Werner Lind's reviews > Likes and Comments

Although I count Ray Bradbury as a favorite writer, I didn't rate his 1962 novel as highly as I have some of his other books. But it still earned three stars from me. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The short story collection I just finished, by Andrew M. Seddon, was well suited as a read for the Halloween season. I've always enjoyed Andrew's well-crafted and insightful writing, and this short volume was no exception. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

A review of Madeleine L'Engle's , which I read nearly 20 years ago, by a Goodreads friend reminded me that I'd never reviewed it myself, and I knew it definitely deserved a review! So, I've finally remedied that lapse, here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

While I was retrospectively reviewing science fiction I'd read before Goodreads, I decided that would be another good choice for a review, considering that it's simply one of the finest anthologies in the genre that I've ever read. (And I've read quite a number of them!) Here's that long-overdue review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

C. S. Lewis is one of my favorite authors; I've read a good many of his writings, though by no means all of them. But most of them were read before I ever discovered Goodreads, so there aren't many of them, relatively speaking, that I've reviewed here. Eventually, I'd like to remedy that; it's a long, slow process, but I took another step in it yesterday with my review of the small but significant collection , here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

I'm not as well read in the classics as I'd like to be; and although I have a number of them on my to-read shelf, that shelf has so many books that sometimes it takes a common read in one of my groups to push one of them to the top. That was the case with Lew Wallace's , which definitely repaid my time! My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Although I've reviewed Heather Day Gilbert's historical fiction before, Miranda Warning, the opening volume in her A Murder in the Mountains series, is the first of her mystery novels that I've read. It didn't disappoint, and I definitely intend to follow the series! My five-star review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

I finished the short e-story The Machineries of Mars, by my Goodreads friend Charles Allen Gramlich, before I ever got around to posting that I was reading it. Though it's a short, quick read, it packs a lot of quality! My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Justin W. M. Roberts' first novel, The Policewoman, is one I just finished reading, as a review copy. Knowing the book was by a novice author, I wasn't sure what to expect; but it turned out that I liked this much more than I expected to, despite some content issues that I note in my five star review, here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . (I also greatly liked it despite the fact that, if you're of a tearful disposition, you'll want a box of tissues handy at some points in this read.)

Although I don't take part in many of the common reads in the Reading for Pleasure group that I also belong to (either the group-wide ones or the smaller "buddy reads"), I did join in the one of Henry Van Dyke's 1895 classic The Story of the Other Wise Man, although I was late in starting, and was glad that I did! (I read it aloud to my wife, and she liked it as well.) Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

The story collection What Darkness Remains by Andrew M. Seddon, barring anything radically unforeseen, will be the last book I finish reading and review in 2017. It was a fitting way to close out the year on a high note! My five-star is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Yesterday, I wrote my first review of 2018. It's of Goodreads author Dave Lager's debut novel (and opener for a projected series), , Ro's Handle . https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Here's my latest review, of Who's Got Dibs on Your Kids? by Betty Pfeiffer: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . This was the last of several paper review books I've been working through, for the last several weeks.

My first five-star review of 2018 went up last night, of Lois Lowry's acclaimed children's novel Number the Stars: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . If you're an adult reader who doesn't think children's literature could possibly have anything to offer you, and/or if you're a reader who shies away from Holocaust fiction --read this one anyway! I'd also recommend it to fans of World War II historical fiction, though it's not technically "historical" from Lowry's perspective. But really, I'd recommend it to anyone.

J. B. Lynn's Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman series is one I stumbled onto last year, with the third installment, and it's one that I pursued a bit further recently with the fourth one, The Hitwoman and the Family Jewels (again, read out of order --long story!) These adventures of a likeable heroine who happens to be an occasional contract assassin (yes, you read that correctly --she's more than a bit atypical for her profession!) pretty much function as comfort reads. My three-star review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... .

Over the weekend, I posted reviews of two very different books, but both of them got positive ratings from me. My review of Shane Leslie's Ghost Book is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . This is a nonfiction work, and an older book, originally published in 1956. The other book, And The Wolf Shall Dwell by Joni Dee, is newly-written espionage fiction. Here's that review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

As a self-imposed goal, I try, on average, to post a review every week. The one I posted yesterday, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... , is one of my "retrospective" reviews of a book I read before joining Goodreads: The Spy (1821) by James Fenimore Cooper. I've actually read three of his novels, but until yesterday had only reviewed one; I hope to review The Pioneers soon as well.

