What Are you Reading? Showing 751-800 of 16,523

[Josh]

Lou wrote: "To me the characters are the most important and if they're engaging I'm willing to forgive a lot. However, typos throw me out of any story. A couple here and there I glide past, but when there are ..."

Same here.

[Josh]

Vivian wrote: "Na wrote: "I'm not irked by typos, grammar or spelling. It would be the pot calling the kettle black since I can't even write English properly. In the contrary if I can find any of those mentioned ..."

Fair enough. If you expect readers to pay for stories, it's only fair to put out a professional product.

[Josh]

Anne wrote: "Josh wrote: "Plainbrownwrapper wrote: "I read Lover at Last a week or two ago. Yes, I've read the entire series. There are so many REALLY BAD THINGS about those books -- truly, the list of bad stuf..."

There are errors so egregious NO reader can get past them. :-D But we all have our pain thresholds, and what makes one reader want to throw her kindle across the room is invisible to another.

(And thank heavens for that!)

[Josh]

K.Z. wrote: "Karen wrote: "Chapter 15! http://www.wattpad.com/20913686-the-h..."

I love the metaphor embedded in that closing paragraph. Sweet, subtle, richly appropriate. ..."

Thank you!

[Josh]

Jordan wrote: "Just finished Haunted Heart. Waaaaa! I don't want to be at the end yet! lol. Fantastic story so far and I can't wait for the rest."

Thanks, Jordan. I did really enjoy writing that one -- which is so bizarre given it wasn't a story I planned or scheduled. The idea for the four novels came to me and I just crumpled up my schedule and started writing.

[Katharina]

Na wrote: "I would not consider that science and art, especially literature, have the same repercussion.
Engineering and chemistry may have life-threatening consequences.
I don't see myself being life-threate..."

I'm really annoyed my mistakes like that. Whether in German or in English, I like my texts to be spelled correctly and with proper grammar to boot. Maybe I'm a bit oversensitive in this area, and to be honest I really don't mind one or two or even ten mistakes in the course of a story (depends on how long it is, obviously), but something like one mistake every (other) page seriously diminishes my fun in reading a book - it's like a permanent error signal going off in my brain. Which of course is not life-threatening, but I don't need to pay for that. (Sorry, authors, readers can be real fussy, can't they? :-D)

My pet peeves are probably the mixing up of "there" and "they're" and "their" or "you're" and "your" and suchlike. Argh. That gets my juices flowing and not in a good way...

[Susinok]

Katharina wrote: "Na wrote: "I would not consider that science and art, especially literature, have the same repercussion.
Engineering and chemistry may have life-threatening consequences.
I don't see myself being l..."

I don't think it's fussy to ask for proofreading and editing.

[Katharina]

Susinok wrote: "Katharina wrote: "Na wrote: "I would not consider that science and art, especially literature, have the same repercussion.
Engineering and chemistry may have life-threatening consequences.
I don't ..."

Yeah, well, I understand that some people are bothered more by this than others - and I'm definitely part of the "bothered more" group. I sometimes annoy my family by pointing out the amount of spelling mistakes in newspapers and so on. I guess the slight OCD has to find some outlet... makes me a good proofreader, though :-D

[K.Z.]

Josh wrote: "K.Z. wrote: "Karen wrote: "Chapter 15! http://www.wattpad.com/20913686-the-h..."

I love the metaphor embedded in that closing paragraph. Sweet, subtle, richly ..."

You're more than welcome. I meant it. Whatever you end up adding, deleting, rearranging, and tweaking, I do hope you retain the conclusion, word for word. It's so poignantly hopeful. And perfect. (Uh . . . not that I'm trying to influence your writing decisions or anything. :-P)

[Johanna]

Juthi wrote: "Do we have a thread for The Haunted Heart here? It'd be interesting discussing it with you all."

We have The Haunted Heart topic now -- we'd have needed it sooner or later anyway. Take it away, Juthi! :-)

[Johanna]

Juthi wrote: "Johanna wrote: "

We have The Haunted Heart topic now -- we'd have needed it sooner or later anyway. Ta..."

Thanks Johanna! Good to have you back :D"

You are welcome, dear. Thank you so much for reminding me to set the topic up! :-) And yes, I'm at least partly back. ;-) Our hotel here in Edinburgh has complimentary wi-fi in rooms -- I feel like I'm in heaven! That also means that I'll be able to read the five last chapters of The Haunted Heart while in Edinburgh. YAY!

