Mistakes in published books.

[animeloverkira]

There are always books where you will be reading, and all of a sudden come across a mistake. A spelling, punctuation, or grammatical error.
One book where there are frequently errors is Harry Potter. Each of the books has at least ten mistakes! They always forget quotations, and periods! It just bugs me so much!  

[blueyes10k]

Oh, I know!
In one of the Lemony Snickett (sp?) a certain word is used over and over, spelled differently every other time. It bugs me so much.  

[Rutoh-Chan]

It really is quite bothersome. I wish someone would check those kinds of things. Sometimes the mistakes are really obvious. Does no one read the printed book before it goes out into stores?  

[randomfuzzy]

It is very annoying. Almost every book has at least a couple of obvious mistakes. When they're from the library, I'm tempted to correct the mistakes before returning them... but maybe that's just me smile  

[blueyes10k]

randomfuzzy

It is very annoying. Almost every book has at least a couple of obvious mistakes. When they're from the library, I'm tempted to correct the mistakes before returning them... but maybe that's just me smile

Ha ha. That's funny. Especially because I've actually done it.  

[Anye5]

It is annoying. But people are human. Get into psychology enough and you won't believe that human beings are capable of thinking at all. Our eyes and our brains are just too far apart if you ask me.  

[Dodger Gunning]

My literature pet peeve is unclosed parentheses, like the writer/editor forgot they were writing in brackets. I was reading a reference book last night and stumbled upon that error. I started freaking out and scanning all over the page to make sure I hadn't missed the closing bracket.

Could someone tell me the singular form of parentheses? Oh wait, nevermind, I've got Merriam-Webster Online. Just kidding! Edit: The singular form is parenthesis. That would figure.  

[Cherished Strawberries]

blueyes10k

randomfuzzy

It is very annoying. Almost every book has at least a couple of obvious mistakes. When they're from the library, I'm tempted to correct the mistakes before returning them... but maybe that's just me smile

Ha ha. That's funny. Especially because I've actually done it.

Yeah, I just got a book called Dragonsdawn from the library and I've changed two terrible mistakes in it. The first was that they typed "Boy" instead of "Bay" which was a woman's name (took me about ten mintues to figure it out), and the second was that they had two names, Jim Tillek and Ezra Keroon, and put the last name for both of them as Keroon. So I crossed out the mistakes and put what it was supposed to be. xd Idiots need better editors.  

[Emilem]

Sometimes when the words are misplaced I have to read it several times before I can move on.
Perhaps it's just me?
But I read one book that had at least fifteen errors in every chapter.
Terrible editor?
Bad translation?
Who knows?
It was called 'When The Bugle Sound Stops".
I can't remember who it's by, but I remember it had a beautiful ending.
Beside the fact that the last five sentences were just PATHETIC.
It almost ruined the whole book for me.

.:: Heut Ist Mein Tag ::.

 

[duello]

As a writer, I have to speak up. First, the process of writing and publishing a book is non-contusive to a perfect copy. You begin by writing your book, and then you edit it for weeks, and then send it off to the publisher, who usually before publishing insists that you cut down a certain number of words from your manuscript. This is where a lot of the errors come in, from going through trying to find that 2-3000 words to cut. Then of course the manuscript has to go through print setting, where even more of the errors are produced. Sloppy typesetting is something the writer has no control over.

That aside, Dragonsdawn is the start of a fantastic series, or half way through the series, depending on whether you read them chronologically or by order of publishing. I think the most shocking typo I found in a published book was in Great Expectations. There was a page on which the publisher put in the word "her" when they meant "his." I laughed quite a bit at that, and still loved the book despite the errors.  

[Kali Eyad]

I usually forgive grammar mistakes, taking them as just part of the book. I know I don't speak and think perfectly. I'm from the midwest, so I have issues with saying things like, "Where's my coat at?" Mispelled and missing words make me crazy.

There's one thing that bothers me even more than mispelled and skipped words: messing up the copy of the book itself. I've bought books on a few occasions and don't understand how the copies made it to booksellers. One book was missing at least 30 pages, but it had the previous 30 pages printed twice! I was missing the end of the book! Another time the pages were cut and half missing. Some pages were missing corners, there were random blank pages and other paper and printing mistakes that I don't think I can accurately explain.

The purpose of editing is to elliminate mistakes in the manuscript. Have other people read it, spell check and grammar check it. If you have to cut bits out, don't just cut out a random word to make your quota! There should be no sloppy typesetting. That is someone's job, they should do it right. One or two mistakes in a book may be excusable to human error, but passing 5 or 6 is not a good sign, and making it into double digits is terrible!  

[joannemily]

I recently read a book called "Warrior Heir" by Cinda Williams Chima and it was absolutely riddled with errors and typos, but it was still a good book. Sometimes, you have to just get over the mistakes, because there are some fantastic books that have tons of errors in them. It's annoying, yes, but I just correct the mistake and move on.  

[Calica]

I do notice typos all of the time when I read. But most of the time, it's just a few, in a book with thousands and thousands of words. I can let that slide; I mean, Jesus, these are people, not machines. You can't reasonably expect them to be perfect 100% of the time. People will always, always make mistakes, and I'd rather it happen with some as inconsequential as a missing period.  

[sayaandtenshi]

I've seen plenty in my time of reading. I don't even bother with them any more because I have seen so many. It does sadden me that things like this happen but we're only human and those are long books.  

[sayaandtenshi]

Dodger Gunning

My literature pet peeve is unclosed parentheses, like the writer/editor forgot they were writing in brackets. I was reading a reference book last night and stumbled upon that error. I started freaking out and scanning all over the page to make sure I hadn't missed the closing bracket.

Could someone tell me the singular form of parentheses? Oh wait, nevermind, I've got Merriam-Webster Online. Just kidding! Edit: The singular form is parenthesis. That would figure.

Oh my! I laughed when I read your post. Why is because I have had that happen to me once and I was reaking out. I read over the page probably 10 times before I gave up on trying to find the ending bracket.