I Wouldn't Recommend THAT Book To My Worst Enemy
 

What book is that? Why?

"Ugly Ways" by Ansa (?).

I had a hard time understanding the book. If I can recall, she seems to have an obsession with cats:confused: I stopped reading the book half way through.

Oh Kissy....say it ain't so! :eek: I LOVE Tina McElroy Ansa!! I thought Ugly Ways was hilarious!!

I would not recommend ANYTHING by Roslyn McMillian, Terri sister. I personally think she was adopted because homegirl would not know a plot if it walked across the room and said "Hi, My name is Plot." :rolleyes:

As much as it pains me to say this, I would not recommend the Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen Graham. The book had great potential...He's an Ivy League law professor who after several successful nonfiction books decided to try his hand at fiction. It was a mystery surrounding the death of a prominent AA judge who had fallen for grace and subsequently dies under mysterious circumstances. I found the writing stilted and overwrought. He appeared to be trying to impress us with all of the 50 cent words he knew. He also used the word "for" too much, as in "She walked out of the room for she was tired of the conversation." Uhhhh ever heard of the word "because"?? The book was the first Today show book of the month earlier this summer. Hummm....matter of fact, I don't recall seeing another Today Show book of the month selection since then. Coincidence???? I think not!! LOL

The Hand I Fan With by Tina McElroy Ansa and Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made by Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant. I've tried to read both books several times and have put them back on the shelf several times. I like books that get me hooked within at least the first 50 pages. Both were boring in my opinion. I will give DeBerry and Grant's book one more try since I've had it for years. Tina McElroy Ansa's book was about a ghost named Herman who had been dead for a hundred years and Lena falls in love with him. :rolleyes: No thanks. Anybody on this board who lives in Memphis can have my book if they want...consider it an early Christmas present...

I have liked her other ones but the aforementioned book was BOGUS and BULL MESS!!! I mean come on LENA had it going on like dat in the book but ALL of her people were dead and then along comes a GHOST who gives it to her like that. :rolleyes: :mad: :rolleyes: :mad:

Can we say **coughbullishtcough**:o

what to pick, what to pick......

Give me some time. I'll have a list:D

Hazard of majoring in english.

Off the top of my head Faerie Queen is foremost though. I HAD to read it and HATER it. Why couldn't the requirement just be Paradise Lost? *sigh*

I would not recommend Hot Johnny, that book did not hold my attention at all. The book started to drift off on to many different stories, it just was not structuted right.

I also bought Single Mom by Omar Tyree when it first came out in 1999 or 2000 and I have yet to finish that book, same reasons as Hot Johnny.

As much as I would hate to say it FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY by Omar Tyree. I absolutely loved FLYY GIRL and when I heard there was going to be a sequel I was jumping for joy. That is until I read the book! :mad: I'm still upset that I spent $$ on that book!

Yes Eclipse, it is so. I really put my best effort forward, to give that book a chance, but I couldn't do it. The book was too outrageous. The only reason I was going to try and finish the book was because I spend my money on it :mad:

I actually really liked that book. I thought it was a creative fantasy. I thought the ghost motif was really nice. I haven't read any of the other books in the Lena series

I concur. The sequel was just not up to par.

Tumbling - by Diane McKinney - Whetstone

It really took every thing I had to finsih that book.

Another one is Please, Please, Please... by Renee Swindle

Just goes to show ya...one (wo)man's trash is another (wo)man's treasure: I absolutely LOVEDTumbling, although it was a slow start in the beginning. Because of that book, as well as her other novels (although I didn't like them quite as much), I rank her as one of my favorite authors.

Books I just didn't like very much: "Maintenance Man" by (Michael Basiden)--just thought it was horribly written; "Snow Falling on Cedars" by (can't recall)-- I know lots of people thought this was the best book, and while compelling at times, it just took me TOO LONG to mush through it. "The Moaner's Bench" by Mars Hill just didn't do it for me either. I haven't been able to finish any Tina Ansa or more than one Toni Morrison novel, but I'll reserve judgement.

A final note: the worst offense an author can do: have an incredibly strong novel and then short change the ending--very disappointing. I'd rather you just make the entire novel bad.

