What I'm reading
I'm reading a bit more than I used to, although nowhere near as much as I did in the past.
My current book is Moon over Soho, by Ben Aaronovitch.
It's book two in a series of four, about a young constable in London, Peter Grant, who discovers he has latent magical abilities and is taken under the wing of an older officer, a wizard, who helps him develop those abilities and subsequently solve mysterious cases that don't seem to make sense.
Book one is titled Rivers of London; book two as I've stated above is Moon over Soho; book three is Whispers Underground and book four is Broken Homes.
There is magic, which I love, murder and mystery which I also love and little bits of nonsensical whimsy which makes me smile and keep reading.
I heard about these books from other bloggers and now I'm glad I bought them.
The one thing that bothered me isn't such a big deal and by page...whatever...I'd gotten used to it, is the female character Lesley May. In books one, three and four, her name is spelled Lesley, in book two however, it is spelled Leslie and at first I thought she was a new character.
Here are a couple of quotes from book two:
"At this very moment astronomers are detecting planets around distant stars by measuring how much their orbits wobble and the clever people at CERN are smashing particles together in the hope that Doctor Who will turn up and tell them to stop."
"We both stood for a moment and contemplated the hazy far-off days of yesterday evening."
I'd recommend these for anyone who loves a little magic in their murder mysteries, or perhaps a little mystery in their magic?
My current book is Moon over Soho, by Ben Aaronovitch.
It's book two in a series of four, about a young constable in London, Peter Grant, who discovers he has latent magical abilities and is taken under the wing of an older officer, a wizard, who helps him develop those abilities and subsequently solve mysterious cases that don't seem to make sense.
Book one is titled Rivers of London; book two as I've stated above is Moon over Soho; book three is Whispers Underground and book four is Broken Homes.
There is magic, which I love, murder and mystery which I also love and little bits of nonsensical whimsy which makes me smile and keep reading.
I heard about these books from other bloggers and now I'm glad I bought them.
The one thing that bothered me isn't such a big deal and by page...whatever...I'd gotten used to it, is the female character Lesley May. In books one, three and four, her name is spelled Lesley, in book two however, it is spelled Leslie and at first I thought she was a new character.
Here are a couple of quotes from book two:
"At this very moment astronomers are detecting planets around distant stars by measuring how much their orbits wobble and the clever people at CERN are smashing particles together in the hope that Doctor Who will turn up and tell them to stop."
"We both stood for a moment and contemplated the hazy far-off days of yesterday evening."
I'd recommend these for anyone who loves a little magic in their murder mysteries, or perhaps a little mystery in their magic?
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They are fun aren't they? And the Leslie, Lesley thing irritated me too.
ReplyDeleteBad copy-editing. It’s also surprising that the author forgot how to spell the name of one of his characters.
ReplyDeleteI like thrillers, I might have a go if they’re on Kindle.
Maybe a bad speller wrote the book, it does sound like a pretty good book.
ReplyDeleteMerle...........
That would annoy me, too, the change in spelling.
ReplyDeleteAs Friko said..bad editing.
I get annoyed when I see obvious errors in books. Maybe I'm just too picky, but it seems to happen a lot in books these days...more so than years ago...a sign of the times, perhaps....
I get very cranky at myself when I make typos...and I'm just an amateur at writing! If I was paying someone to do the proof-reading and editing...what would I be like then?
I quiver at the thought! ;)
The books sound interesting - mystery and magic go well together.
ReplyDeleteI'd find the name error confusing, then annoying too. But, as long as it didn't continue throughout the book, I'd get past it if the rest of the story was worth continuing with.
Ah!the wonderful world of make believe!! I may see if these books are available at our library as I'm trying to find new authors that are easy to read and books I don't have to wade through trying to find what story the author has hidden in there. The reason I really enjoy Lee Child and Dick Francis. They are two authors that stick to the plot and also do lots of research to make sure their stories have the sound of realism.
ReplyDeleteI have just reserved Rivers of London at our local library. It is apparently already on the reserve shelf so will have to wait a few weeks for it to be available. I find it annoying that they only have 3 of the 5 books available. Why bother doing that when surely readers would like to read the series in sequence!!
ReplyDeleteWho knows though...perhaps after reading the first book I may find I don't want to read the other four. Sorry that was sort of tongue in cheek and having a go at our librarian more than anything. :)
Elephant's Child; they are great fun and I'm so glad I bought them. I'd be happy if he continued the series.
ReplyDeleteFriko; more fun than thriller, but well worth reading, unless you are the type who prefers literature. The mistake is only in this one book and the character doesn't feature much throughout the book.
Merle; one mistake in an entire series, definitely not a bad speller, probably an editing oversight.
Lee; I've already forgiven the editing boo-boo.
I get annoyed too when I make mistakes and get really peeved when I see so many errors in books and newspapers these days. It seems no one proof reads anymore. It offends my standards.
Vicki; the rest of the story is well worth continuing with and the Lesley character doesn't feature much in this one as she is currently "on leave due to injury" (her face fell off).
Mimsie; I think you would LOVE these. They are very easy to read and if you like a little magic and a bit of supernatural, you'll find they hold your attention just as Lee Child and Dick Francis does.
Mimsie; there are only four books. I was confused too and bought five only to find out Midnight Riot is the American version of the first book Rivers of London. Why they felt the need to change the title (and cover)is beyond me
ReplyDeleteI've just noticed that in the American one the Lesley character is Leslie...
All; the Lesley/Leslie riddle is solved. There are versions of these books printed for the American market and the spelling in those is Leslie.
ReplyDeleteIf you and EC recommend them, then I'll be happy to read them. I've just done a search here and I can order in the English copy of all titles to pick up at my library. Yay! Because English is my native language, they will order in any book I want to read in English from libraries all over Sweden for free.
ReplyDeleteI think the Lesley/Leslie thing would be annoying as well, although I see you have found the answer to that riddle. I have the same trouble with Russian books, where people get called different things depending on the person's relationship to them. I almost need a cheat sheet with all the possible names a character can be called as I keep thinking they are someone else.
Thanks for the book tip. If you are looking for another book to read, I'm just finishing Sarah Dunant's "In the Company of the Courtesan". Set mainly in Venice in the late 16th century, you get to follow the various rises and falls in the fortunes of a highly successful courtesan, against the back-drop of Venice in its heyday. And here's the best part: the story is told through the eyes of a witty dwarf who is the courtesan's business manager, confidant, fellow-trickster, and best friend. I had so much fun with this one, I am going to look for other books by Dunant right away.
That Leslie/Lesley business is a case of the author not reading his previous books in the series before beginning the next. Yep. People forget stuff. Series writers should always read the older stuff before they tackle the newer stuff. Keeping copious notes would help, too.
ReplyDeleteName aside, glad you are enjoying this series!
You spoke of them changing titles for different countries. I am pretty positive they have done that with some of Lee Child's books too which seems so ridiculous to me.
ReplyDeleteI guess the different spellings of the female name would equalise with using z or s in words in different cuontries.
Marie; I'll write that book title down, but may not get to it for a while. I have three stacks of unread books on my bedside already.
ReplyDeleteRobin; the Lesley/Leslie is a case of different spelling for different countries I've found. The Leslie (ie) is for the American publication. The first book, Rivers of London was released in America titled Midnight Riot and featured the Leslie.
Mimsie; yes. A couple of Lee Child's were changed and I bought them thinking they were a different story only to be disappointed. It really shouldn't be allowed. They do the same with movies. Our Mad Max was shown all over as Mad Max except in America where they titled it The Road Warrior.