P.D.R. Lindsay's Blog, page 16
August 19, 2016
Book review 'Being Magdalene' by Fleur Beale
This is the third in a series about children and teenagers in a Fundamentalist Christian sect. Sounds grim? No, it is a well written, simply written book, yet Fleur Beale manages to convey the problems her MC faces without being over-dramatic, melodramatic or sensational. She is writing about the freedom to choose, but she never hammers the theme home, she just shows us poor Magdalene struggling to be a good daughter and fit in.
The Pilgrim Family have been in the Sect for all the children's...
The Pilgrim Family have been in the Sect for all the children's...
July 12, 2016
Review: The Woman Who Walked Into the Sea and NB Smashwords Sale
SMASHWORDS JULY SALE IS ON. p.d.r. lindsay's STORIES ARE FREE AT SMASHWORDS FROM JULY 1ST UNTIL JULY 31ST. Go to: The Woman Who Walked Into the Sea by Mark Douglas-Home
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I very much enjoyed the first book in this series. The second is a good second novel but as the plot hinged around Cal drifting about avoiding making decisions about finding missing bodies it was a little less focussed.
Still a good read, nice tight writing, 3D characters and some neat twists. Cal i...
July 3, 2016
Review and Smashwords Sale.
SMASHWORDS JULY SALE IS ON. p.d.r. lindsay's STORIES ARE FREE AT SMASHWORDS FROM JULY 1ST UNTIL JULY 31ST. Go to:
https://smashwords.com/books/category...
Grief Is the Thing with Feathers by Max PorterMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Stunning! Almost a prose poem I suppose. Helps if you know about Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, Poe's Raven, and the Cowbie ballads.
Ostensibly a brief piece about a young man and his young sons coping with the death of the wife/mother. It's moving, annoying, even wry...
June 28, 2016
Review: The Obsession by Nora Roberts
The Obsession by Nora RobertsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I am staggered by Nora Roberts's ability as a writer. She can take the ingredients which make her genre, all commonplace and expected by readers, and turn them into a cracking good story and a corking good read. She doesn't write badly either.
In the Obsession we have the hurting heroine, the 'tough guy but not a jock' hero, a lovable dog, Big city girl falling in love with the Real America as in the sweet little home town in the country, goo...
June 25, 2016
Review, 'An Asronaut's Guide to Life On Earth'
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris HadfieldMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Now this is a book I would like every aspiring youngster to read. Kids who want to be the tops and never mind youngsters, all adults should read this book. It's a great advert for co-operation, for planning, organising and thinking ahead, and gives excellent reasons why striving to be number one and better than everyone else, and making sure they know it, is not the way to succeed.
Chris Hadfield is a laconic Canadia...
June 17, 2016
The Sea Detective by Mark Douglas-Home
The Sea Detective by Mark Douglas-HomeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Oh full marks, Mr Douglas-Home! A crime series which is new, original even, and on the literary side of the genre. It's a satisfying read and avoids many of the clichés common to crime novels. It's another crime series from Scotland which adds considerably to the mana of the Scottish crime genre.
Cal McGill is a PhD student in his late twenties. His doctorate is oceanography, specifically making a computer programme which will track...
Review 'Memory' by Margaret Mahy
Memory by Margaret MahyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
'Memory' is a great Mahy novel. Typically she tells a good story, makes the reader laugh and cry and leaves the reader with plenty to think about. The problems she examines in 'Memory' are ones teenagers might well be dealing with, and as she helps her hero through his problem she also shows the reader how to cope and hope.
Old Sophie West has trouble with her memory now she is developing Alzheimer's. It makes her vulnerable. Jonny might be ninetee...
June 13, 2016
Review: 'The One-In-A-Million Boy'
The One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica WoodMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
It takes real talent to make a memorable novel from the tale of a very old lady, a boy scout, and the Guinness Book of Records. And it takes real talent to make the reader think about life, death, coping with grief, and one's own place in the universe through this gentle tale, but Monica Wood does it brilliantly.
Ona Vickus, 104, Lithuanian immigrant from the turn of the century, is still spry but needs a little help feeding her wil...
June 10, 2016
Three cheers for the Author earnings team.
Find them here, Indies and rejoice.
http://authorearnings.com/report/may-...
This time they:
...went deeper. Instead of just looking at Amazon’s bestseller lists, we had our spider follow links to also-bought recommendations and also through each authors’ full catalog. This resulted in a million-title dataset, our most comprehensive and definitive look yet at author earnings. We were able to tally up precisely how many indie authors, Big Five authors, small/medium p...
June 5, 2016
Review of 'Down Among the Dead Men'
Down Among the Dead Men by Peter LoveseyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Peter Lovesey has been writing good crime novels for many years, and they are good. He has some seriously prestigious awards for them.
'Down Among the Dead Men' is a British police procedural about one of his popular detectives, Peter Diamond. This time Diamond has to play spy in a neighbouring police force, checking on the claims of wrongful imprisonment and suppression of evidence. He does not want to do this but his commanding o...
