Crime, Mysteries & Thrillers discussion
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message 1:
by
Terry
(new)
Jan 01, 2013 07:56AM
The second sounds better. Now I will await a Grammar Teacher's pronouncement.
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Jenni wrote: "What do you guys think of the new look?I like the photos!
Whatever could be wrong with a picture of a library and our dear Sherlock? As for looking too British, some of us Canadians have a tender spot for the Commonwealth!
Jenni wrote: "We actually have an Ebglish teacher. Waiting to hear VickiLee's pronouncement."Pronouncement? Oh my - the English language with all its complexities and intricate idiosyncracies will never be mastered, especially by me! However, our language usage can excite people into dramatic responses, so I will comment on your grammar question tentatively. The word "gotten" has its own history of controversy. My husband (also an English teacher) and I discussed your examples, which both appear to be correct in usage. The trick is to remain consistent with your tense choice throughout your written document. Personally, I find the over-use of the word `had' bulky, but it is not incorrect. I will bow to other opinions if mine seem off-kilter. Through life I have come to realize that I in continual study (and awe) of our ever-shifting and enigmatic language.
Just out of curiosity, does our group have any fans (other than me) of the Dr. Siri Paiboum mysteries (set in Laos) by Colin Cotterill or the Flavia de Luce books by Alan Bradley? I don't seem to see their names come up too often but I love them both.
Jenni wrote: "Hi Vicki. You coud nominate one for the next read. Nominations are now open. The Alan Bradly books sound interesting."Good idea! You know, I was wondering why we are always on-line at different times when it slowly dawned on me that you are in England, I am in Canada, and there is an 8 hour difference! I was in England two years ago and I loved it.
I agree, the second one sounds better.
Jenni wrote: "I have a grammar question about writing in the past participle. Say a narrator is relating a story in the past tense, and she needs to explain something that happened in her childhood, she would u..."Grammatically, either is correct. However, if you are writing fiction and using the past participle to introduce a flashback you will soon find it awkward to keep saying "had gone", "had said" , "had made" for paragrapghs. So the common rule is, introduce the flashback with the past participle and then switch to the simple past tense: "We had gone to school together and had enjoyed many lively parties. Once, we went to a party in Greenwich Village and met up with some crazy musicians. We had a great time...." etc.
Hope this helps. In addition to being an author, I teach Remedial English and Creative Writing (Not to the same students :) )
I don't remember the old look, but the new look is great!Most of my novels have scenes in London.
I understand the question. So let me throw another wrench into this. Does it make a difference in the grammar if you are say writing for British audience or an American audience. We are all aware of differences if spelling - Check - Cheque, Mold - Mould, and so on. CBC did a show on the difference between Canadian english and American english a few years ago and while it dealt mostly with teenage slang it did point out the regional differences.
VickiLee wrote: "Just out of curiosity, does our group have any fans (other than me) of the Dr. Siri Paiboum mysteries (set in Laos) by Colin Cotterill or the Flavia de Luce books by Alan Bradley? I don't seem to ..."I'm a Flavia de Luce fan!
My apologies if there's a post somewhere that addresses it and I just missed it. Thanks!
Never mind, I figured it out. This group is run different from most other groups I've seen, but I think I've got the hang of it now.
Jenni wrote: "I have a grammar question about writing in the past participle. Say a narrator is relating a story in the past tense, and she needs to explain something that happened in her childhood, she would u..."I was an English teacher and am now an editor of manuals for the army, so I guess I'm qualified to answer.
First of all, you do not, in fact, need to use the past participle anywhere in that sentence. You CAN, but you don't have to.
Second, this is most correct: "I ran into Penny Smith in the cafe on Broad Street. I had first met Penny when we were both roommates at university. We had parted when Penny came back to England and I got a job in Berkeley."
Jenni wrote: "What do you guys think of the new look? . . . Sorry it has come out looking so British...."
Don't be sorry. You're British, it's your right to decide on the masthead.
By the way, did you know what Ian McEwan says about saying "British"? He says that he's not British; he's English. And he doesn't think English people should call themselves British.
