Reading matters

Yesterday's email from the German ePubli platform tells me that nobody selected TheodoraLand as their Christmas read. Royalty sum zero! However yesterday I was also by hook or by crook (but mainly thanks to the charitable gesture of my former employer in the Sandlands) I was able to pay the January rent. So things are not all bad.

When it comes to my recent Kindle reading, though, in my effort to save money I have gone for bargain offers. Bad idea! Consequently I have just finished three self-published British 'police procedurals', each of which was so formulaic that it was hard to attribute the invaribly busty and gorgeous female Sergeant to the right Inspector in the various narratives. Add the annoyance of dealing with a writer with a penchant for using the wrong words ('transgressed' in place of 'transpired'), persisted in the use of "they were sat on the chairs" for the past continuous and totally idiosyncratic punctuation of dialogue quoted and I really began to believe that one gets what one pays for.

With relief I have downloaded from my wishlist a title which I trust with its 850 pages will make me forget these recent disappointments. If so, it will be worth every penny!