I have finished reading Where the River Ends by Charles Martin.  I’m afraid that I have now read every novel that he has written.  Sniff.  It is such a rare joy for me to discover a wonderful author that I haven’t yet read.  But now I am finished.  Sigh.

{EXCITING BREAKING NEWS::  Charles Martin has recently released a new book!} 

{not-so-exciting news::  our library doesn’t have it yet} 

{Better News::  Surely I can get it on Inter-Library Loan}

Anyway, this was not my point.  I got a bit carried away.  But while I’m on the subject, if you haven’t read anything by Charles Martin yet, do so.  Prepare to be amazed.  The way he uses words is positively magical, and his stories are wonderful.

Oh, yes.  The point.  I noticed during my reading of this book (which is not his best, in my opinion, but still very good.  You should definitely read Chasing Fireflies if you’re only going to read one of his books.  But why would you only read one?  You should really read them all.)

Um…yes...  I was saying that  I noticed while reading that it was poorly edited.  Thankfully, this hasn’t been an issue with his other books, because it really irritates me.  At least three times, possibly four (I can’t remember for sure) the word “who’s” was used in place of “whose.”  Really?  Once, maybe I can pardon.  Twice, barely possible.  But more than that?  I think not.  It seems to me that we have here an editor who honestly does not know that “who’s” is a contraction meaning “who is” and it is NOT A POSSESSIVE PRONOUN.  Editors are supposed to know these things.

There.  I got that out of my system.  I think. 

But then last night I read a book called Double Exposure by Michael Lister.  Not to be confused with about thirty other books by that name, many of which are probably not fit for human consumption.

It was an interesting book.  It has a great beginning hook.  A wildlife photographer who sets motion-activated camera traps in remote areas inadvertently captures a murder on his memory card.  Even more unfortunately, when he goes to retrieve his pictures, the murderer is still nearby, figures out what happened, and the chase is on.  It’s a great idea, a good story, but written in a very unusual way.

I didn’t actually count, but I would guess that the book contains more sentence fragments than it does actual sentences.  Now this can be quite effective to set a mood, especially one of shock and confusion like the photographer is facing.  For instance, when he looks at his photos, here is the description:

Soft, diffused light.  Liquor-like glow.

Late afternoon.

Humans.

Shock.

Murder.

Handgun.  Close range.  Blood spray.  Collapse.

Shovel.  Dig.  Dirt.  Bury.  Cover.

…

Nausea.

Clammy skin.  Cold Sweat.

It reminds me more of a poem than a story.  And yes, all those quick impressions can work well.  But after pages and pages of this, I started wishing for more real honest-to goodness sentences, instead of this:

Cold.

Hungry.

Tired.

Lost.

Lonely.

Afraid.

I mean… really.  It doesn’t take that much talent to simply line up a firing squad of adjectives.  Don’t get me wrong, there were also lots of good sentences in the book.  And it wasn’t really a bad style--just different.  It’s a good technique, but seriously over-used in this book.  In my opinion, of course.

And it really has nothing to do with poor editing, which was, I believe, what I originally set out to discuss.  So what was the thing that really drove me nuts about this book?  There were NO quotation marks!  During the course of this nightmare run for his life, there are quite a few conversations, some that the man overhears from his pursuers and some within his head, and none of those are graced with quotation marks.  Instead, there are dashes, like this:

--I got ‘im.  I got ‘im.

--Where?

--Don’t move.  Put your hands up where I can see ‘em.

--Which one?  Remington asks.  Can’t do both.

--Jackson?

--Yeah.

--You got him?

I have to wonder….WHY???  It seems to me that we have a perfectly good item of punctuation called the quotation mark which makes it very clear what is being said and what isn’t.  Why not just use it??

One review described his writing style as “minimalist.”  Okay, fine, but I do hope that the exclusion of proper punctuation does not become stylish, because it really irks me.

And now THAT is out of my system.  Thank you very much.  Have a good day.

Between having surgery and getting a brand new Nook, I have just been far too busy lying around reading to actually write anything.  I have read somewhere between a dozen and fifteen books in the past month.  There is something to be said for being forced to slow down.    It's not all fun, of course, but some of it is rather nice.  Like the meals that friends bring and the daughter who comes over to help clean.  I am so blessed.

