Errors in books

Back in September and earlier 2006, I had posted about several errors I had found in books I was reading - most notably the first 6 books in the incredibly long Mikemian saga by Raymond E. Feist.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a singular lack of these errors for several books in a row.

Errors did begin happening again, however:
"Krondor the Assasins," ISBN 0-380-80323-2
Page 46, first paragraph:
James lit the lantern.

Second paragraph:
James trimmed the wick, lit it, and closed the shutters...

So it seems that James lit the lantern two times.

I hope someone from their publishing house sees this blog post and fixes the error in future prints of the book. This book has been in print since 1999.

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Page 147:
Vladic said, "My uncle and cousin are heroes. They overturned the table and we fought from behind it. I fear they took serious wounds protecting me."
Page 149:
Only Prince Vladic's quick wits had saved the duke, Paulina and Kazamir. He had overturned the table, ordered the others to crouch behind it, and killed everything that tried to come over the top.

These are totally contradicting statements.

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Page 207:
Captain Treggar nodded. "Squire." To James he said, "Lieutenant, you come with me."
William said, "Sir," and fell in behind the captain...

The paragraph should read:
Captain Treggar nodded. "Squire." To William he said, "Lieutenant, you come with me."

William is the Lieutenant.

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Page 143:
The Izmali stumbled, but did not fall. James rolled again as the warrior fell, and came to his feet with his sword drawn in a single fluid motion.

These are actually the last sentence of one paragraph, and the only sentence in the next paragraph. The Izmali is the warrior, who did not fall, and fell.

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Chapters 7-8
Arutha orders Jazhara and James to leave the city at first light on their mission.
A few pages later, James and Jazhara are talking about the upcoming mission, and one states that they hope that they are allowed at least one good night's sleep before they have to leave the city.
Several pages later, it describes the next day - they had decided to sleep in through the morning, and in to the late afternoon, and then went out visit someone in the city. At this point, I'm wondering why they didn't leave at first light.
They encounter a demon and need to summon a priest to help them banish it. After the priest banishes the demon, he mentions that Arutha wants them to go on their mission outside the city quickly. They reply (on page 176), "We were going to leave this morning, sir, but things have proved less convenient than I would have liked. We'll go as soon as possible."
Did the author intend for James to baldfacedly lie, or was this an oversight as they revised the chapters in the writing, and the editor(s) just plain missed it? If James had intentionally slept in through the morning and afternoon despite orders by his Prince to leave the city at first light, don't you think he would have responded somewhat differently?

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King of Foxes (Conclave of Shadows book 2) ISBN 0-380-80326-7
Pages 235-236
The character Talwin Hawkins (Talon of the Silver Hawk) has had his right hand cut off in prison. He's talking to another prisoner, who asked what he can do.
"I used to play instruments." He held out his stump. "I guess that's pointless."
He then went on to mention that he can cook and paint. A few paragraphs later:
Tal said, "I used to play music, too, but..." He waved the stump for emphasis.

It seems odd that he would say "I used to play instruments," wave his stump, "I can cook, I used to paint," wave his stump, "I used to play music," waves his stump. Isn't playing instruments (waving stump) similar to playing music (waving stump) ?

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Book: Flight of the Nighthawks, ISBN 978-0-06-079279-4
Twice in this book, Kaspar of Olasko is referred to as Kasper (once on page 280).
Someone's greaves are referred to as grieves.

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Book: Jimmy the Hand (Legends of the Riftwar), ISBN 0-00-648390-9
Page 9: He was a boy of unknown age - perhaps fourteen, perhaps sixteen, no one knew...
Page 10: His age was uncertain, perhaps thirteen years of age, perhaps fifteen...

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Book: Murder in LaMut (Legends of the Riftwar), ISBN 0-00-648389-5
Page 98: 'Actually, my lord,' Kethol said, 'we've talked it over among the three of us, and what we've decided is, well, we've decided that we'd like to be paid off now, and head south for Ylith, to wait for the thaw there.'
Page 99: 'If Grodan's right, you might find yourself caught in a blizzard halfway to Ylith, and not thaw out until spring.'
Kethol didn't wonder how Steven Argent knew they were going south if paid.

Why would Kethol wonder how Steven Argent knew they were going south? He'd just told Steven Argent that they were going south.

Grudge 2

So I watched the Grudge 2. I expected to be scared, since Grudge 1 was pretty scary.

I was disappointed in how scary it was.

Maybe it was less scary because the spookiness of the undead wore off in Grudge 1.
Perhaps it was less scary because this movie explained why the undead are the way they are.

I was also surprised to find that Sarah Michelle Gellar got top billing in the movie, even though she was only in it for 11 minutes.

cyan / kyanos

Last night I pronounce the color cyan as "kyan," and I am corrected, being told it is pronounced "syan."

I was then informed by the person making this claim that it is based on some Greek god Kyanos, also the color blue κυανός. "'Kyanos?' With the 'K' sound?"
"Yes."
"But we say 'Syan' instead of 'Kyan?'"
"Yes."

I mentioned that I will continue to pronounce it Kyan, and if anyone corrects me, I will tell them that they need to convince a Greek God that it's OK to pronounce it otherwise. I'll be saying it very tongue-in-cheek, but I will be saying it.

Irony

It's long bothered me that Alanis Morissette's song, "Isn't It Ironic" has very little irony used as examples in it.

Every time the song comes on the radio, I feel the need to analyze every sentence. She follows every sentence up with, "Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?" I know that's coming up, so I'm thinking about it while listening to it.

I am not sure how rain on your wedding day, a free ride offered after you've paid, or refusing to take good advice are even a little ironic.

And while thinking about that today, I think I discovered the most true irony of her song. The fact that, although it's a song about irony, it has little-to-no irony used as a description, itself. That's a pretty major irony - I wonder if she intended it that way.

Rude Laundry People

Today I go to do laundry. A lady has beat me to it by mere moments. This is fine.
She sees that someone is going to be waiting for her to finish. She even sees me head back down the hall, and towards which apartments.

Our laundry machines have visible digital timers on them that let you know exactly how long your load will be. Hers is 24 minutes.

I return a generous 30 minutes later to find her clothes still in there. 40 minutes later, still in there.

45 minutes later, I hear her move them.

I wait a bit, and then put my laundry in the washer. I set my timer for a generous 10 minutes past when her dryer load will be done (7:50pm). Clothes are still in there at 7:50.

8:10pm. Clothes have been sitting dry for 30 minutes ... still in there.

8:20pm, I write and leave a note stating that their clothes have been done for 40 minutes as of 8:20pm. I move my clothes to another laundry room and dryer.

9:05pm, my laundry is done drying. Their clothes are still in the dryer, have been dry for 1 hour 25 minutes (and who knows how much longer after this?).

I wish rudeness was painful.