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Mistakes in books. Have you ever found one?


Janet

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I, for one, really dislike The Da Vinci Code.. and the reason being that every time it gets mentioned in a forum, people lose their ability to take properly to each other, and start arguing!

 

For a start, my understanding of this thread was that it was meant to be about grammatical/spelling mistakes in books, it was not meant to be a 'discussion' about whether the Da Vinci Code is historically accurate.. let alone everything else that has arisen.

 

Secondly, may I please remind everyone about the rules and guidelines on this board.. we ask that members here basically show a little respect for each other. Discussion is welcome, but not personal comments, arguments etc.

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Guest Sedgewick
For a start, my understanding of this thread was that it was meant to be about grammatical/spelling mistakes in books
I don't know where you got that idea from. The discussion arose out of a daemon changing when, based on the rules of Pullman's world, that could not happen.
Has anyone else found any mistakes in books - either rectified like this one, or not?
Nothing to do with grammar or spelling mistakes. So The Da Vinci Code is a good candidate for discussion on the notion of mistakes in books: it's a treasure trove of them.
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Yes, I do see what you mean.. but from past experience, people are not capable of having a civilised discussion about what they see as the actual mistakes, but rather just start a general bash of the book. Unfortunately, this always seems to then lead to having a go at each other.

 

At the end of the day, isn't The Da Vinci Code supposed to be fiction?

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I found one that bugs me daily as it's on the front cover of 'Gardening & planting by the Moon 2008'

It's by Nick Kollerstrom, described on the cover as BBC's Lunar Gardening Corespondant.

Has he been a naughty boy then?

 

So, has he?:) And how does one miss something on the front cover for goodness sake?

 

It's that pesky Dan Brown's fault, or Gordon, take your pick:kiss:

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At the end of the day, isn't The Da Vinci Code supposed to be fiction?

 

Dunno, but I really liked it when I read it. Admittedly that was before we saw everybody and their dog reading it and so hadn't heard any of the hype at the time.

 

There's quite a few basic factual errors in it totallydisregarding the main theme of the book. Just the journeys, description of the Louvre, the fact that he has an albino driving and so forth that it's quite entertaining to discuss it.

 

Not sure where all the passion came from though, was it a full moon?

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At the end of the day, isn't The Da Vinci Code supposed to be fiction?

 

Absolutely! I loved and still love The Da Vinci Code, errors or no errors. It's a good old read IF YOU DON'T TAKE IT TOO SERIOUSLY. Okay, there might be a few mistakes but it doesn't affect the story. Because that's what it is. A story.

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I can't honestly say that I have noticed any mistakes in books but that could because I don't see them as I am reading the book to find out what happens next and too engrossed in the plot as my faves are murder and mystery along woth a little bit of horror. This me most of the time ;) my nose in a book :D

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If I were ever to write a piece of fiction, I would write a fantasy. Then, who can ever say that there are factual errors!! :D You're in control of everything. I can't imagine writing a mystery or thriller, and having to research all of those fine points of police procedure and things like that.

 

I have come across some spelling errors in books lately, but believe it or not, they're almost all in my college textbooks!:D I'm reading a horrible one for my East Asian Culture class, and it drives me crazy! The author also repeats himself over and over and over again.;)

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  • 3 months later...

In The Ingenious Edgar Jones by Elizabeth Garner, Edgar's mother is called Eleanor Jones, apart from on two occasions...

 

On page 43 "He would sit by the door, howling fit to shake the walls until Emily put him out to play."

 

And on page 151. "Emily frowned, catching the run of the silver as it slid down the incline."

Edited by Janet
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There's one on the back on Pellinor :)

It's on the bak of The Crow.

It says "...his destiny may be linked more closely to the Treesong then he knows."

Than, it should be.

 

I think I've mentioned this already, but there are a lot of mistakes in the Torchwood books.

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Thre are quite a few spelling errors in The Godfather by Mario Puzo (or, at least, there are in my copy which I very recently read). I must have spotted at least a dozen of them scattered throughout the book, so no doubt there are others that I missed.

 

Fortunately, the book was so good that it didn't actually detract from it as much as it usually would for me (it can drive me potty if I'm not absolutely loving the book I'm reading while I'm error-spotting!).

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I'm reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood at the moment, and I've noticed a couple of times that she says things like "I shouldn't of done it" rather than "I shouldn't HAVE done it"... Which I thought was a bit strange seeing as it's got a critical reputation and everything :-s

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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).

Holy cow, somebody doesn't have enough to do! ( to put together a site like that, lol )

 

I read somewhere that each book has a least 30 typo/gram/other errors in it. Huh.

 

Just goes to show when you're engrossed in something, you don't care/notice.

Edited by Kell
fixed the quote coding ;)
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  • 1 year later...

There are some books I have read that have had errors I could easily notice. There have been typing errors, spelling errors, grammar errors and continuity errors (more noticable in book series).

 

It can spoil the enjoyment of reading but I do tend to finish these books and think that the editor should be fired or an editor is needed. I'm aware proof reading is difficult because parts of the story might have changed a lot and a book could be going back and forth from writer to publisher until they all have been satisfied.

 

I can enjoy the idea and plot behind a story however I am let down by so many errors. Is there a justifiable reason why publishers think that the consumers are so hungry for a book that they'll buy just about anything?

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In the case of books with mass appeal publishers seem to have the idea that they can push anything out the door so long as they make a profit. Sadly many of the target audience for such books, don't seem to spot the errors or simply don't care. They have the latest coolest book around and it earns them brag rights.

 

BCF members are less tolerant of this trend, but I would suggest we are a minority in the face of the mass marketing publishing world.

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My copy of The Godfather was chock-full of typos and had words missing or repeated all over the place. I only looked past it because the story was so fantastic and so well written, but it was incredibly annoying as there was at least one error of some kind for every 10-15 pages - appalling, really. :lol:

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I do tend to expect no errors when reading a book so if i come across a grammar or spelling error im a bit annoyed. Obviously not enough to raise my blood pressure or anything, but still- proof reading should be taken seriously.

 

If a book was riddled with errors i would simply stop reading it as its not my job to scan novels for errors, someone else should have done that.:lol:

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I sympathise with that Kell. It is annoying and shouldn't happen , but as you know it does. I'm a little more lenient on translations, but some are so bad they are unreadable.

 

I've found that the more obscure in terms of market presence, the better the proofreading/ editorship tends to be.

 

As a society we seem to be putting quantity shipped ( read profit) above quality.

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