"The Collected Novels of Jose Saramago" - Amazon FINALLY matches Sony's price!

[jgaiser]

Learn something new every day.

I had assumed if a new version was pushed by the publisher, eventually it would show up in my account. Looks like the early purchasers won this time.

[NightBird]

For this book, the publisher chose to update in place, adding a lesser edition (but with better formatting and TOC) and didn't bother to even change the description of the book. So, all new purchasers don't get what is being advertised.

Maybe this was accidentally deleted somehow when they were trying to fix something else. They still have the same description, including this book, at their website.

I sent Amazon feedback on this also, so we'll see if anything happens.

Makes me leery of doing updates in the future, though, if things like this happen.

[koland]

Originally Posted by NightBird

Maybe this was accidentally deleted somehow when they were trying to fix something else. They still have the same description, including this book, at their website.

I sent Amazon feedback on this also, so we'll see if anything happens.

Makes me leery of doing updates in the future, though, if things like this happen.

If so, they completely rebuilt the book, rather than fixing formatting of an existing text.

The missing novella is missing from: the active TOC, the TOC list up front, the copyright page and the book.

You never can tell what an update will do - most I've seen have fixed horrible issues (especially with some early topaz books; even the topaz updates often were much more readable). For indie authors - it's almost always true that more editing, proofing and rewrites will yield a better end result. Those I let update when I notice them.

But for major publishers (who don't update as often), it does pay to make a backup of the original before allowing an update to push thru.

[NightBird]

But for major publishers (who don't update as often), it does pay to make a backup of the original before allowing an update to push thru.

Good idea.

[koland]

well, speaking of updates - check your settings if you are a UK amazon customer. They have just added a setting called "Automatic Book Update"

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/digital/..._kstore_8#_avu

Obviously, I recommend you consider setting it to off.

[Prestidigitweeze]

What a useful thread this has been -- thanks to everyone involved! Having arrived late, I'll chance a download at $6.00 and hope for the missing novel in an update.

One Amazon review (from May of 2012) complained bitterly about the quality of the proofreading and said that typos litter every virtual page. Can anyone confirm or dismiss this complaint?

[Brendan Moody]

I haven't read through any of the novels yet, but I did a lot of skimming in my efforts to make sure All the Names wasn't in there somewhere, and I haven't seen a single typo. I've also been able to look through the earlier version, and didn't find any egregious errors there either, so either there was a third version that looked awful, or that reviewer is flat-out wrong.

[jgaiser]

Like Brendan, I haven't looked at the whole thing but I haven't found any thing egregious.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Thanks for that, Brendan and Jerry.

Rough-scan carelessness seemed unlikely in a book at the original price point and level of prestige, but we've all seen that it isn't impossible, either.

[koland]

The worst part of the original was the atrocious TOC - the linked in the wrong style, obviously, so various sentences were labeled as "chapters", along with the actual novel/story names (some of which are all caps, others are not). So, difficult to find the start of anything you want to read.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by koland

The worst part of the original was the atrocious TOC

Yeah, I noticed that. But the actual story beginnings are all in CAPITALS, so it 'pretty' easy to find the starts.

[koland]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Yeah, I noticed that. But the actual story beginnings are all in CAPITALS, so it 'pretty' easy to find the starts.

Um... no.

The missing one, for example, is properly capitalized (in my copy).

I didn't bother checking all of them (this is way down on my TBR list, right now).

[Prestidigitweeze]

My TBR list is often superseded by my TBIBI list ("To Be Inspired By Inadvertently"), which interrupts my prescribed course of reading to impose a newer flow of ideas.

I'm likely to begin reading one of these novels tonight, but I have no idea when I'll finish. I love the fact Saramago hit his stride in his sixties -- something to look forward to in one's old age.

[desertblues]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Like Brendan, I haven't looked at the whole thing but I haven't found any thing egregious.

I bought the same book from Amazon a few years ago for $16 I think or $11, I don't remember what exactly.
It has 12 books in it, but I didn't see any faults in it: I read the Elephants journey, Balthasar and Blimunda, Blindness and Seeing.
At the time I found it cheap, so for $6 is a very good price.
I'll strongly recommend Blindness. (and not in the book: Caïn)

[Prestidigitweeze]

The reviewer asserted -- rather defensively, I thought -- that Saramago's unconventional style was most certainly not the issue.

However, after examining a few of the novels, and reading the first thirty or forty pages of Blindness, I'm convinced the reviewer's referring to Saramago's odd punctuation and use of title case after commas. At first, Saramago's conventions look decidedly more incorrect than, say, Celine's or Goytisolo's -- LeGuinn mentions being put off by this in her introduction -- so I'd imagine the reviewer never bothered to look past their initial reaction to the unfamiliar.

Admittedly, someone like Pynch or Harry could have done a better job of formatting this collection, but it's certainly a respectable ebook in its current form and, in my incredibly humble opinion, the best ever posted in MR's bargain forum.