Category Archives: reviews

The Beggar of Beliefs by Martin Adil-Smith: A Review

March 25, 2014 Rebecca Nolen Leave a comment

The story is framed by a conversation between a writer and his editor. He is explaining his story to the editor who is skeptical.

Never since Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code have I read such a page turning mind-bender as The Beggar of Beliefs. My feet were moving I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.

Freeman, the writer in the story, explains that there are actually parallel universes, ours and Hers. The “Her” is a she-god bent on destroying our world. He knows that there are documents or “writings” that will explain how to defeat the she-god. She is slowly consuming our universe, distorting time, and causing mass death.

His first example of what is happening he shares from documents detailing the poisoning of an entire village in France in 1951. The story is gripping and realistic. There are hints at what is to come for the reader of the book. Freeman’s stories jump from past to 2018 to 2030 and back to 1980.

Time is an invention of man and does not exist as a straight line but instead has not boundary. The future affects the past so the future can change the past. This is how Freeman explains it “…we haven’t really happened. Her (the destructive god) time is overwriting ours…”

Some of the characters in the book are attached to real characters in history, such as Jim Jones and the Guyana mass suicide. One character named Celus Tuther, I never could figure out if he was good or bad. The lady he hung out with, Irene, was definitely one of the bad characters.

The novel’s wrap up left me gasping. This is such a great read. What I really liked was the story within a story within a story. I’m still thinking about it. That is a difficult thing for an author to master well and Mr. Martin Adil-Smith does it.

reviews

Review of The Guardian’s Angel

March 24, 2014 Rebecca Nolen Leave a comment

Picture of the book pulled from Amazon.com

I have nine years experience working with autistic children, most of whom were brilliant as is the little, blond Tommy in this story. The author did an exceptional job of writing an autistic child dealing with serious trauma – losing both parents when they were violently murdered.

The boy does not speak at the beginning of the story. Libby, a doctor who works with autistic children and who is the main character, knows Tommy can speak because she overhears him mimicking cartoon characters. This is very realistic and shows the author did her research. When Tommy repeats the words “tree-terty” he is telling the exact time that his parents died. I don’t know enough about this so I had questions here. 1. Did Tommy witness his parents’ deaths so that is the reason he knows the time? 2. How did his parents die. We know they were murdered but I don’t remember how, which makes talking about it awkward. The device of Tommy repeating the time whenever he missed his parents is well-written. This leads me to the end of the book where Tommy wakes JD with those words. Immediately JD announces that Tommy says it because the bad guys are here. That was a jolt. I would have assumed Tommy was having a bad dream and needed comfort.

I love the romance that was evident before even chapter two. It was well-written, subtle, not too on-the-nose. The sex scenes were well-done, not over done or too graphic. The psychic connection of the two characters was delicious. The author leaves the reader feeling very good about the future of these two. She actually didn’t need the last chapter. But it was sweet – so keep it!

I had a few pauses though, for instance in the scene where Libby and JD are up in the bunk above the cab. They left Tommy asleep on the pull-out bed/table. I was thinking the entire scene that they would look down and Tommy had opened the door and taken off across the campground. It would have added an entire scene of angst and fear for the reader. This seemed like a missed opportunity.

Because after all, there is suspense here as well. The suspense of escaping, being on the road, getting caught, escaping again, long road flight, who knows who the bad guys have “fixed” to help. The tiny scene where we discover who the bad guys have forced into helping them was well-done. However, I would have liked to have seen more of the bad guys making their evil plans throughout the novel. This would up the race against time more.

It was jarring to have JD’s family show up at the secluded cabin. I liked that it made for a touch of humor. But it seemed out of place. The solution is to take it more slowly perhaps have the reader witness the car driving up the mountain and having us believe it was the bad guys and – surprise! it is the hilarious Canadian brother-in-law and family. I loved him. He made an excellent foil to JD’s serious demeanor.

Action scenes: The two major fight scenes flash by too quickly. I barely had time to register that there was a fight scene. I never did figure out how JD got shot. The end fight scene is a blur. Being a visual learner, I couldn’t see it. I would suggest practicing the moves and rewriting it that way. We need to see each step every character takes and each shell casing land on the turf.

The author did an excellent job of creating characters that we really cared about from the beginning. I would recommend this to friends.

reviews

A Book Review: The Starlight Chronicles, the Slumbering

March 23, 2014 Rebecca Nolen Leave a comment

The pace of The Starlight Chronicles: Slumbering is handled well. The story world builds from the mundane but believable to the unbelievable fight with demons seeking to destroy mankind, in such a way that we can understand and “get it”.

