Werner Lind's reviews > Likes and Comments
I didn't actually rate or write a text review for No Romance Allowed, by Kana Wu, here on Goodreads (long story!); but the link to my four-star Amazon review is here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re... .
Earlier today, I completed my review of Longfellow's epic poem
The Song of Hiawatha, which I finished reading at the beginning of the week. Here's the link: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . This one was a bit of a disappointment to me, being significantly different in subject matter than I expected it would be, and not quite succeeding for me as an epic. But I appreciate Longfellow's skill as a poet, and want to read more of his work (which, hopefully, I'll like better!).
Mark Twain's 1889 novel
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court was a pre-Goodreads read for me; when I added it to my Goodreads shelves years ago, I slapped a one-star rating on it, but had never gotten around to writing a review. Late last year, my Goodreads friend Jean asked the reason for that; and I promised her I'd try to post a review soon. So, I got that done today, and here it is: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . :-)
This week, I've posted reviews of two very different books. One (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ) is of
No Romance Allowed, by my Goodreads friend Kana Wu. (I'd finished the book earlier this month, but hadn't posted the review on this site until this week --long story!) The other (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ) is a "retrospective" review of a classic novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe,
Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Of the classics that I've read, there are still quite a few that I've never gotten around to reviewing. I'm currently trying to remedy some of that, by posting a few retrospective reviews. My review of
Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ), is the latest of these.
Even though I count Nathaniel Hawthorne as a favorite author, and have read all four of his major novels, until today I'd only reviewed two of them. I added another one to that number this afternoon, with my review of
The Blithedale Romance, here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
Having done a retrospective review of The Blithedale Romance last week, it seemed logical to complete my reviews of Hawthorne's works (at least, of what I've read so far of his corpus) this week with this retrospective review of
The Marble Faun: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . I liked this one even better, giving it five stars.
Thomas Hardy is another writer I list as a favorite, and whose work I've read quite a bit of, but haven't gotten around to reviewing much of. This afternoon, I finally posted my review of his
Wessex Tales: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
Oliver Twist was the very first novel by Charles Dickens that I ever read (back in 1960, or possibly 1961 --I was eight years old, anyway!), and which started my lifelong interest in his work; but until today, I'd never reviewed it. Here's that review, finally: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . I gave it five stars, which is as much a measure of the enjoyment and fascination I got out of it as a read, and of the influence it had on my reading tastes, as of its objective quality.
My read of Charles Dickens'
Dombey and Son was a long one (I started it in mid-February, and just finished it a few days ago), but it was well worth the time commitment! I'd liked it when I read it the first time, about 50 years ago, but I got much more out of it on this reread. Here's my five-star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
Brideshead Revisited (1945) by Evelyn Waugh is another one of many books that I read decades before Goodreads was ever imagined, but which languished on my bookshelves for a very long time without a review. I finally got around to reviewing it last night, here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... , and was especially glad to do so, because this is a novel I really liked.
Over the weekend, I posted reviews of two recently-read books, very different from each other, but both of which got three stars from me. One is of a light Christian romance that Barb and I read together,
The Preacher's Dear by Dwight Burkholder: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . The other is of a common read in another group,
The Devil Rides Out by a new-to-me author, Dennis Wheatley: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
At 98 pages,
The Deadliest Sins: Seven Supernatural Stories by Andrew M. Seddon is a quick read. But "good things can come in small packages;" I gave it four stars! My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
For some time. I've been trying to identify which of the reviews I wrote before joining his group have been linked to, and which ones haven't. (It's a slow process!) But I have identified quite a few that still need to be linked! Below are the links to some of the book reviews I've done of nonfiction books since joining Goodreads: Collecting For Fun and Profit by Mel Lewis. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
Great Southern Mysteries by E. Randall Floyd. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
A History of Civilization by Crane Brinton and others. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
One other review of a nonfiction book (although written by a prolific author of historical fiction), that I tracked down last night but didn't have time to link to, is of
Women in the Old Testament: Twenty Psychological Portraits by Norah Lofts. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
It's taken me until today to review
Norway (1899) by Sigvart Sorensen, although I first read it back when I was in high school. Since I originally read it in a mutilated copy that was missing its front cover and title page, I was only able to finally identify it earlier this year; and then I realized I couldn't really do it justice in a review without a reread. Because I'm a history buff and interested in things Scandinavian (being of Swedish ethnicity myself), it's pretty much up my alley, and earned a solid three stars from me. My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
Like the book I reviewed in the post above,
