March | 2009 | Book Chatter

Suggested by Janet.

How about, “What’s the worst ‘best’ book you’ve ever read — the one everyone says is so great, but you can’t figure out why?”

***************************

I’ve read some bad books but I have a firm policy of ditching the book after 50 or so pages if it just isn’t doing it for me. However, for book group one month, we read Nobody True by James Herbert. James Herbert is Britain’s number one bestselling author of horror fiction. We had not really read anything from that genre so we gave it a try.

Boy, were we sorry.

The main character is murdered by a serial killer. BUT, and there is a big but, he is having an out-of-body experience when it happens so he comes back to his body only to find it, well dead. He goes through the story inhabiting other bodies so he can catch his killer. There is a lot of lurching around (think Igor or Dawn of the Dead) as he takes over body after body and then has to learn how to make everything work.

My book group was in tears discussing this! We were hysterical and I’m sure that was not Herbert’s intent, but the storyline was so ridiculous and it was just so far “out there”. I really just wanted to character to stay dead. We all did. If I had been reading it on a plane I would have popped the emergency hatch and called it a day. It was THAT bad.

I thought about reading another Herbert book to see if this particular book was just an oddity but after some time passed, I just can’t bring myself to do it. If anyone has read anything else by him and thinks I should give it a shot, let me know.

My continuing need to seek out new reads is really becoming a bit of a problem. Is it me, or maybe a touch of Spring Fever that has me searching for books even though I have plenty to read? Also, what is up with me and dark covers lately? I consider myself quite happy so why am I infatuated with dark, mysterious covers? These are the questions I ponder.

Okay, maybe it’s because talking about books is better than working on a project at work. You think?

Anyway, I was checking out Powell’s new favorites list and saw My Abandonment by Peter Rock. Here’s the blurb:

“A riveting and unsettling novel about a girl and her father who live off the grid, in the shadows at the edge of civilization. A thirteen-year-old girl and her father live in Forest Park, the enormous nature preserve in Portland, Oregon. They inhabit an elaborate cave shelter, wash in a nearby creek, store perishables at the water’s edge, use a makeshift septic system, tend a garden, even keep a library of sorts.

Once a week, they go to the city to buy groceries, attend church, and otherwise merge with the civilized world. But one small mistake allows a back country jogger to discover them, which derails their entire existence, ultimately provoking a deeper flight.

In the tradition of Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild and Elizabeth Gilbert’s Last American Man, Peter Rock’s My Abandonment, inspired by a true story and told through the startlingly sincere voice of his young protagonist, Caroline, is an eerie and mesmerizing book of survival and hope, and a completely original novel of a remarkable and triumphant transformation.”

So what do you think? Doesn’t this sound good? Apparently it just came out last week. I think I am going to have to pick this one up.

Chatting with friends about books and life…