It’s Thursday and you know what that means…another edition of Booking Through Thursday is here.

This week’s question is: What’s the worst book you’ve read recently? (I figure it’s easier than asking your all-time worst, because, well, it’s recent!)

I didn’t have to think too long to find an answer to this question…the prize would have to go to The Well by A. J. Whitten.

Usually I don’t finish books if I feel I will dislike them (since life is far too short to suffer bad books), but I was actually looking forward to reading The Well since I knew A. J. Whitten was Shirley Jump’s pseudonym and during the reading I kept praying it would get better. It didn’t.

The book has not yet been released, so I still have hope that it will go through at least one more round of editing.

Back Cover of The Well

If Hamlet thought he had issues, he should have talked to Cooper Warner.

His mother’s normally sunny demeanor has turned into something—homicidal.

And what’s worse, she has help in her hunt for Cooper: A ravenous monster living at the bottom of the old well in the woods behind their house. She’s determined to deliver her 14-year-old son straight into the creature’s eager clutches. Cooper turns to his girlfriend, Megan, for help, but then, to his horror, the creature takes her prisoner.

Now, it’s up to Cooper to fend off his murderous mother, finish his Hamlet paper, and enter the putrid lair at the bottom of the well to rescue Megan. And when he confronts the creature, Cooper must make the toughest decision of his life: kill, or be killed.

This horrific tale, inspired by Hamlet, puts a modern, terrifying twist on the Shakespearean classic.

Three Quick Points About The Well

• Point 1: This book needs a hacksaw—a big one. And to stop trying to sound cool. Most of the words contained within The Well’s two covers is effluvium. The repetition, the analogies, and the random references to every celebrity or HPotM (Hot Product of the Moment) wears a bit thin.
• Point 2: Why hasn’t Cooper been eaten yet? By chapter 11, that was the question I asked. I figured if he was eaten, it would put everyone (including Cooper) out of their misery.
• Point 3: Hamlet? Really?!? The only tenuous connection I saw between this story and Hamlet was the shoe-wedged storyline about Cooper and his classmates studying the play and hating every minute of it.

Continue reading »

Recent Arrivals chronicles the books that have made their way onto the Today, I Read… bookshelf. Here’s the latest arrival: The Well by A. J. Whitten

First line: Dying in the movies always looks cool.*

Initial thoughts: I heard about this upcoming title from a friend and she said it might be right up my alley. Sure enough, after reading the synopsis, she was right. Modern horror inspired by Shakespeare? Definitely up my alley.

Plus, the cover looks pretty cool.

My review is now online

Book description:

If Hamlet thought he had issues, he should have talked to Cooper Warner.

His mother’s normally sunny demeanor has turned into something—homicidal.

And what’s worse, she has help in her hunt for Cooper: A ravenous monster living at the bottom of the old well in the woods behind their house. She’s determined to deliver her 14-year-old son straight into the creature’s eager clutches. Cooper turns to his girlfriend, Megan, for help, but then, to his horror, the creature takes her prisoner.

Now, it’s up to Cooper to fend off his murderous mother, finish his Hamlet paper, and enter the putrid lair at the bottom of the well to rescue Megan. And when he confronts the creature, Cooper must make the toughest decision of his life: kill, or be killed.

This horrific tale, inspired by Hamlet, puts a modern, terrifying twist on the Shakespearean classic.

Book Details: 336 pages; Graphia; Pub. September 28, 2009

Learn more:

• Official website
• Read an excerpt
• Reviews at GoodReads

* First line taken from Chapter 1, not the prologue.