I loved that there are no adult situations or repeated use of disgusting and unnecessary language in the book. It makes it easy to be a recommended book to teens or pre-teens looking for a good story.

Story bits I did not understand. I didn’t get that the little dragon keeps asking Hamilton (the main character) if he “remembers” yet. Well, I do get it, but it isn’t explained very well.

While I appreciated the spiritual aspects (the battle between angels and demons), I do not like to see something that I take quite seriously portrayed in a fantasy, which is in essence defining my beliefs as fantasy. I do not personally know this author but I have a feeling that isn’t what was meant. It sends mixed messages. My feeling is that the author needs to bite the proverbial bullet and market this as a Christian book.

Another thing that struck me almost at once is that while the Hamilton is in the 10th grade the book really has more of the feel of a middle-grade novel. That isn’t a bad thing. Again, a marketing change.

Another thing I would recommend is that the main character Hamilton do something (however brief) to engender our (the reader’s) affection toward him. He is a brat. I don’t like him. He is redeemed at the end. Okay, that doesn’t make me happy I read the book. I want to see him show some tiny spark of goodness, humility or kindness within the first two pages. Then you’ve got me for the rest of the novel – happy to see him make a fool of himself and then realize his mistakes and become a wonder kid that we can root for.

reviews

On a Lighter Note

October 24, 2013 Rebecca Nolen 1 Comment

Cover of "The Guernsey Literary and Potat... — Cover via Amazon

Ha. So I did my “political” rant of the year and got good alternate opinions. Thank you! Now for something a little lighter and more refreshing.

Here’s a great book for you to enjoy:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

You know, sometimes books come along that you can’t help but hold up and yell “You have got to read this, people!” and this book is one of those.

Set immediately following WWII the story is about a writer who is at a crossroads because she can’t decide what to write next. Nothing seems to be working. Then she receives a letter from a person in the Guernsey Islands telling her that he is a fan and would she recommend some reading material for him and his friends in the community.

Apparently the Germans invaded and occupied the Channel Islands during the war and declared that because they were English, they were one step away from occupying England. And during that time all forms of communications and any goods and food from England were cut off. No books, no phones, no letters, nothing was allowed.

So these people have been starved of everything for five years or more and the writer decides that there might be a story in this story. So she sets off for Guernsey.

She finds more than a story, but I’ll let you discover this for yourself. Read this book. It’s full of stories of what really happened during the war set into communications through letters.

In this day of quick emails, and instant messaging, it is refreshing to read real correspondence.

Thanks, and come again!

Writing Letters-“The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” (whythewritingworks.com)
Book Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (bethspurplenotebook.wordpress.com)

reviews, The Writing Life

Stein on Writing

August 1, 2013 Rebecca Nolen 1 Comment

Just completed a good book about writing by Sol Stein – Stein on Writing. Sol Stein not only has written books, he has edited numerous bestselling and critically acclaimed writers. If you want to be a writer, or are a writer, if I were you I would pay attention.

Here are a few good tips I’d like to pass along from his book:

Excellence in diction is the most important characteristic of fine writing. He means that the right word choice makes all the difference in a good book.

Do adverb and adjective liposuction on your manuscript. Most sentences don’t need more words to make them better, they need less.

Pick up the pace of your manuscript by making conversation adversarial, short sentences, frequent paragraphing, eliminate two-thirds of your words, delete scenes that don’t matter to the whole project even if they are lovely.

Use all six senses throughout your story. Wow! Does this make a difference!

Flashbacks: as a rule never put them in the first few chapters, and cut down on information dumping.

Here’s how Mr. Stein teaches how to show and not “tell”:

She boiled water. (tells)

She put the kettle on the stove. (begins to show)

She filled the kettle from the faucet and hummed till the kettle’s whistle cut her humming short. (shows)

The secret of good dialogue is – cut the small talk, listen to the way people use dialect and use it in your story,

A good way to create tension in a story is to note a fact. This often leaves a reader wondering why you’ve done it. For instance, “It is cold at 6:40 in the morning of a March day in Paris, and seems even colder when a man is about to be executed by firing squad.”

Use “particularity” in your writing. In his book On Becoming a Novelist, John Gardner said, “Detail is the lifeblood of fiction.” Sol Stein writes, It is not just detail that distinguishes good writing, it is detail that individualizes. I call it “particularity.” Here is one small example of the many that Mr. Stein uses. Instead of saying “Vernon was a heavy smoker.” You could say, “Vernon coughed from the ground up.”

Similes and metaphors? Use them. No clichés allowed.

