Reblog if, at some point in your educational life, you have gotten in trouble for reading a book that ‘wasn’t assigned to you’ or reading ahead in a book you were given in class or reading under your desk
*goes off laughing, occasionally pausing to wheeze “at some point” before losing it again*
It was damn near daily.
But I was the unreasonable one for hating school. Sure. Okay.
Still don’t want to sing your bitchass “Marching to Pretoria” song, Ms. H. Suck a mossy crocodick.
ALWAYS. CONSTANTLY.
I remember when I figured out that if I was called on to read in class once per class, I could read ahead as much as I wanted after that. So I would volunteer right at the beginning of reading time and then finish the book, and read something else under the desk.
There were two glorious years where not only did I not get in trouble, but was encouraged to read ahead and read other books. Before that… well, there was “they just memorized the book you read them” (so goes the reasoning for putting a child reading books their classmates wouldn’t read for another year or two in the lowest reading level group in kindegarten), and “you’re stupid” (couldn’t see the board, so ignored the board and read books at my desk instead). And after, “You need to stay with the rest of the class” (lots, especially in history or social studies), and “you’re not allowed to bring your own books” (high school), and “pay attention” (all the damned time).
(And then, do not even get me started on the “read this over the summer so you’re caught up with your grade level” bullshit that forced me to read things that were boring, trite, or were books I’d read years before that and considered well below my reading level, and lowered my grade when I refused to do so.)
The real problem with books-turned-movies isn’t “omg they didn’t include every single word in the book” it’s “omg they completely overlooked the main theme, threw out any significant allegories, took away all the emotional pull, an turned it into a boring action movie with a love triangle in it”
I don’t understand why books have shifted from having summaries on the back of the covers to having one-line reviews.
Seriously though. I want to know what the book is about. Not that someone from the Evening Standard thinks it’s a masterpiece.
I have been waiting for this post my whole life.
Editors I have talked to seem *genuinely* surprised when I bring this up, but, honestly, I don’t care if Stephen King, Robin Hobb, and GRRM ALL liked it, I WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT’S ABOUT.
I never buy a book with a blurb on the back like how the fuck do I know if I am even remotely interested in the story
The blurb got moved–on hardbacks–to the inner sleeve cause marketing showed (a phrase that makes my soul shrivel) that if a book had positive reviews on it, people would trust those reviews and be more likely to buy it.
Most paperbacks will still have a blurb on the back, but it’ll be vague and buzzwordy because it was written by someone in aforementioned marketing team, sort of like how they will tag certain words to make it jump out in a Google search for ebooks. It doesn’t necessarily have to be accurate–just so long as you get the general overall feel for it in order to make a reader think “hey I might like this.”
In reality, authors have very little to do with the cover of their own books, from the composition to the words that appear on the front and back. Some publishing houses will even change the title, and once you’ve sold that book, they are perfectly within their rights to do so and better pick something which marketing will think their target audience will engage with. Hell, I’ve seen authors names changed cause marketing suggests readers won’t read XYZ genre written by Author Name who is known for writing ZYX, so it will be suggested to the author that another name be used, and most authors will go along with it because the implied threat of “we won’t publish you otherwise” hangs in the air over their contract like an axe.
This is not so much true of big name authors in big publishing houses, but for small time fish, it’s fairly common to have nothing to do with the cover design of your book. Indie small houses tend to be a little better about it, but that’s usually because their marketing team is smaller and it’s more cost effective to throw the blurb at the authorxs head and say “here, you do it”.
It’s so weird to think that there are people who watch Lord of the Rings for the first time????? And don’t know what’s going to happen?????
They don’t know what the Shire is??? They don’t know the Fellowship will break???? They don’t know what Gondor or Rohan is???? They don’t know the basic geography of Middle Earth?? They don’t know who will die??? They don’t know Gandalf will come back???? Or that Frodo will go to the Undying Lands??? They’ve never heard the soundtrack??? They don’t have the dialogue memorized????
What on earth is that like???????
