The views expressed in the Writer-in-Residence blogs are those held by the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Open Book: Toronto.
Why I hate books
Submitted by Nathan Whitlock 2008 on June 23, 2008 - 9:27am
To truly love something, you must be able to truly hate it, as well. And that counts for books, too, which are all too often offered a kind of blanket amnesty in the form of "appreciation."
On that note, Rod Liddle goes off on a tear about his most-hated books in the Times Online.
Have to say though, he loses me right from the start when he calls Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time novel series "ineffectual, pointless drivel." Liddle then goes way off the mark when he calls Zadie Smith's White Teeth "a politely written tome of consummate vapidity, from an articulate, photogenic half-black writer, that tells you, in the end, nothing." White Teeth wasn't the insta-classic is was made out to be at the time, but it was still very good. (And that "half-black" remark is a little telling, isn't it?)
I love to hate books, but I hate the way Liddle hates them. Capiche?
