Janet Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 I'm studying Philip Pullman's Northern Lights for A level English. In it, a person has a daemon - an animal that is a separate part of them but that can't move far away from their person - it's like a human's soul. When young, a person's daemon can change form, but once a child passes puberty, the form settles into one animal and then can't change. Whilst reading my book, I found that a character called "Ma Costa"'s daemon was a hawk on page 56, but by page 105 it's a wolf. I was going to mention this in my coursework essay but my tutor questioned it and when we checked her book, the daemon is a hawk on both those pages. I'm guessing it was an oversight on Mr Pullman's part which was amended in later additions (which is a shame, because I can't refer to it in my essay now!). Has anyone else found any mistakes in books - either rectified like this one, or not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oblomov Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 It depends on how you define a "mistake". Errors related to dates and times are usually typographical - at least we usually assume so. With historical events - like WW2 for example - most writers claim a certain amount of artisitic licence. For example, the German writer H H Kirst has written an excellent book about the attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler on 20th July 1944 - the book is called The 20th of July. In it, the chronology of someevents is slightly altered to suit the storyline where real-life characters mingle with fictitious ones. Some mistakes are very obviously due to poor research. I have seen the Titanic referred to as a "Cunard liner" in quite a few fiction books, whereas any serious student of the Titanic knows that the ship was built by Cunard's rivals White Star. I have seen some cheapo thrillers where the author tells us that The Koran is a holy book for Muslims as well as Hindus...and so on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talisman Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 I find minor ones in the form of typos in virtually everything I read, it is par for the course and most books are bound to contain a few when you consider their length and content. After all, even professional proof readers are not infallible ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esiotrot Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 I found one in the Pilots Wife by Anita Shreve The Grandmother is referred to in the present tense as 68 years old then further in the book again in present tense as 64 years old. I actually woke my husband to tell him and make him check it LOL!! I have since released the book via Bookcrossing so cant check it so age quoted might be wrong but it was different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oblomov Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 I have come across countless books where the author has forgotten to compensate for the time difference, particularly if it is in the same country. For example, according to the book a flight from New York to Los Angeles departs at 11am and after a 5-hour flight, arrives in LA at 4pm; in reality, it would arrive at 1pm because LA is 3 hours behind New York. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mia Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 I'm not entirely certain, but might have found one in Stephen King's "Firestarter". At one point, the firestarter of the title, Charlie McGee, calls herself Bobbi, as Roberta is her middle name. But I'm fairly sure somewhere else in the book it states that her middle name is something different (possibly Norma, I can't remember). Apart from that, I often notice spelling mistakes, incorrect punctuation, missing or repeated words etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 I was totally engrossed in Boy A when I came across a mistake which really bugged me for ages - it's coincidently quite topical as it was about Mother's Day being in May instead of March -silly to get narked by it, especially when the book was so well written, but it did annoy me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Fair comment LovesReading but it was set in England. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted March 1, 2008 Author Share Posted March 1, 2008 It's true that Mothers Day is in May in places like Australia, but I thought Boy A was a British book? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Boy A is, indeed, set in England, so Mothers' Day should definitely be in March. I mostly just notice mistakes in spelling and grammar (in almost every book I read). Most notibly, I did notice a glaring grammatical error in the book Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynn Truss - hilarious in a book about the correct use of grammar! I can't remember now what it was, but I remember crowing out loud on the train when I spotted it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 There is a website that is about mistakes in books. You can search for specific books or just browse through them (right-side of the page). http://www.bookmistakes.com/search.php ============= Talking about mistakes, I'm pretty sure a character's name changes at some point in Stephen King's Carrie. I cannot remember which character, though - I'll have to look through the book again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echo Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 I was totally engrossed in Boy A when I came across a mistake which really bugged me for ages - it's coincidently quite topical as it was about Mother's Day being in May instead of March -silly to get narked by it, especially when the book was so well written, but it did annoy me. Here in the U.S., Mother's Day is always celebrated in May. Maybe the author is American, and didn't know about the difference? I certainly didn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 Yes, but if you're writing a book, wouldn't you research a fact like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenmck Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 Yes, but if you're writing a book, wouldn't you research a fact like that? Um, you'd hope. Some of us (not me OF COURSE) are a little ethnocentric. LOL. By the way, mistakes caught in YOUR OWN books are pretty awful. Just sayin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echo Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 By the way, mistakes caught in YOUR OWN books are pretty awful.Just sayin. LOL! That's why I never read what I write once it's done! This goes for fiction as well as essays and things like that. If I read it too many times, it starts to look like . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenmck Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 LOL! That's why I never read what I write once it's done! This goes for fiction as well as essays and things like that. If I read it too many times, it starts to look like . LOL!!! I caught a mistake (a pretty big one) after my book went to print. AFTER edits (three rounds) and AFTER something they call "erratas" where they let someone else read it. We ALL missed it. I just square my shoulders and say "I ain't perfect." LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 That's happened in my line of work too Jen. A piece of text will go through half a dozen pairs of hands and still get published with an error. I don't feel so bad when I'm not the only one who has missed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talisman Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 I occasionally still find errors in mine also - it is bound to happen, like when others say, book go through so many hands and so many stages in the publication process. Out of interest though Kylie - what is your work ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maureen Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 Here in Malta we celebrate Mother's day in May too. I believe Italians do so too, but am not sure about other European countries. Another curiosity is that then we celebrate Father's Day in June - as I believe does the Uk, but the Italians then celebrate Father's day during March - (on the feast of St Joseph's Feast - as he was Jesus's Father in Christian Religion) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 Out of interest though Kylie - what is your work ? I work in a small publications area in a bank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValenCina Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 I hate translation mistakes! Well, I study translation myself and I know translations are debatable and perfect literary equivalence, but still I can't stand it when the translator seems to be too lazy to find a good equivalent of an expression in the target language and just translates it literally. It just sounds kind of off-key and ruins the rhythm of the narration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 I find errors all the time. Maybe I'm just picky. I remember discussing it with a particular well-known author once and she claimed "Gremlins get into the manuscript all the time, I don't know how it happens." I thought, "It happens because you don't proof-read your books, love." Some errors, yes. But on her scale? Laziness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angerball Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 I've found a few errors, but none that I can specifically remember off-hand. I do find them irritating, as I'm sure books are proof-read by more than one person. If I pick them up on the first read, then surely someone who does that for a living must be able to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 Exactly my reasoning, angerball. Of course, you might be tired and need a 'fresh pair of eyes' but that's where your editor or agent comes in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyD Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 Eeek! I am just going through page proofs of my next novel checking for typos etc and find it quite a stressful process - I know how annoyed I feel when I spot mistakes in other people's books. I hope the publisher's proofreader will pick up anything I've missed... http://beinglucydiamond.blogspot.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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