many others over the years that may have “questionable taste” associated with them – everything from the Agatha Raisin series to the Shopaholic books to many, many Young Adult books – but who really cares about whether a book is worthy of literary great status if it’s fun to read or if you get something out of it? I’m a big fan of just reading – whatever you want, however you want. Books are wonderful, and they all have their readers. As long as they’re not spreading hate or causing harm, who am I to judge?
What about you guys? Do you have any terrible books you’ve enjoyed reading? Any books you absolutely love that you know others think are awful?
The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly blog link-up that gives participants a different book-related question to ponder each week, and allows them to share their thoughts, find new blogs to follow and connect with new readers. The Hop was originally created by Jennifer at Crazy for Books and is now hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. To see a list of upcoming prompts go here.
I can’t think of a terrible book I loved but I can think of a good book I thought was terrible: THE WIDE SARGASSO SEA. I hated that book. Blech!