a wake-up call, and some unplanned musing on reading for comment.

[lagilman]

Woke this morning to what sounded like a remake of 'The Birds' -- an entire tree filled with (probably) grackles, many dozens if not hundreds of them squalking like someone forgot to oil them all summer. I thought at first they were mobbing something (grackles are bastards like that) but no, apparently they were all just gathering there to annoy the hell out of me, and once I was awake, they all moved on, en masse.

Just another little service Mother Nature provides, free of charge.

Thanks guys.

An so another day begins. But all is not crankiness and muttering. alfreda89 has done a rather thorough [and quite positive] review of the Retrievers series here, for those of you who need a cheat sheet on what's going on. I present it less as egoboo [although there's some of that, certainly] and more as an example of how to write about/review both an individual book and a series without actually giving plot specifics away.

Reviewing is a skill I totally lack -- I am very much an Editor when I talk about books, which is why I tend to do it only on request. Editors see things differently than reviewers do, and I'm not sure it's possible to switch between one and the other. I can move between Reader and Editor, because an Editor always wants to be a Delighted Reader -- it is our ultimate goal, to read through a book and think "oh. Yes. Excellent" and nothing more.

I had a discussion once with some fellow editors about their reaction to that elusive Perfect Book, and how we knew it. Many if not most of them said it was an emotional reaction, a sense of satisfaction or joy. Interestingly although perhaps not surprisingly, my reaction is a physical one. If I am reading a Perfect or near-Perfect book, I am invigorated. I literally can't sit still, I have to get up and pace, and do something, before I can go back to reading.

(for example, when I read the first Carol Berg manuscript, years and years ago, I had to get up out of my home office, and walk up and down the stairs a few times. By the time I made the second round, I knew I was going to be making an offer. This was, I believe, about 30 pages in. Carol of course will howl at this, since I made her do Much Revision. But Perfect doesn't mean Can't Be Better, especially in a first book....)

Hrm. This seems to have turned into an essay. Can I count this toward my wordage for the day? No? Damn. Off to work for me, then....

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Probably mixed grackles and starlings. The swarms have been truly Hitchcockian up here, hundreds or even thousands of Birds.

Migration time.

[girasole.livejournal.com]

I have been a book reviewer since 1973; an editor, on and off since 1983; and a writer since fourth grade, when I turned the ten spelling words I had to write sentences for into a story.
But no, I do not write fiction.
I love book reviewing, especially the kind I do, which involves writing clearly about a title in 200 words. I still edit, although I edit very little fiction. You are looking for rhythms and architecture in prose of any sort. I do like the way your mind works, Suri, and I like being able to respond to it, even if my view lies somewhat differently across the field.

[kradical.livejournal.com]

The main difference between editing and reviewing is that when you're editing, you have a fluid object that you are looking at in terms of how to fix it, improve it, make it better. When you're reviewing, though, it's a fixed object, so you're only looking at what it is, as opposed to what it can be.

[girasole.livejournal.com]

good point point, excellent description.

[lagilman]

Hrm. I would disagree slightly -- a reviewer and an editor both look at a book and wonder how it might have achieved its goal in a more approachable or enjoyable fashion (I hate "better" when describing books, because it implies a single gold standard that doesn't really exist). The difference isn't in the fluidity of the book itself, but the mental filter of the reporting party.

(And I still hold to my belief that the brain tends to choose one path or the other as default -- Keith, you may have been a reviewer at one point in your life, but your comments these days are completely that of an editor, even when you're writing a review. This is not a slam or a compliment, just an observation)