tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post6898788924016180952..comments2024-03-19T09:18:41.352+00:00Comments on Grumpy Old Bookman: Short reviewsMichael Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11338398159818400930noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-19875610717760107282007-08-16T03:35:00.000+01:002007-08-16T03:35:00.000+01:00This is what happens when the making cheap books/m...This is what happens when the making cheap books/marketing crowd win out over common sense in book design. The cover is supposed to attract potential readers to the book and invite them inside. The interior design and layout have a really simple job: to present the author's work in a pleasing way that's easy on the reader's eyes. They are never, <I>not ever,</I> supposed to get in the way of the author reaching the reader.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-9345845099806101382007-08-16T03:29:00.000+01:002007-08-16T03:29:00.000+01:00"...the most interesting aspect of the book is ......"...the most interesting aspect of the book is ...that his American citizens, now firmly under the thumb of the Japanese, have unconsciously adopted as their norm a manner of speech which reflects the way in which the Japanese speak English. <BR/><BR/>Brings to mind Ernest Bramah's Kailung series, a tour-de-force of the Chinese idiom.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-78343390996039328462007-08-16T01:52:00.000+01:002007-08-16T01:52:00.000+01:00Goebbels may have been a one-off novelist but he w...Goebbels may have been a one-off novelist but he was not too good at reading them. Look at:<BR/><BR/>http://www.l.j.hurst.dial.pipex.com/agm_ete.htm#Dr_P._J._Goebbels_and_A._G._MacdonellAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-4235436770193254662007-08-15T20:06:00.000+01:002007-08-15T20:06:00.000+01:00Indeed, the cover of poor Mr. Gelding's book could...Indeed, the cover of poor Mr. Gelding's book could be mistaken for a dinner napkin. A good commentary on how a publisher can be an author's worst enemy.<BR/><BR/>Otherwise, some promising comments and I hope they all (including the unfortunate Gelding) do well.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-68766702818223061752007-08-15T14:17:00.000+01:002007-08-15T14:17:00.000+01:00The Man in the High Castle was used in a class I t...The Man in the High Castle was used in a class I took back when I was attending community college in the 1980's. <BR/><BR/>My personal favorite though is A Scanner Darkly. Dick's work seems like escapist fantasy now-a-days, living under the last gasps of the Bush regime here in California.<BR/><BR/>He often presents the idea that the reality his characters live in is not the correct one, or the real one. Kind of hits home.<BR/><BR/><BR/>cbjames<BR/>http://www.readywhenyouarecb.blogspot.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com