[Karen]

Katharina wrote: "My pet peeves are probably the mixing up of "there" and "they're" and "their" or "you're" and "your" and suchlike. Argh. That gets my juices flowing and not in a good way... "

I keep working on this with my 4th and 5th grade students. It's an uphill battle, because as soon as I spotlight an error they tend to repeat it! I identify the parts of speech and use sentences like, "They're placing their books over there." I encourage them by saying that they'll outdo a lot of adults if they learn it (and retain it) now, preferably before middle school, and pitch correct use of apostrophes the same way. : )

[Karen]

Some years back I read maybe five of the BDB series when I was reading other paranormal romance-ish series (Joey W. Hill). A lot of the writing is appalling, but in a (for me) almost mesmerizing (re-read the sentence, but it's still silly) way. Finally I realized: I was reading
more for the romance than the paranormal, I didn't care about the Lessers, and I kept imagining m/m pairings. Mainly I just became impatient, especially after finding m/m authors with tight, beautiful writing. But I do understand caring about outcomes for characters, even if I no longer have the patience to read certain stories or styles.

[Katharina]

Karen wrote: "I encourage them by saying that they'll outdo a lot of adults if they learn it (and retain it) now."

That seems to be very true :-D

[Anne]

Karen wrote: "Some years back I read maybe five of the BDB series when I was reading other paranormal romance-ish series (Joey W. Hill). A lot of the writing is appalling, but in a (for me) almost mesmerizing (r..."

I usually skip those parts of her books that are not about the people and their stories. The whole concept of Lessers and all the various fractions of the so-called war is not interesting at all :)

[HJ]

Josh wrote: "I think writers in particular really struggle with this concept. You see books that are enormously popular and so very flawed from a technical or craft standpoint, and it's just hard to accept that craft and technique are NOT the most important aspect of telling a story. Not for most people. ..."

I struggle with the concept, too. Even if the characters are wonderful and the plot is brilliant, I cannot read bad writing. It keeps throwing me out of the book. I'll wait for the film or TV version, when the strong points will remain but the bad points will probably have been removed (sometimes someone else will have to re-write the dialogue).

[Susinok]

I still like the BDB series, and I like the dozens of storylines weaving in and out of the series. It makes it much more interesting to me.

[Karen]

Susinok wrote: "I still like the BDB series, and I like the dozens of storylines weaving in and out of the series. It makes it much more interesting to me."

I do understand that because those are the kind of stories I've always loved, but my preferences have changed (they may change back some day). I'm neglecting a lot of series that I read avidly before. There's a pile of these on my nightstand and on my Kindle. I thought I would get to them this summer. I continue to read weaving storylines, but I'm not so interested in m/f romance right now. I'm kind of bemused by finding myself having read 25% of Kim Harrison's A Perfect Blood twice, then stalling. But what happens between Rachel and Trent is no longer driving my reading past the over-explained passages. (I still do plan to finish this series.)

[Jordan]

Josh wrote: "Jordan wrote: "Just finished Haunted Heart. Waaaaa! I don't want to be at the end yet! lol. Fantastic story so far and I can't wait for the rest."

Thanks, Jordan. I did really enjoy writing that o..."

I'm finding that sometimes the best writing comes out of just ignoring all the planned stuff and writing something fresh. I recently started something without thinking about it and have really enjoyed it so far! Much less painful than the other things I'd been working on.

And I think it shows when an author enjoys writing something. I can see that in The Haunted Heart. Even though it's a rough draft for the most part, your enjoyment shines through, and they're still very well written!

[Jordan]

I have to admit, normally Blind Eye Books does a fantastic job with their books, including their editing. But in reading Lord of the White Hell - Book One, I found several minor mistakes that kept pulling me out of the books. I'm talking about a missing "the" or there was two words minus a space between them. And I've found quite a few in the one book.

Thankfully, Ginn Hale's writing itself is supurb (as always)and kept me reading until the very end. Though these two books are a lot like LOTR in that it's one book split into two (I think I would have preferred them as one complete book rather than two). I have yet to pick up part 2, but will be reading it in September after all my other summer reading books are done. Right now I'm feeling like that's too long from now!

[Josh]

K.Z. wrote: "Josh wrote: "K.Z. wrote: "Karen wrote: "Chapter 15! http://www.wattpad.com/20913686-the-h..."

I love the metaphor embedded in that closing paragraph. Sweet, su..."

Aw. No the last lines won't change. They actually came to me when I started the sixth chapter.

[Josh]

Juthi wrote: "Johanna wrote: "

We have The Haunted Heart topic now -- we'd have needed it sooner or later anyway. Ta..."

Thanks Johanna! Good to have you back :D"

Our party girls are straggling home, confetti in their hair and missing their shoes.

[Vivian]

Na wrote: "I would not consider that science and art, especially literature, have the same repercussion.
Engineering and chemistry may have life-threatening consequences

I beg to differ. I do understand your point of view about being more lenient and all of that, but I must point out that literature can be as perilous as a weapon of mass destruction. For example, you can read all the German literature that led to the Kristallnacht or you can read about the Black Lie among many other events that altered the history of the world. Many of those events were fueled by compromised literature. In literature we have a great saying: The pen is mightier than the sword, not only as a weapon for defense but also as a weapon of offense and not always at the service of those who mean well.

