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Buying books
Nov. 29th, 2005 05:10 pmI've been a fan of Elinor M. Brent-Dyer's Chalet School books for over twenty years now. Although most of the books are available through Armada, they're all abridged versions. However, I discovered, a couple of years ago, that Girls Gone By Publishers are republishing all the original texts, along with a pile of other 'hard to find' authors. They bring a few of the Chalet School books out each year, plus some of Elinor's other even-harder-to-find titles.
Anyway, I was Christmas shopping on Amazon and did a spot check to see what Chalet School books they had, and found a couple of fill-in titles by other authors, so I ordered a couple and they all arrived today. I took a glance through the "Chalet Girls Grow Up" by Merryn Williams, who is a published author with, apparently, ten other titles to her name.
Now tell me this: what kind of published author fails to be aware that the full stop (period) goes before the ending speechmarks in direct speech?! It's not a one off - I've glanced through the book and the mistake is repeated time and time again. Did no one proof-read this book?!
And, to make it worse, the author appears to have decided that everyone is doomed to misery. Jack kills himself. Jo, his wife, (one of the most beloved Chalet School characters) is depicted as bossy, domineering, and getting more and more muddled as the years go by. Whereas in the actual series, Jo was extremely understanding (although described as a 'champion-butter-in') who would certainly have picked up on her eldest daughter being ill-treated by her husband! Len, (short for Helena - the eldest daughter), is being abused by her husband. To the extent that she only knows it's okay to greet him at the door as he's not in a bad mood.
That's all I've read so far and, to be honest, I won't be bothering with the rest of it. It does, of course, have a pile of raving reviews on the back, which leads me to suspect that the people who loved it are mentally deficient.
::takes a deep breath:: Well, unlike the reviewers, I won't be considering this the 'definitive' version of what happened after the last real Chalet School book.
Btw, I share the same birthday as Elinor M. Brent-Dyer (6th April) and I'd love to know what she would have thought of that book.
On the plus side, I got four books for my mother, and the Wizardology and Dragonology books that match the Egyptology book a friend of mine is getting me for Christmas. They're for Christmas too, btw. And they are just as gorgeous as the other book.
Anyway, I was Christmas shopping on Amazon and did a spot check to see what Chalet School books they had, and found a couple of fill-in titles by other authors, so I ordered a couple and they all arrived today. I took a glance through the "Chalet Girls Grow Up" by Merryn Williams, who is a published author with, apparently, ten other titles to her name.
Now tell me this: what kind of published author fails to be aware that the full stop (period) goes before the ending speechmarks in direct speech?! It's not a one off - I've glanced through the book and the mistake is repeated time and time again. Did no one proof-read this book?!
And, to make it worse, the author appears to have decided that everyone is doomed to misery. Jack kills himself. Jo, his wife, (one of the most beloved Chalet School characters) is depicted as bossy, domineering, and getting more and more muddled as the years go by. Whereas in the actual series, Jo was extremely understanding (although described as a 'champion-butter-in') who would certainly have picked up on her eldest daughter being ill-treated by her husband! Len, (short for Helena - the eldest daughter), is being abused by her husband. To the extent that she only knows it's okay to greet him at the door as he's not in a bad mood.
That's all I've read so far and, to be honest, I won't be bothering with the rest of it. It does, of course, have a pile of raving reviews on the back, which leads me to suspect that the people who loved it are mentally deficient.
::takes a deep breath:: Well, unlike the reviewers, I won't be considering this the 'definitive' version of what happened after the last real Chalet School book.
Btw, I share the same birthday as Elinor M. Brent-Dyer (6th April) and I'd love to know what she would have thought of that book.
On the plus side, I got four books for my mother, and the Wizardology and Dragonology books that match the Egyptology book a friend of mine is getting me for Christmas. They're for Christmas too, btw. And they are just as gorgeous as the other book.