me talk good english some day

[mamajoan]

The other day I saw a car that had a Maine license plate and a sizable assortment of anti-Iraq-war/anti-Bush bumper stickers. And in the midst of all that, there was a bumper sticker that said "Embarassed American." *facepalm* Yes, with "embarrassed" spelled wrong. The irony is so thick it could smother you. Ugh.

In related news, I just finished reading R is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton. Unfortunately it seems that Grafton has reached the point of fame where no one bothers to edit her books any more. I've ranted here before about how much it annoys me to find typos in professionally published books -- especially the kind of typo that a simple MS Word spellcheck would catch -- but in this case I found an actual plot discrepancy, and that irritates me at least ten times more. Mind you, it was minor enough that it didn't really affect the plot, but major enough that I noticed it immediately, and confirmed it by flipping back a few pages. It was right near the beginning of the book.

Basically, early on in the book, the main character talks to a guy who mentions another guy -- a local businessman -- and asks her if she knows him. She replies that she has seen his name/picture in the newspaper, and is generally familiar with him, but has never met him.

A few pages later, she actually meets the guy, and shows no signs of having ever heard of him. She asks him what he does for a living, and spends some time thinking "gee, he looks familiar, where have I seen him before?" Argh! BAD editor, no biscuit.

Even aside from that, it wasn't the greatest book anyway. I think Grafton has lost her touch, not surprising by the time a series gets to be as long as this one has. The last third of the book, I just slogged through out of a sense of obligation. I hate that. I believe I shall go back to rereading my Terry Pratchett collection. (One of my Saturday meltdowns was sparked by Isaac spilling milk all over my autographed copy of Lords and Ladies....)

Comments

[kneidlach.livejournal.com]

shit like that REALLY BOTHERS ME! so do copy errors in published books. how can a book go to print with spelling errors in it? sheesh

[mogwar.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, I have actually done that. Talked about someone one day and mentioned my vague familiarity with said person, and then a few days later meet the same person and not remember a damn thing. But maybe I'm just weird. :)

ah yes

[lightningrose.livejournal.com]

the "piers anthony" syndrome. Although in his case, I think his original editor actually died before he became completely insufferable. And unreadable.

[roozle.livejournal.com]

Grafton has been just going through the motions since M at least. I found the last couple I read pretty boring, and I'm not even trying any more.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

yeah, I had a vague recollection that the last few I read weren't that great, but I still thought it might make a nice fluffy read for my bruised postpartum brain. As it turns out, not so much. Apparently my brain is still healthy enough to care about actual decent writing.