Speaking from personal experience:
“This is a very long, very pretty movie. It’s kinda neat to see where the archtypes started. Not sure what to think of Broody McRanger. The halflings – HOBBITS, right – are amusing, I like them. John Rhys-Davies is awesome as always, I am really digging this competitive thing between him and the pretty, snarky elf. Wait, what do you mean there’s 2 more movies? Guys, I’m glad you dragged my Tolkien-ignorant self out to a brand new movie and a late night showing, but that was kinda weird how it’s new and you’re, like, reciting parts of it. I…guess this means I should read the book now?”
*1 week later*
“MOTHER OF GODS HOW MANY TIMES CAN YOU DESCRIBE HOW FRIKKIN’ GREEN THE PRETTY GREEN TREES ARE I CAN SEE WHY IT WAS FILMED IN NEW ZEALAND AND WHY SO MUCH TIME WAS DEVOTED TO WALKING THROUGH THE GORGEOUS LANDSCAPE BUT SO HELP ME I AM GOING TO WATCH THE OTHER MOVIES INSTEAD OF GOING THROUGH ONE MORE NESTED SET OF PEOPLE SINGING EPIC SONGS ABOUT THEIR ANCESTORS.”
I do like Tolkien, and I went into the movies knowing how things went, and I still didn’t read the books until after seeing the movies (abridged audio book, best thing ever, especially as a kid who could not get past the hobbits at the beginning without falling asleep).
And oh, dear gods, yes. The songs and everything are nice, but I ended up skipping them a lot (because brain), and I spent my entire one-and-only full read through of the book playing the soundtracks on repeat so I wouldn’t fall asleep.
Also, if I ever get enough spoons together to visit, I can bring the extended versions of the entire trilogy with me? I have all of them, and it’s about 12 hours of movie not counting intermissions. If you want, anyway.
All my books are centered around 15th century England and the Hundred Years War. Let me grab a photo of the lot on my bookshelf, and send it along, and if you want to pick my brain about any of it, I’ll gladly pull anything. (Especially since right now my brain/muses have plopped themselves down in the early 15th century and are cheerfully refusing to go anywhere else, so research bits get to happen around writing.)
eeeeee! that would be awesome! thank u 🙂
Alright, so have gotten several pictures, the better to show off the titles. Some of these are older books, and anything that needs a more current view of history probably should look at newer books if there are any.
Everything is behind a cut because long post is long and image heavy.
The entire set. Almost, anyway. There’s some spinning/weaving books off the end that aren’t showing up too well. I will admit, too many of these are books I have either not read, or haven’t read recently, and bugger if I can remember the details of what’s in them. They’re also mostly, if I remember correctly, from the collection of a dear friend whose judgement I’d trust. Those that aren’t are all but one bought at SCA events, and I tend to trust those to have at least decent information for a place to start from or to use for general world-building purposes.
The Pastons and Their England, H.S. Bennett – Haven’t cracked this one yet, but I got it because the Pastons left a treasure trove of correspondence from the 15th century, and though they’re a little later than my usual period, it’s still useful information.
Marriage and the Family in the Middle Ages, Frances and Joseph Gies, and Women In the Middle Ages, same authors – I’m still processing some of this, but got those because they were (a) from a collection someone else was getting rid of, and thus very inexpensive, and (b) very useful overviews of things in the period I’m writing. They’re a bit broader in scope, but that’s pretty good for a general sense of what would make sense in period and what wouldn’t. (I need to reread some of this, because the information is not fresh in my head, so.)
This Sun of York, Mary Clive – late 15th century, War of the Roses period. Definitely after my preferred period of history, but still potential to be useful. Haven’t read it yet.
Arms, Armies, and Fortifications In the Hundred Years War, Curry Hughes – *very big grin* Hello, useful information to make anything I’m writing about for my early-to-mid 15th century alternate history sound more real around battles and sieges.
