What detail of which book ruined it for you? - Page 3

Patricia · 06-11-2008, 08:45 PM

I once came across a biography of Marie Antionette where her lover was referred to throughout as 'Alex Fersen.' (Obviously the spellchecker couldn't cope with Count Axel Ferson.)

I still get a bit cross every time I read the first page of Jane Austen's Emma. Emma is described as being the youngest of two sisters. Didn't they have the same rules about comparatives and superlatives in the Regency period?

RickyMaveety · 06-11-2008, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patricia

I once came across a biography of Marie Antionette where her lover was referred to throughout as 'Alex Fersen.' (Obviously the spellchecker couldn't cope with Count Axel Ferson.)

I still get a bit cross every time I read the first page of Jane Austen's Emma. Emma is described as being the youngest of two sisters. Didn't they have the same rules about comparatives and superlatives in the Regency period?

Ha!! You are right! I never noticed that ... which shows you how much that sort of grammatical error bothers me.

montsnmags · 06-11-2008, 09:02 PM

[SPOILER BELOW]

Putting aside the seeming-prescience of the plot turn that enabled it, there is a detail in a book in a series that had me throw it aside and never lift another by the author off the shelf:

Spoiler:

Ugh. I feel a little sick.

Cheers,
Marc

Nate the great · 06-11-2008, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montsnmags

Spoiler:

Ugh. I feel a little sick.

Cheers,
Marc

Good for you. I had to actually read the crap he wrote after that novel before I learned my lesson. Believe me, you missed nothing.

GeoffC · 06-12-2008, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

I always pretend to myself that such books take place in an alternate universe where technological advancement proceeded along different lines. So sure, space travel with analog computers, why not? We're already suspending disbelief. Up the ante.

How's this for a nit-pick? Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nymh. During the conversation about plowing, the shrew asks Mrs. Frisby, "Remember in the spring of sixty-five? He plowed on the eleventh of March, and on a Sunday at that."

In 1965, March 11 fell on a Thursday, not a Sunday.

(not my own, I found that online)

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

It's the kind of nit I love to pick ... although, I probably wouldn't notice that one myself. I only remember those dates and days of the week that were somehow of screaming importance to me ... and 3/11/65 wasn't one of those.

It's a nit-pick, but if in an alternate universe, why can't Sunday be on a Thursday.
And according to Einstein's law of Relativity, the further and faster one travels there is a chance that by the time you reach where ever you are going, that today may be tomorrow, or the day before that...

Sparrow · 06-12-2008, 03:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

How's this for a nit-pick? Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nymh. During the conversation about plowing, the shrew asks Mrs. Frisby, "Remember in the spring of sixty-five? He plowed on the eleventh of March, and on a Sunday at that."
In 1965, March 11 fell on a Thursday, not a Sunday.

I tend not to regard 'mistakes' in dialogue as problemmatic.

People misremember stuff in real life conversations all the time, so why not allow them to in novels?

Taylor514ce · 06-12-2008, 08:51 AM

And after all, it was a talking shrew.

pshrynk · 06-12-2008, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DixieGal

I like the way you think/thought/thunk. Have you considered joining the campaign to elect Pshrynk as Prez in 2004? https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...647#post197647

Every vote counts, and some count for more than others!

Vote early and often.

Taylor514ce · 06-12-2008, 08:56 AM

No need to vote early. It's time travel, man. Take as long as you like. Take your time.

pshrynk · 06-12-2008, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

Oh, because the bar sinister was for the illegitimate sons?? I can see that, although I don't think most children would be aware of that one, or rather, of the connotation.

A lot of those 60's cartoons were quite subversive. The Simon Bar Sinister character in Underdog being one of them. Watch re-runs of Rocky and Bullwinkle and you'll drop your teeth at the innuendoes and frankly sexual tones set by the dialogue, all the while being perfectly entertaining for the littluns. Today's cartoons are a pale ghost of what we have had in the past.

pshrynk · 06-12-2008, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taylor514ce

No need to vote early. It's time travel, man. Take as long as you like. Take your time.

True. True. I once voted in haste in Ohio in 1994 and helped usher in the Republican Revolution.

kacir · 06-12-2008, 09:51 AM

The only reason I have started to read "Angels and Demons" and "The DaVinci Code" was that I found out that the catholic church has put the books "on the idex" - that means that the church does not want its members to read the books. Wow! A forbiden book. Let us find out why ...

I know next to nothing about the art and I am not vere well versed in the catholic church history, so I have read the books. There are some details that might spoil the story for a reader that is less tolarant than myself, but ... I have definitely read worse books. You have to take fiction books with a grain of salt anyway.

than I have made a mistake by starting to read The Digital Fortress http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Fortress.
Holy $DEITY!
Such a piece of total, utter, absolute, mind-boggling, ULTIMATE technical illiteracy!
If you know something - anything - about cryptography, computers, or technics in general, DO NOT READ THE BOOK.
And this is not just about lots and lots and lots (all of them!) of small details that author obviously does not understand at all. The base of the plot itself - that you can somehow "poison" the chipher breaking supercomputer and to destroy it *physically* just by feeding it a specially crafted "bad" input data.

