The Reading Vent & Rant Thread

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Tom Gauld on the TBR pile
https://www.theguardian.com/books/pi...-books-cartoon

In gaming, "pile of shame" is another term for a huge backlog. I feel like it would also work for books.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

In gaming, "pile of shame" is another term for a huge backlog. I feel like it would also work for books.

I've still not got round to playing Daggerfall.

[John F]

A rant against myself for not paying attention.

Having a book on hold, getting it, and finding out it isn't in a language you can read.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by John F

A rant against myself for not paying attention.

Having a book on hold, getting it, and finding out it isn't in a language you can read.

I've done something similar by placing a hold on audiobooks when I'm hard-of-hearing*.

*well, sort of - auditory processing disorder is more of a neurological issue.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by John F

A rant against myself for not paying attention.

Having a book on hold, getting it, and finding out it isn't in a language you can read.

I've done worse; I bought a book in Polish. Didn't discover it until much, much later when I finally got around to it. Or so I thought.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by John F

Having a book on hold, getting it, and finding out it isn't in a language you can read.

Having a book on hold, getting it and finding out it's a freaking PDF.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Renate

Having a book on hold, getting it and finding out it's a freaking PDF.

Oh no. I... did not know that was a thing.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Tortoiseshell

Tortoise shell = the shell of a tortoise.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Agreed and in this day and age of Midjourney and 90 bajillion cat images on the endless list of stock image sites, there's no excuse for it.

HOWEVER, I would add that the first thing I tell authors and publishers is that the cover does NOT need to match the story or the characters. If the horse is brown, the hose on the cover can be a chestnut or a bay, or even something lighter.

The reader isn't really going to remember. Will some? Sure. If it's Geralt of whatever, they'll remember which Roach he's currently riding. But the cover isn't a guide, isn't a companion book to the book itself--its job is simply clickbait, and the moment that click happens, it's done its job. Tortie or no tortie. It's the book's job to tell the story, not the cover's; it's the cover's job to move the reader into a spot where the book can perform its job.

I mean...if you're a cozy cat mystery person, you'll click on that cover, tortie or not. Right? Right.

Hitch

There are more people then you think who will see a cover, read the book and notice the error(s) on the cover. Dresden Files is a good example of covers that really do need to be replaced with corrected covers.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I've still not got round to playing Daggerfall.

They've almost got all of the bugs ironed out now

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by issybird

I've done worse; I bought a book in Polish. Didn't discover it until much, much later when I finally got around to it. Or so I thought.

Curiously a History of Tractors in Ukrainian is in English. Should I take it back and complain? Though it's over 10 years ago I bought it.

[Sirtel]

I'm rereading a SF novel written in 1982. I first read it in the early 90's and didn't notice then, of course, but... a good part of the novel takes place in the 22th century and not a personal communication device in sight. They still use payphone-like kiosks/booths when out and about. Of course, that's to be expected with a novel 40 years old and it's unfair to whine about it, but still... sigh. Most SF just doesn't age well.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I'm rereading a SF novel written in 1982. I first read it in the early 90's and didn't notice then, of course, but... a good part of the novel takes place in the 22th century and not a personal communication device in sight. They still use payphone-like kiosks/booths when out and about. Of course, that's to be expected with a novel 40 years old and it's unfair to whine about it, but still... sigh. Most SF just doesn't age well.

The Chanur Saga (C. J. Cherryh) has actual magnetic cassette tapes being used. It's always a bit jarring when a mention of them comes up.

In a lot of fiction only a few decades old, sometimes it feels like the book would be 90% shorter if some character had a cell phone. So of course, modern books always have characters breaking/losing their phones or conveniently going out of range of a tower.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

The Chanur Saga (C. J. Cherryh) has actual magnetic cassette tapes being used. It's always a bit jarring when a mention of them comes up.

Yeah, in her other books as well. I always feel a toothache coming on when I read the word "tape" in one of her books. But there's no helping it.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I'm rereading a SF novel written in 1982. I first read it in the early 90's and didn't notice then, of course, but... a good part of the novel takes place in the 22th century and not a personal communication device in sight. They still use payphone-like kiosks/booths when out and about. Of course, that's to be expected with a novel 40 years old and it's unfair to whine about it, but still... sigh. Most SF just doesn't age well.

1950's newspaper funnies had Dick Tracy with a wrist radio, later in that decade, upgraded with Video.
No excuse for being that far behind in the tech UNLESS EXPLAINED