For fun, here are a few errors (both typographical and editorial) I happened to notice while reading various books for pleasure, or using for reference.
The Mountain in the Sea Ray Nayler Weidenfield & Nicolson paperback, 2004 p101: But it was one of the only things all of them had in common. p373: "When we see the octopuses 'speaking', the shapes descend from their bodies...so I am assuming that the sequence would be 'read' from top to bottom." (No. It would be read from bottom to top.)
If People Don't Speak of Remarkable Things Jon McGregory Bloomsbury publishing paperback, 2003 p238: ... hey, hey now don't be ashame,...
Crow Moon Suzy Apsley Orenda books paperback, 2024 p71: '... She's an old friend,' he smiled. p76: She'd been wracking her brains... p113: '... similar presbyterian sensibilities to Scotland,' he smiled wryly.
The Murmurs Michael Malone Orenda books paperback, 2023 p14: 'Here' she said... p113: ... her mother's lack of reaction them. p139: Bridget didn't want the anyone to intervene. p152: 'If so, where is she?' she paused. p233: 'Agreed,' he laughed again... p237: 'I am,' she fought her rising anxiety. p300: ...And there's this wee loch,' he grinned. p305: 'Imagine living there,' she pointed,... p305: 'It's empty as far as I know,' Chris winked... p305: 'Anyway,' he pointed to the right. p306: 'Like it?' he smiled tentatively. p319: But a woman appeared out of nowhere and start shouting at them.
The Dark Crusader Alistair Maclean
Fontana paperback, 1963
p27: ... and although I couldn't see anyhting...
p28: ...until then did I realise how cold and dank is was in that...
p36: ...I looked around me vigilantly as I could...
p57: ... comfortable looking rattan chairs and setees...
p142: "It doesn't matter." "Not any more, it didnt. "I think, Anderson...
p196: "Listen carefully, Captain. "Fleck's a crook...our only hope."
p202: "Nearly all night, you said. "Nearly?"
p210: "Don't you want to save Miss Hopeman's life?"
"This was it. I should have... [this line not dialogue]
Seal of the Worm Adrian Tchaikovsky Torpaperback, 2014 p558: "Don't take any shoving from the Sharnesh." [should be 'Sarnesh']
The Air War Adrian Tchaikovsky Vintage paperback, 2021 front pages: First published 2012 by Tor p69: A crowed was dispwersing rapidly. p631: '... is in range of the city,' Kymene informe her.
With a mind to kill Antony Horowitz Tor paperback, 2021 p297: ... the female players in cocktail dresses, the men in tie.
Salute the Dark Adrian Tchaikovsky Tor paperback, 2021 p240: Kymene gazed thoughtfully at the front of the Hokiak Exchange thoughtfully. p404: 'You have me at quite an advantage.' she replied.
Blood of the Mantis Adrian Tchaikovsky Tor paperback, 2021 p48: ... was delivered from the air, and comprised of pure hostility...
Queen of Clouds Neil Williamson
NewCon Press paperback, 2022
p16: ... willow for suppleness, birch for intelligence, beach for wisdom...
p21: Eventually, he managed, "why me?"
p37: ... he added...because he meant it, "of course, if..."
p51: "...What more can you possibly make from me?"
p94: "... for you when the ball is underway."
p109: ... skirmishing around a long standing argument.
p121: Para's express was deadly earnest...
p123: ... flanked by two green uniformed guardsmen.
p124: ... she went back to trying to male out what was happening.
p137: He realised however that...
p147: "We have been instructed..." said Erudite. "To offer you..."
p166: "Help you how?"
"Find out what happened..."
p168: ... and several other high ranking members...
p205: ...pineboard stairs leading to the upper stories.
p205: ... any chance that the lower stories had already been...
p218: I believe I was sensitive to the anguish of city.
p257: ... ever viligant of the balance of things below her eerie...
p258: ... see what the high ups had talked about before.
p283: "Vern, listen," he gripped the lad's shoulder to get his attention.
p293: "... I want my birth right."
p293: "Sorrow, Alicia." Roach said thickly.
p307: ... was not only comprised of former inmates. Sins of Empire Brian McClellan orbit paperback, 2017 p313: ... but the prospect had never particularly phased him either. p366: ... Michel asked, trying not to wretch. p574: ... some of them clamoring into the few remaining longboats...
