Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

The novel A Carnivore's Inquiry by Sabina Murray has several editions that need cleanup done. I am not going to be tackling every single edition of the book in the thread; merely the ones that are in print and a couple of out-of-print editions that I was able to easily find information for.

Struck through items have been completed.

1. US Paperback: A Carnivore's Inquiry (ISBN 9780802142009)

- The publication date is incorrect. According to the publisher’s website, it should be July 18, 2005.

- The description is incorrect. It should read as follows:
The spellbinding new book by the winner of the 2003 PEN/Faulkner Award is a gripping, literary psychological thriller about a young woman and a peculiar taste for flesh

Hailed as “a cracklingly original, brilliantly conceived modern Gothic” by Elle, Sabina Murray’s first book since she won the PEN/Faulkner Award for The Caprices is a tour de force of intelligent suspense that seduces us with dark delight in her taboo subject.

When we meet Katherine, the winning–and rather disturbing–twenty-three-year-old narrator, she has just left Italy and arrived in New York City, but what has propelled her there is a mystery. She soon strikes up an affair with a middle-aged Russian émigré novelist she meets on the subway, and almost immediately moves into his apartment. Katherine’s occasional allusions to a frighteningly eccentric mother and tyrannical father suggest a somberness at the center of her otherwise flippant and sardonic demeanor. Soon restless, she begins journeying from literary New York to rural Maine and Mexico City, trailed, everywhere she goes, by a string of murders. As the ritualistic killings begin to pile up, Katherine takes to meditating on cannibalism in literature, art, and history, and examining subjects as diverse as the Donner Party, the fall of Dante’s Count Ugolino, and the true story behind Géricault’s “The Raft of the Medusa.” The story races toward a hair-raising conclusion, while Katherine and the reader close in on the reasons for both her and her mother’s fascination with aberrant, violent behavior.

This is a novel of ideas and a brilliantly subtle commentary on twenty-first-century consumerism and Western culture’s obsession with new frontiers. Told in highly intelligent prose “with echoes of both Poe and Patrick McGrath” (Bookforum), A Carnivore’s Inquiry is a sly, unsettling exploration of the questionable appetites that lurk beneath the veneer of North American civilization. COMPLETE

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2. US Ebook Edition: A Carnivore's Inquiry (ISBN 9781555847036)

- The book’s ASIN is missing. It needs to be 155584703X.

- The publication date is incorrect. It should be May 1, 2007.

- The description is incorrect. It should be the same as the above paperback edition.

===

3. US Kindle Edition: A Carnivore's Inquiry: A Novel (ASIN B008RZKOHE)

- “A Novel” needs to be removed from the title.

- The description is incorrect. It should read as follows:
From a PEN/Faulkner Award–winning author, The Caprices, seduces readers with a thriller praised as “dazzling . . . lovely, literate and deeply unnerving” (The New York Times Book Review).

When we meet Katherine, the winning—and rather disturbing—twenty-three-year-old narrator, she has just left Italy and arrived in New York City, but what has propelled her there is a mystery. She soon strikes up an affair with a middle-aged Russian émigré novelist she meets on the subway, and almost immediately moves into his apartment. Katherine’s occasional allusions to a frighteningly eccentric mother and tyrannical father suggest a somberness at the center of her otherwise flippant and sardonic demeanor. Soon restless, she begins journeying across the continent, trailed, everywhere she goes, by a string of murders. As the ritualistic killings begin to pile up, Katherine takes to meditating on cannibalism in literature, art, and history. The story races toward a hair-raising conclusion, while Katherine and the reader close in on the reasons for both her and her mother’s fascination with aberrant, violent behavior.

A brilliantly subtle commentary on twenty-first-century consumerism and Western culture’s obsession with new frontiers, A Carnivore’s Inquiry is an unsettling exploration of the questionable appetites that lurk beneath the veneer of civilization. COMPLETE

===

4. Missing Edition: Audible
The Audible edition needs to be added to the site. Information is as follows:

TITLE: A Carnivore's Inquiry
AUTHOR: Sabina Murray
NARRATOR: Wendy Hoopes
ASIN: B0006IU50Q
PUBLISHER: Highbridge Audio
DATE PUBLISHED: August 5, 2004
FORMAT: Audible
DESCRIPTION:
When we meet Katherine, the winning, and rather disturbing, 23-year-old narrator of A Carnivore's Inquiry, she has just arrived in New York City. She strikes up an affair with a middle-aged Russian emigre novelist she meets on the subway, and almost immediately moves into his apartment. Soon restless, she journeys across the United States and into Mexico, trailed everywhere she goes by a string of murders.