Revision is the most important part of writing.

Mr. Stein says a great deal more in his book. His examples and his chapters on how to write specific things like love scenes should not be ignored, but I don’t have room or time for more. I hope this helps give you a little boost in your writing today.

Learning Your Craft: 4 Recommended Books for Writers (amandabumgarner.com)

reviews

Two Disappointing Products of Book Churning.

June 12, 2013 Rebecca Nolen Leave a comment

Here it is Wednesday, time for another book review. I’m afraid it isn’t pretty.

Charles Todd has been one of my favorite writers for years. The Ian Rutledge series and the Bess Crawford series are a pleasure to read. At least until Proof of Guilt entered this reader’s world.

An unidentified body turns up in London with a man’s watch that can be identified as having belonged to a wine merchant. The body is a victim of a hit and run but the accident happened elsewhere and the victim moved. And the body is not that of the wine merchant. No, he has disappeared though.

The story shambles all over the place with the lead investigator, Ian Rutledge driving back and forth all over England. There was one exciting part near the end of the book, which I thought would turn the story into a good one, but when the scene was over so was the excitement. I never did figure out the point of the mystery. And where was the missing man? Does this imply that we will see this shadowy figure again, as in a future villain? Or was there no point in his body never turning up?

I am sadly disappointed in all of this. Does it mean we have come to the end of Ian Rutledge as one of the most innovative characters in fiction today? I hope not. I hope this was a bubble in a wonderful series. Perhaps mother and son team Todd’s editor needs to give them a break from this stereotypical churning out of one book a year business.

Another sad entry into this category is my other favorite author’s new book.

Deborah Crombie’s latest is called The Sound of Broken Glass. It isn’t quite as pointless as the above example but there were times while reading it that I thought it could have been about half as long as it was.

For one thing the characters don’t seem to be cohesive to the story until everything is tied up at the end.

A lawyer turns up dead in an odd and disturbing way. He has ties to the world of music. There are some guys in a band. There is one in particular who seems to be a suspect. There are flashbacks in italics to a young boy’s point of view of growing up in Crystal Palace.

I love the setting details and the factual bits about the Crystal Palace at the beginning of each chapter. I love to learn things when I read. Another thing I love about her series of books is the continuing interesting relationship between Duncan and Gemma and their growing family of kids and dogs. This always add such a warm point of human interest you can’t help but love, love, love her books.

But of all her Duncan and Gemma series of books this is the weakest. I really believe this is a result of a constant pressure to produce at least a book a year. That pressure is set up by her editors and agents, probably because of a perceived demand by the public. Sadly, it isn’t unusual. I saw it with the series with Kay Scarpetta written by Patricia Cornwell.

There is a demand by the public! But it will go away if the product isn’t up to the standard set by wonderful previous books.

reviews

A Little Something to Keep You Up At Night

April 11, 2013 Rebecca Nolen 4 Comments

I’ve enjoyed some great page-turning authors in the last few years, Kate Atkinson, Sandra Brown, and Harlan Coben to name a few. But I’ve just read two good books this past week that will keep you up reading past your bedtime. I promise.

S.J. Watson‘s first published novel Before I Go To Sleep is amazing. If I tell you what it’s about you might think it sounds “predictable” but I can guarantee that there isn’t anything predictable about it.

A woman wakes up in bed with a complete stranger (predictable). She sneaks around looking for the clothes she went to sleep in and then, sees herself in the mirror. Who she sees isn’t the woman she thought of herself as, in fact, the woman she sees is much older (could this be a sci-fi?) Then she sees the photos taped to the mirror. They are of her and the stranger in the bed. Then the stranger wakes up and begins to tell her how she was in an accident and has lost her memory. It’s a weird memory loss because she can remember things as she goes about the day but as soon as she falls into a deep sleep she forgets everything again. (This sounds boring. Please tell me that isn’t all.)

As the story progresses the reader begins to sense a sort of “dread”. Nothing is as it seems. Soon the woman begins to get the same sense of dread. Why does the man who says he is her husband really seem like such a stranger? Why does she get the feeling each day as she wakes up that she should run away? Is it part of her condition? As she begins to write the events of every day in a hidden journal (You may be thinking how can she remember that? Answer: It’s because a doctor calls her every morning to remind her to find the journal and read it.) Now, things begin to make more sense to her. Though as time passes things begin to make less and less sense.

There is something very wrong with her life besides the obvious. Why does her husband lie to her every day? Why does he get violent when things don’t work as they should like when a dish falls to the floor? She records the violence in her journal and then the next day he tells her the bruises on her face are from when she hit her face with the door. Hmmm.

