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I'm reading a book that is causing me to greatly dislike many of the self-help books out there, and, I feel justified in doing so. It's debunking these books and spelling out the BS for me and what is real and what is not. I'm wondering if you've encountered a similar situation in that you read a book that turned you away from other genres. This has happened a few times before.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Dec 2008
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I think your situation isn't actually the same as the one you're asking about. If you read a book specifically debunking anything, you'll probably dislike that something, whether it's a group of books or not. You can't "debunk" science fiction the same way you can debunk nonfiction.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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Not one book, but a couple of them convinced me that Victorian Brit Lit is unreadable. For me anyway.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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I don't think there is any genre that is 100% bad. Most genres are at least 85% bad, but every genre has at least a few books that are fantastic.
I don't like Westerns, except Lonesome Dove is a masterpiece. I don't like romance novels, but Phantom by Susan Kay is great. I don't like graphic novels, but The Watchmen is fantastic. I don't like finance books, but The Millionaire Next Door is quite instructive.
If you hate the book, you've probably hit one in the 85%. That doesn't mean it is impossible to write a book in the genre and have it be good.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Robert Jordan made me largely abandon fantasy for the better part of a decade.
It's only recently that I've been brought back into the fold, ironically, by Brandon Sanderson, who is writing the last Jordan book.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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I definitely think there are books that make you so aware of a particular genre's tropes that you become hypersensitive to authors' use of them. ("Oh look, this is the heroic journey, this is the false challenge, this is... Me throwing the book against a wall...")
This is a good part of why I find myself reading nothing but nonfiction for months at a time.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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Self Help books are often trashy ways to appeal to the problems people are having in life and prey on their weakness to buy a self-help book to fix all their problems.
That having been said, you should check out Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Unbelievable book.
Posts: 1604 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Buy it now. Especially if you're female. It's not really self-help, per say, but it will help you help yourself.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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The Celestine Prophesy. I don't know what genre it belongs to. Is idiotic drivel a genre?
quote:Originally posted by katharina:
I don't like Westerns, except Lonesome Dove is a masterpiece.
One hundred percent with you. Fortunately, McMurtry didn't only write westerns. His other stuff is really good too. But Lonesome Dove is definitely one of the greatest works of fiction I've ever read.