Domain Maintenance

I apologize for my absence from the blog here this past week. I expect a few weeks of outage. I'm in the process of transferring my keirasoleore.com domain and attendant services over to a new registration service, that is not only slower than molasses but also complicated. Hope to return to blogging soon. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Picture Day Friday: It's Not a Caterpillar

If this is not a caterpillar, then what is it?



Image courtesy of www.thedailywh.at.

Errors in the Use of Words: Mistakes of Purists from 1905

In The Art of Writing & Speaking the English Language (The Old Greek Press, 1905), Sherwin Cody refers to his pocket-sized book as a book of quick study rather than an exhaustive reference. So rather than correctly and strictly adhering to rules, this book aims to "add knowledge of the differences and shades of meaning, fine distinctions in the values of words, and variety of expression."

Through his book, Cody says he has "tried to lead the student to a nicer discrimination in the meanings and values of words in common use, and to avoid making a pedantic prig of him. While purity of language is greatly to be desired, nothing is more amusing than to read the tirades of the purists."

He continues, "There is a vast amount of rubbish afloat about good and bad usage, and I know no class of pedants more disagreeable than those who set up to correct the English of everybody else. I want to make language freer more accurate, and more expressive, not stiffer, drier, and deader. (How the 'stiffs' will carp at that word 'deader'! Let them!)"

In the late 1800s, every time a comprehensive/official/correct book by one of the purists came out, a host of fellow purists waited in line to tear it down. Cody said that it got to be so that "it became dangerous to open one's mouth."

(This sentiment has a modern-day ring to it, doesn't it?)

He then goes on to say that this is all wrong. "Language is for the purpose of expression, and it is full of elisions, substitutions, comparisons suggested, and words used in certain phrases with meanings purely idiomatic and unexplainable. If we frighten ourselves with a bugaboo of errors, we shall become stiff and awkward."

Are you nodding your head as empahtically as I am?

As every writer and reader knows, such specious arguments about language still abound. We're told that language should not be like this, but should be like that.

For example, in Cody's day, he said that they were told that a sentence should not end with a preposition. But Cody says, "Throwing the preposition to the end is one of the most thoroughly established idioms of the language."

In 1905, Cody said that it is alright for it to be so. But aren't we still fighting that battle to this day? So which rules are our modern-day pendants referring to when they say that it is incorrect usage of grammar for the sentence to end in a preposition? Eighteenth century ones?

Bookish Meme 2: Reading Habits & History

Credit for the original set of questions goes to Janga of Just Janga. I've changed/deleted some of the questions that were already covered in my March Bookish Meme post.

What were your favorite childhood books?

There are so many to choose from, but basically, anything by Enid Blyton, a British children's author from the 1940s. My first book by her was Merry Mister Meddle, a book about a little man who always got into trouble. My first foray into mysteries was via her The Mysterious Bundle, a book featuring a group of children called the Five Find Outers who live in a small village and are smarter than the local constable. Her farm books, such as Mistletoe Farm and her boarding school books, such as the St. Clare ones will be ones I won't ever forget

What are you reading right now?

The Devil's Delilah, a traditional Regency by Loretta Chase
Charlotte Web, a children's tale by E.B. White

Have your reading habits been affected by the Internet?

Oh, absolutely. Most of my discoveries about authors have been due to chats on romance blogs and boards and on Twitter. Sometimes, the recommendations are just for a book, and I get hooked on to the writing so much that I buy the author's entire backlist. Sometimes, it's a particular book that comes highly recommended by trusted sources that goes on my keeper shelves and that I return to over and over again

What is your reading comfort zone?

I mostly read historical romance fiction and historical fiction. I also read a limited number of contemporary and western romance fiction novels. Lately, I have been challenging myself to read books by male authors, more nonfiction, and non-romance fiction

What makes a book a keeper for you?

I have to love the characters, first. If the book is set in medieval times or Georgian-Regency times, I'm already half-way to liking it. A plot that's different from the norm, even while it works with the basics of the norm. And oh, the writing. I don't like Hemmingway-style brevity, nor Annie Proulx-style choppiness, but neither do I like Woodiwiss-style purple prose—overly lyrical and chock-full of metaphors are tiresome. I go for being able to paint an original picture with precisely chosen colors. And of course, if the book is by an author whose other books I have loved, I'm predisposed to liking the current book, too

What will inspire you to recommend a book?

Characters, story, writing

How often do you agree with critics about a book?

Not often, it would seem

How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?

I rarely comment on books, and the ones I do so are ones I have liked. I go for my opinion, not for a fair and unbiased review

What is the most intimidating book you've ever read?

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. I despised the protagonist, architect Roark. And yes, I finished the doorstopper

How often do you not finish a book you begin?

These days, less and less, and not because I'm dogged about slogging to the end, as I was in my salad days. In fact, I'm far more discriminating now. However, for the last couple years or so, I've only read books by auto-buy authors or those recommended by a select few friends and acquaintances. So my hit rate is much higher

What's the longest you've gone without reading?

Perhaps 2–3 days when I was sick. I've always read, whether it's fiction, nonfiction, or textbooks

What's the greatest number of books that you've read in a day?

Two romance fiction books

What's your favorite film adaptation of a novel?

By film adaptation, I mean a new take on the original book, a new film based solely on the original book. So Clueless based on Emma by Jane Austen is a shoe-in for me

Can you think of a book you didn't expect to like but did?