I have totally lost any respect for anything Mr. Brown might ever write again.

HarryT · 06-12-2008, 10:07 AM

One of my pet peeves - in David Webber's "Honor Harrington" series, there's a group of people who speak German (I forget their name off-hand). The German is horribly "wrong".

RickyMaveety · 06-12-2008, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pshrynk

A lot of those 60's cartoons were quite subversive. The Simon Bar Sinister character in Underdog being one of them. Watch re-runs of Rocky and Bullwinkle and you'll drop your teeth at the innuendoes and frankly sexual tones set by the dialogue, all the while being perfectly entertaining for the littluns. Today's cartoons are a pale ghost of what we have had in the past.

That's one reason (among many) that I loved Rocky & Bullwinkle and still love it to this day.

I remember having one of their comic books (I must have been about 10) and thinking it was the coolest thing in the world that the characters would move around ... on the page, but outside of the frames of the cartoon boxes. For example, if they needed to escape from Fearless Leader, they would tear a hole in one of the frames, and jump down into the one below.

That single comic opened my mind up to whole new worlds. That (for me) was my first "think outside the box" moment.

bbusybookworm · 06-12-2008, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montsnmags

[SPOILER BELOW]

Putting aside the seeming-prescience of the plot turn that enabled it, there is a detail in a book in a series that had me throw it aside and never lift another by the author off the shelf:

Spoiler:

Ugh. I feel a little sick.

Cheers,
Marc

While that fact did not put me off his books completely, I stopped buying his books after the Bear and the Dragon. Ugh! Sausage? that was horrible. And his other books that came after that which I skimmed in the Library confirmed my decision.

However I still love my copy of Red Storm Rising (On my 4th copy), and
Still enjoy his earlier works.

06-11-2008, 09:02 PM	#33
montsnmags Grand Sorcerer Posts: 10,155 Karma: 4632658 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: none	[SPOILER BELOW] Putting aside the seeming-prescience of the plot turn that enabled it, there is a detail in a book in a series that had me throw it aside and never lift another by the author off the shelf: Spoiler: Jack Ryan = President Ugh. I feel a little sick. Cheers, Marc

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06-11-2008, 08:45 PM	#31
Patricia Reader Posts: 11,504 Karma: 8720163 Join Date: May 2007 Location: South Wales, UK Device: Sony PRS-500, PRS-505, Asus EEEpc 4G	I once came across a biography of Marie Antionette where her lover was referred to throughout as 'Alex Fersen.' (Obviously the spellchecker couldn't cope with Count Axel Ferson.) I still get a bit cross every time I read the first page of Jane Austen's Emma. Emma is described as being the youngest of two sisters. Didn't they have the same rules about comparatives and superlatives in the Regency period?

06-12-2008, 08:51 AM	#37
Taylor514ce Actively passive. Posts: 2,042 Karma: 478376 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: US Device: Sony PRS-505/LC	And after all, it was a talking shrew.

06-12-2008, 08:56 AM	#39
Taylor514ce Actively passive. Posts: 2,042 Karma: 478376 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: US Device: Sony PRS-505/LC	No need to vote early. It's time travel, man. Take as long as you like. Take your time.

06-12-2008, 09:51 AM	#42
kacir Wizard Posts: 3,450 Karma: 10484861 Join Date: May 2006 Device: PocketBook 360, before it was Sony Reader, cassiopeia A-20	The only reason I have started to read "Angels and Demons" and "The DaVinci Code" was that I found out that the catholic church has put the books "on the idex" - that means that the church does not want its members to read the books. Wow! A forbiden book. Let us find out why ... I know next to nothing about the art and I am not vere well versed in the catholic church history, so I have read the books. There are some details that might spoil the story for a reader that is less tolarant than myself, but ... I have definitely read worse books. You have to take fiction books with a grain of salt anyway. than I have made a mistake by starting to read The Digital Fortress http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Fortress. Holy $DEITY! Such a piece of total, utter, absolute, mind-boggling, ULTIMATE technical illiteracy! If you know something - anything - about cryptography, computers, or technics in general, DO NOT READ THE BOOK. And this is not just about lots and lots and lots (all of them!) of small details that author obviously does not understand at all. The base of the plot itself - that you can somehow "poison" the chipher breaking supercomputer and to destroy it physically just by feeding it a specially crafted "bad" input data. I have totally lost any respect for anything Mr. Brown might ever write again.

06-12-2008, 10:07 AM	#43
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	One of my pet peeves - in David Webber's "Honor Harrington" series, there's a group of people who speak German (I forget their name off-hand). The German is horribly "wrong".

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