The first thing you’ll notice while reading My Life As A Villainess is the many missing letters. You’ll be reading one of Laura Lippman’s essays and you’ll see “…even if their partner is under twenty fi e.” (p. 62). Every few pages, words will be missing letters which becomes annoying.
If you can get over the missing letters, you’ll find a range of essays where Laura Lippman writes about her life and her career. Lippman worked as a reporter for 20 years so there are some great War Stories about her former profession. I was interested in Lippman’s transition from a reporter to full-time writer. I found these essays revealing and compelling. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction: The Accidental Essayist – 1
Part I: Game of Crones
The whole 60 — 9
Game of crones — 28
Natural selection — 48
The art of losing friends and alienating people — 67
Part II: This be the other verse
My father’s bar — 91
The thirty-first stocking — 99
Swing, interrupted — 111
Revered ware — 118
Part III: My life as a villainess
The Waco kid — 125
Tweety bird — 149
My life as a villainess — 164
Part IV: Genius
A fine bromance — 179
Saving Mrs. Banks — 202
My brilliant friend — 223
Men explain The wire to me — 243
Acknowledgments — 269
Credits –271
Hello, Copy Editor?
Deb, I haven’t seen a book with so many missing letters in my life! I wonder if it’s some sort of software failure.
I’ve read and liked most of Lippman’s novels and will likely get to this eventually. Since I’ve been warned about it the missing letters probably won’t bother me too much unless they’re really outrageous. I wonder if the publisher has commented on this?
Michael, the missing letters are very strange. You would think that the publisher wouldn’t let a defective book like this out the door.
When I mentioned this to Patti, she immediately mentioned the missing letters too. I’ve never seen a book like that. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it a lot.
Jeff, I liked MY LIFE AS A VILLAINESS but the missing letters annoyed me.
I don’t think it was a copy editor’s fault. I think it was a printing malfunction and shame on that press for allowing the books to go forward.
Patti, you’re probably right about the printing malfunction. The missing letters seem to occur at random.
I’d have thrown it against the wall after the first few pages, then wrapped it back up and returned it. Bah.
Rick, I’ve read recent books with copy problems–misspelled words, missing words, grammatical errors–but this is the first book I’ve encountered with multiple missing letters in words.
This is one of those few instances where the ARC might have read better than the actual book. No missing letters there.
I enjoyed the insight into Lippman’s life. And I REALLY need to watch The Wire. That kept coming up a lot.
Beth, shame on you! THE WIRE is the best.
Jeff, I agree with you on THE WIRE.
Beth, clearly the missing letters was a production problem now that you’ve revealed that the ARC was okay.
Could the missing letters spell out a secret code? Perhaps giving the location of D. B. Cooper’s missing stolen cash? Or revealing the truth about Judge Crater’s disappearance? Or maybe it tells us the recipe for McDonald’s secret sauce, or the Colonel’s fried chicken recipe? Inquiring people with a lot of time on their hands due to the pandemic want to know!
Jerry, the missing letters were completely random as far as I could tell. But I like the way you think!
I wonder if the E book ihas the same problem.
Steve, good question. If the problem is in the printing process, maybe the ebook has all the letters in all the words.
I think the missing letters would be enough to make me give up. I read one of Lippman’s early novels and wasn’t impressed. Recently tried a book of her short stories, which were OK. Right now I am reading her 2019 novel. Lady in the Lake. Seeing that she has won several awards, can someone perhaps explain what I am missing in her work?
Kent, I read and reviewed LADY IN THE LAKE (you can read my review here: http://georgekelley.org/lady-in-the-lake-by-laura-lippman/). My enjoyment of MY LIFE AS A VILLAINESS was marred by those pesky missing letter.