Sue Fairhead's Blog, page 74

The Ultimate Guide to Writing and Marketing a Bestselling Book

I don’t know where I first saw this book - I had never heard of Dee Blick, and the title isn’t one that would naturally appeal to me. But perhaps Amazon recommended it to me, because I have bought (or added to my wishlist) so many other books about writing. The reviews were uniformly good, and although the front cover did not appeal to me at all, I found a Marketplace edition for just a pound or two, so when I was in the UK about eighteen months ago, I ordered it.

‘The Ultimate Guide to Writ...

The Castle on the Hill (by Elizabeth Goudge)

I have slowly been re-reading my novels by Elizabeth Goudge, interspersed with other books. A week or so back I picked up ‘The Castle on the Hill’, which I last read in 2007 I did not remember much about it, other than three characters: a Jewish street musician, and two small sisters, one of whom loved the book ‘Peter Rabbit’.

I had entirely forgotten the main protagonist, Miss Brown. She is forty-two and never uses her first name. She is efficient, responsible and loyal, but when we meet he...

Homecoming (by Cathy Kelly)

I read one of Cathy Kelly’s novels a few months ago, and liked it so much that I put more of them on my wishlist. I was given ‘Homecoming’ for Christmas, and started it a couple of weeks ago. It’s taken me this long to finish it, not because it was uninteresting, but because we’ve had a very busy period with little opportunity to read.

As with ‘The House on Willow Street’, which I read last September, this novel is set mostly in an Irish community, and is about four very different women. The...

Show me the Way (by Wendy Craig)

As far as I remember, I picked up the book ‘Show me the way’ by Wendy Craig at a church bookstall. I vaguely recalled the author from a TV series many years ago, and also knew her name as a Christian believer. She is in her 80s now. The blurb on the back implies that it’s autobiographical, and I was interested to know more about Wendy Craig.

What I hadn’t noticed was that the subtitle of this book is ‘An Inspirational Anthology’. It turns out to be a collection of the author’s favourite poems...

Troubling a Star (by Madeleine L'Engle)

In my quest to read through Madeleine L’Engle’s novels for teenagers, I finally reached the fifth in the Austin Family series, ‘Troubling a Star’. I had no idea what to expect: the first book in the series is introductory, the second mainly involves a camping trip around the United States. The third, ‘The Young Unicorns’, is set in New York and is a thriller, and the fourth, ‘A Ring of Endless Light’, is a poignant story of bereavement and growing love.

However, I was still a little surprised...

One, Two, Buckle my Shoe (by Agatha Christie)

We have a large collection of Agatha Christie's novels, mostly acquired when my sons were teenagers. I have read most of them, but there are some I have never read, or which I read so long ago that I have entirely forgotten them. Last year I decided I would read some of them, interspersed with other books, and I have finished about seven or eight. On the whole I liked them, but I can’t say I looked forward to reading another.

This time I tried ‘One, Two, Buckle my Shoe’, which sounded interes...

Promises to Keep (by Alexandra Raife)

I very much liked Alexandra Raife’s novels the first time I read them, in the first few years of the century. She wrote twelve in all, and I acquired some of them soon after they were available in paperback. I have been re-reading them over the past couple of years, and have reached the final one again, ‘Promises to Keep’. I last read it in 2005 and had totally forgotten what it was about.

The story is mainly about a young woman called Miranda. We see her first in a prologue at the airport,...

Helping Families in Distress (by Stephen Murgatroyed and Ray Woolfe)

I’m not entirely sure how or when this book arrived on our shelves. I don’t think I’d heard of the authors, Stephen Murgatroyd and Ray Woolfe before. Perhaps it was recommended to me somewhere; our copy looks as though it came from a second-hand shop, or perhaps Amazon Marketplace. In any case, I decided that ‘Helping Families in Distress’ could be an interesting book to read, and started it a little over a month ago.

It’s quite heavy going, despite being written for ordinary people rather th...

Present over Perfect (by Shauna Niequist)

I can’t remember how I first heard of this book. I wasn’t familiar with Shauna Niequist; perhaps I saw a recommendation on a blog, or even Facebook. In any case, I liked the sound of ‘Present over Perfect’, and put it on my wishlist. Relatives gave it to me for Christmas, and I have just finished reading it.

The subtitle to the book is, ‘Leaving behind frantic for a simpler, more soulful way of living’. I don’t live my life at anything approaching a frantic pace, but I liked the idea of a sim...

A Blink of the Screen (by Terry Pratchett)

I have been quite a fan of the late Terry Pratchett’s books for close to thirty years. I have his entire Discworld series, which I plan to re-read over the next few years. I suppose it was nearly six years ago that I learned about the book ‘A Blink of the Screen’, which contains a selection of the author’s shorter writings. Reviews were good so I put it on my wishlist, and was given it for Christmas 2013. Yes, that is more than five years ago. It has sat on my to-be-read shelf, until a week...