The Gutter Prayer Gareth Hanrahan orbit paperback, 2019 p29: But it's not fresh, so he looks elsewhere. [The Tallowman described in this sequence is referred to as 'it' everywhere else.] p82: ... but fortunately it's tied in its sheathe... p430: "Lead 'em' down to the harbour." p472 The professor's strange son Miren left a few hours [ago], with... p509 "I won't ask you to relieve what must have been..." [relive]
Dune Frank Herbert NEL paperback, 1965 p295: ...people could be trained to be thirty only at given times. p354: ... but never seen a more gross and dangerous pig that this one. p462: ... the advantage he held over Paul -- a way of hiding from the youuh...
Of Good and Evil Ernest K Gann Companion Book Club, 1963 p73: It was a miniscule division of the people... p83: ... Rafferty said, his face redding. p96: The continuos flow... surged again the surrounding outposts...
Texas Death Bradford Scott New English Library, 1967 p64: When Slade entered the sheriff's office around noon, Doc Beard had already assembled his coronor's jury and proceeded to sit on the four dead outlaws.
The Murder on the Links Agatha Christie
Pan Paperback, 1960
p30: "Excellent!" said Poirot appreciatively.
"You have found no other letters [...]," asked Poirot. The Stand Stephen King NEL paperback, 1980 p358: It died as Larry grey in her estimation. p424 ... it was a low-power moped, the closest to a motorcycle that he would come. p576 ... and then he started to drool... and then he started to gigle. p582 "All of you, remember you master's voice."
Incident at Twenty-Mile Trevanian St Martins Press paperback, 1999 p76 [end of section] "Without undressing - without even taking off his boots - he lay down on his rustling straw and stared up into the darkness." p77 [start of next section] "As he slowly dressed, numb-fingered..."
Tripwire Lee Child Bantam paperback, 2011 p52: "The stock's worth nothing," he said quietly. Hobie nodded his terrible head, like he was pleased with the reply. "Right now it isn't," he said. "But it will be worth something soon, right?"
The City Stella Gemmell Corgi paperback, 2013 p115: "Sometimes they rode on its moon-shadow; at others it was a dark ribbon in the distance." p165: "They were both thinking the same." [as what?]
Dmitry Glukhovsky Metro 2033 Orionbooks paperback, 2010 p318: "His pursuers didn't immediately break cover, concerned that the monster may return..."
Mark Hodder The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack Snowbooks paperback, 2010 p217: "... all have been attacked recently, it seems, accept Connie Fairweather..." p305: "Laying a little beyond the village...the estate was..." p319: "How far would we wonder from the course we have steered..." p381: "Oxford leaned against the wall and listed."
Sir Ernest Gowers, revised by Rebecca Gowers Plain Words Particular Books (Penguin), hardback, 2014 p100: "... could always bereplaced by a single preposition"
Drew Magary The End Specialist Harper Voyager paperback, 2011 p93: "... wearing a white suit and drinking a purple drank out of the very same grail." p280: "... and they stop bearing those stupid fang implants..."
Adam Blade Book 26: Hawkite - Arrow of the Air Orchard Books, paperback, 2009 p95: "om braced his feet..." (Should be Tom) Last line of last page of book reads: "No one can conquer him. Leave"
J.K.Rowling Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Bloomsbury hardback, 1998 p29: "The teapot went beserk..." p34: "Mrs Weasley had appeard..." p47: "...small, goblin-driven carts that sped along minature train-tracks..." p89: 'I don' blame yeh for tryin' ter curse him, Ron, ' said Hagrid... p144: "... like a large and malevolant bat." p153: "...Harry could saw a gleaming oak door ahead..." p180: "...seemed to have turned into a miniscule television screen." p198: "...couldn't supress a thin-lipped smile."
J.K.Rowling Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Bloomsbury paperback, 1997 p83: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time." p140: "... and was now racing long the row behind him;"
T.H.White The Sword in the Stone
Collins Fontana paperback 1963
p8: "Sir Gumore said..." [Should be Sir Grummore]
p12: "Kay, who was too years older..."
p14: "On the bench their was a jumble of..."
p28: "...one of those beastly femets..." [Should be fewmets]
p28: "What was that?" eclaimed the Wart.
p52: "That will come to be seen as an insanitary habit," said Merlyn, "though I can't see myself."
p72: "She will use my blood for making patterns with no Walpurgis night."
p82: "It rushed upon the man before it with another piercing scread."
p88: "The trouble with the English Artistocracy..."
p92: "Hail," said King Pellinore.