Sometimes, reading a book as a freebie on my Kindle app allows me to discover a new-to-me book and author that proves to be really rewarding. I'd hoped that The Housewife Assassin's Handbook, a series opener by Josie Brown, might prove to be one of them. Unfortunately, it wasn't. My two-star review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Originally, I'd intended to review James Fenimore Cooper's The Pioneers (which I read back in 1970) this weekend; but at the last moment, I decided I could do it better justice after a reread. When I went prospecting in my bookshelves for an un-reviewed short-notice substitute, I came up with The Heroes of Asgard: Tales from Scandinavian Mythology (1870), by Annie and Eliza Keary. So, here's that review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

] The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper was a long read (it's a well over 500 page book) which took me a full month to complete; but it was worth every minute of it. My five-star review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Though I've read a fair amount of historical fiction, and have liked it ever since I was a child, my project this year of trying to finish reading Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales reminded me that there are a lot of books in this genre that I read pre-Goodreads and still haven't reviewed. In the next few weeks, I hope to review some of these; and the first one I picked for that was Gwen Bristow's Plantation Trilogy. That brand-new review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

My latest review, a retrospective one of a novel I read in the late 90s, turned out to be one very appropriate for the Easter season, though that wasn't actually my original thought when I decided to review it! It's a review of Lloyd C. Douglas's 1942 classic The Robe, here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Having started reading Susan Page Davis' excellent Ladies Shooting Club trilogy with the third volume, The Blacksmith's Bravery, my wife Barb and I went back to read the series opener, The Sheriff's Surrender. Here's that review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

This is another one of my retrospective reviews, of a book I read pre-Goodreads, The Pigman by Paul Zindel. My reading wasn't as long ago as the copyright date and YA connection might suggest, however. in 1968, I would have been part of the publisher's target demographic, but back then Zindel wasn't on my radar. I read the book as an adult, on the recommendation of my youngest daughter. That was probably for the best; if I'd discovered it as a teen, I actually don't think I'd have appreciated it as as much. Here's my five-star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

I've recently come to recognize that, although I've read a number of individual stories and poems by black writers, these authors have been unintentionally neglected in my reading as far as whole books are concerned. That's a neglect I intend to remedy! (And my to-read list has a number of long-standing books that will help to do that.) Meanwhile, I've finally reviewed the only book I've read that I know is by an African-American, Alex Haley's Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Here's that review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . Black Struggle: A History of the Negro in America is on my "read" list as well, but I don't know whether the author was black or white. (Of course, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, the Kenyan author of A Grain of Wheat which I read in college, is also black, though not African-American.)

Continuing my reading of Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales, I've now finished The Pathfinder; that four-star review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . (It would be four and 1/2 if I could give half stars.) Now there's only one book left in the series that I haven't read, The Prairie, and I'm reading that one now! (But I do plan to go back and re-read The Pioneers, which I last read nearly 50 years ago in junior college, sometime relatively soon.)

Noted American author Ursula K. Le Guin's recent death has focused some attention on her large body of work. Over the years, I've read several of her books, but until this weekend had only reviewed one, the novel The Left Hand of Darkness. Since the Bluefield College library recently added two of her short story collections to its shelves, I decided it's about time I reviewed those as well. Here's my review of one of them, The Compass Rose: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Following up on my review of The Compass Rose last weekend, this weekend I reviewed the other collection of Le Guin's short stories that I've previously read, The Wind's Twelve Quarters. This one earned a higher rating from me; that review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Having finished reading The Prairie over the weekend, I've finally completed my reading of James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales series, a saga I began as a nine-year-old kid. That's been a rewarding reading adventure! My review of this last book (in terms of its internal chronology) of the series is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . And I've now been able to post my first notation of Completed over on the Series challenge thread, which gives me an added feeling of accomplishment! :-)

My review of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . I've read this book twice, both in junior high school as a required read and as an adult, and it's one of my favorite Dickens novels; but I'd never written a review of it until yesterday.

Making for another Completed notation over on the Series Completion challenge, Barb and I have finished our reading of Susan Page Davis' Ladies Shooting Club trilogy, with The Gunsmith's Gallantry. As usual, we're a bit sorry to have to say goodbye to series characters we've become fond of! My five-star review of this installment is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Masterpieces of Terror and the Supernatural is a story collection that's been on my "being read intermittently" shelf for about two years, during which time I've been reviewing it in installments. It's been my go-to read to kill time in the public library at Harrisonburg, Virginia when I spend time there; I did so again this week, and finally finished the anthology! My completed review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ; I gave the book three stars overall.

So far this year, Pride's Children: Purgatory, by my Goodreads friend Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt, is only the second general fiction book I've read (and the only one set in the contemporary U.S.); it's not the sort of book that forms my most typical reading fare. But I've been blessed in that both of them have proven to be five star reads! My review of this latest one (the opener for a planned trilogy) is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Barb and I read the second and third installments of my Goodreads friend Heather Day Gilbert's A Murder in the Mountains series, Trial by Twelve and Guilt by Association, back-to back. Here are those reviews: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... and https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . We're ready and waiting for the fourth installment, when it's published!

Although I read The Folk of the Fringe by Orson Scott Card back in the 90s, until today I'd never gotten around to reviewing it. That review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . (The edition pictured isn't the one I currently own, but it's the one I actually read, as a selection from the Science Fiction Book Club. Military science fiction usually isn't my cup of tea, so I've never read any of his Ender books; but I zeroed in on this one because of the post-apocalyptic scenario.