About the reading.  It took me awhile to progress beyond the three or four books that were pre-loaded onto my Nook, but I could see that since I'm really not interested in reading Pride and Prejudice again any time soon, and I finished with Little Women many years ago, and Dracula--while excellent--only lasted so long, I was going to have to find some more books.  

Once I finally got perpendicular enough to explore the possibilities, I was rather disgruntled to find that Nook books are usually nearly as expensive as the paperback version.  Not happy.  Not happy at all!  But THEN i discovered that there ARE free and very cheap books available.  You just have to know where to look, and Barnes and Noble doesn't make it extremely easy to find them.  However, there is a place called The Cheap that finds all the deals and posts them each day.  Lots of them are actually free--my FAVORITE price!    After I friended The Cheap on Facebook, I found that I had LOTS of new books!    Ahhh..  Life is good!

And right now, just in case you are a book lover, you should know that they are offering a wonderful giveaway.  Since I actually use and like this site, I decided to give them a plug here (for what it's worth--I haven't been here in so long that maybe everyone has forgotten me!)  The Cheap is giving away one $100 gift card  and one $50 gift card to Barnes and Noble.  Oh, yeah!!!  Just go to this link and leave a comment if you'd like to enter the giveaway.

http://the-cheap.net/2011/11/06/win-a-100-barnes-and-noble-e-gift-card-in-our-thanksgiving-thank-you-giveaway/#comment-3040

And yeah...I do get an extra entry because I told you about it here.  But hey...I told you, right?  And that's good for you!  Good luck~  (you can have the $50 one--I'm just generous that way!)

Not only would a tiger mother never use the word "ain't," but I'm sure she would also never waste time philosophizing about her parenting/teaching style.  Which (fair warning) I am about to do.  I just finished reading Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua.  (So what happened to the Now Reading...thingie with a link to your book on Amazon?  Huh, xanga???)  It is quite a book.

I alternate between thinking, "That woman is so driven she's insane," which I think is true, to thinking, "I need a little more of that in me." Also true. I am not one tiny bit like her, and I can't quite decide whether to be depressed or thankful about that!

Excerpts:

What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it.  To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences.  

...[Westerners] just keep repeating things like 'You have to give your children the freedom to pursue their passion' when it's obvious that the 'passion' is just going to turn out to be Facebook for ten hours which is a total waste of time!

The trouble is that I read that last bit and think, well, she's right about that!  Seems to be true with my teens anyway.  But then I look at her methods--forcing her girls to practice their instruments for six hours a day, never giving them any free time, shaming them when they come in second--and I think NO WAY, that's not even right!  Besides, I'm not so sure about the first sentence above.  There are lots of things that can be fun even when you're not very good at them.  

The book is fascinating, and I think she may have some good points, but there's one thing I know for sure.  If she's right that a good mother will devote her life to making sure her children excel at all costs, all that means is that I will never be a "good mother."  I would never have the energy to do what she has done.  Nor would I be able to tolerate the constant battles that would inevitably result.  The picture this book paints of her relationship with her children is not one of joy.

I'll choose joy, thank you!  

There is more to life than increasing its speed.
-Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948)

Since I have been Unplugged for the past month or so, I haven't been checking my blog.  I just remembered to come back and read comments and realized that I left you all with a grave misconception of my selflessness.  Though I may have an occasional altruistic moment, this was not really one of them.  I actually got PAID for those two long, long days.  No, they couldn't have done it without our help, but we didn't do it for nothing.  Just wanted to clear that up.

On the other hand, I confess that I truly love it, and that we sold loads of stuff.  I don't know the actual totals, but I'm guessing at least a couple thousand dollars over the two days.  So it was good.

Our van, on the other hand...  not so good.  Nothing terribly serious wrong, according to my incredibly handy husband, just the ignition switch.  However, when he took the entire dash and steering column apart and fixed it, something else broke.  And the part that is broken is not fixable without buying a whole hootenanny of other stuff that it's connected to.  Something in the ignition thingummy parted company with the actual key dealiebob, the upshot of which is that our van no longer starts with a key.  Nope.  It now has a push button start.  Practically like having one of those new smart vehicles.  Well, okay, not exactly push button...more like a "pull the rod" start. 

See that little round doohickey?  Well, to start the van, you just grasp that firmly and pull.  Nifty, huh?  Unique and innovative.  I imagine it will catch on and become all the rage.

My husband is a creative genius, I tell you.  Not to mention thrifty.