"Hail said the Wart involuntarily.
p102: "... only to stalk off in opposite directions with infinitive precaution..."
p116: "... must choose before confessting himself a human..."
p123: "... getting cross and shewing sings of slapping him."
p170: "Does the T. Stand for anything?"
p200: "... which fell upon the company and Saw Master Twyti..."
p218: "... he took the furry atomy without protest..."
p219: "The wart did as he was told..." [Should be Wart]
p235: "The walked invisible across the sward..."
p236: "It's dragon's, not giants, that grow really big."
p236: "If a human was to grow to six feet, he would simply snap his bones..."
275: "...lest the traveller should be slain by hidden theives." Dean Classics Robin Hood and his Merrie Men Reed International Books, 1992 hardback p8: "Then he carried home its [a boar's] grizzly head..."
Tess Gerritsen The Silent Girl Transworld, Bantam paperback edition 2011 p343: "I say we just let the think take him out." p396: "Jane's hand was humming with excitement..."
Brandon Sanderson The Way of Kings, Part 2 Gollancz paperback edition 2010 p168: "The highprinces had tried veryhard to..." p209: "... glowed softly and gave offa comfortable heat." p221: "Or youcould be wrong."
Brandon Sanderson The Way of Kings, Part 1 Gollancz paperback edition 2010 p475: "...making Shinovar one of the only places in all of Roshar where highstorms did not reign." p490: "...for it was one of the only times when the gods did not watch men."
China Meiville The City & the City Macmillan Pan paperback edition 2010 p316: "...but the man could not forebear looking at us..."
Tolkien's The Hobbit HarperCollins 2006 paperback edition Last page of the story (p351) has the header CHAPTER TITLE instead of THE LAST STAGE
Butcher's Copy-editing Cambridge University Press, fourth edition p46: "watch out particularly for alternative spellings, such as judgement/judgement"
The Passage by Justin Cronin Orionbooks, 2010 hardback edition p84: "Richard had been with the project..." (The character is called throughout by his surname Richards.) p237: "... he tipped his face forward and wretched into the snow." p244: "He wretched long after the only thing left to come up..." p631: "... in the tumble of bodies he heard Michael wretch."
Hyperion by Dan Simmons Gollancz 2005 paperback edition (The Consul is a key character who turns out to be a double-agent.) p305: "The Consult swept the glass left." p465: "...cried the poet. 'He's a fucking sky.'"
Olympos by Dan Simmons Gollancz 2006 paperback edition p5: "The street below Helen's apartments...are suddenly filled with running men..." p296: "Despite requests from Peaen, Loes, Petyr and Isis - all of whom knew she is pregnant - she stayed outside..." p406: "LordGodZeusOrdersAreThatNoMortalShallEve BePlacedInOneOfTheRegenerationTanksWithoutHi ExpressCommand..." p451: "Legend and myth said that Nyx...had given birth do Eris..." p823: "Shall wesgo watch John enjoy story hour?"
The Kindness of Women by J.G.Ballard Flamingo (HarperCollins) 1994 paperback edition p135: "Henry was more interested in the remnants of the mid-wife's equipment, the foil caps, spare swabs and mouthpiece. Miriam sat up and hugged them tightly."
Copy-editing by Barbara Horn Horn Editorial Books and The Publishing Training Centre, 2008 paperback pii: Other Titles by Barbara Horn Copy-editing by Distance Leaning p56: "...from cause to effect, from premiss to conclusion..." p103: "Copyright is the legal right to control the use of original intellectual property, and is one of the intellectual property righta."
The Greedy Rabbit and other stories by Enid Blyton Award Publications 1991 Hardback edition p113: "What is the matter?" he said, in his deep voice. The everyone told him about the bun in the paper bag.
New Hart's Rules: the handbook of style for writers and editors Oxford University Press 2005 p55: "When a title or heading is given initial capitals, a decision needs to bemade..."
You're Next by Gregg Hurwitz Sphere paperback edition, 2011 p7: "... one of the only things he remembered about her."
