2008 Delete Key Awards Finalist #10 – ‘The Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne

Delete Key Awards Finalist #10 – From The Secret by Rhonda Byrne:

“The most common thought that people hold [about fat], and I held it too, is that food was responsible for my weight gain. That is a belief that does not serve you, and in my mind now it is complete balderdash! Food is not responsible for putting on weight. It is your thought that food is responsible for putting on weight that actually has food put on weight.”

If this is true, how can you lose weight? Byrne suggests that you stop looking at fat people:

“If you see people who are overweight, do not observe them, but immediately switch your mind to the picture of you in your perfect body and feel it.”

So if that low-carb diet isn’t working, maybe you should stop watching those weigh-ins on The Biggest Loser.

The ten Delete Key Awards finalists are being announced in random order from No. 10 to No. 1.

© 2008 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.
www.janiceharayda.com

Countdown to the Super Bowl of Bad Writing

The Delete Key Awards finalists will be numbered but announced in random order

It’s almost here – the playoff game for the Super Bowl of bad writing. In less than half an hour, One-Minute Book Reviews will announce the first of ten finalists for the 2008 Delete Key Awards, which recognize authors who aren’t using their delete keys enough. The others will be named at about 20–30 minute intervals with the full shortlist posted by the end of the day.

The Delete Key Awards finalists will be numbered, starting with No. 10, but announced in random order. The numbering is only to help you keep track of how many books have made the shortlist so far. The winners will be named on March 15, 2008.

Thanks for visiting One-Minute Book Reviews, a site for people who like to read but dislike hype and review inflation.

© 2008 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.

O. J. Simpson and Ishmael Beah Books Disqualified From Delete Key Awards

Two of the most controversial books of 2007 have been ejected from the competition

O. J. Simpson’s If I Did It might be the most loathsome book in the history of publishing, but it’s been disqualified from the 2008 Delete Key Awards contest, which recognizes the year’s worst writing in books. One-Minute Book Reviews said last weekend that the book had been ruled ineligible because it would be cruel to the other finalists to mention them in the same breath with this purportedly “hypothetical” account of the murders of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson.

Another controversial book, Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone, was disqualified today for different reasons. The Delete Key Awards don’t recognize the “worst books” of the year but specific examples of bad writing, such as cliché-infested sentences or paragraphs. And the Australian, the Australian national newspaper, has raised such serious questions about the credibility of Beah’s entire account that to single out one or two sentences would distract attention from those larger issues. A Long Way Gone doesn’t need a Delete Key Award – it needs a segment on Sixty Minutes.

The first Delete Key finalist will be named by 10 a.m. today with others announced throughout the day.

© 2008 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.