SFFNovelists is not “my” blog.

It’s a group blog featuring daily (or almost daily) posts by a pretty cool mix of science fiction and fantasy writers (I post here once a month).

If you’re not already, I invite you to browse some of the other posts by different writers. There’s a lot of interesting stuff here.

sometimes I’ll skim through boring parts if I’m otherwise liking some elements of a book. I always feel guilty about it, though.

I like “don’t annoy me”. Because I’ve put down books that I was otherwise thinking were okay when I hit a bit of business that really annoyed me–sometimes because it was badly done but sometimes through no fault of the author’s if s/he happened to trigger one of my pet peeves.

it helps to read what I actually wrote rather than forcing a false interpretation onto my words.

First, the first two paragraphs (perhaps too subtly) suggest that I’m writing slightly tongue in cheek.

Second, I specifically say that not all books are written to appeal to me; nor should they be. Not written to appeal to me means exactly what it says–that is, that I recognize that I will like–or dislike–novels that other people dislike–or like–and for varying reasons. That’s as it should be. Folks don’t all have to have the same taste.

Nowhere do I say that books that bored me “should not have been written.” That’s your spin. Don’t put words in my mouth.

Personally, I’m thrilled that Heinlein, one of the seminal sf writers of the 20th century, wrote “Stranger in the Strange Land” and many other novels. That I did not like “Stranger in a Strange Land” has no bearing on my opinion of certain other of his novels that I did enjoy. Dude, chill. I didn’t like that particular novel. It’s not that big a deal, unless you subscribe to the idea that everyone has to like (or dislike) the books you like (or dislike) exactly as you like (or dislike) them.

Actually I still think skimming through boring parts is a bad habit but I think it was mostly due to forced reading.

I will try that 50 pages rule…

Don’t bore me? And as an example, you say Stranger in a Strange Land was boring. So, by your definition, this book should not have been written. Hmm. Okay, how do you feel about the Odyssey? Should we tell Homer to keep it to himself, cause Katey doesn’t like it? Get over yourself. (And by the way, one book I recently stopped reading halfway through, due to it being very not worthwhile, was the The Golden Key, which you had a hand in. In one swell foop I found three authors I’ll never bother with again. Just gawdawful.)