Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[bizzybody]

The James Potter books need run through your favorite conversion program to apply compression, especially the latest one (20.8 megabytes in mobi, 9 for epub), to shrink the file size a lot.

Reading "In the beginning was the command line".

This is exactly how the World Wide Web works: the HTML files are the pithy description on the paper tape, and your Web browser is Ronald Reagan.

[Luffy]

The Quiche of Death (Agatha Raisin #1)
by M.C. Beaton - 3/5

There has been some deliberation concerning the book's rating. I mused on how different the book was. How different from my expectations. Much of the book's positives ranked as character buildup. On that score, the book scored high. But characterization was something that didn't- doesn't- set my pulse racing. Basically I don't admire things that I THINK I can do myself. I can remember a lot of acclaimed songs that I couldn't enjoy because I thought I could have written them myself.

Agatha Raisin stars in her first book, solves her first case. She hints of future successes in crime fighting. M.C Beaton, the author, must have been pretty sure of being able to keep on writing further adventures with Raisin as the amateur detective.

So I've given this book 3 stars. It all comes down to how much I've enjoyed said book. I reckon the setting for the murder was a bit too shallow and artificial. That's kind of queer, since it's located in a real rural place, where the author herself lives. With hindsight, if one culls the total amount of pleasure derived from Quiche Of Death, then I'd say the book really scored 2.5. There's a big question mark over whether I'll be motivated enough to keep reading. The book is zany enough, it's just not funny. It has a certain mordant, but not enough zest. I'll have to risk reading the second book to see if the author has stayed in a rut or has moved on to better stuff. Until then.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

I've been all tied up with after holiday honey-do's and am just now getting back to my reading, finally! I've picked up the 2nd Veronica Mars Mystery, Mr. Kiss and Tell by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham, and it's queued up and ready to read after I finish 1/2986! I just took a short time to read a Dresden Files FanFic short story called, The Last Stand by franknjoe. It was well worth the short time it took to read it and it was great to pay a short visit to The Harry Dresdenverse between Novels while waiting for the next release. Now back to 1/2986!

Yesterday I completed my read of 1/2986 and now I'm anxiously awaiting the release of the sequel!

I've just begun reading the 2nd Veronica Mars Mystery, Mr. Kiss and Tell.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

Yes, CSS problems are a different story, and special characters can be a problem, but those are relatively minor issues in comparison to the typical typo problems.

I try to attribute wrong-word errors to typos, but sometimes I think that the writer simply does not know the difference between "affect" and "effect" or similar.

Originally Posted by Luffy

Agatha Raisin stars in her first book, solves her first case. She hints of future successes in crime fighting. M.C Beaton, the author, must have been pretty sure of being able to keep on writing further adventures with Raisin as the amateur detective.

I've been reading Beaton's Hamish MacBeth series. The books are pleasant cozies -- no real depth, but fun fillers.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Time of Troubles by Harry Turtledove. My oldest bought unread ebook, from May 2005.

Which is an omnibus of two books, The Stolen Throne and Hammer and Anvil.

Quite well done and engaging fantasy empire stuff. I've finished the first half of this omnibus and I'm on to the next.

There is another omnibus that I have marked down as read. I must have read that about when it came out, but I have little memory of it. I shall probably content myself with reading a summary of it when I've finished this one.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

I try to attribute wrong-word errors to typos, but sometimes I think that the writer simply does not know the difference between "affect" and "effect" or similar.

And this is where editors and (to some extent) beta readers are useful. The editor's job is to spot the wrong words and bad grammar that authors miss, and beyond that to see where repetitive language and unclear communication gets in the way of the story.

When self-pub authors choose not to use editors, they're taking that responsibility on themselves...and frequently, their work suffers for it. I've read several SP short stories lately, and the same problems keep cropping up. Perhaps there needs to be a "Self-Editing for Self-Publishers" book, but I think the people who most need it are the least likely to read it.

[bizzybody]

Still reading Commander Cantrell in the West Indies

One SF author (I don't recall whom) told me he spent a few grand to have one of his books professionally edited and it still had some typos and other errors.