The Day Lincoln Was Shot by Jim Bishop was another much-liked work of non-fiction popular history that I read as a teen back in the 1960s, but didn't get around to reviewing until recently. That retrospective review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
Great Horror Stories: 101 Chilling Tales is an anthology I've been reading in intermittently since last year. Earlier this month, I resolved to finish it, so started reading it steadily, finished yesterday, and finished writing what had been a review-in-progress last night. Fair warning; at 755 pages, this is a loooong anthology. So, not surprisingly, it got a pretty long review from me: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
Since I'm currently (re)reading a thick Victorian novel, it'll be a while before I'm ready to review it; but the interim is giving me a chance to retrospectively review some of the massive backlog of books I read in my long pre-Goodreads reading days. The latest of these to be reviewed, just last night, is
The Health of the Presidents by Rudolph Marx, M.D. That review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
This isn't a review of a full-length book, but of a single short story (I explain why in the review!),
A Lodging for the Night: A Story of Francis Villon by Robert Louis Stevenson. I reread this tale as a "buddy read" in another group. That review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
Just now, I completed and posted another retrospective review, this time of a book I read not long after graduating from high school,
Black Struggle: A History of the Negro in America by Bryan Fulks. I started out by giving it three stars (which is positive on Goodreads' scale, and the usual rating I give to nonfiction books that I liked and found informative); but I decided that it deserves four. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
When I'm reading just for pleasure, I'm most apt to choose fiction; I've never been a big reader of plays. But I've read some over the decades, and British author John Drinkwater's play Abraham Lincoln is one that I read nearly 50 years ago. It's stuck with me pretty well, and I finally got around to reviewing it, here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... , last night.
Recently reviewing John Drinkwater's Abraham Lincoln put me in mind of another 20th-century historical play which I both saw performed and read at around the same time of my life: book: The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. That play is one of the crown jewels of the American theater in the era of its flowering. My retrospective review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
Silver Pennies: A Collection of Modern Poems for Boys and Girls was the poetry anthology that actually introduced me that form of literature, and back when I was 6-8 years old, I loved reading in it often. But until today, I'd never reviewed it. That long delayed review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... , and it got five stars from me. I'd recommend it to adults as well as children.
As of yesterday, I finished my second reading of
Middlemarch by George Eliot; I'd read it back in the 90s, but had never reviewed it. I finally remedied that omission last night, and my 5-star review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . At nearly 800 pages long, this is a very substantial read, and took me nearly two months; but I can't recommend it highly enough to any readers who appreciate serious fiction.
Here's the link to my recent three-star review of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's second Sherlock Holmes novel, The Sign of the Four: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . This was a reread for me; but my previous read was as a kid of about 12. I'm a fan of the author, and of Holmes; but I have to confess that this one is my least favorite of the four original novels.
Going from one mystery novel to another, I just finished and reviewed a new-to-me Poirot mystery by Agatha Christie,
Mrs. McGinty's Dead, which was a common read in another group. My four-star review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
My review of
by Jack Finney (which I finished reading yesterday) is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . This was a common read in another group, which I wouldn't have picked to read on my own, and I definitely think it has flaws; but I still liked it well enough to give it three stars.
A recent comment I made in a discussion in another group brought to mind the book I cited there, the
Confessions by St. Augustine, which I read way back in my first year of college. Until yesterday, I'd never reviewed it, but I've now rectified that omission, and my review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
1984 is my best guess as to when I read
Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus by 20th-century scholar Joachim Jeremias (I'd bought a copy in the early 80s, but actually might have read it before that). It's a wonderful background resource for any reader interested in the New Testament, in or out of academia. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . (My first rating was three stars, but I've raised it to four.)
Normally, I don't post a link again to a review I've already shared in this group; and my very short review of the first edition of
The Fire That Consumes: A Biblical and Historical Study of the Doctrine of Final Punishment, Third Edition by Edward Fudge (which was one of the earliest ones I wrote here) was shared some time ago. But the update I did for my recent read of the 3rd edition is much longer, and in effect really a brand new review. So I'm accordingly linking to it again here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
American writer Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (who observed her 79th birthday this past week) is a pretty well-known author in the realm of speculative fiction; but I've actually read only one full book by her,
A Baroque Fable. (I've read a couple of her short stories as well.) My three-star retrospective review of his humorous fantasy (which Barb and I read together back around 1990; she liked it too!) is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
I've just discovered that until now, I've never linked here to my review of
Timeline by Michael Crichton, here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . It's another of my "retrospective" reviews of a book read before I joined Goodreads (around 2005, in this case), and was posted back in 2008 or thereabouts, the year that I joined.
