Reading Books

Reading Books

I am a reader. I read any and everything. But mostly I read fiction books - mysteries, westerns, adventure, thrillers, and a few romance novels. I do read a few nonfiction books especially those about pets, dogs, cats, horses and wildlife as well as gardening, photography and once in a while a cookbook.

As a small child I couldn’t understand why I needed to learn to read when I had two parents to read stories to me. After refusing to read in first and second grade my mom bought a third grade reader and we spent all summer reading that book. I got to where I really disliked those stories. But by the time third grade started I had found other stories in all the kids books we had and was reading away. I never stopped.

I think all people that read a lot, at some point, want to try their hand at writing stories, novels, or articles, or just keeping a journal or blog. I know I have. I have this blog and a couple of others. I have written two novels that have never been published except on my blog. I have written lots of what is called fan-fiction. Another words these are stories that people write that are based on TV shows. It is legal to write them. You just can’t sell them as the TV shows actually belong to someone.

All of this being said has just been to let you know that I do know quite a bit about reading and writing, including having several classes in literature and writing while in high school and collage.

Now that I am retired I find I am reading more all the time. And it is easy to read now without even having to go to the library or buy books. The internet has made it so you can get books for free or for only a few dollars. And this has caused more and more people to try to write fiction books.

And a lot of those books are really good. But---------

And this is the problem. Many of those want-to-authors don’t know what they are writing about and don’t do the research to find out. This means they are putting out miss-information. It may be a fiction book but if it is not labeled as science fiction or fantasy it should hold true to what we know is true in our lives.

So you ask – what are the problems or untruths I am referring to? Well, most of them are not major things. Most of what I see that is wrong are just minor, nit-picking things. But to me if you don’t know when a plant blooms – don’t put it in the story. If you don’t know about horses, even if you like them, don’t write about them. If you don’t know about how a car works- don’t write about it.

One of the biggest mistakes I have seen and my husband caught this one when he read the same book, was a mystery novel that mentioned when Al Gore was president. NOT. Al Gore was a vice president under Bill Clinton and ran for president, but was never president.

Several years ago one of the first mistakes I caught was a cozy mystery that said that a horse was a stallion at the beginning of a paragraph, then called the same horse a gelding, and then again called him a stallion. NOT. All males horses are born as stallions but most of then are then castrated making them a gelding. He can’t change back and forth. This told me the author did not know what she was writing about. I didn’t read any more in that book.

I have seen many authors describing a landscape and not knowing what plants were native to the area. One person wrote that there were wild sunflowers blooming in Montana in March. NOT. Montana does have wild sunflowers, but in March they would just be starting to sprout and grow with the flower coming on in July or August. Even March can be a little early for any flower to start coming out.

Recently I read a mystery where the author had the main character remembering that she had taken “dressage” lessons at the tinder age of five which is why she know knew how to ride a horse. I child of five can take horseback riding lessons, but ---- “dressage” is the most advanced form of horseback riding – not anything a child would learn at age five. Very few casual horseback riders ever even try this.

Back to nonfiction books. Seen in a cookbook.

The recipe said to bring the eggs to a boil and boil for three minutes and they would be done. And this would be true if done at an altitude of less that 1000 feet or so, which is most of the eastern United States, California and a few other places. But – if you lived at the 6500 foot altitude, as I did at that time, it takes about 20 minutes to boil an egg. Pasta is another food that takes much longer to cook at a higher altitude. Even just water takes longer to boil at the different altitudes. Most food cooked at a high altitude takes longer to cook that it does at a lower altitude. I have only seen this mentioned in a few cookbooks. You will find it added to the instructions of most cake mix boxes that you get at the store.

I am not the only reader that notices minor mistakes in books. I have talked to a lot of other people who mention seeing these kind of problems and then not reading the rest of the book. A friend

said she read a book where the author said something about the way a car operated. She asked a mechanic and he said it wasn’t so. I didn’t read that book so I can’t comment on if it was or not.

In another book the author wrote that someone was using thousand dollar bills to buy an older car. Being a cashier for a very long time I decided to find out when the last thousand dollar bill was issued. It was back in 1946. Plus I found out that most thousand dollar bills are in museums or in private collections. My five minutes of research also informed me that if you did have even one of those thousand dollar bills it might be worth more to a collector. A whole lot more than that thousand dollars.

I am not trying to keep people from trying to write a novel. But do remember to check out the little things as well as the big things. Write and write and write some more but be aware of what you are writing. Go back and read some of the great mysteries if that is what you are writing, or find out more about pets or plants before writing about them. Even if you know a lot about a subject. If you arn’t sure, check it out. With the internet there is no excuse for not finding out about things.

I have read all of the books by good mystery writers like C. J. Box, A. J. Jance, Steven Havell, Sue Henry, Nevada Barr, Craig Johnson, and Dick Francis, as well as a lot of others. I have read all of the books by Zane Gray, Louis L'Amour, Luke Short, and many other Westerns. I have to say I do not remember ever reading anything by these famous authors that made we wonder if it was true. In fact I have read and re-read and read again many of the books by these authors.

If I were to actually write a book I would want it to be their kind of books. In a way these are some of my heroes because of the kind of books they wrote and some of them are still writing. They are the kind of writers I will pay good money to get a new book when it first comes out. Don’t be a person who writes books that are free. Write the good ones.