More on books.

Sometimes finding a decent book is difficult, but certain things don’t help the process. When I read, I usually perform what I call the “chapter 1 test”. Which means, if I get through chapter 1, I pretty much do finish the book.

But three books today failed that test. The first wouldn’t have if I’d known there was a prequel to it. The second failed because it was a historical romance that I don’t believe was actually researched at all. (It was set in Scotland, it was 1200, there were highland games being held in a festival near the English border, and there was a clan Council of Elders, which sounded more like standard fantasy kitch than anything even vaguely historically accurate.)

The third featured some of the most overwrought dialogue I’ve ever read. I’m paraphrasing, but it seemed to go like this:

“Who is it?” Tyler demanded hoarsely.

“Royal Benedict,” Sydney asserted defiantly.

“My God! He’s your cousin! That’s incest!” Tyler exclaimed disgustedly.

“Well, if it’s incest, I’ve been committing it since I was fifteen. In fact, I made love with him on the day I married you!”

I’m not paraphrasing much. The dialogue was pretty much like that. And I thought the book was too long to sit through MSTing as I went along.