Thursday, February 14, 2008

After the Honeymoon - Booking Through Thursday....and Happy Valentine's Day!




I had a post ready for today, but I liked this suggestion from Chris even better, so … thanks, Chris!


Here’s something for Valentine’s Day.
Have you ever fallen out of love with a favorite author? Was the last book you read by the author so bad, you broke up with them and haven’t read their work since? Could they ever lure you back?

As EVERYONE who reads this blog knows, Stephen King is probably my very favorite author. I HEART his work. Of course, there have been books I haven't enjoyed (need I remind anyone of The Tommyknockers??) With the amount of books and stories he has written, I'm going to give him a break on the few clunkers he's published. So the answer is NO. I have never fallen out of love with Uncle Steve. I will never break up him!!

Now....that being said, I used to be a big fan of James Patterson. I though his Alex Cross series was fantastic. At first. Then he started pumping out the books so fast that I was afraid they would start to lack content. And they did. Each new book was the same as the last....the stories started to become so formulaic that I just quit reading them. And really, I don't see myself wasting any more time on them. So, I guess I did break up with Mr. Patterson!!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!!

17 comments:

Kim L said...

Yeah I've just never gotten into James Patterson much. Your post confirms just why.

Anonymous said...

I've never read James Patterson, and I don't think I'll be starting! :) But I have enjoyed Stephen King for years -- haven't read as much of his most recent work, but I read pretty much everything he wrote from the time I was fourteen to the time I was thirty-four. He is one heck of an amazing storyteller.

Happy BTT and Happy Valentine's Day!

Melody said...

I only read one or two books by James Patterson and thought they're ok. But I'm not a fan either so I can't really compare...

Hope you have a great Valentine's Day!

Anonymous said...

I hate formulaic books as well. I actually enjoyed the first two books I read by Dan Brown. Unfortunately, after you read one or two, you should have the formula down pat! It just makes for not-very-interesting writing.

Anonymous said...

I used to like Stephen King when I was a teenager but went off him for unknown reasons. Lots of my friends really like him though and I am sure I will give him another chance one day. I always really enjoyed Needful Things best. I haven't read any James Patterson to be honest.

Chrisbookarama said...

I have fond memories of Uncle Steve but like Rhinoa went off him. I might be lured back though. Maybe enough time has gone by for me to try again.

Stephanie said...

Kim - His first books were really good. Then he just started churning them out. I was actually pretty disappointed.

Thomma Lyn - You are right. The one thing about Stephen King is his storytelling ability!! Love him!!

Melody - Actually his first books (that weren't in a series) were pretty good. And so were the first 3 or 4 Alex Cross books. That's about the time he started going downhill. But others just love him. I don't get it.

Trish - I actually loved Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. Da Vinci was kind of cheesy, but I enjoyed it. That's about it.

Rhinoa - Needful Things is one of my favorites by King. I don't know....maybe I just haven't grown up yet!!

Chris - To each his own. I just love a good 'story'. And King is the best at it. Maybe you should try him again. Or at least try Joe Hill, his son. Heard he's phenomenal. (one of these days I'll get to him!)

Debi said...

I can definitely relate on James Patterson...I loved, loved, loved the beginning of the Alex Cross series, but the last ones have just been somewhat lackluster. I keep telling myself that maybe I should just give up, but I loved those beginning ones so much that I'm afraid I'll miss something. Dumb, I know. I went through the same thing with Patricia Cornwell, and did eventually just give up on her, so maybe there's hope for me yet.

Stephanie said...

Debi - I'm with you on Alex Cross. I loved his first few books. But they just kept going downhill. I finally did quit reading his books. Just too many good ones out there for me to waste my time on so-so books, ya know??

Angela/SciFiChick said...

I had to break up with S.L. Viehl. I started out loving her Stardoc series, but a couple books back.. "Rebel Ice".. I couldn't go on. I started to realize that I didn't care what happened to the characters. There was too much angst drawn out over too many books. I also tried the first in her vampire series and was extremely disappointed. Boring.

Nikki in Niagara said...

I've never read James Patterson, his books just have never sparked any interest for me.

I'm with you on Stephen King, though I haven't read any of his newer work yet. Everybody seems to say they hated Tommyknockers. I really liked it!

Maree said...

I mentioned James Patterson, too. Especially in the Alex Cross novels, there doesn't seem to be much character development.
I love Stephen King, and really enjoyed The Tommyknockers. But I HATED Cell. I didn't fall out of love with him, though. Just trusted that he'd get back on-form. And I loved Lisey's Story, which a lot of people seem to have trouble with.
In On Writing he talks about one book he can't really remember writing; because he was so spaced on drugs and alcohol at the time, and it's either The Tommyknockers, or Cujo.
Um .... sorry for the ramble!

Ladytink_534 said...

Ugh The Tommyknockers was awful! I don't think I've ever fell out of love with an author either. Especially not Mr. King.

Literary Feline said...

I am still fairly new to Stephen King, only having read two books by him so far. One I really liked (Misery) and the other made me laugh when I was supposed to be scared or horrified (Cell). I would like to read more by him, but I think I'm going to be picky about my choices.

I still enjoy James Patterson, but then I'm not caught up with the Patterson series and I haven't read too many of his other books yet.

Bookfool said...

I've avoided James Patterson because of the scary nightmare thing, but now I feel even better about skipping around his books, thank you.

Happy belated Valentine's Day!

Framed said...

I really liked Patterson for a number of year but couldn't get past his first "Women's Murder Club" book. I probably haven't read anything by him for a few years, but I own a couple of romances he wrote. Hope they don't disappoint. And I've never dated, I mean, read Stephen King.

Anonymous said...

What an interesting question. Within recent years I've fallen out of love with two authors: Laurell K. Hamilton, because her horror was turning into vampire porn rather than the vampire fiction I signed up for; and Elizabeth George because her books were getting entirely too long for very little payoff, and her mysteries were becoming buried in the psycological problems of her main characters - then I found out she killed off one of the main characters. After hearing that, I was done.

Once upon a time, I did date King but I dumped him for Koontz who I then dumped for Bentley Little before I abandoned horror all together. THE SHINING remains the scariest story I've ever read, though.