Books I read on the plane

You may remember that I said I prefer reading chic lit or YA when I fly and that’s what I read on my trip home from San Jose yesterday. Unfortunately, neither of the books I read were all that great.

First was a “Caught Reading Novel” called Playing With Fire. All that did was depress me. It was geared for high school students and high school students should have a higher reading level than this – and they don’t. Which was what depressed me. I’m glad I read it, just so that I could be reminded that not everyone is a reader. Depressing, isn’t it?

Then, I read Writing Magic which was written by the author of Ella Enchanted. It’s a non-fiction “how to write” bit written for middle schoolers and it was slow and a wee bit boring. But then again, I’m not a middle schooler. So I’m cutting it some slack. If it wasn’t due back to the library, I’d hand it to Liz and RJ and see what they think (particularly RJ, the writer in the family.)

I will share one little tidbit that made me laugh out loud, much to the interest of the two men seated beside of me (both of whom were amused that we all three had iPhones and that I was reading children’s literature and writing away on a tablet PC.) On the invisibility of the word “said”….

Avoid other noticeable words, like affirm, allege, articulate, assert, asseverate (a word I’d never heard before I started writing this), aver, avow, claim, comment, confabulate, contend, declare, express, hint, mention, observe, opine, pronounce, profess, remark, utter, voice. I don’t mean that you shouldn’t ever use these perfectly fine words. I just mean don’t use them as a substitute for said.

Damn good advice.