Here’s the complete list of 10 finalists for the 2008 Delete Key Awards for the year’s worst writing in books. The passages that qualified these books for the shortlist were posted in 10 separate posts on Feb. 29, 2008 www.oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2008/02/29/.
1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
2. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
3. Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8th by Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen
4. The Intellectual Devotional: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Roam Confidently With the Cultured Class by David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim.
5. On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
6. The Alphabet from A to Y … With Bonus Letter Z! by Steve Martin and Roz Chast
7. The Manny by Holly Peterson
8. The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold
9. A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle
10. Unholy Grail by D. L. Wilson
The winners will be announced on March 15, 2008.
© 2008 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.
One-Minute Book Reviews 
Other than reading The Secret to see if there was anything new there (there wasn’t), I am proud to announce I haven’t read any of the other books on the list. Partly, that’s because you’ve been warning us about some of them!
Great short list.
Malcolm
Comment by knightofswords — February 29, 2008 @ 5:25 pm |
Thanks, Malcolm. You can imagine what it was like to slog through some of this, so I appreciate hearing that it might not have been in vain.
You may have read only one of the finalist, but I’d bet you’ve come across some lines in your own reading that really made you cringe …
Jan
Comment by 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — February 29, 2008 @ 5:54 pm |
Unlike Malcolm, I was unfortunate enough to read On Chesil Beach….If only the reviewers were doing their jobs… 🙂
For the 2nd year in a row, I really enjoy this list. It’s much better than “enjoying” the books.
Comment by Jon — March 1, 2008 @ 12:40 am |
Thanks for being a frequent flyer on this site, Jon, and also for your patience as I try to fix the Bloglines problem. I tried to sort it out and, when I couldn’t do it right way, decided to wait until after announcing the shortlist.
Hope to make progress on that one soon. Until then I’ve tried using fewer tags but don’t know if this helps. I’d be grateful for feedback if you still have difficulty.
I’m hoping to name a couple of Honorable Mentions for the shortlist on Monday.
Jan
Comment by 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — March 1, 2008 @ 12:26 pm |
[…] https://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2008/02/29/2008-delete-key-awards-finalists-the-complete-s…The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. 3. Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8th by Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen. 4. The Intellectual Devotional: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Roam Confidently With the Cultured Class by … […]
Pingback by From me to you about Rhonda Byrne » Blog Archive » Quick Roundup — March 1, 2008 @ 1:14 pm |
Me, either. I haven’t read any of the above although I confess I thought about The Manny. However, it took me years to learn that I don’t have to finish every book, and one of the things that will have me throwing it at the wall early in the game is horrendous writing.
So, no. I won’t bother now. I rarely go to the library because I run up late fees, enough to buy dinner at the Ritz, so it’s cheaper for me to shop B&N than pay those fees. As long as I purchase wisely…guess that wouldn’t be The Manny. Thanks for saving me $$$$.
Comment by oh — March 1, 2008 @ 3:46 pm |
Oh, do I know about those library late fees. Less than an hour ago I paid a $1.50 fee on a nonrenewable Delete Key book that I needed to hold onto until the last minute … and that was one of my smaller ones.
Comment by 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — March 1, 2008 @ 6:49 pm |