BTT: Playing Editor

How about a chance to play editor-in-chief? Fill in the blanks:

__________ would have been a much better book if _________________.

I don't really know how to respond to this question. Yes there are thousands of poorly written books in the market but a ready example doesn't jump to my mind. One aspect of editing that I've recently come to loathe is how a book is sold. Editors or marketers, whoever is responsible for this, have done an excellent job of selling me books that are not what I thought they were. For this I have several non-fiction examples.

I like to garden and cook. After growing twenty-one heirloom tomato plants last summer I thought it would be nice to buy The Tomato Festival Cookbook which promises 150 recipes AND tips on growing the best heirloom varieties. While there are lots of recipes I don't find them realistic because even I don't have the amount of ripe tomatoes to make them. Who has three pounds of ripe tomatoes gathering in their kitchen at one time? The tips on growing are ones any basic gardener should already know. Nothing new and thus nothing exciting. So I bought another cookbook that I most likely will never use and should just give away.

I purchased The Sexual Organization of the City for research purposes thinking it would be about any city. It's not. It is focused around Chicago and is more on interpersonal relationships than the sex market which I was hoping the focus would be around. I guess I should have read the description more carefully, but no mention of Chicago-based was mentioned at the time I bought it. The book is interesting, just not what I was hoping for.

Planet of Slums by Mike Davis reads like one long demographic study. I feel as if I'm reading the same things in every chapter too. I would have enjoyed more social dynamics, personal stories and breaks in the statistics. I enjoy facts but not in the manner Davis has presented them.

I was a Women's Studies major in college so I enjoy reading women's history probably more so than other people. The American Women Activists' Writings: An Anthology, 1637-2002 is a disappointment though. It promises to cover a range activist subject matter however I feel that it does not. Some of the activists', such as Abigail Adams, entries are excerpts from their diaries or letters to family members that don't necessarily showcase their activism. It takes away from these women's work and the meaning of activism.

I could probably come up with other examples but I'll stop. I don't think I would ever want to play editor-in-chief but I would like to make sure books are more appropriately labeled.