As the ritualistic killings pile up, Katherine comforts and inspires herself by meditating on cannibalism in literature, art, and history. She ponders subjects as diverse as the Donner Party, the fall of Dante's Count Ugolino, and the true story behind Gericault's The Raft of the Medusa. As the story races toward its frightening conclusion, Katherine, and the reader, close in on the true reason for her fascination with aberrant, violent behavior.

A shocking and enlightening modern Gothic novel, told in highly intelligent prose, A Carnivore's Inquiry is a sly, unsettling, subtle commentary on 21st century consumerism and the questionable appetites that lurk beneath the veneer of civilization.
EDITION LANGUAGE: English
COVER ART: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/5...
COMPLETE

===

5. US Library Edition CD Audiobook: A Carnivore's Inquiry (ISBN 9781665183383)

This edition has been added, but there are still issues to correct:

- The description is incorrect. It should read as follows:
Katherine, the winning and slightly disturbing twenty-three-year-old narrator of A Carnivore's Inquiry, journeys from literary New York to rural Maine and Mexico City trailed, everywhere she goes, by a string of murders.

- It should be noted in the Edition field that this is the Library Edition of the CD audiobook.

===

6. US MP3 CD Audiobook: A Carnivore's Inquiry (ISBN 9781665183390)

This edition has been added, but there are still issues to correct:

- The description is incorrect. It should read as follows:
Katherine, the winning and slightly disturbing twenty-three-year-old narrator of A Carnivore's Inquiry, journeys from literary New York to rural Maine and Mexico City trailed, everywhere she goes, by a string of murders.

- The publication date is incorrect. It should be July 19, 2004. The publisher's website is right here as a source: https://www.blackstonelibrary.com/a-c...

===

7. US Hardcover Edition: A Carnivore's Inquiry: A Novel (ISBN 9780802117694)

- “A Novel” needs to be removed from the title.

- The publisher is incorrect. According to the copyright page in the book, the publisher should be Grove Press.

- The description is incorrect. It should read as follows (transcribed from the book’s jacket):

Sabina Murray leapt to the attention of the literary world when she won the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award for The Caprices, a collection of stories about the Pacific campaign of World War II. In her first novel since Slow Burn, Sabina Murray delivers a seductive literary thriller that delights in its taboo subject.

When we meet Katherine, the winning—and rather disturbing—twenty-three-year-old narrator of A Carnivore’s Inquiry, she has just left Italy and arrived in New York City, but what has propelled her there is a mystery. She soon strikes up an affair with a middle-aged Russian émigré novelist she meets on the subway, and almost immediately moves into his apartment. Katherine’s occasional allusions to a frighteningly eccentric mother and tyrannical father suggest a somberness at the center of her otherwise flippant and sardonic demeanor. Soon restless, she journeys from literary New York to rural Maine, then across the United States and into Mexico, trailed everywhere she goes by a string of murders. As the ritualistic killings begin to pile up, Katherine comforts and inspires herself by meditating on cannibalism in literature, art, and history, and examines subjects as diverse as the Donner Party, the fall of Dante’s Count Ugolino, and the story behind Gericault’s The Raft of the Medusa. Slowly Katherine realizes that at the center of the mysterious deaths lies a bloody truth—that in the beam of a flashlight in the woods, in the scrabbling claws in the cupboard, something is making itself known. As the story races toward its frightening conclusion, Katherine, and the reader, close in on the true reason for her fascination with aberrant, violent behavior.

This is a novel of ideas, a shocking and enlightening modern gothic, and a brilliantly subtle commentary on twenty-first-century consumerism and Western culture’s obsession with new frontiers. Told in highly intelligent prose, A Carnivore’s Inquiry is a sly, unsettling exploration of the questionable appetites that lurk beneath the veneer of North American civilization.

