uplandpoet

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 5 stars

“If you wanna read a review, there are a million of them, there are even certain stuffed shirt english major dropouts who have gone to much effort to be offended by the following, but i have found it has helped me and others enjoy this masterpiece.

a reading tip. to those who have tried a few times to wade thru this book. i found it helpful to start about 100 pages in, read to the end and then go back and read the start. i find the first part of the book annoying and incomprehensible, but it really goes pretty good if you make it over the hurdle! the front section doesnt improve if read this way, but at least you are invested enough to get something out of it...”

uplandpoet wrote this review 5 days ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 2 stars

“Tropical Freeze James W Hall Large Print Edition
Hall’s two claims to fame are 1) he is an English teacher, okay, a creative writing teacher at a south Florida university, and, 2) in that capacity, he taught Dennis Lehane. While all south Florida crime writers have to tip their hat to John D McDonald, which Hall does, as well as working in more than a casual mention of Papa Hemingway, the best of the modern guys (and yes, as far as I know, they are all male) have built on the work of the man who put a color in every title and made the Busted Flush so real that there is a plaque on a boat slip in Ft Lauderdale. Hall wallows in it, just as sexist and simplistic as ever, with his rugged individualism, his anti government soliloquies, he is the least of the greats. As far as I can tell, the living top tier of this regional genre are Elmore Leonard (the king), Tim Dorsey (the heir apparent), Randy Wayne White (the West Coast very close 2nd to Leonard), then tied for last, way back on the list are Carl Hiaasen and James W Hall, actually, Hall may have dead last to himself, as he and Carl write fairly outrageous fiction, only Hall is a slightly worse writer. That is to say Carl has talent, he simply chooses to waste it, and Hall isn’t wasting any talent. This is the 3rd Hall book I have attempted to read, and at least I did manage to complete it, unlike one of his that I cannot even remember the title of. In it Thorn, the recurring protagonist, is out of his element, in an Amazon jungle, or somewhere in Africa, I can’t recall, and I only got about 50 pages in.
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uplandpoet wrote this review 5 days ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“White Horses Alice Hoffman Large Print Edition
Excellent, maybe the book Allende would have liked to have written instead of Daughter of Fortune. Alice trades in ghosts and unbelievable powers (Ice Queen), for a beautiful mystic tale, of a real modern day (well modern, as it spans maybe 1955-1975) American family, with its share of weirdness thrown in for what may be one of her very best works yet. The ending isn’t exactly what I was hoping for, but then, there wasn’t many ways she could go without being predictable. And even though I would have taken a little more, it isn’t one of those books that are ruined by the ending; it’s just that the rest of the book is so good. Gloria Naylor, Barbara Kingsolver, William Faulkner good, so if the book comes to rest on an Elizabeth Berg ending, it seems a little down. Still a book I strongly recommend, if you have any appreciation for good literature!
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uplandpoet wrote this review 5 days ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Hundred Dollar Baby Robert B Parker Large Print Edition

Parker rarely disappoints, and again he succeeds in telling a good tale, one where you care about the people, even the really bad people, which seems to be Parker’s specialty. He does sometimes remind me of Dr Phil or Jerry Springer, wringing his hands over the mistreatment of women, while all the while relishing the whole exploitation thing. Still, he tells it well, makes murder, betrayal and heartbreak all seem a laugh a minute!
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uplandpoet wrote this review 5 days ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“no mine is not a signed first edition”

uplandpoet wrote this review Saturday, September 26 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 2 stars

“couldnt finish it”

uplandpoet wrote this review Saturday, September 26 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 0 stars

“I am a huge fan of New Orleans and Southern Literature, so when I saw this title, I was really excited. Sadly, Lois reminds me of Steinbeck, in that she has a great story to tell, and does a horrible job of telling it. Too bad, it could have been a wonderful read.”

uplandpoet wrote this review Saturday, September 19 2009. ( reply | permalink )

0 of 3 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 4 stars

“not sure how much of an agenda the author had, but a very interesting look at the underbelly of our "sainted" founding fathers!”

uplandpoet wrote this review Sunday, June 21 2009. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 5 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 4 stars

“I dont normally bother with reviews, comments are much more my style... but it seems that he action, what there is of it is in the review column. I would just like to point out, not only was Twain right 130 years ago, and not only was it impposible for a man of his position to publish such logicla and observavble truth it would still be unacceptable for a much loved literary hero to publish such rash words today, in 2008. i am thinking of JKRowling and Stephen King, and neither of them compare with Twain in either skill nor comtempory glory. sadlly he must have been two centuries ahead of his time, maybe the next pass of Hally's comet in 2060 will find us in a more logical world, i doubt i will be here, and i doubt the world will be greatly changed, but here's to hoping! i raise my volume of posthumously published truth high:)”

uplandpoet wrote this review Saturday, August 16 2008. ( reply | permalink )

0 of 4 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 1 stars

“It is one thing to love Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, it is quite another to be able to write anything close to it. Grisham fails miserably, whereas Lee Smith gets pretty close without the racial drama in The Last Day the Dogbushes Bloomed!”

uplandpoet wrote this review Sunday, February 3 2008. ( reply | permalink )