Tuesday, April 09, 2013

I have been almost exclusively reading my books for judging, and quite honestly I'm putting them off.  They are a real crap shoot.

You Slay Me Katie MacAlister. This was quite fun.  I haven't managed to follow up with the next one yet.

Founding Fathers Know Best, by Ross Edward Puskar.
For your subtitle choose among the following, all of which appear as separate lines on the cover and on the title page:
A Satire
Is the President Leading the Country in the Wrong Direction?
The Past Presidents Return tot he White House to Provide Counsel on Current Issues
not fiction.  not good.

The Raven's Heart by Jesse Blackadder.  A near-perfect score.  I have added it to my library.

Chojun by Goran Powell.  This book, upon reflection, had two very different parts, but it flowed very well.

Maps of Fate by Reid Lance Rosenthal.  This says it is book 2 of a "saga."  I have no idea what book 1 may have included; this could stand on its own, although there were too many characters and story lines.  The writing tried to be a little too flowery; simple can be so much better.

A Texas Destiny by Joe G. Bax. Not super great, many problems with the writing, including random switches from first person to third person and back.  Like other books recently read, this tried to cover a large amount of time in too short a space.  The first portion of the book covered only a few years, but the second part of the book covered decades, poorly.

Giddyap Tin Lizzie by Harold William Thorpe.  I'm sure it's hard to write about the Great Depression without being, well, depressing.  But surely the book should be a little bit depressing?  This was more like a book about the Slightly Less Full Bank Account.

To Know You by Rebecca Del Reye. What is the point of couching the main story inside another story?  Those pages could have been better used just plain telling the actual story instead of introducing more characters.

2 comments:

Ms. Yingling said...

What is it you are judging? Can't quite tell from your list.

sarah said...

ms. yingling-- i'm sorry, i thought i said, but now i can't find it in a post. it's for the benjamin franklin award for the independent book publisher's association. the books have been largely bad, but the experience has been fun.