233 books
—
83 voters
“Mr. Bredon had been a week with Pym's Publicity, and had learnt a number of things. He learned the average number of words that can be crammed into four inches of copy; that Mr. Armstrong's fancy could be caught by an elaborately-drawn lay-out, whereas Mr. Hankin looked on art-work as waste of a copy-writer's time; that the word “pure” was dangerous, because, if lightly used, it laid the client open to prosecution by the Government inspectors, whereas the words “highest quality,” “finest ingredients,” “packed under the best conditions” had no legal meaning, and were therefore safe; that the expression “giving work to umpteen thousand British employees in our model works at so-and-so” was not by any means the same thing as “British made throughout”; that the north of England liked its butter and margarine salted, whereas the south preferred it fresh; that the Morning Star would not accept any advertisements containing the word “cure,” though there was no objection to such expressions as “relieve” or “ameliorate,” and that, further, any commodity that professed to “cure” anything might find itself compelled to register as a patent medicine and use an expensive stamp; that the most convincing copy was always written with the tongue in the cheek, a genuine conviction of the commodity's worth producing—for some reason—poverty and flatness of style; that if, by the most far-fetched stretch of ingenuity, an indecent meaning could be read into a headline, that was the meaning that the great British Public would infallibly read into it; that the great aim and object of the studio artist was to crowd the copy out of the advertisement and that, conversely, the copy-writer was a designing villain whose ambition was to cram the space with verbiage and leave no room for the sketch; that the lay-out man, a meek ass between two burdens, spent a miserable life trying to reconcile these opposing parties; and further, that all departments alike united in hatred of the client, who persisted in spoiling good lay-outs by cluttering them up with coupons, free-gift offers, lists of local agents and realistic portraits of hideous and uninteresting cartons, to the detriment of his own interests and the annoyance of everybody concerned.”
―
―
“Why? Oh, well - I thought you'd be rather an attractive person to marry. That's all. I mean, I sort of took a fancy to you. I can't tell you why. There's no rule about it, you know.”
― Strong Poison
― Strong Poison
“I was fifteen when I first met Sherlock Holmes, fifteen years old with my nose in a book as I walked the Sussex Downs, and nearly stepped on him. In my defense I must say it was an engrossing book, and it was very rare to come across another person in that particular part of the world in that war year of 1915.”
―
―
“He was being about as protective as a can-opener.”
― Gaudy Night
― Gaudy Night
“A man once asked me ... how I managed in my books to write such natural conversation between men when they were by themselves. Was I, by any chance, a member of a large, mixed family with a lot of male friends? I replied that, on the contrary, I was an only child and had practically never seen or spoken to any men of my own age till I was about twenty-five. "Well," said the man, "I shouldn't have expected a woman (meaning me) to have been able to make it so convincing." I replied that I had coped with this difficult problem by making my men talk, as far as possible, like ordinary human beings. This aspect of the matter seemed to surprise the other speaker; he said no more, but took it away to chew it over. One of these days it may quite likely occur to him that women, as well as men, when left to themselves, talk very much like human beings also.”
― Are Women Human? Penetrating, Sensible and Witty Essays on the Role of Women in Society
― Are Women Human? Penetrating, Sensible and Witty Essays on the Role of Women in Society
Laurie R. King Virtual Book Club
— 1393 members
— last activity Oct 10, 2024 03:17PM
The official book club for readers of mystery author Laurie R. King
Goodreads Librarians Group
— 322990 members
— last activity 1 minute ago
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more
The Sword and Laser
— 21659 members
— last activity 2 hours, 37 min ago
Online discussion forum for the Sword and Laser podcast and monthly book club pick. Subscribe to the audio podcast: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podca ...more
Young at Heart
— 146 members
— last activity Sep 11, 2021 06:46PM
Are you an adult who enjoys reading young adult and kids books as much as adult ones? Join us and let's talk. ...more
Contest Extravaganza!
— 85 members
— last activity Mar 15, 2009 02:02PM
What do a laptop, a Kindle 2, and a weekend in New Orleans, La. have in common? We're giving them all away! For more info, go to: http://www.deborahle ...more
Vicki’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Vicki’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Adult Fiction, Biography, Book Club, Business, Classics, Contemporary, Crime, Ebooks, Fantasy, Fiction, Historical fiction, History, Horror, Literary Fiction, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Philosophy, Poetry, Politics, Psychology, Romance, Science, Science fiction, Self help, Suspense, Thriller, Young-adult, War, and audiobook
Polls voted on by Vicki
Lists liked by Vicki





















































