Correct word usage?

Good morning, Self!

Hello, Self. And, how are you today? Well, I hope. Fine. Me, too!

Now that the nonsense is out of the way; have you ever picked up a book and begun reading only to find that this worldwide bestseller is full of instances in which words are used incorrectly, or the wrong words are used in sentences that may be changed completely by the usage of those words? Malapropisms have been attributed to Presidents and presidential hopefuls, illustrating that even the powerful are prone to ill word usage. It has been increasingly common and has come almost to be the rule, rather than the exception.

But what if you find it in a book published by one of the big publishing houses? It has supposedly been proofread and edited multiple times and has been the #1 worldwide bestseller. And, if it has sold 40 million copies? Wouldn't you believe when you picked it up at the bookstore that it should be almost perfect?

What if you got no further than the second paragraph and found an instance of word usage that you were cautioned against as far back as grade school? The instance I am thinking of concerned an inanimate object that was written of as, presumably having made a voluntary sound. Such things do not happen. Let's say a bookcase thunders. Why did it thunder? If the writer doesn't include that bit of information, the sentence makes no sense. Rather; the bookcase made a thundering noise as it crashed to the floor. Or, the thundering sound of the bookcase echoed as it fell face down on the floor. An inanimate object doesn't make a voluntary sound unless some outside influence has caused it to make said noise.

I know, I know, it sounds picky, persnickety and petty, but shouldn't we, the reading public expect our entertainment to be good? As a reader, I am offended. As a writer, I am outraged. The story may be good, the premise may be plausible, and the characters may be memorable, but if I know that I can do a better job with the small things; the question I ask myself is, "How did this guy get a contract to write and publish this thing?" Of course, the publishing game has boiled down to marketable ideas and "who you know" business contacts. In that, I am handicapped, and can't hope to compete. I'll have to labor more or less anonymously and hope that my work will be well-received. I believe a lot of writers better than I have been relegated to that fate because their networking capabilities are no better than mine.

Of course, no prominent reviewer called the writer of the instance I thought of to task for his error because he was and is, one of the media darlings and we all know how the news media fawns on their heroes of the hour. I and others like me will just have be the small voices on the edge of hearing that call out, "Not good enough!"

I'm afraid this post devolved into an impromptu rant, and I didn't intend that. It was only intended to make people think. I will not belabor the point.

Thank you,
Derek A. (Wings) Murphy
Author of Congruencies, Taken Apart and others.
Available on Kindle