July
10, 2013
Dear
Readers,
Today I need to fulfill an obligation, and
that obligation is to share a review with you on a book I recently completed.
If you haven’t checked out Goodreads, you
should. I have an author’s page and I have been navigating around the site,
gathering new friends. It’s sort of like Facebook, only it is specifically for
people who love reading books of every kind.
You are invited to participate in, or
create discussion groups on all sorts of book related subjects. You can search
lists of books, including those that are listed under specific genres or
topics, ie Memoirs written by women, or by sports figures…the list goes on. If
you don’t see the one you like, you can create your own, then wait and see what
other people think or like. I could go on and on, but it would be simpler if
you checked it out yourself.
Another area they have is free giveaways,
where authors make copies of their book available for people to win. The
authors are doing this in hopes they’ll draw attention and get reviews on their
books.
Some authors get together with groups and
offer to let you read their book for free in exchange for which you are
required to write a review and post it on Goodreads, Amazon, and a blog if you
have one.
I had a title offered to me as a RFR, Read
for Review; Brian, His Granddad and the
Cup of Ages. I have read it and here is the review;
I received "Brian, His Granddad
& the Cup of Ages," free as a book for review.
My mother told me, many years ago, if you can’t say something nice,
don’t say anything at all. Sounds simple, unfortunately it’s easier said than
done. And so I have made it my practice not to write reviews on books I don’t
like.
It’s not that I disliked this book. In fact it was cute; my main issue
was how often I found myself realizing how closely the characters, and some of
the plot, mimicked another story and its characters which had already been written
by someone else.
I think it was Ernest Hemingway who said, “Every writer has three good
stories in him, and he keeps re-telling them until the reader no longer wants
to read them.” I’m not sure those are the exact words, but you get the idea.
It's obvious the reading public is not tired of reading stories about
wizards and witches. I know I'm not. Since there are so many offerings out
there, it has to be difficult for any author to be completely original and not
sound like they’re mimicking something they’ve personally read and enjoyed.
So I think it’s important for the author to make an even greater effort
to separate their protagonists’ and antagonists personalities from those of
such a popular series as J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Books. Other critiques of
this work have made the same comment about the characters. So I’m not alone in
this.
The voice of this author is sweet, and I think he is writing to the
right age group. However, he needs to find a fresh way to tell his story. I
have rated the book two stars, which is defined by the review process as being
“it was OK.” This rating does not reflect a dislike of the work, it was OK. In
my book, OK is OK, not bad. One star or no stars would reflect an active
dislike, something I did not feel while reading this book.
The book needs to be reworked and I think if the author does this, the
under nine audience will embrace it with alacrity.
My thanks to the author for the opportunity to read his work, I know
what it takes, and I can hear his passion for writing in his words. I know we
will see more from this author, and I will look forward to reading what he
comes up with next.
All righty then, there you have it.
Tomorrow I will take a look at the 2013 Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In”
Challenge Series.” The May 25th running of the Gran Premio 25 de
Mayo is next on my agenda.
Take care,
Shelley
Riley
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