A most unusual book told from her perspective and read by her/you from her secret journal. This is a horror story made all the more scary by the fact that – it could happen.

The only problem I have with this – having been in an accident where I had memory loss for months, is that what I wrote during those times was gibberish. Just saying.

The second book is a debut novel by Nicci French called Blue Monday. It starts out with the disappearance of a little girl and how this event devastated not only the community but the detective assigned to solve the case. It was never solved.

Skip ahead twenty years and a little boy disappears much in the same way that the girl did so many years before.

The protagonist is a psychotherapist and insomniac who wanders the streets at night. She has a new patient who is fantasizing about having a little boy because he and his wife can’t get pregnant. He feels like he is living in two different worlds, one he knows is real and one he knows isn’t and suddenly the two worlds are getting confused.

That’s the set up. I’m not adding any spoilers. It is an amazing read. The point of view of the little kidnapped boy will break your heart. It will. The graveyard scene will have your heart thudding long after you put the book down. That’s all I’m giving you.

These are books that will keep you up all night. Betcha.

reviews

Gone Girl Good

March 1, 2013 Rebecca Nolen 2 Comments

I read Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. It won the Dagger Award and was an Edgar nominee for Best First Novel, a BookSense pick, and a Barnes & Noble Discover selection. I didn’t like it. It was a slow read and at the end I wondered what the point was. The author flirted around with the problem of sexual abuse and self-mutilation by cutting but nothing was specific.

I say if you’re going to write a book about something shocking do it. Don’t go all The-Sound-And-The-Fury on us.

So with trepidation I read her third novel gone “best seller” Gone Girl and I have to say I am very impressed. The novel uses its three-part structure well. The two main characters, Nick and Amy Dunne, take turns by chapter telling their stories in first person. Amy Dunne disappears on the fifth wedding anniversary. Nick Dunne is shocked. A few chapters later we can’t help but get suspicious of him. It looks as if his wife has been murdered and the crime scene staged to look like an abduction. I will not go any further into the plot because the reader needs to discover all the plot twists alone to really appreciate the book. In case you were wondering how we can share the wife’s perspective if she is dead – by reading her diary.

Gone Girl is an excellent study in human nature, and specifically the scary traits of the psychotic. That a female author wrote a man’s perspective so well is impressive. It is almost as if two writers are writing the book instead of two fictional characters.

I recommend the book. It is good.

Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn (nothanksidratherread.wordpress.com)

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Books Written by People I Know (but wonder if they will know me after they’ve read this)

January 30, 2013 Rebecca Nolen 3 Comments

You may get the feeling that I only post about great books or that I think all the books I read are great books. That would make little sense. I read a lot of books. Most I’ve picked out because I think I will like them. I don’t always. Perhaps you think that I am posting good reviews for friends. Not so. I haven’t reviewed a friend’s book yet. Although that is fixin’ ta change y’all. Right here, right today, I’m going to review three books written by friends. And I’m going to throw in mention of a few books that I do not recommend just to keep things interesting.

Rodney Walther has written a good book about a boy and his father and baseball. If any writer can make me cry, it’s Rodney. Once I read a short story he wrote and in three pages I was bawling. He has hit a home run with Broken Laces. It’s about a man wrapped up in himself (I can’t imagine – how unrealistic, right?). Jack can’t get off the phone long enough to have any real-time with his sweet family. Then he witnesses his wife killed in a car accident. To top it off, he loses his job. He is lost. But the book isn’t about the loss. It is about Jack connecting to the part of his life that he hasn’t really ever understood, his young son. Broken Laces is well-written with a line of action that is straight forward and easy to follow. Anyone would like this book. Great read!

What happens when your imaginative child comes home from school and reports that her/his new teacher is a witch who wants to eat all the children? You laugh and tell your child that he/she will still be going to school in the morning. Right? Right. But what if it’s TRUE? Nikki Loftin has written a middle-grade novel called The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy. In it little Lorelei’s school suddenly burns down. So a wonderful new school is built – in three days. It seems a little strange and that playground is definitely too good to be true. But Lorelei is dealing with a lot of troubles what with her dad marrying a terrible woman and Lorelei missing her mother so much. So she doesn’t consider the fantastic school with the darling playground sinister in any way. But when her friend Andrew goes missing she begins to suspect all is not what it seems. This fresh take on Hansel and Gretel is well-paced and has just enough page-turning suspense to keep a kid (like me) up all hours reading it. I was a little disappointed with what happens to the kitchen help but I loved the playground sand (because I’m ghoulish that way). Loved the book and I recommend to for all middle-school kids. Wonderful!

