Steve Donoghue certainly seems to get through a lot of books, and while most end-of-the-year lists are a pretty boring lot he offers -- over a number of posts and days -- a variety of amusing variations on the theme at his Stevereads weblog.
My favorite, of course, the: Worst Books of 2013: Fiction ! (something I would love to see from many more critics and readers).
I've actually read three of these -- Woes of the True Policeman, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, and Night Film. These I found more disappointing than truly bad (though I do agree that the Pessl is pretty darn bad) -- indeed, their inclusion suggests he's not trying nearly hard enough to seek out the truly dreadful.
I've reviewed a few real clunkers this year, but one book easily rates as the worst of the lot: Rimbaud the Son by Pierre Michon (which is the only title at the complete review I have ever assigned a grade of "F" to, that's how much I hate this book). Amusingly enough, Donoghue recently reviewed it too, at the Quarterly Conversation -- favorably, too (yes, I'm afraid my opinion of that: "full flood of that Michonesque prose" is decidedly different).
I've actually read three of these -- Woes of the True Policeman, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, and Night Film. These I found more disappointing than truly bad (though I do agree that the Pessl is pretty darn bad) -- indeed, their inclusion suggests he's not trying nearly hard enough to seek out the truly dreadful.
I've reviewed a few real clunkers this year, but one book easily rates as the worst of the lot: Rimbaud the Son by Pierre Michon (which is the only title at the complete review I have ever assigned a grade of "F" to, that's how much I hate this book). Amusingly enough, Donoghue recently reviewed it too, at the Quarterly Conversation -- favorably, too (yes, I'm afraid my opinion of that: "full flood of that Michonesque prose" is decidedly different).