Tag: prose • BookLikes

It’s been a long time coming

I read this book over so many weeks. I could’ve read it faster, but let’s just say it wasn’t my favourite book. It’s not as entertaining as the blurb leads you to believe. I decided only to read this book when I had free time as I had:

1. Novels to read. I’m not going to read a book on close reading/writing over an actual story.

2. Found the book not as exciting as I had hoped.

Recommended by the critics

So, I decided to get this book out because it was recommended by the New York Times and had fairly good reviews on GoodReads. Apparently, you can’t trust all the critics. I found the book a little dull. Why? I don’t remember if I’ve read a book that the book quoted. Why? Well, a lot of the classical books that people love, I just can’t get into. The language used then is not the same as it is now.

Do we agree?

A lot of the time, she quoted paragraphs from books with great examples of (speech, sentences, paragraphs, etc.). I don’t agree with all that she quoted. I can’t pick an example off the top of my head, but as I was reading through, I thought that she over exaggerated and read too much into the stories. That’s just my humble opinion. I think books are for enjoyment, and if you have to analyse a sentence to read a deeper meaning, then that’s not so fun.

Reading about writing

I have read quite a few books on writing now (you can check my GoodReads), and I have several more to read. This book hasn’t stopped me enjoying reading on how to write. I would say, read the first chapter in a local library. See if you enjoy it. I found the paragraphs quite long winded and long to read through. My thinking, or so I’ve read, is that the longer the paragraphs, the more intellectual the book is. Whether that makes it a good book, is a different story. I believe that writing, and reading that writing is entirely subjective, and you can’t look at a piece of writing and objectively declare it better than another. You may read this book and decide that Francine Prose is the best author and totally disagree with me. That’s okay.

review 2013-10-29 18:27

Just One Wish

Arlena Has Read and Reviewed What Novels?

                      By: Brenda Whitehead,Brenda Edwards, Jena Galifany,Laura Breck Jannine Gallant, Alison Henderson, Christine DePetrillo, Vonnie Davis, and Margo Hoornstra
Published By: The Rose of Prose Age Recommended: Adult Reviewed By: Arlena Dean Rating: 5 Review:
"Just One Wish" by The Roses of Prose authors was a wonderful reads from nine different authors giving us nine holiday short novellas that will truly leave you wanting more. All are very short reads that will leave you thinking of the read long after you finish your read.
From the read we start with....
1. A Tropical Holiday where you will find Yuma Camry wanting
     "Peace." Will she get it?
2. A Very Special Holiday where Annabelle Wilson just wanted to   spend the day Alone. Will she be able to get her wish?
3. A Visit From Santa ...would Jayme get a visit from Santa?
4. Christmas in Vegas...What did Roxanne get besides snow in her new place?
5. Going Home...would Lacey Chandler arrive safely from this aircraft      ride to Denver?
6. If Wishes Were Fishes...Marlee wanted Ben Home for Christmas...will this wish be granted?
7. Mistletoe Wish...Why did Katherine Graves want to be fast forward through this 'damn holiday.' Why?
8. The Penguin Killer...Did Vanessa Baker really want her next door neighbor to drop dead? This one was my favorite reads and it's so funny!
9. Wishes Granted, Wishes Denied...a holiday that Hanny had been denied until now...
I enjoyed the entire read from all of the prose writers. You will find in each short story there will be a wish that could make this person happy.   These nine short reads were really neat especially with the holiday coming upon us, however, they are good reads anytime. Would I recommend this reads especially for the holiday?....YES! They are lovely reads and some will even put a smile on your face.

review 2013-10-25 23:35

A Holiday to Remember

Arlena Has Read and Reviewed What Novels?

By: Claire Ashgrove Laura Breck Vonnie Davis Christine DePetrillo Barbara Edwards Jannine Gallant Alison Henderson Jerri Hines Amber Leigh Williams Brenda Whiteside
Published By: The Roses of Prose Age Recommended: New Adult - Adult Reviewed By: Arlena Dean Rating: 5 Review:
"A Christmas to Remember" by ten authors was quite a interesting holiday read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I will say these authors really did wonderful job with this holiday read.
I really liked how they were able to keep this story together where you will find that the authors wrote various chapters to give us a good story ... starting from Chapter one: 'You Want Me to Pump What'...2: The Winding Road...3:What Do You Do With a Princess...4:Candy Heats Up...5: A Hard Liquor Kind of Situation...6: Oh No!...7: The Morning After...8: A Cup of Hot Chocolate and a Dose of Hot Mitch...9: The Odds Were a Million to One...10: Boxer or Briefs...11: The Temperature is Hot and Rising...12: Trouble in Paradise...13: Rich Jerks...14: Scrambled Eggs and Sympathy...15: Who the Heck is Marie...16: Past Remembered...17: Knight in Denim Overalls...18: Revelations...19: The Moment of Truth...20: It's Cold Outside...21: No Strings Attached...22: A Lonely Future...23: Goodbye to What Might Have Been...24: Men...Who Needs Them...25: One Call Changes Everything...26: Memory of an Angel...27: Prepare to Grovel...28: Forgiveness...29: It's Always Been You...30: Georgia On My Mind......going till The End of a wonderful well written story. Only leaving me to say Wow!
We see from this short story Candy Wright now has it all ...a great job, 'The Wright Way,' a advertising agency she owned, a great place to live in Manhattan, but was she truly happy? With a plan to visit a college roommate during this Christmas Holiday...who knew Candy would end up in one of the worst Georgia storms and would meet up with a man who had been her ....well this is the part where I will stop and say you must get this read "A Christmas to Remember" to see what all Candy will go through to finally get the happiness she had wanted from childhood. I found the characters in this short read very well developed, colorful and so likable only to make this read very charming to read. I know it is somewhat different in that their are so many authors writing it, how they all came together to share their thoughts and how it flows so smoothly from one chapter to the next and in the end will giving you a well written script that I thought was a amazing read. All I am left to say is that you must pick this one up and see for yourself how good a read the story really is. This only leaves me to say that 'Yes' I would recommend this read.