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.

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/

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.

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/

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

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!

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."

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."

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."