Back in 1992, I read and reviewed evangelical Bible scholar Craig S. Keener's book And Marries Another: Divorce and Remarriage in the Teaching of the New Testament for The Christian Librarian. This review updates that one: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . Though it was published over a quarter of a century ago, Keener's serious, compassionate and well-informed study is still relevant for readers interested in the New Testament teaching on the subject.

The Louis L'Amour novel that I finished reading this past week, Ride the River, was the first of his Sackett books that I've read (though my wife has read all of them, and is currently rereading the whole corpus). My four-star review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West is a landmark work in American historiography, which I read back in the early 70s, but until today, I'd never reviewed it. I considered that it was about time I remedied that, so here (finally) is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Although I haven't read as many of the older classics as I'd like to have, I continue to expand my acquaintance with them as I get the opportunity. The latest one I've read and reviewed (which had been on my to-read shelf forever) is Ann Radcliffe's 1794 chunkster The Mysteries of Udolpho, which I finally finished yesterday after starting it back on July 1. That review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ; I gave it three stars.

As a general rule, I don't write separate reviews of individual short stories that I've read as parts of collections (I just review the collections). But I've been taking part in a common read and discussion of Katherine Mansfield's story The Garden Party in another group, and read the story again last night as an online e-story. So, I've reviewed it, here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Lost Horizon (1933) by James Hilton was the common read for August in another of my groups. I started it very late; but since it's a relatively short book, it proved to be, as I'd expected, a quick read. My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Tirza And Her Knight is a short e-story by our own A. M. Werner, which retells the basic story of Cinderella in a more serious and spiritual vein than we usually associate with "fairy tales." My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Another one of my groups is doing a common read of Anthony Hope's 1894 action-adventure novel The Prisoner of Zenda this month. Although I'd heard of the book, it wasn't really on my radar before this; but it turned out to be a much more satisfying read than I'd expected. My four-star review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

This past week, I finished two books, the one I'd been reading aloud to my wife and the one I'd been reading to myself, within a few days of each other. The former is Dragonlord of Mystara by pseudonymous author Thorarinn Gunnarsson; the latter is Moon of the Wolf by Les Whitten. Here are those reviews: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... and https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

With The Apocalypse Door by new-to-me author James D. Macdonald, I've completed two supernatural fiction reads back-to-back (and have another one coming up next month). This one, though, reads more like action-adventure or spy fiction. As my four-star rating and review (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ) indicate, I found this one a pretty fun read --quick, not particularly deep philosophically, and light rather than dark despite the subject matter and the dangerous bad guys.

Earlier this week, I finished reading my first and only exposure to John Saul's work, Black Creek Crossing. That one ultimately proved to be a disappointment; I went with a three-star rating to be fair, but I could have gone lower. My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Just now, I discovered that I'd never linked here to my review of the short story anthology Mysterious Sea Stories, edited by William Pattrick. My four-star review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Here are the links to three more reviews of speculative fiction short story collections, written before I joined this group and so far never linked to here until now. (Though it turns out that I did mention Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos once, on another thread.)

At Chrighton Abbey and Other Horror Stories by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Science Fiction by Gaslight: A History and Anthology of Science Fiction in the Popular Magazines, 1891-1911, ed. by Sam Moskowitz. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Over my years on Goodreads before joining this group, I reviewed five volumes of the late Marion Zimmer Bradley's long-running Sword and Sorceress fantasy series; but I recently discovered that I'd only linked to two of those reviews here. So, here are the other three links:

Sword and Sorceress VIII. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Sword and Sorceress XII. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Sword and Sorceress XVII. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Although Patricia C. Wrede is one of my favorite fantasy writers, until this weekend I'd only written one review of her work, and never linked to it here, either. Here are my reviews of the omnibus volume of her Enchanted Forest Chronicles series, and of a collection of her short fiction:

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Book of Enchantments by Patricia C. Wrede. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Here and there, I continue to plug away at gradually reviewing some of the many books I read pre-Goodreads. Here's the link to the latest of these retrospective reviews, for Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner. As my five-star rating suggests, this historical fantasy was one that I especially liked. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Both of my most recent reviews are of fantasy books, and both of the latter were written by authors I count as favorites; but in other particulars, they're quite different. The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard is a collection of short fiction of the 'swords and sorcery" type, while Charles de Lint's The Harp of the Grey Rose: The Legend Of Cerin Songweaver is a traditional fantasy novel. My reviews are here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... and https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .

Here's the link to my most recent review, of FBOM by Goodreads author E.M. Bosso: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... . This was a free review copy from the author; I didn't make him any promises as to how I'd like it, but my rating ultimately went the full five stars. (I've classified it as "mystery-crime fiction," but it's the second half of that hyphenated designation that fits --this is not a mystery as such, that involves detection of an unknown perpetrator.)