Bookish Quirks & Icks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about phrases you read in books but rarely say or hear in real life? Two that I seem to read often:

A character "padding" somewhere: "She padded down the hall to the bathroom."

Describing a character's hair as "scraped" back: "Her hair was scraped back into a ponytail."

Hmm…well written language is different than spoken language. A book that sounds like real life would be tediously boring !

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about phrases you read in books but rarely say or hear in real life? Two that I seem to read often:

A character "padding" somewhere: "She padded down the hall to the bathroom."

Describing a character's hair as "scraped" back: "Her hair was scraped back into a ponytail."

That’s writing. She could walk down the hall to the bathroom, but it’s more evocative (if a bit precious) to say she padded. She could stride. She could gambol. She could trudge. She could plod. These all have different connotations and change the meaning of what she’s doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about phrases you read in books but rarely say or hear in real life? Two that I seem to read often:

A character "padding" somewhere: "She padded down the hall to the bathroom."

Describing a character's hair as "scraped" back: "Her hair was scraped back into a ponytail."

This is why I read literature, because the language is different from real life daily speak!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Men writing women badly. Like sexualizing things in weird ways.

Ugh yes.

Examples ?

There’s a whole Reddit forum called Menwritingwomen with hilarious examples: https://www.reddit.com/r/menwritingwomen/

Confession: I haven’t read a book written by a man in three years. Amazingly, descriptions of women’s appearance can be about height and hair/eye color. You don’t have to include any references to the size of their breasts. Imagine that!

This. And women can vary in description. A well known author in the urban-fantasy space spoke in the area pre-pandemic and a woman who doesn’t look like every woman in his books (who are all tall, thin, and buxom except the one that is short, thin, and very fit) pointed out that none of the characters in his books looked like her. He appeared genuinely confused that women would expect to be represented realistically— in his defense he probably assumes he has no female readers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is more of a sadness and frustration than a quirk or an ick but books in a series that just Stop. I used to see this a lot with mysteries. The first one or two would be published in inexpensive paperbacks, then a hardcover book would come out, the book might not get the sales that were hoped for, then the series just Stops. I realize that there are other reasons to end a series — including lots of personal factors for the authors. It’s hard, though, to get invested in a series — and then….nothing.

Similarly though, it’s hard to get invested in a series and have the quality of the writing and the editing precipitously decline — with the push to publish annually. I’d rather wait another year or two for something good than read books that are obviously put together hastily. Yeah, this might sell one or two more books, but it also loses many longtime readers and likely gains few new ones.

These all ended way too soon for me:

The Ivy League series by Pamela Thomas Graham.
The horoscope themed series by Martha Lawrence
The NYC based series by Marissa Piesman
The Booklovers series by Julie Kaewert
The truly wonderful Alex Powell books by Karen Grigsby Bates

There's a series I love that has three books out and Berkley isn't resigning (I'm guessing the initial deal was for three books). The author is going to self-publish a fourth book to wrap up the loose ends.

What's frustrating is that no one was writing with the setting she was using (Singapore in the late 1800s). Though some characters are British, there were also characters from Malaysia, China, India, etc. It was really interesting. It was also an honest look at how the British operated there.

I would love to know what this series is- please share!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I miss the really small paperback sizes that used to exist like 30 years ago. Yes, the size does exist, but most of the books are in the big book size now.

Me too!!! They were the size of a hand.

Harper has a series called Olive Editions, which are these lovely, small paperback editions. They put out 10-12 books a year, I think, and I always check to see if there are any I want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
There's a series I love that has three books out and Berkley isn't resigning (I'm guessing the initial deal was for three books). The author is going to self-publish a fourth book to wrap up the loose ends.

What's frustrating is that no one was writing with the setting she was using (Singapore in the late 1800s). Though some characters are British, there were also characters from Malaysia, China, India, etc. It was really interesting. It was also an honest look at how the British operated there.

I would love to know what this series is- please share!

The first book is called Singapore Sapphire. The main character used be a nurse in India with her doctor husband and their son, but the husband and son died (maybe of typhoid?). She went back to England and got involved in the suffrage movement. She was one of the women jailed and force fed in the notorious Holloway Prison. After she gets out, she heads to Singapore to live with her brother. She doesn't really talk about the suffrage movement until the second book. In the first, she's working as a secretary for a man who is murdered.

I admit that I didn't know much about Singapore and Malaysia or the role of the British there before reading, but the books made me do some more reading.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43704093-singapore-sapphire

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
There's a series I love that has three books out and Berkley isn't resigning (I'm guessing the initial deal was for three books). The author is going to self-publish a fourth book to wrap up the loose ends.

