Jo Walton ([info]papersky) wrote,
@ 2008-12-10 16:58:00
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Title, again...
How do you like

Reading in the Dark

???

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[info]carbonel
2008-12-10 10:00 pm UTC (link)
Uh...it sounds like an instruction manual.

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[info]tiger_spot
2008-12-10 10:02 pm UTC (link)
It's all right, but it sounds very mundane somehow, like a Judy Blume sort of slice-of-life thing. Depending on the book this may not be a problem.

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[info]readinggeek451
2008-12-10 10:02 pm UTC (link)
I like it very, very much. I would totally pick that up.

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[info]aranel
2008-12-11 06:09 am UTC (link)
Me too.

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[info]calanthe_b
2008-12-10 10:03 pm UTC (link)
H'mmmm. Interesting.

Though the question that leaps to mind re. 'Reading' is, the city or the activity?

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[info]steepholm
2008-12-10 10:37 pm UTC (link)
:-) I can see the subtitle now: a Short History of Berkshire Power Cuts.

All the same, I quite like the title.

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[info]calanthe_b
2008-12-10 11:03 pm UTC (link)
...aaand we're back in Fire and Hemlock territory!

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[info]muuranker
2008-12-11 07:03 am UTC (link)
Indeed. My first though was: is this the first volume of a trilogy? To be followed by Slough in the Twilight and Taplow Noon?

But I like steepholm's subtitle much better.

And I do like it as a title.


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[info]sphyg
2008-12-11 11:27 am UTC (link)
I've had a similarly amusing reaction to the film "Burn After Reading" ;)

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[info]tournevis
2008-12-10 10:09 pm UTC (link)
LOVE. IT.

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[info]hobbitbabe
2008-12-10 10:09 pm UTC (link)
It sounds like ...

Like being a kid who has to sneak reading after the lights are out. You know, that part where you don't have enough control over your life but you have to read.
Like trying to figure out how the world works when you don't have enough clues.
Like something a little bit spooky or eerie or magical.

Which would work for me, both as an attractor without knowing the story or looking back to see that it fits.

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[info]carandol
2008-12-11 12:04 am UTC (link)
Those were exactly the images it conjoured up for me too. And reading as a light against the darkness. I like it.

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[info]sphyg
2008-12-11 11:31 am UTC (link)
Ditto. I was reminiscing only yesterday about getting caught sneaking a torch under my duvet and how it unfairly went against the usual scholarly advice.

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[info]baratron
2008-12-20 09:52 pm UTC (link)
Yep. Absolutely.

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[info]sovay
2008-12-10 10:09 pm UTC (link)
My vote still goes to Tangled Things and Texts.

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[info]heleninwales
2008-12-10 10:14 pm UTC (link)
Every time I think of that it comes out as Tangled Texts and Things, which to my confused brain seems to flow better!

I do rather like Reading in the Dark and I have a feeling it's a title that would grow on me.

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[info]joenotcharles
2008-12-10 10:16 pm UTC (link)
I can't get "Tangled Things and Texts" to flow right in my mind. "Texts and Tangled Things" flows much better, but of course isn't accurate to the quote.

Reading in the Dark is on track, but it's lacking something.

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[info]ron_newman
2008-12-10 10:44 pm UTC (link)
not that a title has to be 'accurate to the quote' that it is based on, though.

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[info]bad_latin
2008-12-11 09:13 am UTC (link)
I agree, somehow "Tangled Things and Texts" sounds awkward, but "Texts and Tangled Things" sounds intriguing and flows well.

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[info]gwynnega
2008-12-10 10:15 pm UTC (link)
I like it, but there is already a book with that title.

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[info]dd_b
2008-12-10 10:25 pm UTC (link)
Not a good choice for me. While there's certainly a lot of reading in the book, it doesn't work as the title for me. And "dark" is a bad word, because of the euphemism "dark fantasy" meaning "horror" I think.

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[info]fledgist
2008-12-10 10:35 pm UTC (link)
Sounds like something that blind people do.