There are many such books, but a recent one that comes to mind is the one I read last year: Welcome to My World by Johnny Weir

What books have you read most often?

The St. Clare and Mallory Towers book series by Enid Blyton
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer
Devilish by Jo Beverley

What book do you have the most copies of?

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen is the only one. I don't have even two copies of any other books

What book have you tried but failed to finish most often?

I have always loved Tolstoy's short stories, but pray-god, not War and Peace. I want to like it, but I can't even get a quarter of the way through it

Picture Day Friday: Victorian Food Art

Thanks to Loretta Chase for bringing Edible Artistry to my attention.


A basket of flowers made in fruit-flavoured water ices

According to Ivan Day of Food History Jottings: "By the 1880s, this highly ornamental style of cuisine was being practiced by home cooks as well as professionals. Cookery schools like that of Mrs Agnes B. Marshall in Mortimer Street, London were not only teaching housewives and domestic cooks how to make these spectacular dishes, but also sold you the necessary moulds, cutters and other equipment."

Mrs. Marshall sounds like the Victorian version of Jamie Oliver or Rachael Ray, doesn't she?

Ivan Day is an independent social historian of food culture and also a professional chef and confectioner.

Redefining eBooks: Just Plain Text or a Richer Experience

The Department of Justice has accused the top six book publishers of New York City for colluding with Apple to set the price for eBooks at $12.99 to $14.99. Amazon wanted to set the price at $9.99, which caused so much outrage among the publishers that they sought a new kind of partnership that believed what they believed was the right price for eBooks, namely, Apple.

Publishers and booksellers think that the price of an eBook should be somewhere between the price of a mass market paper back (MMPB), which currently hovers around $7.99, and a trade paperback (TPB), which is around $14.99. They believe that this way, the loss in eBook version of hardcovers (HC), which are usually around $25.99, is recouped in eBook version of MMPBs.

Consumers, on the other hand, think that the price of eBooks is incredibly hyped. They believe that the price should be around $5.99 (some even suggest $3.99). The thinking here is that there are no printing, storage, and shipping costs associated with eBooks. Yes, there are production costs, such as editorial and artwork, but those are shared with the print versions. So the price of the book should be lower than the price of a MMPB.

In my opinion, the reason behind this assumption by consumers is because an eBook is nothing more than a digitally available file of the text that can be found in the pages of a MMPB.

You could argue that a HC and MMPB versions of the same book (the latter of which is usually released a year after the former) have the exact same text. That is true. However, the HC provides the value-add of, what hardware electronic manufacturers call "form factor." The HCs come with dust jackets, end papers, good quality paper, and a satisfying heft and look on the bookshelf. This justifies their price.

Similarly, a TPB shares the same text as the MMPB version of a book, but again "form factor" comes into play: the height, the slimness, the texture of the pages, the book and page design, and for some, the image of reading "literature," since most of non-genre books are published in TPB.

The advantages of a MMPB over HC and TPB is ease of use: holding it up, reading in bed/bath/beach, and carrying it around.

An argument could be made that an eBook similarly has a very different form factor from a MMPB, with easy-to-read text on a light eReader that allows searching within the text. So the eBook should be able to command it's own niche for pricing.

From a consumer's point of view, however, the purchase of the eReader with its host of features, is completely decoupled from the purchase of a book. An eReader allows the reader to read innumerable books, not just one particular book, meaning, the eReader reading experience is not tied to the book being read. So the eBook is once again reduced to mere text, at which point, it's no different from the lowest print version of the text, namely the MMPB.

What completely astounds me is that in all these shenanigans in deciding on the price for an eBook nobody seems to have given one thought to innovating the content of an eBook.

Instead of trying to pass off the same-old, same-old as the new new, why not truly provide something new? Give the reader a reason (or a dozen) to pay more for digital content. Provide them with features on the digital version that they will not find in any of the print versions, thereby, redefining the "form factor" of an eBook. This might induce people to pay a premium $12.99 for it or to own multiple copies of a book (print and electronic).

What do I mean by extra features? This is not just more text, such as deleted scenes, interviews, author's notes, or readers' guides, added to the back of the main book. This could easily be added to print books, too, so this is nothing cool.

Let's choose the example of a historical novel. What if an architectural detail, the name of a famous painter, a seminal event, etc. were hotspots in the story? If the reader were to tap on it, a balloon would pop up with detailed information, including a picture if appropriate, about the topic. The author has already done the research and could easily code the text of her manuscript with these tidbits, which could be stripped from the production of print books, but highlighted in the electronic versions.

Publishers could host additional content on their websites, provided by the authors, hot-linked to from within the eBooks, such as musical pieces, an online viewing of a museum's art gallery, recipes of historical foods, and so on. For a nonfiction book, the bibliography could be hyperlinked to the actual papers and books on the Internet. The website tie-in would give the publishers another way to brand their eBooks.

What this does is gives the reader an incentive to plunk down their hard-earned money for something new and different, rather than an entitlement demand from publishers for the same text. What it also does is that it respects and leverages the electronic medium to change the conversation about books. Now a book is no longer passive text on the page, but an interactive reader experience.

It's time for the publishers to forge ahead into the 21st century and own the new medium instead of vainly trying to confine it to the standards of the medium from the 15th century.