Brandon Sanderson Signing

Brandon Sanderson was coming to Costco in Orem. Since the last signing, I had acquired eight more of his books, so I was very interested in this event. I was going to be in American Fork in the morning anyway. The event description declared it was for Costco members only. This felt really unfair; I’d gone to author signings there before with no problem.

I borrowed a neighbor’s card just in case but ended up not needing it. I was in line for roughly an hour and couldn’t help talking about Sanderson books with the other people in line. That was great. The line passed through an aisle of appliances, so everyone opened all the fridges and ovens as we were just standing there in front of them.

“Skyward” was the featured book of the signing, but I had already bought a signed copy (and read it). There were Doomslug stickers! Doomslug! I asked if the M in M-bot stood for anything. He said Spensa is convinced it stands for Massacre, and M-bot is convinced it stands for Mushroom. Of course.

Brandon Sanderson and Doomslug -- photo not by me

The books I had signed were the Era 1 Mistborn trilogy, UK edition; Oathbringer; Legion, the 3-in-1 volume; and three Alcatraz books. Six of them I got for Christmas. I’ve read (or listened to) more than I own, but I’ll get them all.

Usage: Edition Vs. Addition

These words are often pronounced the same, making it easy to confuse them at times.

An edition is a version of something. It refers to something printed, like a book, newspaper, or magazine. Books will have an American edition and a British edition. Newspapers may have a morning edition and an evening edition.

An addition is something extra. You can build an addition to a house. You can study addition in school.

Trick to Remember
An edition is made by an editor.
An addition has to do with additional; adding: +

Review: Spinning Silver

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Fantasy—Fairy Tale Retelling
☆☆☆☆☆

“But I had not known that I was strong enough to do any of those things until they were over and I had done them. I had to do the work first, not knowing.”

It would be unfair for me to rate this less than five stars. Right from the beginning I was enthralled. I was under this book’s spell until the end.

The characters were complex and human. The world was rich with atmosphere (it’s ideal for reading in winter) and culture (centered around Slavic regions). It never felt slow. In fact, I felt so much was happening in the first 25 percent that I couldn’t figure how it was going to continue for another 15 discs. The story was unpredictable.

I loved how the book explored themes. It added a depth to the story that will make it re-readable. I loved how all everything was intricately intertwined and how the magic was set up.

I recommend going in blind. Here are the main characters without giving anything away. I listened to the audio, so pardon me if I am butchering the spellings. Miriam is part of a Jewish family with loving parents. Her father is a moneylender but not good at it. Wanda is a poor girl in town with two brothers, Sergei and Stefan, and an abusive, alcoholic father. The POV switches between these two at the beginning. About a quarter of the way in, Irina is added as a POV character. She is the daughter of the local duke. These three girls are the main characters whose paths criss cross. Half-way or so through the book, we get some POVs from some secondary characters: Stefan and Magreta, Wanda’s nursemaid, and the czar, whose name I won’t attempt to spell.

My only complaint is that the POV would switch without warning. Sometimes it took me paragraphs or longer to figure out who was narrating.



It would have helped if the audio narrator had at least paused between switches. I’m told the print book isn’t any more helpful.

That Vs. Which

That Vs. Which

This is a one-way error: Which often gets used when that is needed. That is rarely, if ever, used mistakenly in place of that.

Which requires a comma before it. The phrase starting with which provides additional information that is nice to know but is not essential to know.

That will never have a comma before it and begins a phrase with information that you need to know.

Often the comma will be enough of a clue for you to know which to use.

I went to the parking lot to my car, which is a red van.
I went to get my car that is a blue sedan.

In the first phrase, which is a red van is a statement that is “nice to know.” I have one car, so it’s already clear that it’s a van. In the second phrase, I have more than one car. The phrase that is a blue sedan is “need to know” information. You don’t know which car I mean without that clarification.

Here are two different ways to say the same thing using which and that.
The snow was falling heavily, which made it hard to see.
The snow that was falling heavily made it hard to see.

Wrong examples (from the book I’m reading):
He was never as happy as when he had a job which required no thinking at all.
If you only do the easy and useless jobs, you’ll never have to worry about the important ones which are so difficult.

Summary

That = Need to Know = No Comma

Which = Nice to Know = Comma