I started reading //Even Cowgirls Get the Blues// by Tom Robbins. Now, I’m a Tom Robbins fan. The way he plays with language twists my own language-producing neurons into a maze of twisty little knots (not all alike), meaning, that I start speaking and writing in complex ways I wouldn’t have thought otherwise possible. His writing is incredibly enjoyable to absorb. But imagine my horror when, right after beginning to read this book, I encountered the following sentence (the second one below), on page //three//:
: Jelly is sitting in the outhouse. She has been sitting there longer then necessary.
Yep, that’s exactly how it’s written. I hate when books have errors like this. Encountering one degrades, in my mind, the entire overall quality of the writing and copy-editing. What’s odd is that this is the //fifth// edition of the book, originally published in 1976. Is my internal grammar-checker out of whack?
no your checker is fine. i winced too when i read that.
Either of us could get a job as a copy-editor. Could that work on a freelance basis? As in, maybe we could get $500 per book, or something. Read a book a day, on average. Seems pretty decent, no? Except that I have no idea what copy editors / proofreaders / whatever you want to call them are paid. Probably a lot less than that… oh well.
incidentally, i started reading Jitterbug Perfume on your recommendation a while back. he does have that unique phrasing.
When you’re done with that try Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates. That’s the best of his I’ve read, at least in my humble opinion.