Monday, June 27, 2005

The Writer in the Way

I finished reading The Family Trade, and I don’t know that I’ve ever felt this way about a book: The story is great and fun and compelling, but the writing just isn’t there for me. I just took a look at the reader reviews on Amazon, and most of the people that bothered to write really loved the book. There was one complaint, however, that picked up on my concerns, but in regards to something I hadn’t noticed:

usually enjoy parallel universe stories and this one is no exception. Would continue reading the series.

One caveat, why o why don't authors who are going to have weapons figure predominantly in their books do at least a minimum amount of research about them? It's soooo(!) aggravating to be jarred out of the story by stupid (preventable) mistakes. A snub-nosed revolver with a safety catch? An elite military unit carrying MAC-10's?

This skinny (by modern standards) book is a pretty good teaser though. I'll keep reading and hope the author reads the reviews and does some research.


I don’t know much about guns or arms, so I didn’t catch that, but I agree with this reviewer—I’ll keep reading because I want to know what happens. If the writing doesn’t improve, though, I may find myself skipping to the last chapter.

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It’s the end of our fiscal year. (If you haven’t made a pledge yet and have been thinking about it, now is a really good time to pick up a coffee mug.) My raise will show up in my next pay check, as will my increased payments for benefits and parking. There is actually a chance that my take-home pay will be less than it is now, despite the raise. Tell me again why I like working for a non-profit?

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Teddy has two teenaged girls in charge of the kids on his camp bus. They look alike in the way that many slim-shouldered girls of that age do—same clothes, same hair, same jewelry. I didn’t realized Ted noticed this until he said from the back seat this morning, “Here come Carley and Marley.” I said, “Those aren’t their names. Aren’t they Amy and Gillian?” He replied, “I think so, but look at them.” Maybe my boy won’t grow up to dig sorority chicks? (Sorry if this offends, but my experience with sororities was not a good one.)

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I’m thinking of taking a break from all current events that don’t involve celebrity hijinks. I’m fascinated by the whole Scientology thing, and could read about that all day, but I can’t take much more Iraq, and Iran is scaring the hell out of me. Is this avoidance justifiable self-preservation, or is it just childish and irresponsible?

1 comment:

BabelBabe said...

Gina, Suzanne would be ashamed of you - concentrating on celebrity hijinks! Have you no pride? Have you no sense of feminism? (Um, has she no sense of humor? Or sense of perspective?)
No it's not childish. It's summer, and no one in power seems to much care about real world events, and in this heat who can concentrate on anything other than which celebrity is bonking which, and what movies are coming out this weekend?
As long as you don't start any rumblings about *converting* to Scientology, feel free to explore. If you start to think about converting, I will have to lock you in your basement till you come to your senses. Or something.

*****

Teddy made me laugh out louod. I see he got your sense of humor. Carley and Marley - that's priceless!

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Factual mistakes in a book can be incredibly grating. I can only think of one book I've ever read where this was the case, and of course I have repressed which book it actually was, although The Da Vinci Code might be a good guess.