Synopses & Reviews
The writing in this book is so bad, it deserves its own taxonomy of suckitude.
Gillian Flynn, Mary Roach, Dave Eggers, Rick Moody, Chuck Palahniuk, Amy Tan, A.J. Jacobs, Daniel Clowes, Jeff Greenwald, Po Bronson
the list goes on. They all sucked once, and they all have the guts to share some of their crappiest early work in Drivel: an uplifting bit of voyeurism, based on the sold-out Regreturature” stage shows in San Francisco, and brought to you by Litquake and the San Francisco Writers Grotto.
Within these pages youll find abstruse and esoteric poetry (bad); incoherent and illogical short stories (worse); bumfuzzling proto-journalism (shameful); and pretentious, overwrought journal entries (well not speak of this again).
Thanks to these courageous but foolhardy writers, the world now knows the real meaning of a work-in-progress.
Review
"It's instant comic relief. "
Daily Glow
Review
"Whether youre in it for the entertainment value or the encouragement of knowing that even the best writers once sucked, youre bound to find something to love in this collection of mostly terrible early work from some of todays big names.'
--Book Riot
"The book's humor is encouraging; young writers might be inspired to keep working through what might not yet seem to them such deliciously bad writing. Not only hilarious but also somewhat magical."
--SF Weekly
"This endearing anthology of early poems, teenage diaries, college essays, and high school assignments lives up to its bold name. The humorous volume will inspire anyone who enjoys writing and delight those who fondly remember the awkwardness of their teenage years."
--Library Journal
“Drivel will pluck your heartstrings.”
--Vanity Fair
"Before Gillian Flynn wrote the best-selling novel Gone Girl, she penned a soapy tale of evil triplets inspired by the twins of the 1980s “Sweet Valley High” series. Other highlights presented in this collection are Chuck Palahniuks letter to Cambodian leader Pol Pot, written at age ten, in which Palahniuk pretended to be a billionaire industrialist, and Caroline Pauls haphazard letter to then-president Richard Nixon about animal cruelty. (Included is Nixons actual response on White House letterhead.) The primary sources add to the volumes readability—Amy Tans decidedly awful poetry is bolstered by her pretty handwriting and the embarrassing childhood photographs throughout the book remind readers that their favorite authors had bad hair days (or years), too. Journalist Scott gathered the inspiration for her debut book from the San Francisco-based Regreturature, an annual event at which authors read their most regrettable works. Proceeds of the book benefit Litquake, the literary festival that hosts the event.
VERDICT: This endearing anthology of early poems, teenage diaries, college essays, and high school assignments lives up to its bold name. The humorous volume will inspire anyone who enjoys writing and delight those who fondly remember the awkwardness of their teenage years. Ideal for all public library collections." —Stephanie Sendaula, Library Journal
Synopsis
"F" stands for "funny" in this perfect gift for students or anyone who has ever had to struggle through a test and needs a good laugh. Celebrating the creative side of failure in a way we can all relate to, F in Exams gathers the most hilarious and inventive test answers provided by students who, faced with a question they have no hope of getting right, decide to have a little fun instead. Whether in science (Q: What is the highest frequency noise that a human can register? A: Mariah Carey), the humanities (Q: What did Mahatma Gandhi and Genghis Khan have in common? A: Unusual names), math, or other subjects, these 250 entries prove that while everyone enjoys the spectacle of failure, it's even sweeter to see a FAIL turn into a WIN.
Synopsis
It's instant comic relief. -- Daily Glow Celebrating the creative side of failure: F stands for funny in this perfect gift for students or anyone who has ever had to struggle through a test and needs a good laugh. This funny book for teens celebrates the creative side of failure in a way we can all relate to. F in Exams gathers the most hilarious and inventive test answers provided by students who, faced with a question they have no hope of getting right, decide to have a little fun instead. Whether in science (Q: What is the highest frequency noise that a human can register? A: Mariah Carey), the humanities (Q: What did Mahatma Gandhi and Genghis Khan have in common? A: Unusual names), math, or other subjects, Richard Benson's book proves that while everyone enjoys the spectacle of failure, it's even sweeter to see a FAIL turn into a WIN.
- Contains 250 hilariously wrong test answers from exams in Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Math, Business and Technology, Psychology, History and Geography, and English.
- Laugh out loud funny for teachers and students alike.
- With the handwriting - and doodles - of the test taker, readers will have flashbacks of anxiously sitting over a test paper chewing on the end of a pencil.
Fans of F for Effort and F This Test will love F in Exams...and perhaps be a little envious of the students who took full advantage of not knowing the correct answer.
Celebrating the creative side of failure with 250 totally wrong test answers.
- A perfect coffee table, bathroom or bar top conversation-starting book
- Makes a great graduation, teacher appreciation and teacher retirement gift
Synopsis
Wretched writing is the lowest of the low; it is a felonious assault on the English language. Exuberantly excessive, it is a sin committed often by amateurs and all-too-frequently by gifted writers having an off day. In short, its very bad writing. Truly bad. Appallingly bad.
Its also very funny.
A celebration of the worst writing imaginable, Wretched Writing includes inadvertently filthy book titles, ridiculously overwrought passages from novels, bombastic and confusing speeches, moronic oxymorons, hyperactive hyperbole, horribly inappropriate imagery in ostensibly hot sex scenes, mangled clichés, muddled metaphors, and unintended double entendres.
Sit back and enjoy these deliciously dreadful samples, and try not to cringe too much.
About the Author
Ross Petras and Kathryn Petras are a brother-and-sister writing team, and the authors of the bestselling Stupidest serieswhich includes the #1 bestselling page-a-day calendar The 365 Stupidest Things Ever Said (now in its nineteenth yearwith more than 4.5 million copies sold)along with other books.