VickiLee wrote: "The trick is to remain consistent with your tense choice throughout your written document. Personally, I find the over-use of the word `had' bulky..."Exactly! I wish I had said that.
VickiLee wrote: "Just out of curiosity, does our group have any fans (other than me) of the . . . Flavia de Luce books by Alan Bradley?..."I'd love to agree with you, Vicki Lee, but I hate those books. They seem so juvenile to me.
Jim wrote: "Does it make a difference in the grammar if you are say writing for British audience or an American audience. ..."There are small differences such as 1) when it's proper to use "which" or "that," 2) whether it's ever proper to use a comma before "and," 3)whether and when punctuation marks should be inside quotation marks, 4) whether and when to use a hyphen after "non" and "pre," and 5)whether "a" or "an" is proper before a word that begins with "h." But people here in America read so much that is written by non-Americans, they get the rules mixed up. We're mostly the same, though. See
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
Jenni wrote: "I do like this format a lot better without all the "had's."..."No, there is no apostraphe in "hads." And the period would be inside the quotation marks in the U.S. but outside in England.
Jenni wrote: "All the Browns were at the family dinner party...."That is correct: no apostraphe in Browns.
Jenni wrote: "I guess if you are a teacher of young adults in school like VickiLee you develop a taste for the books you share with them also. ..."I'm sure that's correct.
Beth wrote: "VickiLee wrote: "Just out of curiosity, does our group have any fans (other than me) of the . . . Flavia de Luce books by Alan Bradley?..."I'd love to agree with you, Vicki Lee, but I hate those ..."
Ouch! How about Cotteril's Dr. Siri series, set in Laos? You might like those.
VickiLee wrote: "Beth wrote: "I'd love to agree with you, Vicki Lee, but ... Ouch! How about Cotteril's Dr. Siri series, set in Laos? You might like those. "My favorite mystery/thriller/suspense writers are Dennis Lehane, John Hart, and Joseph Kanon. Their books are character- as well as plot-driven. Harlan Coben and Robert Dugonni are also favorites of more plot-driven mysteries/thrillers, although Coben's Myron Bolitar series does get into Myron's character somewhat.
I would think only Moderators would have the power/ capability to move polls and such, Jenni?
I was wondering about the poll too. I figured you(Jenni) took it down.
Howdy. Does anyone read mysteries with dark humor and social commentary? I'm thinking about something like, "The Ax" by Westlake, only a series.
Jenni wrote: "Does naybody know what happened to our poll that was at the bottom of our front page? This one was on Gone Girl."I found it when I clicked on the "polls" link, no idea why it isn't on the home page though. A mystery ???
Jenni wrote: "Larry wrote: "Howdy. Does anyone read mysteries with dark humor and social commentary? I'm thinking about something like, "The Ax" by Westlake, only a series."Dark humor and social commentary is ..."
Will do.
VickiLee wrote: "Just out of curiosity, does our group have any fans (other than me) of the Dr. Siri Paiboum mysteries (set in Laos) by Colin Cotterill or the Flavia de Luce books by Alan Bradley? I don't seem to ..."I have not hear of the Cotterill books, but they sound like something I would very much enjoy, so thanks for mentioning!
Wow!!! I think I will have some of my pink champagne that's in the fridge.:-)
Jenni wrote: "Both my boyfriend and I use Facebook logins to Goodreads instead of creating Goodreads specific accounts. There's a bug in Facebook login and now it has merged our accounts together. We use the s..."That stinks Jenni. Computer bugs are super annoying.
I agree Jenni, my desk top has avirus and its very annoying.
Trying to recall an author and series of books (at least two books anyway). Bear with me, it's been at least 15 years since I read them - they would have likely been published in the late 90s or early 2000s - and I don't remember that much so I'll throw out what I can remember and hope it rings a bell with someone. Okay, it's crime fiction - not sure if they're actually detectives or fall more into the adventurer category - there is an older, strange, partly crippled guy who runs a junkyard full of nasty looking dogs that only he can really control and he can build practically anything. He's a regular who appears in both the books I read.