But going back to thresholds of tolerance and all that, as Josh mentioned, each one of us is different and will tolerate different levels. I tend to be lenient with new authors and independently published authors. I am very picky with the big names of any genre. The way I see it is, they've risen to the top and expect to stay there by the grace of their names alone ? *makes face* Some of them are so comfortable in their bubble of fame that they just put out pure drivel (not to mention some of them started out by putting out just pure drivel). It really irks me when a good author starts sacrificing quality for quantity (as in books sold) and fame.

And I am not talking about M/M authors here, because this is very niche and small genre, I am talking about the big names that have their own commercials on TV and own mansions in my hometown.

[Susinok]

Karen wrote: "I'm kind of bemused by finding myself having read 25% of Kim Harrison's A Perfect Blood twice, then stalling. But what happens between Rachel and Trent is no longer driving my reading past the over-explained passages. ..."

I'm voting for Rachel and the demon, myself, but I'm a sick puppy...

[Susinok]

Vivian wrote: "I beg to differ. I do understand your point of view about being more lenient and all of that, but I must point out that literature can be as perilous as a weapon of mass destruction. For example, you can read all the German literature that lead to the Kristallnacht or you can read about the Black Lie among many other events that altered the history of the world...."

Or Martin Luther nailing his 97 items to the door of the church...

[Karen]

Susinok wrote: "Karen wrote: "I'm kind of bemused by finding myself having read 25% of Kim Harrison's A Perfect Blood twice, then stalling. But what happens between Rachel and Trent is no longer driving my reading..."

I'm voting for Rachel and the demon, myself, but I'm a sick puppy...


Yep, me too. As Trent becomes nicer there's something that swings me toward the bad(der) boy. ; )

[K.Z.]

Vivian wrote: "It really irks me when a good author starts sacrificing quality for quantity (as in books sold) and fame."

And ego. This is, I think, what happened to Stephen King. Once he became a cash cow, his publisher(s) and editor(s) seemed to have given him free rein. (Sorry for the mixed metaphor; I know cows don't have reins. :)) His writing became increasingly self-indulgent and discursive, which led to too many monstrously bloated books.

[Johanna]

Josh wrote: "Juthi wrote: "Johanna wrote: "

We have The Haunted Heart topic now -- we'd have needed it sooner or later anyway. Ta..."

Thanks Johanna! Good to have you back :D"

Our party girls are straggling home, confetti in their hair and missing their shoes."

LOL. But you forgot one word from your post: penisconfetti. ;-)

[Susinok]

I read Aaron by J. P Barnaby last night. Computers were off due to rainstorms and I had finished Mongrel. I loved Aaron. It was a book about recovery from abuse. Very well done.

Mongrel I loved as much as the first time. I'm looking forward to Merman which I can start as soon as I catch up here. :)

[Vivian]

K.Z. wrote: "Vivian wrote: "It really irks me when a good author starts sacrificing quality for quantity (as in books sold) and fame."

And ego. This is, I think, what happened to Stephen King. Once he became a..."

He has a mansion in my hometown. Where doesn't he have one? :D

[K.Z.]

Vivian wrote: "He has a mansion in my hometown. Where doesn't he have one? :D"

No kidding. The "mansions" I buy with my royalties look suspiciously like bags of groceries and 6-packs of beer. ;-)

[Josh]

Juthi wrote: "Johanna wrote: "LOL. But you forgot one word from your post: penisconfetti. ;-)"

Clearly you go to better parties than him :D"

Frankly, everybody does! ;-D

[Vivian]

Josh wrote: "Juthi wrote: "Johanna wrote: "LOL. But you forgot one word from your post: penisconfetti. ;-)"

Clearly you go to better parties than him :D"

Frankly, everybody does! ;-D"

It's really embarrassing to explain the penis shaped confetti to your husband after you get home from a hen night. Or the straws with little penis attached at the ends, or why you bring home a testicle-shaped piece of cake. Hispanic bachelorette parties are one of the most excruciating experiences anyone has to go through. Take into account that it's usually the bride's mom and aunts who usually throw the party.

[Vivian]

K.Z. wrote: "Vivian wrote: "He has a mansion in my hometown. Where doesn't he have one? :D"

No kidding. The "mansions" I buy with my royalties look suspiciously like bags of groceries and 6-packs of beer. ;-)"

Well, let's hope that when you guys from the M/M genre start making money á la Stephen King you will remember not to be overly self-indulgent. :P

[Jordan]

I'm currently reading Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer by Chely Wright.

