that book meme #16

[orangerful]

16: Rant about anything book related



Two trends that I cannot stand right now in publishing:
1. Making books into comic books. Just to cash in. GUESS WHAT - Percy Jackson sold FINE in book form! They made a movie out of it! We don't need THE EXACT SAME STORY told in comic book form. I mean, if it was like the WARRIORS series where the comics were separate stories, I could deal with it, but just taking books and making them comics, with no real style, just an obvious cash-in, blah.

2. "Young Reader Editions" that are the same damn size as the adult book. Look, if you're in middle/high school and want to read 'Unbroken', just read 'Unbroken'. If you're interested in Malala, read her autobiography, not the "sanitized" version that is the "young reader's edition". Either your kid is ready for this, interested in this, or they are not.

The ABSOLUTE WORST is when they make a young reader's edition, a picture book edition and then a comic book. (okay that last one hasn't happened yet, but give it time!)

Anyone else have any book/publishing trends that are pet peeves at the moment?

Comments

[spikesjojo.livejournal.com]

The book I am supposed to read for my book club. It has every cliche about self-published books in spades. Pure vanity press from run-on paragraphs introducing each new character with their entire biography to the main character staring in the mirror and describing his twinkling eyes and cleft chin.

This isn't a new trend - and self publishing is really attracting some decent writers - just vanity publishing by a local doctor who is writing a police procedural knowing nothing about police. And a streak of hate-filled misogyny from the mutilated corpses of women, to the complete absence of any woman who isn't a fat sow in a stinky trailer shoving chocolate in her mouth.

Now I have to go to my book club and temper my venting...it will be hard.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Umm, I like the graphic novel phase. To me, it's not that different from the Fotonovels* they had for Grease, etc. or the comic book adaptations that would be later collected for the trade paperback. If we include Jurassic Park the novel and its film merchandise, then it DOES have an adult book, children's book, picture book and comic book. I miss when films would have juvenile AND adult adaptations so I was happy that TFA bought that back.

*If you have never seen one:
http://www.knowitalljoe.com/blast-past-fotonovel/

Some people like reading but for others, they like the visuals or they can use it as a stepping stone to the actual prose books...or they might just want a different way of remembering.

I also like when they do it for books that weren't adapted into films, like I still want to read the manga for Cirque du Freak and I should check out how far along they are on Percy Jackson because dammit, I love Nico and we're never getting him in live action form at this rate.

Hmm, pet peeves...
I will never understand all the difference subgenres. I thought it was weird enough to have paranormal romance and now I find out that each facet now has its own genre. I was astounded how many different types of fantasy literature there are...just give me a book, you know?

P.S. METATRON!!!!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I'm not talking about the easy reader versions so much as these Non-Fiction titles that they adapt for teens and it's like, teens would be able to handle the regular version of the book. My fear is that these "young reader's editions" are sanitized, which bothers me.

They do still do novelizations of the movies for kids, we have all of them at the library and they are usually pretty popular (though I always find it hilarious when the movie is based on a book so the novelization is based on a movie that was based on a book...). But, yeah, I have no problem with the Jurassic Park and Star Wars children's books. It's the weird tween trend with NonFiction that bugs me. My theory is that it probably censors things so that teachers might be more comfortable teaching them in class. The 'Unbroken' and 'Boys in the Boat' adaptations have the same amount of pages as the regular editions.

Oh do NOT get me started on genres! Some genius in our system decided to put genre labels on the YA books and I tried to explain that nothing written today fits into ONE genre anymore. Stop trying to put a label on everything!

[poniesandphotos.livejournal.com]

I will read just about anything. And I enjoy scifi/fantasy as much as the next person. But does every book now require a werwolf or vampire to be printed?

That being said there is a wonderful (in a slightly guilty pleasure sort of way) self published series with vampires that I've read several times now that I adore. But it's the exception.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I think it is frustrating when you can tell the vampire/werewolf/angel/mermaid-whatever was put into the story *just* to sell the books and not part of the author's original intentions. Also, along those same lines, when they force authors to make a trilogy.

Your self-published person wrote what they wanted so that's why it works as an exception. :)

[qwentoozla]

I agree with both pet peeves! I've never really gotten the point of doing the same story in comic form. I guess it's an opportunity to sell it twice? I mean, if the art is amazing then it's cool, but usually it's fairly standard.

My pet peeve is YA covers that all look the same, but actually I've seen more good ones recently... But for some time they all looked similar to Twilight and it was so irritating!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a lot of the artwork just looks rushed or manga-fied for the purpose of reaching manga fans. It's not like some amazing graphic novel author and artist teamed up because they LOVE the books and wanted to do their own take.

haha I've put books on display and had to do a double take because the covers are so similar. There's actually a book on the adult shelf now that has THE EXACT SAME PHOTO on it's cover as a YA book. **facepalm**

[eowyn.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard of a young reader's edition! How silly.

My peeve would probably be the insane number of YA supernatural books.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of them!

[penderies.livejournal.com]

There should be no censorship in books. It's fucking stupid and gross. Reading is the best way to learn. I read adult books as a kid and it was hugely important.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

exactly! My theory is that they "clean up" the books so that teachers will use them for classes. Publishers are trying to hard to get schools to buy their books in bulk.

