Sandi Shilhanek | Reviewing

This past weekend I did something I can only remember doing one other time. I started a book and did not finish it. Worse yet, was the fact it was a review book. I always feel the need to finish a book I guess I have what might be considered an optimistic outlook that the book surely has to get better, thus my continued need to read.

The book I was reading for review was a bound and printed ARC (Advanced Reader’s Copy) and full of typos which as you know from a previous blog I don’t usually notice, but these were so glaring that they totally prevented me from being able to get a good reading flow going. My second problem with this particular book was that the storyline seemed to go from one idea to another without any really rhythm. These two issues made me decide to ask the person in charge of reviews if I truly had to read and review this book.

Luckily for me she did release from having to read this book, and I can move on to the next. Unlike what I think most people will do I think I shall put a bookmark in this book, and at some point in the very distant future I might pull it out and give it a skim to find out for sure how it ends, as it was the last book in a trilogy.

So this inquiring mind needs to know are you a die-hard finish to the end no matter what person, or are you of a mindset that there are so many good books to read why bother with a lesser one? What do you do with the unfinished ones? Do they go to the shelf for another try later, or move on to a new home?

Sandi Shilhanek | Editing

When my TBR blog was posted last week I went back and read it. I was so embarrassed to have my name attached to it because of the mistakes I found where I obviously hadn’t gone back and proofread it. This got me to thinking about when I read a book with poor editing, and how it can pull a reader from the story.

I recently read a galley of Overnight Sensation by Karen Foley, and I was amazed at the number of mistakes I caught. It pulled me from the story, and truly affected my enjoyment of it. I didn’t mention it in my review, because I’m confident that in the editing process the mistakes were caught, because if I were to be honest I would tell you that for me to notice it has to be blaring, so I’m positive that a professional editor or proofreader would catch the errors and have the author correct them. I have no doubt that the final copies that readers are buying from their local bookseller are perfect, and that readers will thoroughly enjoy Overnight Sensation.

I am not trying to single out Ms. Foley’s work by any means, but this is the most recent book that I’ve read that immediately calls to mind how poor editing can affect a reader’s enjoyment of the book. I can remember reading a book, but unfortunately not the title where the character’s clothing changed in the middle of a dinner. How was something as simple as that not caught?

I can recall another book I had to read for review, and had a printed ARC complete with a back blurb. In the back blurb the hero had a different name than what he was actually called in the book.

These are just a few things I’ve noticed, and while not enough to affect the enjoyment of the story overall they are enough to make me wonder about the editing/proofreading process.

I don’t want to bash a book or an author because I do realize it’s difficult to be creative and continue to come up with the stories that entertain us, and take us away from the drudgery of our daily lives, but I’m curious to know have you read a book where the editing/proofreading was enough to make you stumble over the otherwise easy flow? Did that or did it not affect the overall pleasure you normally get from your reading material?