I agree with Shelacious, Diane McKinney Wheetstone is a fantastic author but TUMBLING truly was the best. Her other books were TEMPEST RISING and BLUES DANCING. I liked the last 2 but BLUES DANCING was a wee bit different to me.

Here is a book that I HATED: GINGERSNAPS. That thing was GORRIBLE and I swear that I do not know HOW i finished it or what compelled me to finish it either.

Maybe I'm not into Tina's style but I know one thing, when I buy a sample of your work and I don't like it, it's rather hard for me to try you again. Actually a friend told me about her a few years ago so I decided to pick up her book. Wrong Move! And in the words of CT, it was **coughbullishtcough**

I don't particularly care for some of Toni Morrison's work, but who am I to judge a winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and Pulitzer Prize.

Another book I wouldn't recommend is The Seasons of Beento Blackbird by Akosua Busia. If you don't recognize her name, she played Nettie on The Color Purple.

I read so much it's hard for me to pick just one book. Here's my list so far:

Sweet St Louis by Omar Tyree- Normally if a book is good, I can get though it in about 2 days. It took me 2 weeks. The characters were whiny and boring and the story was just so stupid

Milk in My Coffee- I love me some EJD,but that's just one book I never could get into. I feel the same way about Liar's Game. Those two books just don't have the same quaility about them as his earlier books

Men Cry In The Dark by Michael Basiden- Just blah.

I have to agree with you, eclipse. The story did not seem to get anywhere and I was almost finished when I put that book down.

I'm all about supporting authors that look like ME, but dang, he made it difficult. So did Omar Tyree with For The Love of Money.



soulfulremix

I liked her last 2 books, but Tumbling was just way to slow for me. Actually I know that I am in the minority with not likeing this book. My mom is the one that recommended the book and I usally like most books that she tells me about, but this one I'm sorry, it just didn't do it for me.

Ok I have to disagree with you on this one, these books were the bomb! I wanted to continue reading them even after I was done! I got so wrapped up in the characters I felt like I knew them in "Real" life!

I've never read any of her books, but I remember seeing her name on this board, that's why I picked up her book today. Actually all her books were on the five dollar wall, but I picked Blues Dancing. Does she have an order to her writing like E. Lynn?

CT4, what was different about Blues Dancing to you? Was it different in a good way or bad, or was the writing just totally different from her previous works in your opinion?

Well Afrochic,

Tumbling was just this great book that hooked me from jump as did Blues Dancing. Her books are almost lyrical to me. They all deal with relationships but this one deals with relationships formed out of need and not love. I highly recommend it, don't get me wrong, but well I think you just have to read all 3 of her books and see if in your mind, the books make a difference to you.

I will be interested to see how you like the book when you finish.

I'll let you know how I like it. Blues Dancing will be my next book. And since I can get the books so cheap I'll buy her others also. Right now I'm reading Child of God and it's taking me a while to read because it's a little different from the old Lolita to me.

Addicted by Zane came highly recommended by three people I know, but I think it is pure crap!! The writing is horrible and unrealistic. It has taken me over a month to read this book, and I am not finished. I am hoping it will get better, but I am on page 273 (there are 326 pages), and don't think it will. It reminds me of those cheesy romance novels with Fabio on the cover, but there isn't much romance...just fake sex and fake situations.

I love Bebe Moore Campbell's books.

Anyone else read Addicted?

Well Soror, we have talked about it in the other book thread but I agree with you. . . Addicted had a good premise but it drags and the ending BITES, SUCKS, BLOWS, etc. etc.

The book could have been more realistic without the following:
* husband's reason for being "methodical" about sex
* protagonist's reason for being INTO sex :rolleyes:
* protagonist become best friends with her therapist

Keep reading and then we can talk in a more detailed fashion. :p

I finished Blues Dancing earlier in the week and I must say it was a good read...even though Rowe got on my nerves with his obsessive parent type of relationship he had with Verdi Mae...what a name. Actually I like Blues Dancing better than Child of God which was what I was reading when I purchased Blues Dancing. Child of God has to be the book I liked the least from Lolita Files.

