The Reading Vent & Rant Thread

[ownedbycats]

Reader-insert fanfiction.

I don't mind it as a concept. The problem is that the author always tends to make me act incredibly out of character. Also seeing "Y/N" (short for "your name") always throws me out of the writing.

[John F]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Oof. Can you turn off the emails from that library?

Originally Posted by John F

Good idea, I'll have to check.

I tried logging in twice, 24 hours apart, and couldn't log in. Overdrive responds "Your Library Card and PIN could not be validated at this time" and the library website says "The Library Card Number or PIN you entered is incorrect". I'll just smirk whenever I get an email.

[Rumpelteazer]

Until very recently (last week?) if I put a book on my Amazon wishlist that wasn't released yet it would say what the release date was on my wishlist page. I like to keep the not yet released books at the top of my wishlist in order of publication. That way it's easier to keep an eye on it. I do this because the Dutch release date sometimes differs from the one listed on GoodReads or FantasticFiction.

This morning I checked, because I knew one or two books are coming out this week, but Amazon has removed the release date from the wishlist page, so to see it you have to click to the book page. It is a minor thing. Mostly annoying when I want to add a new unreleased book to the list in the right place or when I want to check which books are going to be released when.

I can't think of a good reason to remove it, except to annoy customers.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

I can't think of a good reason to remove it, except to annoy customers.

Amazon's been doing a pretty good job of that lately!

[Quoth]

Amazon Wishlist faults

1. You can't see any discounts just for you (which can be for various reasons). Only shows official price.
2. Sometimes mysterious "See all buying options" instead of One Click (which should be optional, should be a basket/trolley for ebooks).
3. Sort Price Low to High is broken. Maybe it's using USA prices on UK Amazon for sort order?
4. Page for an item doesn't show if it's already in a Wish List and if you add it, it makes it top of list.
5. Search filter seems to only search title & author, not comments or blurb.

Kobo Wishlist faults
No sorting or filters at all, but at least when viewing a book page you can see if it's in the Wishlist and optionally remove it (missing function on Amazon), which is very good.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Amazon Wishlist faults

1. You can't see any discounts just for you (which can be for various reasons). Only shows official price.

For me, that's a feature, not a bug. I'd prefer to see the ful price.

I do wish wishlisted items would generate an email when they go on sale, like they do at GOG and Steam. I mean, I know that's what ereaderIQ is for. But it seems so obvious.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

For me, that's a feature, not a bug. I'd prefer to see the ful price.

I do wish wishlisted items would generate an email when they go on sale, like they do at GOG and Steam. I mean, I know that's what ereaderIQ is for. But it seems so obvious.

Yes, I prefer to see ALSO the full price. The issue is you have to click and view book page for every ebook on the Wishlist to see if there is any special discount. The Wishlist does show price when originally added, and if reduced for everyone, the current price. That is fine. But apart from spend £X get £Y credit (There isn't the points system on UK marketplace as there is on US) there are other mysterious book specific discounts I've seen and taken advantage of, but they never show up on the Wishlist. So now I open a tab for every book more than default priority to see what the price really might be reduced to, if at all.

Also if you have ability to use more than one market place each has separate wishlists (I'd use DE, USA and UK for physical items, inc paper books on USA not on UK, and Irish registered country Kindle users can use USA OR UK marketplace to buy ebooks at UK or USA price, but still with geo-limited, i.e. if it's not on UK it becomes unavailable to purchase when you log into USA.

OTOH no matter which eBay country I login, everything is on my Ebay Ireland Watch List, if added, even if in USA, UK, Germany, Italy or whatever ebay site.

[isarl]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Yes, I prefer to see ALSO the full price. The issue is you have to click and view book page for every ebook on the Wishlist to see if there is any special discount.

This is a bit of a pain in the butt, but if you have a Kobo device, then you can page through your wishlist in the Discover section, 3 books at a time. The Kobo device shows the regular price and, if the book is discounted, the regular price is struck through and the discounted price is shown beneath it.

[Hitch]

I've stumbled across an author that writes Holmesian pastiches which are not awful. Are they ACD? No, but they're okay. They lack some of the "mystery" elements that I'd prefer, but...beggars/choosers.

But here's the thing. This schmuck has been writing these for some years and they're all simply titled. NOT numbered. Nothing like "book 2 in the yadda-yadda series" or the like. Plus, he writes full-length novels AND shorties/novellas, the latter of which he combines into a "boxed set" for lack of a better word and it's even harder, trying to figure out what you've read and what you haven't--I've stumbled across something I've read in a set, too.

I mean, why the hell not identify them? It's a nightmare for me to figure out (this is KU) which ones I've read and which I haven't; I've downloaded the same books several times and realized in the opening scene that I had. That's really annoying.

I can't tell if he's an idiot, lazy or...IDK. It's frustrating. It's not like there are only 3 or 4 of them.

Hitch

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by isarl

This is a bit of a pain in the butt, but if you have a Kobo device, then you can page through your wishlist in the Discover section, 3 books at a time. The Kobo device shows the regular price and, if the book is discounted, the regular price is struck through and the discounted price is shown beneath it.

The website is less tedious than the Kobo. Tried the actual Kobo once. Pointless.
The issue is you can't sort or filter by anything. They are list in most recently added first. So to make a book be at the start of the list I click on item, remove from wishlist, add to wishlist.

Currently my Kobo list has 74 items. Maybe they only tested it with a few. It has 12 per page, but only about 4 fit on full height of a 4K screen (set to regular, not retina/HiDPI). No sort or filter at all.
Yet on Search they can filter:
All Results
Book Titles
Author Names
Series

And sort has 7 options.
There are more options in side bar, like ebooks only or audio only or both. Or Categories, Language, discounts. Far better than Amazon's almost totally broken search, easier to search Amazon's titles with a search engine than on the Amazon site!

[issybird]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I do wish wishlisted items would generate an email when they go on sale, like they do at GOG and Steam.

And Kobo.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I do wish wishlisted items would generate an email when they go on sale, like they do at GOG and Steam. I mean, I know that's what ereaderIQ is for. But it seems so obvious.

We really need an IsThereAnyDeal for books.

[ownedbycats]

Well I would hope that my eBook was printed on low-acid paper

[theducks]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Attachment 200774



Well I would hope that my eBook was printed on low-acid paper

Have you seen what Cocacola does to a PCB trace? I used to service supermarket scanners. I would get a 'we had a spill' call and by the time I got there, the circuit traces were already turning copper-patia-green (basket cased the board).
E-books really need to be low acid

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Well I would hope that my eBook was printed on low-acid paper

Originally Posted by theducks

E-books really need to be low acid

Bit rot wins out in the end.