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Saturday, April 30, 2011

Reading "New York" in Avalon

Enjoying a week in beautiful Santa Catalina Island and also enjoying New York: The Novel by Edward Rutherfurd.
I lived in NYC for many years and find the history of this dynamic city fascinating. In this epic history, the author follows a few families from the earliest European settlers in what was then New Amsterdam.
But I was reminded of one of my pet peeves--editors that are not consistent with adverbs; one page has a line in which the character would: "...laugh when it was called for, though not too loud and not too long."
Wouldn't that be "loudly"? I say, bring back the "ly"... But then, I'm an editor, so maybe I am just being picky. The more informal usage sounds more like what someone would say, but does that might it right, or desirable? I say it depends on the book, and its genre. Seems inappropriate in a history, where the author's language should ideally be "invisible."
hasta pronto!