The Upside of Bad Reviews

The other day Book Riot posted a link to some hilariously unhelpful book reviews (see the link below). The one panning RUNAWAY BUNNY is particularly good.

We authors are always whingeing about bad reviews, but in truth, a thoughtful, well-considered bad review can help us see the error of our ways. Maybe there really was a hole in the plot. Maybe that secondary character really could’ve been a little better developed. If we’re honest with ourselves, we let the sting of the bad review fade, and then try to use what we’ve learned to write a better book next time.

But sometimes bad reviews, like those collected by Book Riot, are just…well…deranged, and then all we can do is laugh. My favorite crazy Amazon review of my first novel,Take the Bait, contained the priceless line, “I cannot help but think this book would have been better had it been written by someone else.” Gee, I tried to get Michael Connelly or Janet Evanovich to write my book for me, but they were both busy, so I had to write it myself. Luckily, my newest novel, Another Man's Treasure, hasn't received any scorchers (yet).

That review got me thinking. What classic books would be better had they been written by someone else?

MOBY DICK would be better written by Lee Child because he would’ve left out all that boring fishing stuff (and Reacher would’ve kicked that whale’s fins!).

ANNA KARENINA would have been better written by Daniele Steele because Anna and Vronsky would have lived happily ever after.

BLEAK HOUSE would be better written by James Patterson because the chapters would be much shorter.

THE ROAD would be better written by Dave Barry because c’mon, lighten up already!

So, what books do you think would be better if they had been written by someone else?

You can read the first chapter of my novel, ANOTHER MAN'S TREASURE, here. It's written by Tina Fey! (not).http://www.swhubbard.net/AnotherMansT...

Here’s the link to Book Riot’s hilariously unhelpful reviews: http://bookriot.com/2012/11/20/sites-...