I must admit that I’ve never actually been in a book club before, so I don’t really know how they work. I guess it’s to talk about books or something and you try to pick good ones? BORING. Because you know what’s a better idea? Reading a bad book and then mocking the hell out of it. Such a good time. It’s right up there with getting liquored up and watching a horrible movie with friends. Oh, the hilarity.
Well. In the comments for this post, Srah said, and I quote:
“…I once read a book that was so bad that partway through, I went back to the beginning and started making notes in the margins. Then I gave it to a friend who added her own notes and she passed it to another friend who made her own notes… that made a terrible book much more enjoyable because I had everyone else’s sarcastic reactions in the margins.”
I thought this sounded awesome, like a Terrible Book Club. I figured this would end up languishing in the back of my mind like so many of my other awesome ideas, but you know what? Let’s do this. After a kind of a discussion on Facebook, I decided that I should, um, decide some stuff. So here we go:
The point of the Terrible Book Club is to read (and make notes in) books that aren’t… of the highest quality, and then passing that book along to someone else so that they can do the same thing. Notes are the key. So basically, this process will involve two of my very favorite old-fashioned things: books printed on paper (SUCK IT, KINDLE) and mail that is put into an envelope and delivered by a postal employee. (And also receiving something in the mail that isn’t a bill or a credit card offer! So, three things, then.) I’m willing to start the chain and maintain the mailing list. I’m debating whether or not it is also necessary to have an online location to discuss the book club selection.
So, if you’re interested (and how could you not be, unless you are afraid of things like being awesome), send me an email (jamelah dot earle at gmail dot com) with your mailing info, which I promise I will only share with the next person on the list and not your stalker or anyone (unless the next person on the list happens to be your stalker, in which case, bummer about your luck, dude) and I further promise not to stalk any of you, because I’m just not motivated enough for that sort of thing.
If you have any questions or suggestions for a terrible book to read and destroy, post ‘em here in the comments.
Whee!
Twilight?
Posted by srah | July 9, 2009, 4:22 pmAwesome. I just gotta get It before I leave the country in November!
Posted by Allthewine | July 9, 2009, 4:23 pmsrah — Ha. I don’t know if I could force myself to read Twilight, but I might be willing to give it a try. I wonder if anybody has a copy they’d be willing to give me for free.
Allthewine — I promise I’ll put you near the front of the list so you’ll be sure to get it before you leave and have international adventures, okay?
Posted by jamelah | July 9, 2009, 4:41 pmThese sound promising:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0373895836?ie=UTF8&tag=srahblahbla0b-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0373895836
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0373250592?ie=UTF8&tag=srahblahbla0b-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0373250592
Posted by srah | July 9, 2009, 4:54 pmI agree. Twilight books are beyond bad.
Posted by holly | July 9, 2009, 5:23 pmthat sounds pretty fun!
but you’re all smart and stuff and read Real Literature, whereas I often prefer light and fluffy reads. (erm, i have actually read one of srah’s links–though yes, it was bad!)
Posted by Julie | July 9, 2009, 5:51 pmReally terrible. I’m in. Now, I need to brain storm some ideas for bad books.
Posted by syd | July 9, 2009, 6:38 pmOkay, these are bad (though I kinda liked em):
Belinda by Anne Rice
Belinda is the ultimate fantasy. A golden-haired object of desire, fresh and uninhibited. But to Jeremy Walker, a handsome and famous 44-year old illustrator of children’s books, Belinda is a forbidden passion, both beguiling and bewitching.
Faking It by Jennifer Cruise
Mural artist Tilda Goodnight is struggling to pay off the mortgage on the family business and keep the Goodnight secrets safely hidden. Juggling her life gets even more complicated when she hides in Clea Lewis’s closet and collides with sexy Davy Dempsey.
Pretty Little Dirty by Amanda Boyden
Set in the late 1970s and early 1980s, this dire coming-of-age story follows two best friends from their awkward midwestern middle-school days through their increasingly self-destructive West Coast college years.
Posted by syd | July 9, 2009, 6:46 pmThis sounds like fun. I’ve read some real stinkers in the sci-fi/fantasy/horror genres…
Posted by Jeremy Sloan | July 9, 2009, 9:50 pmI am SO in!
Posted by Fraulein N | July 9, 2009, 10:15 pmSince i’m one of those ‘international’ folk, and also someone who only reads in daylight, i’m not sure i’d be able to keep pace with all the ravenous bad book readers, but i sure as hell would love to read stuff online. So please have a site!
Posted by talkingnow | July 9, 2009, 11:12 pmI have read The Thin Pink Line (as suggested by Srah) and it is a terrible book. It is the same author who wrote the terrible book Srah and I wrote notes in, so anything by her would be excellent. And, sadly, I have read another book by her (between TPL and the other one) because I didn’t realize it was the same lady. Also awful. Now, I will never forget.
Posted by Cheryl | July 10, 2009, 8:12 amThese are such great suggestions — I would also love to see some suggestions in the mystery/suspense genre since when those books go bad, they go REALLY bad. (Also they’re not chick lit, which often makes me want to die.) I can’t think of any off the top of my head, except for books written by Dan Brown, but I don’t want to do that to anyone. Also I think his books are available as mass-market paperbacks, which generally don’t have good margins for note-taking, unlike trade paperbacks, which usually do.
I did have a flash of inspiration last night, though. I have this book, Apocalipstick, which has been sitting on my shelf for years (ergo, free) and I was never able to make myself read more than 40 pages of it. From the back cover:
When it comes to men, beauty columnist Rebecca Fine always seems to be on the scruffy end of the mascara wand. But all that changes the morning she meets Max Stoddart, her new colleague at the Daily Vanguard. With his upscale suit, Hugh Grant hair, and obscenely sexy good looks, he’s a single woman’s dream come true. Finally, her grandmother can stop surfing the Net for eligible Jewish males. But is Max the catch of the decade — or just a major babe magnet?
Meanwhile, Rebecca’s old high school nemesis has resurfaced, a former blond bombshell called Lipstick who is now engaged to Rebecca’s widowed dad. And it’s good-bye to articles on toe cleavage when a hot tip sweeps Rebecca to the center of the Paris cosmetics world, where a miracle antiwrinkle cream is about to be launched. That is, until she blows the whistle on a scandal that could set the beauty business — and the future of world peace — reeling. Will Rebecca win the recognition — not to mention the Pulitzer — she yearns for … and get the man of her dreams? Stay tuned.
The cover is deadly pink. Does that sound too horrible?
Posted by jamelah | July 10, 2009, 9:20 amI’m afraid that I’d have to start my own meth lab in order to supply myself with enough pain relief to read a book like that.
Posted by You can call me, 'Sir' | July 10, 2009, 1:12 pmThat Apocalipstick book description is too bad to be true, right? I mean, that’s a fake Amazon link isn’t it? Please tell me this is so to restore my faith in the publishing industry.
Posted by SA | July 10, 2009, 3:17 pmThat Apocalipstick book is 100% real, I’m sorry to say. I read (and made notes on) a few pages last night just to get going, but it may be Aneurysm Bad as opposed to Awesomely Bad.
Posted by jamelah | July 11, 2009, 8:17 amI want to so badly but I fail at mailing things.
Posted by Betty | July 13, 2009, 11:40 am