The Reading Vent & Rant Thread

[Quoth]

Joan of Arc wore "male" style armour because women warriors did, if they wore armour and were warriors (not many were by then). Vikings and a thousand years earlier, Celts had women warriors. They didn't wear bikinis.

The English claim that Joan of Arc wore men's clothes was disingenuous. It was a fake trial.


Later women warriors wore flat breast-plates and internal padding, so a sword would slide off. The ancient Greek men had fake "enhanced chest" armour, I forget the name of it. I don't think anyone else did. Greeks and Romans didn't have women warriors.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Joan of Arc wore "male" style armour because women warriors did, if they wore armour and were warriors (not many were by then). Vikings and a thousand years earlier, Celts had women warriors. They didn't wear bikinis.

The English claim that Joan of Arc wore men's clothes was disingenuous. It was a fake trial.

From what I recall reading around the subject, the main indictment was that she wore men's clothing. However, under canon law it was acceptable to do so as a defence against rape: so a woman traveller or a woman in a male setting was allowed to wear men's clothing while she was in that situation, but she had to return to women's clothing once she left that setting.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by maddz

From what I recall reading around the subject, the main indictment was that she wore men's clothing. However, under canon law it was acceptable to do so as a defence against rape: so a woman traveller or a woman in a male setting was allowed to wear men's clothing while she was in that situation, but she had to return to women's clothing once she left that setting.

Even English legal people and leaders at the time said the indictment didn't apply to armour. And as you point out it would have been acceptable when surrounded by soldiers anyway.

[ownedbycats]

Fanfiction where the authors don't put paragraph breaks between dialogue. Why?

Even worse they did it properly in the early chapters but then stopped. I DNF'd.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Fanfiction where the authors don't put paragraph breaks between dialogue. Why?

Even worse they did it properly in the early chapters but then stopped. I DNF'd.

It's not just Fan Fiction.

I've seen that occasionally on old books republished where it's a OCR proof error or something.

It makes very hard to follow who is speaking.

Also on some newer titles (OCR unlikely) having actions by another character in the middle of same paragraph as the dialogue is very bad writing. It's just confusing. Often that can't be properly fixed by inserting two paragraph breaks. It's bad enough having an action by a different character at the start or end of dialogue, though a new paragraph usually fixes that.

Writers and Editors: there is no charge for paragraph breaks.

[Renate]

Many times I have to backtrack to figure out who is speaking in a badly layed out ping-pong conversation.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Renate

Many times I have to backtrack to figure out who is speaking in a badly layed out ping-pong conversation.

Seriously, wouldn't it hurt to put a "name said" every couple of lines?

[nabsltd]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Also on some newer titles (OCR unlikely) having actions by another character in the middle of same paragraph as the dialogue is very bad writing. It's just confusing.

Do you mean something like the following, where John is not the speaker:

“Where are we going?” John just shrugged. “I need to know where to turn.”

If so, agreed. I hate that.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by nabsltd

Do you mean something like the following, where John is not the speaker:

If so, agreed. I hate that.

Yes, exactly. Needs three paragraphs and rewritten. Also if there are more than two people, you'd swear it's John speaking.

It's a non-negotiable rule in English that an action in the same paragraph as the speaker has to be by the speaker, if you do that at all.

[Rellwood]

Serious, like average 200 books a year. I have multiple Kindles, but I still love being able to read a book in print.

I used to love going to the used bookstores and hunting around for new things to read or old copies of my favorites. I lived at the library as a kid and I still love (loved) walking around, browsing, checking out the stacks. The smell of a library and used bookstore is different than the smell of a new bookstore somehow, but I love the smell of a printed book.

I used to spend hours in Barnes & Nobel when I was REALLY poor and bought a cup of coffee at their coffeeshop in the store and just read whatever book I was in the middle of that I couldn't afford to buy but could read in the store. I also read a lot of magazines there. They didn't mind.


Can't get that sensory effect with my Kindle.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Rellwood

Can't get that sensory effect with my Kindle.

And I'm very happy I no longer have to smell paper when I read. One man's bread etc.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

And I'm very happy I no longer have to smell paper when I read. One man's bread etc.

Which leads to mold, mildew, and lung disease. pBooks can really be killers.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

pBooks can really be killers.

Yeah, I woke up from a nap the other day and caught my paperbacks whispering to each other. Gotta keep an eye on them.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Rellwood

I used to love going to the used bookstores and hunting around for new things to read or old copies of my favorites.

I still get some of that when I find old backlist books are available as ebooks.

But yeah, almost all of the joy of going to the bookstore (new or old) is gone since I switched to ebooks. I go to the mall far less than I used to and Half Price Books almost never.

I lived at the library as a kid and I still love (loved) walking around, browsing, checking out the stacks.

I still take my kid to the library. When I go, I usually just sit somewhere and read on my Kobo. I still like the library, but again: it's just not the same.

Yet I wouldn't want to switch back. Some things are lost. Other things are gained.

[Apache]

In the 80's I had a job traveling and I was in a different location almost every day. Most of the locations were in malls from East Coast to West Coast and Texas to Canada. After that I opened my own store and was in the local mall for 8 years. I hate malls with a passion and try to never go in to one again. It has been a long time since I was in a mall. It has been 26 years since I relocated my store from the mall. Some customers still ask me if I miss the mall and I give them an emphatic no.
Apache