The Snowman by Jo Nesbo Vintage paperback 2010 p314: "And wishing he had lost Camilla to a murderer than in this way."
The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo Vintage paperback 2006 p133: "Edvard grabbed hold of Dale's gun barrel and stood his face."
Changes by Jim Butcher Orbit Books 2011, paperback edition p290:"I am also one of the only people alive who knows how to..."
Thomas & friends: Jack based on stories by Rev.W.Awdry Egmont edition 2008 "Thomas saw the Flagman and the Driver applied the brakes but they couldn't stop in time."
The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbo Vintage paperback 2005 p231: "...not asking you to begin liking me over night." p237: "Excrement." "What?" "Pooh."
Tell No One by Harlan Coben unknown edition (page missing) p2: "Lake Charmaine had been the sight of a rich-kids summer camp."
The Hercules Text by Jack McDevitt Sphere paperback 1986 p228: "The sort of instructions my DNA shoud put out..."
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis Hardback, The Folio Society, 1996 p70: "...The potatoes are on boiling and the kettle's singing..." [and then on same page one paragraph later] "Meanwhile the girls were helping Mrs Beaver to fill the kettle..."
The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler Blue Door paperback, 2011 p495: "By the time the helicopter arrived at the hospital in Umea, the bullet had gone straight through Erik's left shoulder muscle..."
The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis Hardback, The Folio Society, 1996 p39: 'Yes, it is,' said Polly. 'But we've got to get back.' She stood up and... p155: 'And my wings are beginning to ache,' said Fledge. There's no sign of the valley with a lake in it, like what Aslan said...
The Great Hunt (Book Two of the Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan Orbit Books paperback, 1992 p219: 'The vood came slowly, hesitantly.' (Rand is summoning 'the void'.)
The Shadow Rising (Book Four of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan Orbit Books paperback, 1993 p658: "Rand must think I'm crazy... Berelain isn't my mother after all." Nynaeve gave her the oddest look. I am a little dizzy for some reason. A nice boy with sweet brown eyes offered to help me upstairs.
Lord of Chaos (Book Six of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan Orbit Books paperback, 1997 p115: "Light, but he was growing callused enough..." [should be 'callous'] p242: "Pausing in the leather-lunged flaying of an abashed young man..." [presumably should be 'leather-tongued']
Winter's Heart (Book Nine of the Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan Orbit Books paperback, 2001 p583: "... my fine Aes Sedaiuloving Tairen friend." (should be 'Sedai-loving')
Prince Caspian by CS Lewis Hardback, The Folio Society, 1996 p168: "Miraz would never be so hair-brained as to throw away..."
Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks Orbit paperback, 2008 p279: "As the sheered bars came away..."
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis Hardback, The Folio Society, 1996 p14: Some kids who played games about Narnia Got gradually balmier and balmier..." p127: "Instantly, a whole chorus of other voice replied..." p136: "If we had any assurance of saving her by battle, our duty would be very plain. It appears to me that we have none." [looks as if a zealous editor has changed 'choice' into 'duty'.]
Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi Orionbooks paperback, 2010 p270: "You already did you worst."
The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman Penguin Books paperback, 2010 p196: "Delay that!" shouted the sergeant. "Next one who moves..." [no doubt 'delay' should read 'belay']
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss Gollancz paperback, 2008 p223: "You're still going?" She asked. p491: Perhaps even moreso. p538: The unrestricted view in all directions was breath-taking. My only regret is that the clouds had blown in... [should be 'was', not 'is']
The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss Gollancz paperback, 2011 p401: "Do come back tomorrow." he smirked a bit.
BBC website 23/6/12: Faced with the prospect of imprisonment, and perhaps with it the loss of the mathematics post he held at Manchester University, which gave him access to one of the world's only computers...
Zane Grey's Laramie Nelson by Romer Zane Grey Belmont Tower Books paperback, n.d. p9: Tall and spare, Laramie's sandy hair was sweated under his battered Stetson.
Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly Voyager paperback, 1986 p5: "Wait her," she said, and turned away.
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson Gollanz paperback, 2013 p167: "I turned the UV light and shined it on Nightwielder." p265: "... I flipped it on and shined it right in Nightwielder's face..."
Death of an Expert Witness by P.D.James Sphere paperback, 1981 p100: "No doubt, though the Dalgliesh..."