===

8. UK Hardcover Edition: A Carnivore's Inquiry (ISBN 9780241142851)

- The description is incorrect. It should read as follows (transcribed from the jacket):

From the monuments of Italy, through literary New York and rural Maine, to the dusty ranches of Mexico, twenty-three-year-old Katherine Shea is propelled on a restless journey of discovery. But her free-spirited movements are shadowed by a string of unexplained murders, and as the victims pile up slightly too close by for comfort, Katherine finds relief and inspiration in the gory manifestations of cannibalism in literature, art, and history.

Slowly she senses that at the centre of the mysterious deaths trailing her every move lies a bloody and unpalatable truth, and with mounting dread she closes in on the real reason for her own obsession with aberrant, savage behaviour…

A modern gothic novel of shocking proportions, A Carnivore’s Inquiry is an addictive, uncensored exploration of humanity’s disturbing appetites and its ruthless capacity for survival – no matter what the cost.

9. All Editions

- The original publication date needs to be June 4, 2004. COMPLETE

10. Invalid Editions

The following editions were created by the Amazon bot adding secondhand sellers to Goodreads as new editions and need to be marked invalid:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... COMPLETE

A week has passed, so I'm bumping the thread.

One-week bump.

Bumping.

Another bump.

Bumping again.

Bumping.

Another bump.

#1-4 done

Akiva ꙮ wrote: "#1-4 done"

Thank you for your help. The description still needs to be corrected on Entry #2 (it should be the same as in entry #1), but other than that, everything in #1-4 looks great. Thanks again!

Bumping. #5-10 and the description on #2 still need to be completed.

Another bump.

I have added the two missing editions and corrected the information on the others. I deleted the bot added editions. They do not need to be marked invalid. That is for things that are not books. Deleting is for duplicates.
I did not edit the descriptions. Here is what the librarian's manual says about descriptions: "The description field is for entering a generic summary of the book's contents and can be a couple of sentences or paragraphs. The best description to enter is one found on the back cover or on the dust jacket of the book. If the book does not have a summary listed anywhere on the cover or pages, you can copy a description from a different edition or an outside source, such as the publisher's website or Wikipedia. Descriptions copied from an outside source, such as Wikipedia, should contain a short citation stating the summary's origin. You may also write your own description; however, please avoid editing descriptions that are already in place and summarize the work sufficiently."
https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/...

Ma wrote: "The best description to enter is one found on the back cover or on the dust jacket of the book."

All of the descriptions I have included in this thread are from the back cover or dust jacket of the book, and as such, should be added.

One final post here for today: I've updated the OP to cross out the errors that have been corrected and reflect some new changes that need to be made on some editions. Entries 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are all incomplete and still need to be finished. Thank you to the librarians who have provided help correcting other issues.

Another week has passed, so I'm bumping. The errors discussed in my most recent post are still there.

Bump once again.

Hi!

#5 done. Just wait 15 minutes to see it. I already put the Library Edition in the edition field.

#2 done. Just wait 15 minutes too.

#6 done. Just wait 15 minutes.

#7 done

#8 done

If you have any questions or corrections regarding from above, please message me. To help the Goodreads Librarian, you can mark "Done". Thank you!

Thanks for all of your help. There are still a few issues I noticed:

#5 - The description is still incorrect. It should just be the one paragraph I listed in the post for #5 and nothing else.

#6 - both the description and publication date need to be corrected. I forgot to include an ISBN and a link to the book, so I've edited my OP to include them for easier access.

#7 - The description is incorrect; it has the UK hardcover description. The correct description is in the post.

Thanks again for your assistance!

5 - corrected edition field
6 - corrected publication date

I'm not going to update the descriptions. Unfortunately it is much too easy for the new automated systems to overwrite this work. I respect that it bothers you, but I personally don't think that it's a good use of librarian time, if the current summary is at least a summary of the correct content.

Akiva ꙮ wrote: "I'm not going to update the descriptions. Unfortunately it is much too easy for the new automated systems to overwrite this work. I respect that it bothers you, but I personally don't think that it's a good use of librarian time, if the current summary is at least a summary of the correct content."

Understood. I'll make a thread regarding the descriptions in the regular Book/Author Issues folder in case any other librarians want to correct the issues.