Best and Worst of Prose

Work. Such a foul four-letter word. I have had little time to read anything, even the back of a shampoo bottle. It is not that I work long hours but that I work with miserable managers, impatient guests, and a computer system which I think has developed sentience and uses its power only to freeze the system at crucial moments.

About a month ago, however, I did manage to read Dandelion Wine, my first Ray Bradbury book ever. It is not a work of science fiction but I have come to understand that song a little better. I don't think I would call him the best science fiction writer in that I doubt very much that the science in his fiction is as good as Le Guin. But he is perhaps, in the genre of science fiction, the best writer of well crafted prose. Although, I am currently straying from sci-fi and rereading Invitation to a Beheading and Nabokov puts most writers to shame. So my sense of comparison is a little off.

Since I am being so indulgent as to read Nabokov, I thought it would be an interesting experiment to read the worst piece of science fiction ever. While I am sure there are plenty of contenders (one day, I may even throw my own hat into that ring), I have accepted the challenge of reading The Eye of Argon. I have barely made it through the first few paragraphs but already I can tell this will be a challenge. I might need to actually print off a copy and go at it with a red pen so soothe my spelling and grammar OCD.

There is a possibility that this will lead me to reread Dune, since it is generally recognized as the best science fiction story ever written but the Jesus and Lawrence of Arabia motifs irk me a bit and I might skip it.