Not to belittle Titivilus' finding and the jet / derigible debate, but I would suggest such an error could be expected to have a neglible effect on the narrative (yes, I know about butterflies flapping their wings in Mexico, but when was the last time we had a hurricane here?). Besides, it is now fixed by the latest upgrade.

However, I feel that a far more serious problem (that is to say, distinctly hazardous to our heroine's plight (and not just due to the distinct over-use of parentheses - and other poor punctuation)) may be seen, but perhaps only by those who can't sleep and read the entire book within a day and half.

In Chapter 30, Harris explains "the only sure way to tell [a book person] would be to place [them] under observation for two months - that's about the limit of time any book person can stay outside their book."

Then in Chapter 34, the whole foundation of WoLP seems to be based on the fact that Mary wants to attend a Drama course at Reading Academy of Dramatic Arts, which is presumably a full academic year in length. To further compound this, Thursday is looking for somewhere to hide to give birth to Landen's baby in peace (which must still be several months away) and Mary leaves by saying "I'll see you in about a year".

I have searched the LIAGB archive and seen no mention of it - not yet being in possession of WoLP, I have not tried searching that part of the fforum ffor ffear of ffinding out stuffff I didn't want to know yet.

It may all be a deliberate ploy but I'd rather ask now. After all, I'm sure WoLP must be approaching the million readings mark soon and I really couldn't bear to to be the one that caused the book to unravel in a very dramatic fashion - I've only just had the carpets cleaned.

P.S. I'm not as new to the FForum as you may think - but it's true I haven't made my presence known all that much. You never know who's listening...

Welcome, Wizbit, even if you're not new.

Nice pick-up. My only suggestion is that, in chapter 30, Harris meant that two months was the limit a book person can stay out of the bookworld in general, or possibly out of the book he or she is currently assigned to. Since Mary and Thursday are officially in the character exchange programme, the length of time away might be extended. This would also account for the generics, who might not have specific books of their own.

Cool profile, btw. :)

Thursday is not a book person, so I see no problems with her.

I interpreted the two months to mean continuous- when mary is not at lectures/ doing the whole student thing, she could spend time inside one of the many rarely read books in the uni library.

I don't know what would happen to a book person if they were forced to spend a long period of time outside a book... maybe they would loose their character and description away from the world of words.

that's my take on it

Rob

Maybe Mary just has to return for a couple of minutes on a weekend.



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Those who forget the pasta are doomed to reheat it.

That's what I'm thinking Intrigue. There's nothing in the book about the length of time you have to be in the Bookworld for.

Different take on that idea...the character exchange program is to have people fill in as characters...so it seems that a character can't be out of the book for more than two months, not because something will happen to them, but because someone reading the book might notice (any single book, unless it belongs to a library, probably is not read more than once in a two month period). In an unpublished book, that probably wouldn't be a problem unless the book was actually being considered for publication. That was my interpretation of it...
The two month thing might refer to book people going back to their books to make sure no one noticed they were missing....Someone like Yorrick might not be noticed for awhile if he was from a lesser known novel

Here's my take on that (for what it's worth)

Reading could be a rather crafty pun - try and think not the town Reading, but reading as in 'reading this obscure reply'.

It's quite possible that the Reading College thingy is actually in Bookworld itself (like the copy of swindon i Caversham Heights), but it's not reading College, but rather the reading college.

make sense??

maybe it was meant that a book person can only stay out of the book world for two months. or something to that effect.

And that brings us to the question of whether or not the Outland is a part of the BookWorld itself...

or the MetaBookWorld, perhaps?



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Metaphors be with you!

i really just realized i should read all the threads first to diminish the possibility of answering a already answered question.