Do you ever wonder, Why on earth is this a bestseller?

[The Book Cave]

Janet Evanovich's Plum series. Some of James Patterson's are too formulaic.

[CJ West]

Funny, I spend most of my time wondering why my books aren't bestsellers.

I've had a few fans join me in the same sort of hand-wringing.

CJ

[Brooks Sigler]

That might actually be more productive . . .

[Book Calendar]

I try not to wonder too much about the popular mind. I wish sometimes people would place a higher value on real literary presses like Dalkey Archive Press or Black Sparrow Books and not have to rely on nonprofits like Small Press Distributors to get quality books. Quite a few of the high quality literary works have to be produced and supported by nonprofits. Bestsellers are written to be popular. Very few of them are both popular and good quality.

[Amy]

I have thought about it! Here's my theory on James Patterson
http://www.myfriendamysblog.com/2009/02/sunday-salon-my-theory-on-b...

[Padfoot]

Plum series- I mean if you're looking for a quick "juicy" read then the first 3 of so are not bad. But after that it's pretty much the same story over and over and over again and I would never read them again.

[sari]

Every time I look at the Twilight series I wonder why. Yes, I read the books( I was laid up and thought it would be a good time to see what my friends were raving about), no I did not think they were great. I gave up on the fourth book. I ended up giving them to my local library. It was better than throwing them out.

[Meredith "Riot" Nudo]

Heh ripped the words right out of my mouth. Twilight was the only book I ever started reading then had to put down and disregard, which is a move that goes against everything I try to do for my blog. It wasn't so much that Bella was self-absorbed and ungracious protagonist - I do love me some antiheroes when done right - but the fact that Meyer attempted to portray such a little brat as an ideal young woman and rewarded her actions was what made me slam the book shut. Clumsy nothing. Her real faults were ingratitude and generally acting like a spoiled, co-dependent narcissist, but she doesn't suffer any repercussions for it! In fact, Meyer seems to be glorifying these traits! From what it sounds like, Bella doesn't seem to get much better in the rest of the book or its sequels.

Don't get me wrong - I'm very glad that Meyer got kids to read. But I'm hoping few young women grow to think this grants them clearance to emulate Bella's behavior, or that they come to realize that self-fulfillment doesn't come from "OMG EVERY HAWTT BOI LIKING ME ALWAYS!!!!!1" or getting the exact car you wanted.

[Brooks Sigler]

I appreciate your careful use of text lingo . . .

[Meredith "Riot" Nudo]

Heh thanks. It's a wonderfully sarcastic device I've picked up from overexposure to internet culture. I've gotten quite a bit of mileage out of it :)

[sari]

You are so right!! None of my friends (and we are over 40) see this! What really bugged me was how Meyers portrayed Bella as having super low self esteem; the girl would not even look in the mirror. Yet somehow she manages to get the hottest guy in town to fall in love with her! Meyers is telling young girls is is okay not love yourself because someone else will. What a horrible way of looking at life and a horrible reason to look for love.

Sari

[Lilly]

I am so agreeing with all you said. What I hated the most was Bella chasing after Edward like a freaking puppy. Give me a break! It is a sad, sad day when a book with a girl soon to be a woman who does not exist truly unless she is with a man (vampire, werefolf or whatever) gets to be a bestseller, glorified by teenage daughters and mothers all over the country. And she was soooo whiny, what was up with that, her internal monologues almost made me want to kill myself rather than read any more of her 'blah, blah, blah, cry me a river, everybody should just love me' attitude.

[Meredith "Riot" Nudo]

If she had started out whiny then slowly grew to understand how to be gracious for what she had then I wouldn't have minded so much. It would have been a great lesson for young women (and men, too, but they weren't the target audience) to watch a dynamic character growing up and learning to accept that sometimes life doesn't bend to your every whim. A whiny character can be a great device if used as a warning story or as a foil to highlight the virtues of a non-whiny character. Unfortunately, Bella was neither.