Review: How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing

How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing by Paul J. Silvia
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book. It's short and to the point. And right now I'm writing a very short review on a book about writing a lot :) Without further ado, I'm proceeding to actually writing a lot. My first scheduled session is in 10 minutes. Maybe I'll come back here in a year or so and add something on how much it actually helped.

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Review: Flight of the King

Flight of the King by C.R. Grey
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, and I'm sorry to report that I didn't like. It supposed to be a middle grade novel, and they are often simplistic, but here a simplistic plot is combined with a not-thought-through world-building. Like, yeah, people love animals and bond with all kinds of animals.... and keep farm animals. Apparently, just because they love them, not for eating of course. Any 10 yo would surely believe that. So in essence, it's just a naive version of fighting for a throne, where a rightful (but oh, so evil) heir must loose to her very nice little brother, who makes others fight for him. There is very little world building, absolutely no character development. And the author has no sense whatsoever of the space-time continuum. The map makes no sense; the "kingdom" is apparently smaller than an average city, surrounded by wild (!) areas; the same distance is traveled in two days or five, depending on the mood; people going somewhere important for them arrive an hour late without any mention of what kept them, even though they started in like five-minutes walking distance. I don't even want to know how exactly they are going to live happily ever after in the next book.

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Review: The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals

The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals by Missy Chase Lapine
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

For some inexplicable reason the author seems to think that if you take some food, that has nothing to do with eating healthy, and add a table spoon of a vegetable puree, the dish as a whole suddenly becomes healthy. Unfortunately, I don't share that opinion, hence the low rating from me.

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Review: Legacy of the Claw

Legacy of the Claw by C.R. Grey
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Fantastic! I like this world with humans bonded for life with some creature or other. It's so novel and refreshing... Wait. Ah, yes, there was that strange story with humans and their daemons, which makes much more sense technically, but who cares. And there is that lost king with regrettable memory gaps... Anyway, this story about yet another prophesied chosen one, who behaves stupidly at every turn and destined to save the world, is so interesting. I'm still not sure what role Harry Potter, I mean Bailey Walker with his White Tiger (should be all capital letters probably) must play in this power struggle for the throne, but it will undoubtedly be clear later on. After all, there is not much else in the story, other than the power struggle between an unmistakable evil and a thoughtful good. At least the characters themselves are hinted at, as well as some friendship between them.
Overall, it was a marginally enjoyable read, more or less typical for a nothing special middle grade novel.

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Review: Dragons at Crumbling Castle: And Other Tales

Dragons at Crumbling Castle: And Other Tales by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

5 stars - Dragons at Crumbling Castle - Love this one!
3 stars - Hercules the Tortoise - Poor snake.
3 stars - The Great Speck - Pratchett overdose on this one.
5 stars - Hunt the Snorry - Let's go hunt the Snorry!
1 star - Tales of the Carpet People - Way too long and way overboard with satire.
3 stars - Doc the Caveman.
4 stars - The Big Race.
2 stars - Another Tale of the Carpet People.
4 star - The Great Egg-Dancing Championship.
4 stars - Edwo, the Boring Knight.
5 stars - The 59A Bus Goes Back in Time - Buses and time-travel! And I got a chance to introduce the little one to Romans, knights, Merlin, and giant dragonflies. He knew all about dinosaurs of course.
4 stars - An Abominable Snowman
5 stars - The Blackbury Monster - Poor little monster!
5 stars - Father Christmas Goes to Work.

Annnnd since the average is 3.78, the overall raiting from me is 4 stars. But I'm now overdosed with Pratchett, so keeping the dosage manageable, the next book will be next year.

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Review: City of Ashes

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Looking at other reviews it seems I'm not the only one, who would prefer to see more of Alec and Magnus, instead of teenage-style boring Clary and Jace. At least some scenes from their perspective, please?

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Review: Catullus' Bedspread: The Life of Rome's Most Erotic Poet

Catullus' Bedspread: The Life of Rome's Most Erotic Poet by Daisy Dunn
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I think the author misjudged her audience. This book is not a "vivid narrative" it claims to be. It is very well researched, interesting, somewhat controversial, but definitely not vivid. Paragraphs feel disjointed from one another. The narrative behaves more like a solid than a liquid, and a living solid at that: it jumps like a cricket from one paragraph to the next, instead of flowing seamlessly as I would expect it. The whole biography resembles a workbook, with a lot of extensive notes. And there is also a decisive lack of original Latin poems. I know, the interested reader is supposed to go out there and find them. But it would be really nice to at least have a few examples, even if only to see first-hand the rhythm the author talks about.

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