What's frustrating is that no one was writing with the setting she was using (Singapore in the late 1800s). Though some characters are British, there were also characters from Malaysia, China, India, etc. It was really interesting. It was also an honest look at how the British operated there.

I would love to know what this series is- please share!

The first book is called Singapore Sapphire. The main character used be a nurse in India with her doctor husband and their son, but the husband and son died (maybe of typhoid?). She went back to England and got involved in the suffrage movement. She was one of the women jailed and force fed in the notorious Holloway Prison. After she gets out, she heads to Singapore to live with her brother. She doesn't really talk about the suffrage movement until the second book. In the first, she's working as a secretary for a man who is murdered.

I admit that I didn't know much about Singapore and Malaysia or the role of the British there before reading, but the books made me do some more reading.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43704093-singapore-sapphire

Thank you- these look great!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I miss the really small paperback sizes that used to exist like 30 years ago. Yes, the size does exist, but most of the books are in the big book size now.

Me too!!! They were the size of a hand.

Harper has a series called Olive Editions, which are these lovely, small paperback editions. They put out 10-12 books a year, I think, and I always check to see if there are any I want.

Are you all talking about mass market paperbacks? Trade paperback is the size that’s most common today in the US.

Check this out: https://gailcarriger.com/2013/04/16/trade-versus-mass-market-oh-the-humanity/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I miss the really small paperback sizes that used to exist like 30 years ago. Yes, the size does exist, but most of the books are in the big book size now.

Me too!!! They were the size of a hand.

Harper has a series called Olive Editions, which are these lovely, small paperback editions. They put out 10-12 books a year, I think, and I always check to see if there are any I want.

Are you all talking about mass market paperbacks? Trade paperback is the size that’s most common today in the US.

Check this out: https://gailcarriger.com/2013/04/16/trade-versus-mass-market-oh-the-humanity/

Interesting. I tend to prefer trade pbs because they’re sturdier — with better paper. Interestingly, the few MM books that I’ve had from British publishers seem to be of similar quality— vs the ones from US publishers. I like to save and reread many of my books, and thin pages like newsprint and spines that break in multiple places don’t cut it. What I really miss though, are small sized hardcover books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I miss the really small paperback sizes that used to exist like 30 years ago. Yes, the size does exist, but most of the books are in the big book size now.

Me too!!! They were the size of a hand.

Harper has a series called Olive Editions, which are these lovely, small paperback editions. They put out 10-12 books a year, I think, and I always check to see if there are any I want.

Are you all talking about mass market paperbacks? Trade paperback is the size that’s most common today in the US.

Check this out: https://gailcarriger.com/2013/04/16/trade-versus-mass-market-oh-the-humanity/

Interesting. I tend to prefer trade pbs because they’re sturdier — with better paper. Interestingly, the few MM books that I’ve had from British publishers seem to be of similar quality— vs the ones from US publishers. I like to save and reread many of my books, and thin pages like newsprint and spines that break in multiple places don’t cut it. What I really miss though, are small sized hardcover books.

Totally agree! The trades look nicer on my bookshelf, too. And maybe I'm getting old, but the "lesser" contrast between the print and the darker paper used in mass market paperbacks is tough on my eyes.

[Anonymous]

I have another: When a special edition is exclusive to Barnes & Noble. I deliberately spread my purchases around the indie bookstores. I wish the indies would get the special covers/extras.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I miss the really small paperback sizes that used to exist like 30 years ago. Yes, the size does exist, but most of the books are in the big book size now.

Me too!!! They were the size of a hand.

Harper has a series called Olive Editions, which are these lovely, small paperback editions. They put out 10-12 books a year, I think, and I always check to see if there are any I want.

Are you all talking about mass market paperbacks? Trade paperback is the size that’s most common today in the US.

Check this out: https://gailcarriger.com/2013/04/16/trade-versus-mass-market-oh-the-humanity/

I like the fact that you can put a MM in your purse, but trade paperbacks are usually nicer looking and tend to be better quality. The Olive Editions are basically mass-market size but with the aesthetics of a trade paperback. I associate MM with romance and sci-fi, which were both commonly published in MM when I was younger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I miss the really small paperback sizes that used to exist like 30 years ago. Yes, the size does exist, but most of the books are in the big book size now.

Me too!!! They were the size of a hand.

Harper has a series called Olive Editions, which are these lovely, small paperback editions. They put out 10-12 books a year, I think, and I always check to see if there are any I want.

These look great! Thanks for the information about this series.

[Anonymous]

The older I get, the more I hate paperback. I like to re-read my favorite books and I can’t stand the sensation of the edges getting fuzzy or bent up and I somehow always manage to break the spine or the cover gets a weird bend in it. (I am also the deckle edge hater above).