Do I Hear an Echo?

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, whenever I find a book I really enjoy, that is part of a series, I like to go back and read all of that series in order. This means I sometimes read several books in the series back to back. I also have one of those strange memories that holds on to things like song lyrics, movie dialog, and passages of text.

One downside of this combination is noticing, and being bothered by, inconsistencies from one book to another. I always feel compelled to go back and check whether Great-Auntie’s name was really Mildred in book two but became Matilda in book five.

Recently I got caught up by something different. I was reading a series book and realized the author had used the same exact descriptions as in the previous book. Complete sentences or even short paragraphs were copied directly from one book to the next to describe a person, business, location, etc. I’m not sure why that bothered me but every time I came across one of those repeats it took me out of the story, just for a second.

Now I’m wondering…is this just me? Every series will have some of the same characters and locations from book to book so the descriptions of those characters and locations are going to be the same. But how much the same? Does an author have to find new ways to describe the same things in the latest story or is it perfectly acceptable to lift the descriptions from the last one.

What do you think?

Positive item for today: Brandi still has her eye. Not out of danger yet but every day that passes increases the chances we can save it.

Another positive: Very Quick Nine Year Old – my football player from a few posts ago - who was missing his season with a broken finger is back in the game. He was able to play both offense and defense today.

Unwriting progress: From the original 150,000 words down to 113,133. (Too much time spent in non-positive places this week.)

I'm currently enjoying: Just finished The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen  (What shall I read next?  My TBR pile is calling.) 

Quote of the day: It is not so much the example of others we imitate as the reflection of ourselves in their eyes and the echo of ourselves in their words. - Eric Hoffer