Hate when authors do this

[thinkponk48]

Don't get characters ages correct. In the book I'm reading a female character has been to university, worked as a teacher for a bit, met married and bought a house with someone and then had a child.

Eventually her son moves abroad for a job and she's an empty nester at 38! So ridiculous should be at least 45.

I know it's a silly thing but it's ruined the book for me

I seem to remember it being 9 stone 2-4 lbs (about BMI 20-21) as being 'a terrifying slide into obesity'. And her being happy that she got to 8 stone something, then disappointed that people didn't really applaud her for it.

It made it pretty clear until that 'twist' that she was 'fat' compared to everybody else.

That’s so crappy.

Not as easy as that because you have freshman -then sophomore- then junior- then senior at high school (roughly uk school years 10-13/age 14-18) then it starts again in university (although it would be called college usually in us). So a high school freshman is 14/15, a college freshman is usually 18/19.

Most high school sophomores would be a max of 15 at the start of the school year so yeah it is a bit creepy to suggest they are all lying about being virgins at that age!

Never sure why people get so stressed about this, either you can tell by the context or if it bothers you that much it takes a second to Google!

TBH I lost interest after the rape story and the resurrection of Benton so I haven't read the last one

Henry the Tooth?? 😂 Best historical autocorrect/error ever.

I believe that that spelling of Alys is Welsh, but I might be wrong.

The thing with names is called the Tiffany Problem (sorry if someone has already said this but I’m only part way through the thread). The name Tiffany has been used since the 1700 (I think) but if you used it in anything other than a person born in the 1980s no one would believe it.

I know the one. I stopped watching for the same reason. The house was meant to be in England, but the architecture was all wrong.

Not all Dukes are members of the Royal family though, there is the Duke of Devonshire, Duke of Norfolk (or used to be?). Independent aristocratic titles. The Royal ones are titles swiped by the Royals when the original aristocratic line died out. Or made up to give some gravitas to junior royals. I think.

Re Bridget Jones’ Diary - she talks about wearing jeans from Ages B (in no way a plus size shop) and her weight fluctuates from 8.5 stones to 9.5 stones - so she is actually a really slim person who is a bit obsessive about her weight.

It annoyed me in Mad About The Boy that she kept putting her weight in pounds - no English person thinks in pounds.

This is niche, but I find implausible flora/fauna really annoying. Books set in medieval England full of spreading horse chestnut trees; English robins that lay bright blue eggs.

Exotically forrin people who talk entirely in self-translated snippets 'Ah mon Dieu, my God, you are so tout belle, so beautiful ...'. No one fucking does that. Ugh. Though, there is a delightfully awful chicklit book called Goodbye Jimmy Choo (or something like that) which taught me that the French for weed (or 'weeeed,' as the character enunciates it, in case we couldn't imagine his accent) is 'mauvaise herbe'.

Mind you, chances are that's bollocks too; I've never troubled to check.

I recently read a book in which the lead character is a crime writer (of course). A murder takes place and it's not until halfway through the book that the writer suddenly remembers that the (very specific) method of killing was something she'd come up with in one of her own books. I mean, FFS

I also read a book recently where it swapped from present to past tense halfway through. It wasn't a plot or literary device, it was just an error. I hate books written in the present tense so I was both pleased as well as annoyed at the sloppiness of it...

In fairness about 15 years ago I taught a year 6 class (10-11 year olds). One of them was Barbara and her friend was Pamela. The same class also had a Pauline. The class below has a Justine. When I first met Barbara and Pamela I thought they were taking the piss.

I’ve just read The In-Laws by James Caine and, my God, it was infuriating. A decent enough storyline but really badly executed. I don’t think it had passed within a hundred miles of an editor or proofreader. While I can’t really recommend the book unless you want your blood pressure to soar, it’s worth reading the Amazon reviews (especially the one and two star ones) as I wasn’t alone in my frustrations about all the errors.

There is definitely a Duke of Norfolk; he's the premier non-royal duke of England and in charge of the coronation. The Duke of Hamilton is the premier duke of Scotland; he was the man in the kilt who placed the crown of Scotland on the Queen's coffin at the service in Edinburgh.

I think there are about 24 non-royal dukes in the UK at last count.

Horse chestnut is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It was first introduced to the UK from Turkey in the late 16th century and widely planted (source: woodland trust)

Well. That's my flabber well and truly gasted.

Yes ... I know ... that's sort of why I find it implausible in medieval England?

@SarahAndQuack you misunderstood me; I had no idea - read your post and thought "eh?"

Learn something new every day!

I'm so sorry!

I read it and assumed you were correcting me - clearly I am far too quick to be defensive!

I should have given the context in the original. I only notice because something I do has to do with researching plants/trees in medieval/early modern England, so I have on radar which ones are fairly new. It's like people having medieval peasants eating baked potato or whatever.

No no, I should have made it clearer! I read it back and realised that it could well be read like I was correcting you so I'm sorry too - I always thought they were native!

I would love to know more about your whatever-it-is that has you researching flora in pre-modern England @SarahAndQuack - I'm a total nerd and it sounds fascinating :)

You are far too polite! It really was my fault for reading wrongly.

My research - well, until recently I was an academic researcher in medieval/early modern studies, and I was interested in how ideas about gardens and nature in medieval and early modern England, related to ideas about sexuality and gender. Then, I moved sideways into horticulture, and now I work in a plant nursery, and my personal interest there is in old varieties of trees and plants. So I am interested both in the practical side of what trees were introduced when, and also in what kind of symbolism they had. It's amazing how symbolic trees are - so many writers describe landscapes and think they must be describing something ancient and unchanging, and very often, that landscape is full of very recent imports. We're much more multicultural than we know!

@SarahAndQuack that's fascinating. I'm not as qualified as you but have studied a fair bit of early modern history and currently really interested in the UK's ancient landscapes and associated symbolism/mythology/folklore. Any books, papers, sources you can recommend - or have written?

I was interested in how ideas about gardens and nature in medieval and early modern England, related to ideas about sexuality and gender
I would happily listen to you lecture on this!

(I could continue the v English "no, no, its my fault" but suspect we'll be at it indefinitely!)

In the ridiculous book I'm reading, there's reference to a hundred pound note. Which doesn't exist in England (where the action is set).

I met a Barbara about 10 years ago who would have been early 20s at the time. She went be Babs as well which felt like an even older name. I don’t think names are the best way of determining a time period overall!

@LeMoo @SarahAndQuack loved this polite and wholesome exchange - I found out something new too!

I haven't published anything (though I would like to), but there are two wonderful books I enjoyed: Green Desire by Rebecca Bushnell, and Gender and the Garden, by Jennifer Monroe. Both focus on the early modern period and both are academic books so not super cheap (!), but they're really interesting reflections of the symbolism of gardens/landscapes. I also love Rob MacFarlane's books (and, niche claim to fame - he taught me when he was writing his first book, then later on, I taught one of his students for him when he was writing another one). He talks a bit about folklore/mythology in various places. Ruth Pavey's books (about buying a bit of scrub woodland/orchard) are a bit marmite, but she has interesting reflections on folklore.

That's off the top of my head! What would you recommend? I'd love some more to read.