It's a difficult read in that she's keeping herself hidden in the closet for so long, it's painful for everyone involved in her life, be they friends, family, or guys who are interested in her. No one knows the truth except one secret girlfriend who can't stand the fact that Chely is a popular singer.

Otherwise, I like how she wrote it in an easy going, conversational manner. In that respect, it's easy to read and understand what's going on.

I actually met her at Book Expo America when she was there a few years ago signing copies of the book. It's a sad thing that I'm only just now getting to it, but I remember she was an amazing person to get to meet, if only for a few brief minutes. And as I usually do when in the presence of a famous person, I clammed up and didn't say much beyond 'hi' as I recall. lol.

[KC]

Jordan wrote: "I'm currently reading Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer by Chely Wright.

It's a difficult read in that she's keeping herself hidden in the closet for so long, it's painful for ev..."

:-) the part about clamming up worries me too.
I remember reading the interview with her in the Advocate, it sounded then like she was having a tough time career-wise after coming out, but i think slowly things improved.

[Jordan]

I don't know how long after she'd initially come out that she wrote this, but I'm hoping it shows something of how things went after that.

As far as I know she's not on the radio now, so I wonder what she's doing these days since music is such a big part of her life and always has been.

I'll likely finish the book tomorrow or Saturday, so we'll see when we get there.

[Ame]

I just finished the audiobook of .... and it was wonderful.... so now I have this dilemma..... should I use my next credit with Audible to buy next Homes&Moriarity or should I... as I'm dying to do.... buy Fatal shadows..... which I think will kill me because I'll probably can't wait a month in between... and since their only first three on audio and The hell you say made me crazy for the fourth one which will mean that I will reread book 4&5 and I really want to hear them all on audio before I reread them again......



Oh.... the luxury problems........

[Jordan]

Well, Ame, not to make things worse, but I loved AE on audio. ;-)

[Ame]

Damn!! And I only have one credit a month..... which means 4-5 months until The hell you say!!

I think I will break and buy them all....... without credit....;)

[KC]

Ame wrote: "Damn!! And I only have one credit a month..... which means 4-5 months until The hell you say!!

I think I will break and buy them all....... without credit....;)"

It's too difficult to decide between them... :-) the AE are sooo good. Personally i find that i like having some space between audiobooks that are part of a series, which i could not do when i was reading them, no pausing then, lol.

[Susinok]

I would buy credits and get them all, but I tend to have a generous book budget, which includes audiobooks.

I am reading Dog Helps Those, a cozy regular mystery by Neil Plakcy. Not M/M or GLBT.

LOL it's funny that I am compelled to point that out.

[Josh]

Susinok wrote: "I would buy credits and get them all, but I tend to have a generous book budget, which includes audiobooks.

I am reading Dog Helps Those, a cozy regular mystery by Neil Plakcy. Not M/M or GLBT.

L..."

:-D

[Ame]

Susinok wrote: "I would buy credits and get them all, but I tend to have a generous book budget, which includes audiobooks.

I am reading Dog Helps Those, a cozy regular mystery by Neil Plakcy. Not M/M or GLBT.

L..."


LOL.... I read a lot of non MM..... I'm starting Experiment in Terror series.... looking forward to reading that....

Although I did read absolutely faboulous book by K.A. Mitchell.... Regularly Scheduled life..... I could not put it down.... it was fantastic.

[HJ]

Ame wrote: "I just finished the audiobook of .... and it was wonderful.... so now I have this dilemma..... should I use my next credit with Audible to buy next Hom..."

I think you should get the audiobook of All She Wrote aka H&M 2 straight away, and revel in more Kit and J.X.. I think it's even better than the first one.

But you should definitely get the A&E audiobooks, too - Chris Patton's version of Jake is as good as it gets. He does Adrien and everyone else very well too!

[Ame]

As much as I love Adrien and Jake I think I love Kit and J.X. more.... especially J.X.... as a couple.... the AE books itself are superior..... at least to the first Holmes and Moriarity book.

[Susinok]

Ame wrote: "As much as I love Adrien and Jake I think I love Kit and J.X. more.... especially J.X.... as a couple.... the AE books itself are superior..... at least to the first Holmes and Moriarity book."

The two couples are so different! I love H&M, and they were the first Lanyons I read, so they hold a special place.

But I can't pick one series over the other as favorite.

[Jordan]

Hj wrote: "Ame wrote: "I just finished the audiobook of .... and it was wonderful.... so now I have this dilemma..... should I use my next credit with Audible to ..."

Yes, Chris does a fantastic Jake! I get all excited when Jake enters the scene while he's reading. lol.

[Jordan]

Ooooh, Hemovore was a very good and very interesting read! Let us know what you think when you're done. I think we read this once for BOM, so there should be a whole discussion about it you might not want to miss.

[Susinok]

I'm reading Sweet Young Thang by our own Anne Tenino.