William Read

This was a gooood book

There are about a million books on creative writing out there, and about a hundred books which present a structure that every book, every story ever told applies to. This is of course bullshit, but it can be interesting as a writer to play around with the ideas it presents. The Beat sheet is exactly that, if you want to write a proven cliche, then use that structure, but it's not something you need to learn, because it's almost slightly obvious if you know the thesis, antithesis, and synthesis structure. More does not need to be added to that. The whole screenplay physics is very interesting too. It applies to books too.

Overall, it was very interesting, but I could not stand the writer. Snyder was overtly sexist and a nepo baby.

Orwell manages to pull off the communist metaphor effectively. Every page carries something important - to be analysed, and the metaphor is buried, but not too far down in the sand. Will become even more of a classic than it is now

I love how this is the best YA novel which explores sex, and masturbation etc. It is very powerful, manages to be pacy, and extremely powerful will read again, although I thought the ending was botched, and he tried to give it the wrong theme, didn't realise what his book was about. It was not meant to be a dystopia, it was meant to be a provocative novel about sexual orientation, and romance.

This was good. I really liked the writing. It was well executed, and could have gone downhill. Many authors have tried and failed at this template, brooks didn't. Parts of it were a little boring, but I can accept that.

 He is both hugely ambitious, and knows his limits

This was actually a good book. I was slightly unconvinced when he delved into hugely speculative stuff, but he did it effectively. I'm glad the aliens were only a theme, not a main plot point. I found his writing to be at times a little shabby, but I think he was just adapting to the genre.

Feels like a predecessor to the modern thriller

Very enjoyable, the transition from ocean to sea was done efortlessly, and it was very gripping

She managed to capture the quaint atmosphere of the school

Parts of this were very funny, parts were very poignant. Maxtone Graham managed to adjust her writing style suitably. I really enjoyed. I think the term Novella captures the essence of the book

Takes the sci-fi genre, and uses it as a stage for something else entirely

I like this because it didn't concentrate on science-fiction, used it to write something more psychological

alright. A good story

There was nothing too bad about this. Some of the book felt badly-written, but it was quite interesting. I didn't like how it was real historical fiction though

Better than I expected, and was told about

Not as sensationalist as some books like this. Palahniuk actually creates a really powerful book, quite a big twist which is really meaningful. I actually enjoyed this. I wasn't expecting too. Some of it seems so so unrealistic, but because his writing style is so “Fever dream”-esque, it manages to work

This hid a lot of powerful themes under the surface

If one was a surface reader they would enjoy it, if you wanted to look a little deeper, they would enjoy it too. There's real conflict, as you get into the book. But Dolan manages to hide this behind a veil of boredom, which is pretty impressive.

I don't usually read literary fiction but this makes me wonder whether I should return to the genre...?

I don't want to downplay this book, to other people, because my reading tastes have hardened

I found this book quite interesting - in other words - Meh. She set it up quite well, but there were some things in principle that could have been altered. Spoiler The Death Row inmate didn't actually write back, which I was expecting to happen. This could have added another dimension to the story, but didn't happen. I don't really like how the author wrote her as quite dumbed down, but then included some really censorable sex scenes.

Beautiful. Mitchell goes into the head of a 13 year old boy, and writes a gushing novel about adolescence, worthy of Booker prize

I wonder whether every Literary Fiction Authors' semi-autobiographical book is always their best.

There's that literary trope: write what you know. I think the reason Black Swan Green is the only David Mitchell book I've finished, is because the reader knows what position he's coming from. He clearly knows what he's talking about.

We have to talk about the description of Jason's speech defect. I think Mitchell handled this with ingenuity. He didn't just d-d-d-d-do this all the time, which makes for some tedious reading.

Mitchell could have made this all about sexual adolescence, but he didn't, and did well not to make that the main point of the book, only a point of the book., as it should be.

Overall a stunning book

The author managed to write in a ‘50s style, whilst still making it easy to read

I really enjoyed this book: partially because I haven't read such a murder mystery in a while. It was quite refreshing not having to think about much. I don't have any qualms about this book. It was a good read. I won't return to the next in the series, because I think it's better on it's own.

Good, but boring, lacking nuance and opinion

If you want a dreary academic book, then this is the read for you. The writers lay the facts down and let you decide what you want to do with them. Some parts they try to make entertaining, or sparking great emotions, but tbh, it's just deadpanned monotony. Most history books are written persuasively, with a clear opinion in mind. I struggled to find the authors beliefs in this book. The ending is abrupt and not enough focus is spent on the modern world. That said, the facts were well collated, very interesting, and worth knowing.

The Library: A Boring Factfile

Blackman is such a bad writer; it doesn't help that this book hasn't aged well

I'm not sure what category this book falls into. Putting my YA hat on, I can't imagine anyone over the age of 12 enjoying this book (it's intensely naive, replaces swear words with dated terms such as “Bog off”, and falls flat in the face with it's romance subplot, which feels orientated at children who haven't heard of sex), and them who are younger than 12 probably won't enjoy it because it's dated, and the themes that are present (I'll grumble about that later) don't relate, and because the book is so old, times have changed so much.

Malorie Blackman tried with this book. She failed.
This is my third book of hers I've read, and I think I now have the authority to call her writing bulky. Her sentences come across as childish. The most important thing you learn in primary school is Show, not tell. My, how the curriculum has clearly changed from her time - her exposition is honestly as bad as all the indie sci-fi books I've read lately.

The theming is shocking. She tries so hard to put across themes, but ends in a tangled mess. She clearly doesn't know how to write.

I struggled through this book, and the ending was meh.

**, because the idea was really sublime.

interesting, but not well executed.

I was quite disappointed by a book which had all the hype and was expected to be in tears about be good, but not in any way heart wrenching, or anything like that. I mean as a story it worked...
There wasn't anything wrong with it, apart from some dubious tensing errors. I wasn't sure about the whole sci-fi thing - I wish that was handled better, trying to be contemporary fiction, whilst ignoring the giant elephant in the room branded “SF”.

Glad I read it, but ‘twas very boring for a thriller, and lacked a sense of purpose

I think this book reminded me of how thrillers can fall down, when they focus on making a good story. It then becomes an overblown action sequence, which are very boring, particularly because I am bad at reading by dialogue

Surprisingly original for a book like this

The humour levels are off the charts

Very interesting, a good realism x SF crossover

I was a bit worried going into this that it would all be anti-American from when the spaceship landed in Hyde Park. It managed not to get too political

I have given it 4 stars because the book was written well, and the message although cringey and omnipresent didn't really (as strange as it may seem) seem too structural damage He could have easily written a full 360 page novel on this, but I'm glad he didn't - it would have felt too forced and more heavy SF, as opposed to a more thoughtful, deeper read.

And in a way it did manage to be this. It wasn't like a lot of Sci-fi I've read where it tries to push a message, but epically fails and manages just to be an ink notebook. This genuinely managed to go beyond the paper, and put across some interesting ideas. I said that it was a Speculative Fiction and realism crossover, which obviously is a slight oxymoron, but it genuinely felt like that, not in any way unrealistic, he managed to move the book on at a reasonable pace, the events not seeming surreal. The one problem here was the lame attempt at an alien x prime minister romance subplot. It was poorly executed, stupid in its idea, and better suited to a pornographic fantasy novel.

Some of the sentences, and dialogue are a little clunky; that is too be expected - I have not read a single independently published book that has not suffered the same problem, and I can get behind it: I've learnt not to let it affect me much (although I have gone straight from a really thought provoking, hard-hitting, almost prosaic book, so I was hit slightly hard, but this was better than some. Exposition is very hard to get right, but this managed too without breaking the fourth wall, and seeming like the author is talking to you (I've seen my fair few of those!)

Again the whole moral of the story was very shaky, for starters the book didn't revolve around the theme (saving the planet, and nature and shit), instead the theme felt like it was made to fit the plot - whether or not this was actually the case, I don't know. I wonder whether he went in trying to write a sweeping galaxy wide epic, which was a super-metaphor in disguise about how it is important to save the planet - it's the only one we've got (except it clearly isn't because the reader is told about how Mars has been terraformed; colonies established on an asteroid belt, and a fucking military base on the moon ¯(ツ)/¯ . If ever there was a moral that was over-cliched....... But in a slightly strange way the theme was so badly executed that it could be ignored.



postscript!!I have just read the authors biography and I am faintly surprised he's a vicar, I am glad he managed not too get to religious, but I wonder whether the book would have been better suited to a more religious epic....idk...just a thought

I wish all YA books carried the depth and subtlety this carries

Stunning. Spellbinding. Beautiful

“Will you ever forgive me?”... “No,” [Dad] said, without facing me. “Maybe it makes me a bad parent, but I don't know if I can. No matter what the police found, you were involved in that shooting, Valerie.

This could have been so much better

I'm very disappointed in this. Going in, I expected it to end with her realising that she's wasted her life, and the main theme being the subtle idea of addiction, projected through the media of chess. This should not have been a feel-good book, so I don't know why the fuck Tevis tried to make it all beach time reading. I enjoyed the start of the book because he set up a sad ending really well. I began to lose faith towards the end. Even when the theming was present. Tevis did not handle the theming well. Beth has a realisation that she's ruining her life. Themes should not be thrusted into dialogue.

It's a shame, because I so enjoyed “The Man Who Fell To Earth,” but this was not like that at all. I wonder whether he felt too bound by realism as opposed to SF to be able to write something as metaphorical as his prior book.

I won't read The Hustler.

A modern classic if ever there was one

I love how the title defines him as a man. That is, in the end what he feels. The transformation the book subtly encourages makes the story progression a treat. Tevis's use of characterisation makes it seem like the characters revolve around him. I also wonder whether this whole book is a metaphor for the LGBT community, that feeling of not quite belonging. Shout out to Reuben for this insight

That feeling when your attention span has been demolished so much you don't have the energy to read this