Gen X---The Thirty-Something Thread

[revrag]

The Hunger Games eh? Well I missed that one. I'll have to make a trip to Powell's today...again.

[dimber]

It's good to see a lot of new people in here...welcome all!!

Since we're still talking books, which seems to be one of our favourite topics (and that's one of the reasons why I love this thread so much!) I'd like to inform you that I've just placed my usual bookworm order on amazon. I've purchased a few titles which were missing from my shelves...SV 2 and 3, the first in the BDB, The Time Traveler's Wife, the first in the Morganville Vampires series, the Inkheart trilogy, City of Bones and Sabriel by Garth Nix.
It should be enough reading material for a few months...I have also the Inheritance trilogy already at home plus a few other books that's been waiting on my shelf for too long. It should also keep me away from the Twilight series for a while...though I cannot stop myself from reading some pages now and then

Talking about True Blood and the novels (of which I've read only the first one) I agree about the deep difference between the novels and the tv series. I personally prefer the novels because I think the amount of sex shown on tv has little to do with the series' essence. Of course, it's adult fantasy so sex and passion have a role in the story but on tv it was definitely too much. The show was entertaining anyway, but the novels are definitely better!

Talking about shows, anybody in here likes Friday Night Lines? (I don't remember if I've already asked you this or not...if so, sorry!) I've began watching the first episodes and I think it's really good...but probably it's because I like both football and Kyle Chandler!

[una]

Welcome revrag!!

I'm not much for watching television. Unless it's one of the few shows I watch (and then I Tivo them anyway). I really do prefer to read since the action and characters are SO much better in my head.

Dimber - you've got a great reading list there!

I saw on SM's site about The Girl Who Could Fly - it looks interesting and I have added it to my "to-read" list.

[revrag]

Thanks for the welcome everyone. Quite a nice little group here. Ya, the Inkheart series is fantastic...I got the last book Inkdeath for Christmas and haven't picked it up yet. Not because they aren't interesting, but because I want to re-read the other two first and they are buried somewhere, for their own protection. Also, because I love the Twilight series so much that I've re-read them and re-read them...and, well you get the point...and they haven't gotten old yet. I just pick one up and let the page fall open and read from there...mostly. (What else am I going to do when my kids are eating dinner so incredibly slowly?)

Now, I have a little dilema in that my sister-in-law just got her first book published and has been hounding me since November about whether or not I've read it. I feel awful that I've read so many other books since then, but haven't been able to complete hers. It's not that it isn't interesting, because it is, sort of. It's just that she got it published through Publish America...and it's unedited. Like REALLY unedited. And that, to me, makes it a VERY hard read. I am a very fast reader, I completed the entire Twilight series in less than 1 week, but it takes me so long to process what I just read of her book...simply because I have to break down each paragraph and figure out what she was meaning to say and there are different perspectives going on at once and I have to figure out who is saying or thinking what. Ugh... I dread giving her a review...which she is hounding me for a lot. I'm a bad sister-in-law huh?...Blah.

[JenTheWriter]

Wow, I just realized there was a 30s board. Call me unobservant! To the original question on the first page, would I go back to being a teenager in today's world -- NO. I loved my teens in the 90s, enjoyed every minute of it, but I wouldn't even go back and relive that. If I wanted to relive a time it would be 28-29, even though that was seriously the hardest year of my life. I really enjoyed 29. My 30s aren't bad thus far. Well, they could be better, but I've only been stumping around 30s for 2 years (if you count being 30 as 1 year).

revrag -- I don't think that makes you a bad sister-in-law. I'm the same way. If I can't flow through it and read it as it was meant to sound, I can't get into it. Mistakes jar me out of a story and it makes it difficult to enjoy what I'm reading. And I'm a little surprised that the publisher would actually allow the book to be published with so many mistakes, mistakes your s-i-l didn't correct before sending it in.

You can be honest with her, even if it hurts her feelings. Just tell her, "I've started your book, I find it interesting, but I'm having troubles. The editor in me is drawn to correct the mistakes I see and it keeps bringing me out of the story, so I've been slowly getting through the book. It's not that I don't want to read it, I am reading it, I'm just going about it slower than I normally would." And before she gets that crestfallen look tell her some part you've read that you've really enjoyed or thought was well written. That way at least she has some praise with the constructive criticism.

[revrag]

Very good advise Jenthewriter. Ya...the editing thing is driving me mad. I'll just have to buck up and be honest. When I talk to her, I'll have to just say what you wrote...since you put it so nicely.

[dimber]

Revrag I have a similar problem with my future brother-in-law. He writes poetry, or at least he tries. The problem is he convinced himself he can write surrealist poetry...the result is a bunch of horrible sequences of words, nothing to do with poetry at all. Sometimes he has spelling and words completely wrong.
Since he is extremely touchy, I must confess I have decided to lie...I just say general things like: "uh, that's quite something" without giving too many details. I know it's horrible but, since I don't think any publisher will be interested in his poetry, I guess it's no harm...everybody is a writer inside.
I'm a writer myself, and I know how disappointing it is to be let down by other people...that's why I don't believe either almost any of the compliments or the critics I receive

With your sister-in-law is different, because she got published...I think a sincere critique is the best you can do for her. She will surely appreciate it if you underline all the critics are for the better and for the sake of future publications.

Yesterday one of my students' parents took an appointment to talk about the first semester's mark: they don't understand why he got a D...I'm really disappointed: how could you possibly think that with only two Bs, at the very beginning, and 4 Ds you could get a good mark????? Today they're coming to discuss the mark...I can't stand such things, really. Does that happen in the US?

[JenTheWriter]

Very good advise Jenthewriter. Ya...the editing thing is driving me mad. I'll just have to buck up and be honest. When I talk to her, I'll have to just say what you wrote...since you put it so nicely.

Well, sometimes honest hurts, but she's also not going to learn to edit her work if she's unaware of the problem. But I'm glad I could help out! lol

[bac]

Yesterday one of my students' parents took an appointment to talk about the first semester's mark: they don't understand why he got a D...I'm really disappointed: how could you possibly think that with only two Bs, at the very beginning, and 4 Ds you could get a good mark????? Today they're coming to discuss the mark...I can't stand such things, really. Does that happen in the US?

I am not a teacher, but it seems to me that this does happen. I have heard enough teachers complain about parents not understanding to think that it does happen.

GNE, any experience with the above?

My 30 somethings are going by awfully quickly. I feel like my days are flying by and I can't keep up. I think I need to slow down. "Slow down, you move to fast, you gotta make the moment last"

[dimber]

Bac, thanks for the support!

I finally found out what happened...the little monster changed the marks on the family-school book we use to communicate with parents. Since we sign the marks once a month but sometimes not regularly, he had all the time to change the marks before the end of the semester. That's why his mother expected a different mark...the problem is we use numbers instead of letters so it's easy to change a 3 into an 8 or add a plus or something else. The kid got an ammonition for the head of the school. Gee, I wasn't clever enough at 12 to change the marks on my book

I'd better go to the gym to ease my frustration