[snogged.livejournal.com]

The comic book thing never really bothered me because it's another medium to help make kids interested in reading. Some kids are just more excited by visual stimulation. We also read some comic book versions of Shakespeare in my high school English class. It was pretty cool.

I love your Metatron gif!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I don't mind adaptations if it feels like the writer/artist actually cared. I am just not impressed by the ones that look like they were churned out of a factory *just* to make money. That bothers me.

Shakespeare makes perfect sense for that format as it is NOT a novel meant to be read! (omg talk about a rant, I HATE when teachers assign Shakespeare for summer reading! It's a play, it is meant to be seen, or at least heard. Trying to convince students that Shakespeare is enjoyable when they are trying to read a script alone in their bedroom...yeah, no wonder no one likes the Bard...I've gotten into several debates about this with parents, trying to make them take home a DVD or at least audio version of the play if the student has to read it)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

Well, I don't know how "sanitised" they are, but I just don't understand how there are Game of Thrones books in the YA section of my supermarket (and it's not a classification mistake, because they don't look like the editions that are in the SF/F section).

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen anything like that! And searching online, I don't see a YA version of GoT listed - are they just publishing them again with new covers? We do have the graphic novel editions for that series too but it is definitely in adult!

[rhoda-rants.livejournal.com]

*GASP*

Has it happened? Is GoT being shelved in YA now? ARE MY PREDICTIONS FINALLY COMING TRUE?!?!?

My 'Is ASOIAF YA?' post from 2 years back.

It's the future!!

*throw validation confetti*

[yshaloo]

I will say, I love a book that went from comic to novel. I have a novelization of the Elfquest comics that I think is just the bee's knees. :)

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

That doesn't bother me. :) I'm sure the novelization had input from the real authors and they got to expand on their universe. It's more the non-fiction that bugs me, especially when the original doesn't seem that far off from the new version. Just feels like a cash grab.

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

DUDE. THIS. YES!!!!!

[rhoda-rants.livejournal.com]

I hate those YA versions of existing books. *HATE* them. I remember feeling insulted when my school wanted me to read an abridged version of Les Miserables for my 10th grade class, and I imagine I'd feel the same way about the YA editions too. It's so pointless. Just read the book.

[impalalove]

1) I kind of get this, because there are some readers who need the pictures, particularly since some books I have read that are "relevant right now" are very pages full of text with no real breaks, which is kind of concerning. It needs to be done well, tho, others haven't been.

2) This is annoying. I heard about this recently with Da Vinci Code, which yes, was particularly dark; but I read it when I was younger, and look at that, I was able to keep up just fine.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Honestly, the headline for that article should say "Dan Brown out of ideas but wants new car, what could he do that you suckers would fall for?"

[ragnarok-08.livejournal.com]

I definitely hate unnecessary censorship in books, just what on Earth is that supposed to accomplish with 'sanitized' versions of books?

[night-owl-9.livejournal.com]

Yes, to ALL of this.

[meepalicious.livejournal.com]

I don't mind the graphic novel adaptations so much. It's no different than a movie adaptation, and it's usually more faithful to the source material. (*According to my resident Percy Jackson expert.) I think the Shakespeare versions are especially useful for my ESL high school kids, too; the series we have is almost the exact script, just used in comic book dialog bubbles.

I don't like the "young reader editions" of anything. If you're not ready for a book, you're not ready. I hate abridged editions; the language is never as good as the original. I definitely think there should be books about (e.g.,) Malala, but if you're not ready to read I am Malala, that's fine but also too bad. I just threw out the mostly horribly written abridged "children's version" of Anne of Green Gables. The kids all thought they had read Anne of Green Gables and refused to read the real one. No.

I guess that's my library/publishing pet peeve. I'm also tired of kids asking for movie novelizations (we don't have the budget to buy them when they're only going to be popular for a year and I can barely keep our nonfiction section stocked with relevant information) after I've explained why we don't have them several times.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I agree with you when it comes to not buying the movie novelizations. Usually they are so poorly written, churned out by some low level author and *maybe* they bother to run them through auto-correct (I remember a Buffy paperback that was apparently rampant with grammatical errors that the spellcheck didn't pick up, along with The First being capitalized throughout even if they weren't talking about the character).

[girlwhowaited.livejournal.com]

I hate it when the movies/fandom has died down for certain series that were shit to begin with that they bring out graphic novels for them.

IT ANNOYS ME WHEN PEOPLE WILL NOT READ AND ALL THEY WANT IS PRETTY PICTURES.

[ekaterin24.livejournal.com]

I'm not a fan of "young readers' editions" either. If parents want to expose their kids to classics, go age-appropriate with reading excerpts or classics such as A Little Princess, Treasure Island or Little House in the Big Woods (discussing racist/sexist bits as you read together or in tandem) Or, in the case of Shakespeare for middle schoolers, rent a movie or find a play--the language is easier to understand when you see the action and actors' expressions too, and oh yeah--that's how they're supposed to be experienced! Then again, there was the mom who insisted on getting her 11 year old the original Gulliver's Travels to read unadapted. Couldn't help imagining her shock when her son read about Gulliver sitting on the Brobdignagian woman's bare nipple, or the paragraph about Gulliver's Master, Bates. (which, granted, is classic middle-school-level humor in both senses!)

PS. just noticed that lovely GIF of my man Metatron! I love Dogma and he was probably my favorite character (though I was also fond of The Apostle Rufus, and God.)