Bad Writing

I picked up some more books recently (continuing on with my book reading spree). My last foray into reading paperback fiction (of the Dan Brown sort described here) made me realize two things:

1. It had been a while since I had read a novel of the airport quickie variety and somehow this time around, I found this kind more difficult to digest. Reading Dan Brown and Digital Fortress was really the last straw for me. I know it sounds pompous but I think I have sort of graduated from books of this sort. Why do I feel this way? I dunno! Probably because I don't want to read badly written books anymore! The last good work of fiction that I had read - sometime last year - was The Five people You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom which was immensely readable when compared to the Brown kind of tripe.

2. I don't really understand how mediocre writers get recognition or acclaim while the real good ones don't ever get anywhere. It brings up the question: Just who are those reviewers quoted on the back of these bad books who extoll non-existent virtues of these books, and just how much do they know about writing?

I do know that reading a book (or reading anything), watching movies, listening to music, or appreciating a work of art for that matter - has all to do with how much appeal it holds for you. And what appeals to who has not necessarily been captured in a bottle and/or is sold off the shelves of drug stores. However, some bad writers seem to have gotten a whiff of that essence somehow.

Of course Reason no. 2 is an oversimplification of complex social, cultural and psychological issues that determine what works and what doesn't. And no one really knows everything about it all. That doesn't mean I can't be a snob and diss stuff I don't like.