There is a leader who was a redeemed criminal of some sort and is very reminiscent of Robert B Parker's Spenser, a second guy who is bigger and stronger than the first guy but not quite as smart and a female character who may or may not be the crippled junkyard guy's girlfriend/wife. It seems like all the men may have met either in prison or as a result of some kind of rehabilitation program.
One thing I remember is that the author's photo pictured him (it was a man) with a pitbull dog and the author's bio mentions that he is involved in rehabilitating the image of pitbulls (something like, yes, they can be easily trained to violence but if properly cared for and trained they can also be as harmless as any other dog) and I think that may even figure into the first book as part of a subplot, an ongoing theme in both books is redemption and people who would regularly be cast out from regular society. The author may have been a former attorney or social worker of some sort and I don't think he was terribly well known - at least at the time.
Not much to go on, anybody have any thought on who the author might be or what the books are?
Mike wrote: "Trying to recall an author and series of books (at least two books anyway). Bear with me, it's been at least 15 years since I read them - they would have likely been published in the late 90s or ea..."Could the author be Andrew Vachss? He is an American lawyer who has written many novels (dark crime) and he is an activist for dogs and children.
VickiLee wrote: "Mike wrote: "Trying to recall an author and series of books (at least two books anyway). Bear with me, it's been at least 15 years since I read them - they would have likely been published in the l..."I think that's it. Thank you! I have never been able to find anyone who could figure it out from the little bit of information that I could remember.
Jenni wrote: "VickiLee's amazing at this. We even have a dedicated thread to try to beat her."She definitely gets my vote in the Amazing Category. Thanks again VickiLee, you're the greatest!
Jenni wrote: "******************************************************Anouncment
We have added another 100 members last week and we are now happy to welcome the 600th member to the group.
Do have..."
Fantastic!!!
Celebrations are in order! I think I'll have my hubby mix up some martinis! ; )
Jenni wrote: "It's a bug in the Goodreads Facebook plugin for the Google Chrome browser. I reported it to Goodreads. So the thing is it is better to create a Goodreads account directly using your email becaus..."
Thanks, Jenni. I, too, was logging in through facebook, but I'll fix it today.
So sorry this happenened to your boyfriend and you.
Jenni- I love the idea of having people from the publishers come to chat and share their input. I feel like that would give our group another purpose. If you don't like that you could skip over it, but for so many it would really spark an interest in the books.
Good idea, Jenni. Thanks for working on it. That galley idea sure has been popular so far.
Jenni wrote: "Friday is our quietest night. Everybody's out having fun and then everybody's too tired."Ha, is that what you think? :-)
Usually my Friday goes like this: I go to work, come home. My back hurts too much to sit in front of a desktop computer, which is how I get online. Soon I'll have s smartphone, I forget what kind, but even then I'll probably be reading.
I'm pooped by Friday and don't go out.
How do I post a picture or video on this site? For example, when you ask for a favourite video of the week, or a picture that will make people laugh, how do you get the actual picture to show up instead of just the web site. I lack a certain finesse when it comes to computers :-D
Jenni wrote: "VickiLee,For pictures, read posts 4 and 6 on our Guide thread:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...
For videos, you just post the link, like a You..."
Many thanks for your quick response.
Wow, there are really a ton of members. I've only been a member for a week and I notice each day that there are more and more discussions.
Am I over-looking a simple answer? What does ARC represent? I also notice another member uses IT in her comments, which often seem to represent I. Does it, or am I simply a doofus? Thanks for any help.
Jenni wrote: "I think an ARC is the same as a galley - a pre-publication issue of a book for reviews and publicity. It may or may not have a proper book cover and everything may not be super finished quality.."That is correct.
Jenni wrote: "What is an IT though?""IT" stands for information technology,meaning computer information technology.People who use "IT" are referring to computer issues.
Thanks everybody! I am terrible with acronyms. When I tried looking up the meaning of ARC, I found it either meant "Agricultural Research Council" or "a part of a curve." I sensed I was on the wrong track, as I so often am. I appreciate the help.
In some places in Canada, it's the Addiction Research Council, if my memory serves me right..
