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Michael Bailey: Palindrome Hannah

sirmyk said:
At least I got a blurb then.
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"Bailey is a unique and fresh voice in the world of horror. His style is sharp and clever as he skillfully guides you down the primrose path into the thicket of thorns. PALINDROME HANNAH is a book that makes you take a second look...and a third."

That's as good as any blurb gets....I'd take as many of those as I could get...
 
Google Book Search

A while ago I took part in Google Print, which is now called Google Book Search. It's still in beta stage at books.google.com.

Here's my Palindrome Hannah search page, for those of you interested in seeing interior pages. Feel free to search the pages to your heart's desire.

This is an interesting concept, this Google Book Search. Let me know what you think.
 
I've just read through this thread following Motokid's promotion of Palindrome Hannah on the January 06 Book of the Month thread. For those who are considering it, can I summarise the opinions? If I'm misrepresenting anyone let me know.

laboi_22 loved it. From his Amazon review: "WOW! I absolutely enjoyed it."

MonkeyCatcher also loved it. "This is definately one of the best books I have read this year. I can't convey how much I loved this book."

So did Gem: "I haven't been this excited about a book for a long time"

clueless more or less liked it. "Not bad at all for a first book."

ions didn't express much of an opinion other than to say "I would have liked the stories to have more continuity with each other."

I would have welcomed jay's thoughts, I must admit, as he's the one whose literary opinions I think would tally most closely with mine. Did he ever make his opinion on the book known to you, sirmyk? I'm not sure MonkeyCatcher and I would have much overlap in reading tastes, much as I respect her opinions (didn't you once have The Da Vinci Code in your top three books, you young minx?!). And I know laboi and I wouldn't, from his five-star review of Dean Koontz's Watchers:

Without offending any of Mr. Koontz's fans I have to say I was somewhat disappointed with his writing. I felt his prose weak, and his use of weak and unecessary adjectives a bit disconcerting. It just wasn't up to par and felt that anyone else who may have written it could've done a better job with the prose. (Sorry Mr. Koontz) Still in all this proves what I'll always stand by, if you have a good story with a strong plot like Watchers, it doesn't matter how poor the writing.
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... the last sentence being a sentiment with which I would strongly disagree!

Anyway, so. I still don't know whether Palindrome Hannah would be of interest to me. I did check the other Amazon reviewers (all five-stars) to see what else they liked and try to triangulate from there, but it turns out they haven't reviewed any other books.

Still, all this discussion about the book must be good for business, eh sirmyk!
 
Shade said:
I would have welcomed jay's thoughts, I must admit, as he's the one whose literary opinions I think would tally most closely with mine. Did he ever make his opinion on the book known to you, sirmyk?
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I tried contacting Jay for a few weeks following his departure from The Book Forum. It seems he left on a bad note, never to return. He was the first I approached for an honest review of the book, as I respected his opinons, and now that he is gone I will never know. Last I heard, though, he purchased a few books for some American book store in Germany he frequents.

... the last sentence being a sentiment with which I would strongly disagree [Koontz]!
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As would I. But I'm not a fan of Koontz's recent works.

Anyway, so. I still don't know whether Palindrome Hannah would be of interest to me.
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There are a few reviews posted throughout this thread if those on Amazon can't be trusted. I'm still waiting to hear back from Cemetery Dance magazine.

Still, all this discussion about the book must be good for business, eh sirmyk!
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Yeah, I'm really floating in the money here. Oh, wait... those are expense receipts...
 
Or, an easy way to have your throat slashed and your tongue pulled through the opening....:eek:

How applicable for a horror writer...
 
I would rather not have the name Dan Brown associated with my book in any way.

Motokid said:
Or, an easy way to have your throat slashed and your tongue pulled through the opening...
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So you've read Palindrome Hannah, then? Kidding.
 