I finished Addicted in two days. I thought her husband had a better reason for his feelings about sex. Not that his situation wasn't unfortunate, but I was looking for something else that could have made me say "oh I see." Since I've read that some of Zane's writing can be quite unrealistic, wouldn't it have been funny if her husband and Quinton "met" at the unveiling of the mural? The mural could have been unveiled and the nacho cheese movie theatre scene :o was the mural to the surprise of all the onlookers. :eek:

I don't know if I've overlooked it, but for those that have read Zane's HeatSeekers, what is your take on it before I buy it, or should I check out those Sex Chronicles first? :D

Well, I've read The Heat Seekers, which I liked much more than Addicted, and I'm reading The Sex Chronicles now, and I'd say go with The Sex Chronicles! All I can say is that some of those stories made me go :eek: But to me, it's a good book!http://www.click-smilie.de/sammlung/...grinser003.gif

Now I have to go out and buy The Sex Chronicles Part 2!

I don't care for sex chronicles. Zane is not very creative. She ends every other short story the same, we are so much in love now, we are married now, I am pregnant now,blah,blah, blah...
There are only so many ways to describe oral sex. Some of the stories are good, but most...monotonous...

"Leslie" by Omar Tyree. It was a horrible attempt at a "ghetto" horror story.

That is the funny thing with Omar Tyree, he has written my all time favorite Novel - A Do Right Man and then there are books that leave me scratching my head.

Sphinxpoet

I thought I was the only one who thought Hot Johnny was a Hot Mess !!!!!!!!!!

I read Do unto Others by KRISTIN HUNTER LATTANY about a years ago and to this day I can't believe I finished that book. It just made me sick everytime I picked it up. The main character was so naive I just wanted to smack the dog mess out of her! Just a side note, if anyone want's to read this book I am selling it on half.com for $2.00 (check my sig for the link) ;)

I don't think that I can get into the new "ghetto stories" craze, i.e. all these TERI WOODS Productions novels that are littering the shelves. Maybe since it's not my lifestyle or interest of mine, I can't relate, but most importantly, I am a STICKLER for EDITING!! These books just seem to hit the shelves any sort of way. I HATE trying to decode and decipher was the author meant. Random commas and periods, sentence fragments, etc. are not my idea of a good read.

I read them occasionally but you are SO right about all the random commas and periods and the misspelled words. I was an English minor in college and those things grate on my nerves like fingers on a blackboard.

Books that I wouldn't tell my worst enemy about are:

For the Love of Money byOmar Tyree

The Gotham Diaries by Tonya Lee (story was too slow, stick to the kiddie books)

Homecourt Advantage by Patrick Ewings's ex-wife (I can't remember her name--sorry!)

I read a lot, so I'll be back with more!

Co-sign! (I think Greg Anthony's wife was a co-author). That joint was so bad I chucked it after 50 pages. I tried to give it away, my friend gave it back, it was that bad!!

I loved that book. I've read it twice. :eek: Send it to me. :o

Tony, I tried to take it to the used bookstore and the clerk wouldn't take it!! I ended up giving it away to Goodwill and it's still there!!

Now I am sure you are on "that isht," but I still got luv for you. If you want it you got it.....provided I can dig it out of the back of whatever closet I threw it in. :p

After reading Heatseekers and Do Right Man, I cannot bring myself to read anything by Zane or Omar Tyree. I can't believe trees were sacrificed to print that mess.

1. I still have not gotten over For the Love of Money. In fact when was the last time that Omar Tyree has written a GOOD book?:rolleyes:

2. I tried reading the Gotham Diaries on at least four seperate occasions and I still cannot get into the book. It sits in my bookcase still waiting, perhaps I'll sell it.

Omar Tyree. . .I think I had to hang up on him after that book he wrote full of drum beats. I had heard unflattering things about him prior to meeting him in 2003 but meeting him sealed the deal for me. Arrogant as hayle. His wife is a soror in my chapter. Yes, Omar lives in Charlotte. :o

Glad to know I'm not the only person who kinda liked "Gotham Diaries".

Omar Tyree fell off after "Flyy Girl". "Leslie" needs to be banned!!:mad:

"Tastes Like Chicken" gets a big "BOOO" from me.