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[info]sartorias
2008-12-10 10:40 pm UTC (link)
Not fond of 'Dark' just because there seem to be so MANY darks in titles these days. Dark has kind of joined 'fate' 'destiny' and 'blood' in the 'check page 97 and maybe wait for recommendations from the trusted' list of words in titles.

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[info]ckd
2008-12-11 06:09 am UTC (link)
I guess that means you're not going to buy my new book "Dark Fate of the Destined Blood".

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[info]sartorias
2008-12-11 01:46 pm UTC (link)
Hmmm well, I dunno...does it have some sparkly elves on the cover?

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[info]epacris
2008-12-13 01:50 am UTC (link)
Or the latest in the series: "BloodFate 3: Dark Destiny"?

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[info]sartorias
2008-12-13 02:24 am UTC (link)
*teasplat*

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[info]mrissa
2008-12-10 10:45 pm UTC (link)
I like it very much.

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[info]desayunoencama
2008-12-10 10:46 pm UTC (link)
I like it.

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[info]swestrup
2008-12-10 10:53 pm UTC (link)
It reminds me of the quote by Groucho Marx:

"Outside a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
Inside a dog, its too dark to read."

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[info]dd_b
2008-12-10 10:57 pm UTC (link)
Mmm, yes, it should have reminded me of that, too.

Which is another point against it, since dogs aren't involved :-).

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[info]sophielandon
2008-12-11 03:48 pm UTC (link)
"Inside a Dog", then?

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[info]txanne
2008-12-10 10:54 pm UTC (link)
Or Reading by Flashlight.

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[info]nolly
2008-12-10 11:21 pm UTC (link)
Intriguing.

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[info]athenais
2008-12-10 11:42 pm UTC (link)
It reminds me of being a kid reading by moonlight in the bay window behind the curtains so my mom couldn't see me. So I kind of like it.

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re: reading in the dark
[info]betonica
2008-12-10 11:54 pm UTC (link)
I really like it - has enough intrigue to make me pick up the book, wondering what it's about. It also has several connotations, which fit well with the subject matter.

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Under Cover Flashlight
[info]amberley
2008-12-11 01:27 am UTC (link)
I like Reading in the Dark more than TTT and less than most other ideas so far, although Under Cover Flashlight would be very nostalgically appealing. Ah, growing up, when getting enough sleep meant you were losing out on valuable reading time!

Knowing that authors rarely have say over covers, I like the idea of the cover having a girl reading a book with a fairy reading over her shoulder. I'm also entertained at the thought of a girl reading a book under the covers by the light of a fairy, although perhaps that's too Disney (sorry!). Possibly a cover like that would require a title like This is Not the Book You Were Expecting which seems rather unwieldy.

Wronging the Ancientry? Although I have the impression this book is set before the character is 16, so that title would be wrong itself.

Paperback Memories? Maybe Reading in the Dark is growing on me, although [info]sartorias has an excellent point about Dark's over-exposure. Dark Fate of the Blood Destiny?

In the Library of the Elves would still be ILE.

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[info]kateelliott
2008-12-11 03:50 am UTC (link)
Eh. If I saw it in the bookstore, I'd think it was a memoir and pass.

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[info]lizzibabe
2008-12-11 03:58 am UTC (link)
It made me blink twice and think "Uhhhh, how?"

But it is starting to grow on me a bit for exactly the reasons described above: reading at night under the covers, hoping the parents don't check to make sure you're actually *asleep*.

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[info]mjlayman
2008-12-11 06:16 am UTC (link)
Yes! With a flashlight under the covers when you're supposed to be asleep!

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[info]shewhomust
2008-12-11 09:53 am UTC (link)
I immediately thought of the Seamus Deane book of that title, which I enjoyed - titles reappear all the time, of course, but clearly there is some overlap in audience, even if it's only me.

Since people are commenting on the slightly non-intuitive nature of Tangled Things and Texts, could I just add that that's part of what I like about it, the beat between the tangled things and the texts.

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[info]maribou
2008-12-11 04:38 pm UTC (link)
I like it, but as others have said, reminds me too much of the Seamus Deane book.

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[info]stakebait
2008-12-11 07:06 pm UTC (link)
I like it!

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