If you're writing a book in a genre you like and you have no friends and/or family who also like that genre, you need to find some more friends and/or family.

I'd take that gig for free on a book or two, read it in MS Word and fix spelling etc but not alter content.

If you want suggestions about what might make good changes I'll chip in my opinions. Ie. if you're having capital starships flitting about like fighter planes, no, just no... and if you use that atrocious trope of the impossibly dense asteroid belt... (though I may suggest ways to do something with a similar effect that is *not* physically impossible).

I have read *a lot of books*. In my packed away for years personal library are (IIRC) around 400. I used to be a voracious patron of public libraries before 2004 when I got an old Handspring Visor and got into ebooks. In two years of Jr. High (circa 1983-84) I read *every* SF&F book in the school's library, a large chunk of the biographies and made a good dent in the reference section. All that while and for years prior I'd also read many magazines, including but not limited to Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, and Mechanix Illustrated - including my grandfather's back issues that went back to the 1950's and 60's. I also read The Mother Earth News in the 70's and 80s. I have no idea how many ebooks I've read.

Reading comprehension, I has it. I benefited from being just ahead of a "new wave" change in education that tossed out phonics and other "outdated" methods of teaching English. By the time I got to Jr. High it had caught up with my generation and the language classes there didn't cover one thing *I* hadn't already learned by 4th grade. Yes, I have met many people one year younger than I who went through the same schools, who have the most atrocious non-skill at the English language. I wonder how they manage to survive...

Roberta Pournelle's Reading Program needs to somehow be put back into production. readingtlc.com It's not what I used (mostly I just loved reading and learning) but it looks like a good program for people having difficulty.

[Lin2412]

I'm supposed to be reading a lot of recommendations (and I will get around to it) but I found myself re-reading Bossypants by Tina Fey for the enjoyment of it. I haven't highlighted anything the first time I read it, but most the text are hilariously quotable. “Whitney Houston’s cover of “I Will Always Love You” was constantly on my FM Walkman radio around that time. I think that made me cry because I associated it with absolutely no one.” Hahaha

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by bizzybody

.............. Yes, I have met many people one year younger than I who went through the same schools, who have the most atrocious non-skill at the English language. I wonder how they manage to survive...

Yeah... me too.


Stitchawl

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by bizzybody

One SF author (I don't recall whom) told me he spent a few grand to have one of his books professionally edited and it still had some typos and other errors.

The occasional typo is pretty much inevitable; Murphy will have his say. That's a far cry from what one review I saw today called out, where a writer apparently used "revolution" when she meant "revulsion." That's what I like to call "a special kind of stupid."

Originally Posted by bizzybody

Yes, I have met many people one year younger than I who went through the same schools, who have the most atrocious non-skill at the English language. I wonder how they manage to survive...

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Yeah... me too.

I think they live off of texts and emoji.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

The occasional typo is pretty much inevitable; Murphy will have his say. That's a far cry from what one review I saw today called out, where a writer apparently used "revolution" when she meant "revulsion." That's what I like to call "a special kind of stupid."

I think they live off of texts and emoji.

imnso I don no wth u say dat.

[bizzybody]

Meanwhile, Eddie Cantrell has arrived in the Caribbean and is soon to come into conflict with the Spaniards.

[Rev. Bob]

I've been reading a few self-pub short stories recently, and... oh, my. There's a real need out there for some serious editing.

[Lin2412]

I just finished Gone Girl and I love it very, very much. I had my good friend Jill read it also at the same time so we can share our thoughts and reactions after seeing it (and watch the movie together!). She didn't love it as much as I did, in fact, she hated Amy. Hahaha.

[Dngrsone]

Originally Posted by Lin2412

I just finished Gone Girl and I love it very, very much. I had my good friend Jill read it also at the same time so we can share our thoughts and reactions after seeing it (and watch the movie together!). She didn't love it as much as I did, in fact, she hated Amy. Hahaha.

That's easy to do. I hated Amy, too. I think I liked Dark Places better, though. Unrelated books, except, you know... same author.