Edward IV, Charles Ross – Another book I haven’t cracked, about the king in the title. I grabbed it from the same collection a lot of these came out of* because eventually a couple of alternate histories are going to get to him, and I need information about him where I can find it that isn’t strictly wikipedia and online so it’s easier to spread my research around me.
The Hound and the Hawk: The Art of Medieval Hunting, John Cummins – This is one of the most recommended books to me about the subject. At some point while I’m writing Spirit All Compact of Fire, this book will be one of those spread around me for research on the fly.
Henry V, Christopher Allmand – This is my primary book for research for Admit Me, Chorus to This History. It has proven wonderfully useful for the period between 1413 and 1422. I may, in fact, be more than a little gleeful about it when I am not trying to mind my length of post and it’s not late.
The First Elizabeth, Carolly Erickson – not cracked it yet, but it’s Elizabeth Tudor, of course I snagged it. I have plans in my alternate histories for her, because I am not having a history where she doesn’t exist at all.
A Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases, Christopher Corèdon with Ann Williams – Want to know archaic terminology, old means of measurements, and other interesting words to use in writing fiction set from approx. the 9th century through the 15th.? *points at book*
Pirates of Barbary, Adrian Tinniswood – Haven’t looked at this yet, but book on pirates. I thought it looked like it might be interesting. Also looks like it may or may not involve twitching, because fuck if I know what sort of bias the author is bringing to things, and also, what bias I’m bringing into things when I get to reading it. It’s also 17th century, so a bit later than my usual period.
And these are mostly more modern or specialized by subject rather than time.
Cooking Without a Kitchen, Marshall Berland – from 1978, haven’t read it through, do trust the person it ultimately came from to have picked up a decent book about cooking. She was an excellent cook.
In Grandmother’s Day, Jean Cross – Informative on a broad spectrum for the late 1800s, primarily the US. Haven’t read it yet because it’s definitely not something to read straight through, and it’s the 1800s. I was given this one rather than getting it.
Learn to Spin, Anne Field – decent book about spinning, excellent photos, has some projects to do with the yarn after. Not so useful for me, because it talks about yarn and I spin embroidery thread, but I enjoy poking through it anyway.
Spin to Weave, Sara Lamb – Interesting, haven’t gotten through much of it yet because I keep getting distracted by other things, like writing.
The Complete Guide to Spinning Yarn, Brenda Gibson – I… still have this because I haven’t remembered to get rid of it, actually. The temptation to throw it across the room is high. Not because it’s necessarily a bad book, but because I am so much not the intended audience. If anyone wants this, feel free to ping my inbox about it, we can discuss details.
The binders at the edge of the last picture are very old Stargate fic that is probably going through the shredder once I figure out if I have digital copies and/or hate it too much to want to type it back in, and a binder full of “watch how someone not a linguist flails their way through making vocabulary for a conlang”. I might someday be convinced to share the latter somewhere that is not actually tumblr and thus gives me a little more control over who sees it.
*ok, if I remember correctly, most of these were from the collection of a dear friend, but it’s been a few years, and my brain is refusing to play nice about remembering where I got them, other than cheap/free. If they are from said friend, I’m not at all surprised my brain refuses to cooperate, because grief is weird.
I am working on retyping everything, since I’m pretty sure the original files are on one of the old zip discs that got tossed because I no longer have a drive that will read them. And mostly eliminating the blurbs, because oh, the wincing at the lack of research.
(This was last printed in 2004, in my defense, and I was younger, stupider, and had fewer resources to use.)
Also, a couple author names got chucked because nope.
Reason #50000198 to buy the Ashlesha hardcover edition: the freaking paper.
Now, mind you, this is coming from a book connoisseur and someone who is *hyper* particular about what she touches. I’ve felt all KINDS of paper, and this book is in at least the top three in terms of quality paper. AND THAT COVER??? SO SMOOTH? THICK??? I’m honestly scared to take this thing out in public with me lest something sully its beauty.
Just. Mmm. This has absolutely nothing to do with the actual story – I just really appreciate this fine-ass paper.