Want a little suspense, mystery, and Caribbean island yore mixed with that Bloody Mary? You must read Pamela Fagan Hutchins book Saving Grace. Katie Connel is a successful lawyer dancing daily with alcohol until she realizes that her one true love Nic doesn’t find her inebriated state very sexy. When she realizes that she has lost his respect and possibly any hope of snagging him, she does the only thing a girl in her situation can do. Get sober. Even if she isn’t an alcoholic. And how will she do that? On a Caribbean vacation of course. Except anyone who has ever been to the Caribbean knows that everyone on the islands drink – morning, noon, and night. But she is on a serious mission. She must find out why her parents went to the island on vacation the year before and while there, drove over a cliff and died. Her investigation proves only one thing, nothing is as it seems. But she does feel herself recovering from the alcohol (though she isn’t an alcoholic), and from Nic only to find herself head over heels for an abandoned shell of a mansion in the middle of nowhere. And possibly the house is occupied by a “jumbie”. The suspense keeps the pages turning with unanswered questions such as “Who is the P.I. she hires talking to and why does he keep denying it? Why was her non-drinking father drinking when he died? The novel is well paced, the action moving me forward through the story. I did question why a mysterious woman is seen at the mansion on p.61 but not mentioned again for some time later, the bee incident isn’t clear until afterward, and the finding of the ring is a little too coincidental but overall I was really wowed by the book. The action-packed, lean-forward-in-your-seat ending left me wanting a drink. Although I’m not an alcoholic. Buy the book!

With all these good books I’m going to leave the duds for tomorrow. Thank you for reading!

100 Best Children’s Books – Jumpy Jack and Googily | Babble (babble.com)

reviews, The Writing Life

And Now For Something Completely Different

January 23, 2013 Rebecca Nolen Leave a comment

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You only get that title if you remember Monty Python.

It is Book Review Wednesday at the Nolen house. Today’s totally different book review is on a non-fiction book. I read a lot of non-fiction books but I don’t usually review them here.

I started this book thinking it would be a quick read. I mean, look at it! Well, you can’t see it here. It is tiny. STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST or “10 Things Nobody Told You about Being Creative” by Austin Kleon. Who, by the way, lives in Austin, Texas and so does my fellow book-writer and friend Nikki Loftin (more on her fabulous book later). Nikki encouraged me to read this book. Thank you, Nikki! Should have been a quick read. This book is not a quick read for the simple reason that it is stuffed with good ideas that need to be mulled like spiced apple cider. Mulled apple cider is always better the day after. Yes, I said “mulled”. Or steeped inside that steamy caldron of a creative brain you carry on your shoulders. This is a fantastic book.

Also, I can’t believe I read a NYT’s best seller while it was still on the best seller list. That’s a first.

I don’t want to leave you wondering if I’ve lost it. Here are a few tips from the creative master Mr. Kleon: Don’t wait until you know who you are to get started. In other words, waiting for inspiration to hit you may see you old and gray before anything happens. I love his scribbles and multimedia artwork he uses to illustrate his points. He says “Fake it ’til you make it.” Great advice. You have to make some ugly art before the good stuff. If you’ve been to art school as I have and seen what you start with and then see what you end with on your “forced” projects you understand what this means. With writing it translates into the same thing. Some days what I have written is horrible. But Mr. Kleon says over and over – don’t ever throw anything away. He’s right. You never know when that “horrible” will spark something ingenious. All my work comes from ugly.

He quotes from Francis Ford Coppola — “We want you to take from us. We want you, at first, to steal from us, because you can’t steal. You will take what we give you and you will put it in your own voice and that’s how you will find your voice. And that’s how you begin. And then one day someone will steal from you.”

Another tip from the book: Write the book you want to read. I’ve always heard – write what you know. But I’ve always believed that you must write what you love AND what you want to read. If you write, you spend a LOT of time at it. You better love it.

One more tip from the book: Side projects and hobbies are important. How well I adhere to this! I can’t help it. I can’t help writing. Even if the writing is only in my head. I can’t help seeing the world around me with an artist’s “eye” although I haven’t touched a canvas in nine months. But life goes on and my projects may look to everyone else as though I’m sitting on my hands. They aren’t – my projects are brewing.

I don’t begin to do this book justice in a short review. I’m going to leave the other seven tips for you to read when you pick up a copy of “Steal Like An Artist”. You won’t be unchallenged, and unchanged if you do. I promise.

The stuff in the book may even be a sort of Holy Grail for writerly types.