A list of books I’ve read for the pure enjoyment of reading, and have reviewed or plan to review in the hopes of helping my readers make informed choices.
Book Reviews
- The Disappeared: A Retrieval Artist novel by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
- Grave Beginnings: The Grave Report Book One by R R Virdi
Promised Reviews
- Here There Be Different Dragons
- Twice Upon a Time
- Chronocrime
- Storm Chase
- Floor 21
Planned Reviews
Well, theoretically anything in my personal library is something I “plan” to review, but here’s a general idea of where I might start:
- Bedlam Boyz (Urban Elves)
- The Unsuspecting Mage (Morcyth Saga)
- Wearing the Cape: The Beginning
- Hollow Earth
- Bone Quill
- Book of Beasts
- Stormdancer
And just for the heck of it, I’ll include:
Movie and TV reviews
Arrow Season 1 (and Character Review: Malcolm Merlyn)
Maybe I’ll give TV/movie reviews a separate page, and maybe I won’t; it just depends on how many reviews I (eventually) write in the category.
Proofreading
I think it can be said that there are two major types of readers: the type who reads for pleasure, and the type who reads to critique.
When I’m working, certainly I’m the critiquing type. Many of the jobs I’ve applied for and worked–data entry, for instance, or anything involving even the slightest amount of programming–require considerable attention to detail, and that includes the ability to proofread.
But the fact is that most of the books I’m reviewing are those I have read entirely for my own enjoyment, and my reviews should reflect that.
I am not the proofreader, nor editor, nor beta reader for any of these books; I am not involved in producing the books, and I am not actively looking for spelling errors and typos and such. I am the customer, and I am reviewing a theoretically finished product.
I will still notice errors when they occur, but unless they actively distract from the story in some significant way–unless, perhaps, the book is riddled with mistakes, or they change the meaning of a sentence or paragraph–I simply don’t care about them. If it takes more time to make a note of the error than it does to process it and move on, chances are I’m just going to move on.
I am, as the writer of the “Language Police” article below stated, “off duty” in terms of finding these errors.
Not only that, but some of my books aren’t even written in American English!
Perhaps the author is Japanese, or Scottish, or any other language out there, and is simply using a different dialect than I am accustomed to.
Perhaps an incorrect word choice isn’t incorrect at all; perhaps it only sounds odd in one dialect, but is a perfectly normal phrase wherever the book happens to take place.
Try as I might, there’s no way for me to recognize all of these distinctions when they happen, so I find it easier to be forgiving…. just in case.
That being said, these are, as previously stated, theoretically “finished” products, and certain mistakes should have been caught long before these books reached my hands.
If I find anything especially glaring, I may decide to mention it.
But my focus is on the stories themselves. For it is the stories themselves that I’m reviewing.
Related articles
- My favourite proofreading tips (fantasycollective.wordpress.com)
- January 8 Book Marketing Tip: Decide how soon to send your manuscript out for review (marciebrockbookmarketingmaven.wordpress.com)
- Two authors will tell pros and cons of self-publishing (napavalleyregister.com)
- Digital Sucks-ess? (editorsonlineblog.wordpress.com)
- Language police: check your privilege and priorities (stancarey.wordpress.com)
- Proofreaders – the Good, the Bad and the Criminal (juliaproofreader.wordpress.com)
- What can a proofreader do for you? FAQs (juliaproofreader.wordpress.com)
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