Tag: Reviews

Ed’s Casual Friday: 5 to 1 Book Reviews

Once again I return lazily back to the review well, as opposed to actually thinking of a new idea for Ed’s Casual Friday. What can I tell you, I’ve got writing to do this week, and writers always seem to love/hate reading these things. 😉

For something slightly different, instead of just unearthing one-star chestnuts on “great” works, I’m going more economic. What follows is a list of the ten bestselling books of the decade 2000-2010 which I found on-line (at about(dot)com) – I am not claiming it is entirely accurate, but these titles “feel” about right for the period, and each author only appears once (I didn’t want the list to be all Rowling/Meyer books). Accompanying each listed book are excerpts from two reviews from the fine readers at Goodreads, one from a five-star and the other a one-star. As always, my intention in doing thusly is, as ever, only to point out that for every book every written, somebody is going to hate it.

And somebody, or a whole lot of somebodies, may well love it, too. Continue reading “Ed’s Casual Friday: 5 to 1 Book Reviews”

Perspective Changes Everything

We are all individuals in this world with different ways of looking at the same events. No better period demonstrates this principle than our current events. Here in the United States, we have two political parties that are talking about the same issues in entirely different ways. Depending on how you look at things, you are either dissing half the country or telling it like it is.

Have you seen the recent NFL referee debacle? If you caught the end of the Seattle Seahawks vs. Green Bay Packers game last Monday night, you saw one of the most publicized displays of perspective in the history of sports. Changing perspective changes everything. In fact, you had two officials standing over the play signaling two different outcomes. Continue reading “Perspective Changes Everything”

Spotlight on…The Home Team Part 3

Reviewer Cathy Speight

I’ve decided to give my unruly pupils a little rest from lessons. Well, their attention spans aren’t great, and since another British-hosted Olympics probably won’t happen again in my lifetime and I’m somewhat obsessed, I’m going to do another round-up of books by members of the illustrious IU team.

This time, I’m featuring books by Yvonne Hertzberger, Chris James, and Carol Wyer, each uniquely different from the other and great reads.  Continue reading “Spotlight on…The Home Team Part 3”

50 Shades of WTF?

The other day, I saw a link on a Facebook page to yet another scathing, snarky review of the book which shall not be named. I’ve seen a lot of these. This particular reviewer put a lot of time and effort into her piece. There were amusing animated GIFs between each few paragraphs of calumny she poured on this ill-conceived tome.

I love snark as much as anyone. I was all good with it until I got to the end. The reviewer said to stay tuned for her upcoming review of the sequel to this book. WTF???

I have nothing against the author of this book. I have nothing against her book (which shall not be named). But she is pulling down a bazillion dollars a week from her book. WHY ARE YOU HELPING HER if you hate her book? WHY ARE YOU GOING TO READ AND REVIEW HER NEXT ONE? Continue reading “50 Shades of WTF?”