😀 I usually take the dust jackets off hard covers because they’re made of flimsy shit paper, but this one has and will retain its dust jacket because oh… *sits and pets their own hardcover copy*
(So many books have craptastic paper that it’s always nice when one of them has awesome stuff like this. And I don’t think it’s all that weird to get lost in that texture.)
The reason I like reading a book in one day is because I love watching people look at the size of the book in pure horror and then back at me like I just became terrifying in their eyes
I had a guy in highschool look at me one day and go, “why do you have a different book every other day? Why not just read one??” I just kind of paused and said, “they’re different because I read them and get a new one?” And he made this face
these are the moments i live for
THE SECURITY GUARD AT MY JOB IS ACTUALLY SCARED OF ME BECAUSE I HAVE A DIFFERENT BOOK WITH ME EVERYDAY. HE SAYS ITS NOT NATURAL. HAHAHA GOOD
the second day after my ship’s change of command ceremony, i see the new cap come around the corner so i call attention on deck and everyone freezes and clears the way.
he walks past me and i’m about to relax but then he, stops, backs up and looks me up and down. i’m sweating bullets because we knew nothing about what kind of a cap was he going to be like was my shirt untucked or something oh god what did i do now???
and he just goes “where’s your book?”
and i blink because i am a third class petty officer but a captain is still kind of terrifying and he’s new and I DON’T KNOW WHAT BOOK HE IS TALKING ABOUT is he a stickler do i need to have a copy of the bluejacket’s manual on me at all times or what?
so i screw up my courage and ask him, “my book, sir?”
and he checks my name patch again and says, “you’re petty officer xxxx, you always have a book. where is your book? are you okay?”
like
cap has been onboard for less than 24 hours HOW DOES HE KNOW THIS?
(i mean, he’s not wrong, i got a lot of shit from other senior personnel about the pocket on my uniform being stretched out because it always had a book in it.)
but i have an answer and he’s the new cap, so i give it: “i finished my last one and haven’t had a chance to get to my bunk and grab a new one.”
and his eyes bug out
shit
i broke the new captain goddammit LT is gonna kill me
and he goes “BUT YOU JUST STARTED THAT ONE YESTERDAY!”
and i’m just staring back now like HOW DOES HE KNOW THIS OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK OUR NEW CAP IS PSYCHIC OR SOME SHIT
and because my brain has broken under the stress of this encounter i ask him
and he’s like “i saw you on the mess decks on my tour with [old cap] and you were on like page ten that book is like 400 pages how did you read it in one day?”
and i’m like SHIT he’s gonna be pissed because he thinks i was slacking because i read a bigass book in one day fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK
like this was not the first time i’d gotten in trouble for reading when i was on watch or whatever but i had maintenance watches i’m literally waiting for something to break and my chief didn’t mind
BUT THIS IS THE CAP IF HE MINDS CHIEF’S OPINION ISN’T WORTH A FISH FART IN THE OCEAN
and so i stammer, “i read a lot? so… i… i read fast?”
and he just stares and i don’t know what the expression on his face means
before i can process this though and come up with a new response, he’s grabbing my shoulder and turning me and pushing me ahead of him where little baby petty officers do not walk because CAPTAIN GOES FIRST
and i’m like “welp this is how i end up in the brig i get to be the new cap’s first captain’s mast it was nice knowing everyone”
idk that or he’s gonna throw me over the side honestly who knows my whole world was upside down at this point
and then he starts talking
he’s like “go get a new book what are you reading next did you like your last book tell your chief i sent you if he asks why you were gone what is your favorite genre and author have you ever read” and basically escorts me to my berthing grilling me about books and everywhere we go people are staring and oh god i’m going to die i am just going to die of shame and horror and this is it this is what takes me out does this count as dying for my country i don’t even know
and that’s how we learned that our new cap was married to a librarian and an avid reader and was not going to have an illiterate crew, dammit.
i never caught shit for having a book in my back pocket or reading on watch again. 😀
this is so cute i love you so much im so jealous
This is the best story I have ever read, god bless
There's a Mirror on the Wall 