Book Reviews
November 23, 2009
- A few objects, both text and media, have recently passed under my gaze and I thought I'd share my reactions to them with you here. Shoot the Piano Player by David Goodis. Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler may have first brought what is now call "noir" or hard-boiled fiction to the world, but David Goodis was one of those writers (like Jim Thompson) who took readers down ...
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November 23, 2009
- THE CRYING TREE, Naseem Rakha. This accomplished literary debut deals with one of my hot-button issues: capital punishment. In 1985, 15-year-old Shep Stanley is killed during a home invasion. The 19-year-old boy convicted of the crime, Daniel Robbin, is sentenced to death. Justice grinds just as slowly in fiction as it does in real life and 19 years pass in the novel before Robbin is given an ...
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November 18, 2009
- Just a note to let you know that the literary journal I co-edit with Annette Spaulding-Convy, Crab Creek Review (www.crabcreekreview.org) , will be featuring mini reviews called "Editors' Choice" in our magazine. If you're interested in having your book considered for review you can mail it to:Crab Creek ReviewPO Box 1524Kingston, WA 98346We will be reading all the books we receive and ...
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November 6, 2009
- I was quite taken aback by myself today. Ever since my books first came out, I've been so busy working on other projects that I haven't really had much time to sit back and take in what's been going on around me. The books have had great reviews, and I've been very happy about that, in the few seconds before falling asleep when I had a quiet moment to think about something other than my next ...
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November 4, 2009
- I have been diligently scouring the net for additional places to promote my debut novel, The Fence My Father Built (Abingdon Press, 10-09) and I ran across New Book Review, a blog where authors can feauture their favorite book reviews. I chose my review from Booklist. Check it out! http://www.books-for-sale.net/7115/booklist-reviewer-shares-womens-literature-review-with-the-new-book-review/
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November 4, 2009
- In the comments link and comments for each chapter on Textnovel.com you'll find some wonderful reviews of Lancelot's Lady, my debut romantic suspense. Some of my most favorite reviews are: "Desperate to leave her sordid past behind her Rhianna has found a new job and a new life. At long last she feels like she belongs.When her employer and companion T.J. Lance, gives her a ticket for a six ...
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October 27, 2009
- Even in the life of a writer and book reviewer, one finds one periodically likes what one reads or likes what one writes. This happened two–two!–times this week. The first excerpt is a review of something I enjoyed reading, Michelle Huneven’s absolutely laying-waste-to-the-land-and/or-competition Blame, which I reviewed for NPR. When a character accidentally kills a mother and daughter ...
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October 12, 2009
- No, "Help Me Out Here" is not the title of some book you haven't heard of. It's a genuine plea. In the past week I've read five novels and not a single one of them is worthy of being "Book of the Week" here. So that's why I need your help. Has my radar for picking books that will turn off to be good ones gone on the fritz??? Pleasepleaseplease help me, tell me:WHAT BOOK HAVE ...
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October 8, 2009
- I believe it was Doctor Johnson who, when told that nothing was real and we all lived in an illusion, kicked a chair across the room to prove reality. It works for me. Not that all book criticism is mean and full of self-puffery.However, it seems to me the standards are becoming, to be kind, elastic.Here is one of his observations, taken from the Idler. "Criticism is a study by which men ...
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September 25, 2009
- As promised, here is the rest of my opinion of the wildly popular (and somewhat notorious) Twilight series. You can read Part 1 here.I'm doing this review a little different than the first one. I'll still point out good and bad, but I'm leaving out the ugly. Partly because there's less of it as you go along, and partly because I read them during the move and wasn't paying attention to that ...
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