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

[MickeyC]

Just finished Zoo Station by David Downing and it was a good pre-WWII read. Next up American Sniper by Chris Kyle. Want to read the book before seeing the movie.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

I bought The Golem and the Jinni (note the US spelling!) in January of 2014, but still haven't read it yet. I'm moving it up the TBR list based on your assessment.

And I started reading The Golem and the Jinni at lunchtime today. About 10% into it and enjoying the book very much. Thanks for all who recommended it.

[Lin2412]

I read Girl of Nightmares (which is the second and final book for the Anna Dressed in Blood series), rushed reading it, because my niece has already beaten me around to it, and is feeding me with spoilers. In the end, I liked it even if it's a Young Adult fantasy book (horror-ish, but not as greatly gruesome as the first book). I would've liked if it had more scare factor, but it's still pretty creepy and the end is bittersweet. I'm adding it in my favorites shelf.

[Lusitanic]

Spoiler:

This dystopic history is absolutely great! And you can read it for free on wattpad
http://www.wattpad.com/story/1174851...=share_reading

Spoiler:

[Dngrsone]

Yeah, I'm grandfather, and all, but they certainly didn't have much quality YA fare when I was a kid, and I am enjoying the heck out of it now.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Finished, but again, I seem to be having problems getting motivated to read. I'm reading audio books OK, but getting bogged down with conventional books.

Next up, a short set in the Boundary universe of Ryk E. Spoor and Eric Flint. This is a free short work from the monthly Baen posting of a free fiction and non-fiction on their main website.

Well, that was a pleasure! Makes me want to buy the new Boundary book from Baen. Oh, I guess that was the point! But it's going to have to wait for a Kobo coupon or next month. No $$ in this month for it.

Next up, a Georgette Heyer Regency - Arabella. Should be reliable fun.

[Rev. Bob]

I'm about three-quarters of the way through Hannah Jayne's Under the Final Moon, which I really hope doesn't turn out to be the last book in the series. It's nice to have a heroine who pokes fun at the stereotyped book covers that her books end up getting anyway. (She frequently refers to her lack of an arsenal, unfitness for leather clothes, and other such UF/PR cover elements. Despite all that, the publisher keeps putting leather-clad UF women on the covers.)

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by MickeyC

Just finished Zoo Station by David Downing and it was a good pre-WWII read...

I've had that on my TBR for a while. Perhaps I should move it up. I'm a fan of Alan Furst's Night Soldier series; that sounds similar.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by MickeyC

Just finished Zoo Station by David Downing and it was a good pre-WWII read. .

Originally Posted by bfisher

I've had that on my TBR for a while. Perhaps I should move it up.

This is also on my TBR. Not sure when I'll bump it up, but I'm looking forward to it.

[KyBunnies]

I started and finished this book tonight

http://amazon.com/dp/B00RYIY9VM/

In Her Blood by G. V. Trent. The author is trad pub'ed but is branching out. It is a psychological thriller. Great read.

[Rev. Bob]

I just finished the sixth (last?) in a series, Under the Final Moon, and was disappointed by the lack of editing (from a traditional publisher!) as well as by the last two chapters. The ending was uncharacteristically slapdash, and the resolution mechanism wasn't explained well at all. Further, the narrating character was suspicious of a strange new character, but one of the major existing characters would logically have been able to verify his claims.

The previous five books worked pretty well, but this just fell flat at the very point it should have stood tall. I almost wonder if this was planned as a cliffhanger and had to be changed late in the process.

Next up is an anthology, Unidentified Funny Objects 3. Humorous SF/fantasy, with a few illustrations. I've enjoyed the first two and have no reason to expect less from the third.

[Lin2412]

It really surprises me when there is are a few typographical or grammatical errors in books from traditional publishers. I'm more forgiving if it's in my indie ebooks, and brush them off as long as I get the meaning anyhow.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by Lin2412

It really surprises me when there is are a few typographical or grammatical errors in books from traditional publishers. I'm more forgiving if it's in my indie ebooks, and brush them off as long as I get the meaning anyhow.

Typos really irritate me in books, whether traditionally or independently published, but I'm kind of resigned to seeing them in indie books. Even worse is homophone misuse, like when someone "takes the reigns" or "pours over homework." (Unless you've got characters kidnapping monarchs or upending a pitcher over a textbook, those don't mean what you intend to say.)

The way I see it, an author is a construction worker and an architect. An architect designs a structure, just as a writer sets up a story. When it comes time to build it, words and grammar become the bricks and mortar, respectively. Fail on any of those three fronts, and that beautiful house collapses into a pile of worthless rubble.

Homophone abuse particularly bugs me because it tells me that the author isn't even trying. They can't be bothered to tell the words apart; do they even know what the differences are? That's like a mechanic not caring what kind of oil your car needs; would you pay that guy to rebuild an engine? I sure wouldn't! At least rein/reign and pour/pore are relatively uncommon terms; everyday words like your/you're and they're/their/there are simply inexcusable. If you can't keep those straight, you simply have no business writing for a living. (Likewise, I'll readily forgive mistakes on arcane tenses, but if your narrative shifts from past to present and back again within the same scene and without reason, put the keyboard down!)

One of the earliest and most valuable lessons I learned in school was back in the fourth grade, when a teacher told me that I didn't have to know everything, just where to find the information. That was longer ago than I care to admit, and she was talking about encyclopedias and dictionaries, but this is 2015. We have the Internet now, and lots of websites exist that will clarify just about any questions you have when it comes to language and grammar. If you don't know, do a search and find out. If you're not online at the moment, make a note to check it later. I have to do that all the time with lay and lie, because that's one of my own weak spots, but I do it - because it's important to Get It Right. (I had to look that up just last night, in fact; I needed it in the newest chapter.)

I'm a little more forgiving with typos, especially certain kinds. Hyphens, for instance - sometimes they get put in or taken out manually to make the print version come out right. I get that. It's still wrong, but it probably happened after the author was done with it; it's a formatting goof. Complex grammar gets a pass, too; I'm concerned with the basics. When something comes out of a traditional publishing company with significant, easily-found errors, I want to mark it up in red ink and send it to them with a note asking if they have an opening in Editorial.

And yes, if a book doesn't have DRM, I fix my copy. I might want to read it again someday. If it's an indie author, sometimes I'll contact them and offer to share what I've found. I mean, if I'm fixing my copy, why not offer the same fixes to them so they can update the master copies?

[Dngrsone]

If it's bad, and particularly if it's a book I know I will want to read aagain, then I will go in and fix it. But it takes me so long to read it then, and sometimes it feel like work.

So... sometimes I cringe inwardly and read through. I did get to help an author out with proofing her book once, though-- the publisher failed to provide her with galleys before publishing the paperback, and so she got a handful of fans to go through and nitpick the hell out of the final product with her.

[sakura-panda]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

(I'm trying to read all my unread bought books from 2005 and 2006 this year - which is slightly over one per week. I'm a little behind, so I'd better catch up!)

I'm alternating between my oldest purchased unread ebooks from the now-closed Sony ebook store and my oldest purchased Kindle books (freebies and books bought for my son). However, my books only go back to 2009 (Sony) and 2011 (Amazon).

I just finished The Professor by Charlotte Bronte (bought as a Sony Classic, but I read the Feedbooks edition) and have started Reinventing Leona by Lynne Gentry.