I'm not sure I've read this one, and I'm a time travel fiction junkie. I need to pick it up.
Bonnie, sorry I didn't notice your comment sooner! If you read the book sometime, I hope you like it at least as much as I did, :-)
After I read the first book of Kendare Blake's Anna duology, Anna Dressed in Blood, back in 2019, I'd have read the sequel,
Girl of Nightmares, immediately if I'd had it in hand at the time. It took me until this month to get my hands on a copy by interlibrary loan; but I read it avidly, and it didn't disappoint! My four-star review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
Horace Walpole's landmark 1764 novel
The Castle of Otranto scored several significant firsts in English/world literature, not the least of them inaugurating the Romantic movement, and being the first example of the long tradition of what we now call "Gothic novels." I'd long wanted to read it, so was glad to do so as a common read for this month in another group. Here's the link to my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
One of my Goodreads friends recently reviewed
The Oath by Frank Peretti; and that reminded me that I reviewed the book myself on Goodreads a few years before joining this group, but had never linked to it here until now: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . To date, it's the only novel by Peretti that I've ever read, although it got five stars from me; but I have a couple of his other books on my to-read shelf.
More than 40 years ago, Terry Brooks was probably the first American author to write a best-selling epic fantasy novel,
The Sword of Shannara. (Tolkien's works had enjoyed great success in the U.S. before that, but he was British.) I found the Brooks novel very dependent on Tolkien, but I personally didn't rate it as highly. My (retrospective) review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
My latest review (posted yesterday) was of
The Flower & The Blackbird by my Goodreads friend Liane Zane, the second book of her planned trilogy, The Elioud Legacy: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . The series could be described as paranormal romance, which is not typically my thing; but both of the books that I've read so far got four stars from me.
Operation Luna by Poul Anderson is the sequel to his Operation Chaos; both are humor-laced fantasy (with a genuinely serious side) set in an alternate world in which 20th-century life was revolutionized, not by technology, but by a rebirth of long-dormant magic. (For instance, broomsticks and flying carpets, not cars, are the dominant means of transportation.) Barb and I liked both books; my review of the second one is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
Lynn Austin is an evangelical American writer who specializes in historical fiction. Before this month, I'd never read any of her work; and I only read
Candle in the Darkness because it was picked as a group read in another group. But I found it an unexpectedly powerful and rewarding reading experience! My five-star review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
The Thanksgiving Treasure by Gail Rock is the second book in the author's Addie Mills series (the series opener is The House Without a Christmas Tree). As I expected, it proved to be a quick, seasonally appropriate read. The series was marketed to kids, but is really suitable for all ages. Here's my four-star review, which also has a link to my review of the first book: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
With some reading buddies in another group, I've been reading
Passing by Samaria by Sharon Ewell Foster; my five-star review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . This is a historical novel set primarily in 1919, both in the American South and in Chicago; so it's set about two generations after Candle in the Darkness, and I read the two practically back to back. Though by different authors, they complement each other very well!
This month, in another group, I took part in a common read of
Dead Man's Folly by Agatha Christie (I got started relatively late, but it's a short book). Christie is a favorite author of mine, and Poirot, who's featured here, is one of my favorite series sleuths; not surprisingly, I found this a satisfying read. My four-star review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
Yesterday, I finished reading
Black Pulp, an anthology of original New Pulp stories, all of which have a black protagonist. The idea for the collection was more praiseworthy than its execution here, IMO; but the book still earned three stars from me overall. Here's that review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
Here's the link to my review of 2021 on Goodreads, for anyone who's interested: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
I read the short story The Gentle Vultures, by Isaac Asimov, as a kid back in the early 60s, in a back issue of a pulp science fiction magazine. It stayed with me vividly in all the decades since, but before long I'd totally forgotten the bibliographic information. A couple of days ago, I finally tracked it down and read it a second time online (it can be read for free, and my five-star review, here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... , provides the link).
In my post above, I mentioned that I only recently tracked down the Asimov story I reviewed last week. I was inspired to go hunting for it by reading a Kindle freebie e-story, originally published in 1961, which had a very similar premise:
They Also Serve by Donald E. Westlake. However, the execution of the premise in the later story is vastly inferior. My two-star review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .