A Review By Meg Harper

It’s hard to assess the impact of the Harry Potter phenomenon on the literary world. Certainly opinions on the quality of the writing and plots vary. Certainly, there has been an upsurge in the number of adults wanting to nab a piece of the JK. Rowling cake. I regularly meet people who tell me they’ve got a book up their sleeve. All they lack is time to write it. In fact, the reality is that they also frequently lack the vital skills! For such latent authors, this book is the perfect stocking-filler. Book in hand, they can make a New Year Resolution. They will stop procrastinating and, by next Christmas, will have a least started writing!

The Writing Book is clear and concise and covers the basics of fiction writing in a simple and readable form, well backed up with illustrations from literature. Most are from Australian fiction but that doesn’t matter. Scanning the list of chapter titles, I don’t know what I would add. Do what this book says and you should be well on the way to writing a publishable book.

However…be aware of the author’s dire and serious warning which comes close to the end. Unhappily, I have to agree:

‘The world has enough books and enough writers already, so unless you find writing satisfying, you might as well do something else.’

Nonetheless, I teach many adults who do find writing satisfying and a real joy – and this book is a great starting point for any would-be author.

Meg Harper – author and creative writing teacher.

A Review By Tamsin

Down at the front, on a freezing Winter’s night in 1914, in the middle of the worst war that the world has known, two men stood and faced each other as in hope, not in war. In The Christmas Truce Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy gives us a lovely poem, inspired by this moment of humanity and hope at Christmas.

With much of the world still at war, this lovely little Christmas book offers a reminder of the moment when two trenches came together, shook hands, sang songs, swapped gifts, played football and found peace in no-man’s-land.

 A delightfully illustrated book, sized for little hands to pull from Christmas stockings….

A Review By Keith Smith

I thought I ought, as a bookshop owner, to have read the Booker winner. So, a little belatedly, I have. I had previously really enjoyed ‘Arthur and George’ by Barnes, so that was promising……

I have to report it is short, literary, precise, needs careful reading , but certainly repays the effort. Narrated by the male protagonist it is almost ’stream-of-consciousness’ stuff, but it certainly gripped me, and made me want to read to the end in one sitting. But what an end! I was worried….was I yet again the only person who didn’t understand it?! I rushed to the internet to read the reviews and I am glad to say that people disagree about the ending, and some say it is only understandable if you re-read the whole book. Having spent quite some time thinking about it, I am quite happy with my interpretation! But not many books make you think in that way. Indeed, not many books create so much sympathy between you and the protagonist that you really care about what happened. This is such a book. If you want a thinking book I heartily recommend it.

A Review By Keith Smith

Having read the ‘new’ James Bond novel by Jeffrey Deaver recently, and thinking it poor indeed, my expectations for the ‘new’ Sherlock Holmes were low. I need not have worried. Anthony Horowitz has done a truly excellent job. He gets the tone exactly right, and doesn’t carry the pastiche too far. You could certainly feel Conan Doyle standing at his shoulder.

Not only is the style spot on, the details for London of the time ring true, the relationship between Holmes and Watson is brilliantly conveyed, and the plot is exciting and one you want to follow.

I suppose the most difficult thing for Horowitz would have been to conceive and work up Sherlock’s approach to problems. It would have been so easy to go ‘over the top’. He resists the temptation admirably, and yet we are still in awe at the workings of his mind.

In some ways The House of Silk is an improvement on the originals, if that were possible, as the characters are given chance to develop and become more rounded. We learn a lot more about Lestrade for instance and see his strengths as well as his weaknesses. And the minor characters are all given due attention and register well.

So, all in all, a very enjoyable read indeed and highly recommended.

A Review by Jeremy Ashley

This is a truly excellent book written by the author of a trilogy of novels depicting the early Christian Crusades to the Holy Land. This book, set in the 13^th Century, traces Robert the Bruce from early childhood to the throne of Scotland. It tells many tales amongst the splendid history of that period and gives one a clear insight into those violent times. Besides the battles and horrors of this bygone age Robyn Young also shows that love and happiness however short-lived can be the reward for loyalty and valour. A gripping and splendidly readable yarn!!