Shade said:
I'm not sure MonkeyCatcher and I would have much overlap in reading tastes, much as I respect her opinions (didn't you once have The Da Vinci Code in your top three books, you young minx?!).
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LOL :D Yup, that was me. But remember, that was when I first joined the forum and before I had found out about all the great books that I've read since then. I didn't think that it was amazingly written - I just found it interesting. My how my reading has matured since then (well, I hope :p )
 
MonkeyCatcher said:
...didn't think that it was amazingly written - I just found it interesting. My how my reading has matured since then (well, I hope :p )
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This was regarding The Davinci Code, no?
 
sirmyk said:
Care to review?
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Since my post from yesterday was deleted I read through this and came across this post that I'd overlooked.

I'll politely decline, however, as I just had a brief look at it through that Google search thing you posted and the passage I read frustrated me. Maybe it was just unlucky that the random page I chose annoyed me so, but based on the passage - which I'll paste below and explain why - I don't think I would enjoy it. :)

Page 12 said:
"Sure. What were you thinking?" he asked, hoping she picked someplace inexpensive. Karen had expensive tastes. "How about..."

"Wait. I have a better idea," she interrupted. "Why don't we get something to go and have a nice, relaxing meal at the park? We'll take the MG. Matty can scrunch in the back or sit on your lap. How does that sound?"

It sounded great. "Sounds perfect. "What about church, though?" he asked, poker-faced.

"Nice try", she said, unamused. "We'll go after church. We can play on the swings while Matty plays on the monkey bars."
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The first thing that frustrated me was this:

"Sure. What were you thinking?" he asked,

​
The fact that the question concludes with a question mark makes he asked redundant. The same thing happens with "How about..." and then, in the next line, she interrupted. Then, regarding church, we get he asked again.

Another thing:

...hoping she picked someplace inexpensive. Karen had expensive tastes.

​
I think there are better ways to get across that someone has expensive tastes than direct telling. You can view it in their clothes, their preferred purchases, etc. and it's easily reinforced with "hoping she picked someplace inexpensive for once"

Third gripe:

It sounded great. "Sounds perfect.
​
Apart from the repetition of sound it's a repetition of a whole statement. As such, It sounded great is redundant.

Finally, my last problem was in a bit of dialogue:

"We'll go after church."

​
When I say this aloud, I can't help but feel that the word that should be stressed is after i.e. "We'll go after church."

Hope this helps and offers something to consider.
 
Here's the page with mark-up if anyone is interested (disregard the highlighting, I had to search for the page):

page016.jpg


The problem I have with putting "he said", "he asked", etc. after simple sentences and questions is an ongoing issue that has stuck with me since I can remember. It's not necessarily wrong; it's just annoying to some when reading dialogue. I may have absorbed this issue by reading too much Michael Cricton.

""hoping she picked someplace inexpensive for once" is a much better line.

I'm not sure what the problem is with the italics; it shows up with "after" being the italicized word for me.

Thanks for the honest criticism, Stewart.
 
I sometimes have to question if Stewart goes into a reading situation like this with his fine tooth comb out, and actively seeking "problems" and "errors" or if that's the way he reads everything?

Is his overall intention to find something wrong, or is his intention to read for the simple enjoyment of reading, and finding out what's going to happen next?

I started reading this book yesterday and I've found I want to know what's going to happen next at the end of every page so far. I've gotten about 25 pages in and I know there's plenty of books that I've quit reading after the first few pages....this isn't one of them.
 
sirmyk said:
I'm not sure what the problem is with the italics; it shows up with "after" being the italicized word for me.
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Strange.

Thanks for the honest criticism, Stewart.
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You're welcome.


Motokid said:
I sometimes have to question if Stewart goes into a reading situation like this with his fine tooth comb out, and actively seeking "problems" and "errors" or if that's the way he reads everything?
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It's just the way I read fiction. The less I notice then the more enjoyable it is because the flow of words isn't interrupted.

is his intention to read for the simple enjoyment of reading, and finding out what's going to happen next?
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Sometimes, Moto, it's finding out what happened before. ;)
 
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