Name: Maggie Ball
Dateline: Sydney, Australia
Weblog: www.compulsivereader.com/html [RSS]
Articles: 33
First Published: Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Last Published: Friday, June 27, 2008
Currently listing articles 33-1:
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Book Review: The OK Team by Nick Place— With innovative, fast pace plotting, and plenty of humor, an ideal option for lovers of comics.
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Book Review: Composition - A Fiction Writer's Guide for the 21st Century by Linda Lavid— A useful starting point and a reference you’ll find yourself going back to along the way.
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Book Review: Sunny Side Up by Marion Roberts— A lovely, positive, first novel with great appeal for young teens.
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Book Review: Kafka's Soup - A Complete History of World Literature in 14 Recipes by Mark Crick— A cute gift book for bibliophiles, if not food for thought.
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Book Review: Timbuktu by Paul Auster— Clever, funny, lighthearted and serious at the same time, this is a stylistic departure for Paul Auster which nonetheless makes full use of his gifts.
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Book Review: Anybody Any Minute by Julie Mars— A novel full of humour, introspection, and powerful characterisation.
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Book Review: Tremolo - Cry of the Loon by Aaron Paul Lazar— Lazar's book cuts through genre distinctions to the heart of what matters in life.
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What’s so Funny ‘Bout Fiction: The Question of the 'Fake' Memoir— There are many different kinds of truth.
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Book Review: Gleaner or Gladiator: the struggle to create by Lyne Marshall
— An important addition to the aesthetic canon.
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Audio Book Review: 3rd i by Basil Eliades— A turbulence to dive for: poetry and music as performance art.
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Book Review: 1001 Interviews You Must Read Before You Die by Andrew Denton
— An enjoyable read which provides real insight into the fragile and extraordinary nature of humanity.
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Book Review: Deceptively Delicious - Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food by Jessica Seinfeld— Making your family healthier without coercion - and with vegetables that actually add significant subtle flavour, depth, and richness to your delicious recipes.
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Music Review: Claire Bowditch and The Feeding Set - The Moon Looked On— The Moon Looked On shows Bowditch’s continued growth as a musician and vocalist.
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Book Review: The ABC Checklist for New Writers by Lorraine Mace and Maureen Vincent-Northam— A great guide for the new author.
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Book Review: His Illegal Self by Peter Carey— The prose is light and smooth, but looking closely, each sentence is wrought with meaning and intensity.
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Book Review: The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, 2nd Edition by Patricia Fry— Comprehensive writing guide for both new and seasoned authors from the impetus of a book through handling the post-launch life.
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Book Review: George's Secret Key to the Universe by Stephen and Lucy Hawking— A nice blend between physical fact, science fiction, and that lovely sense of wonder that underpins astronomy.
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Music Review: The Cat Empire - So Many Nights— It’s bluesy, groovy, and soulful.
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Review: The Daring Book for Girls by Andrea Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz— The balance between doing and learning is nicely managed, and the information is geared to be interesting and exciting for young girls.
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Book Review: My Inflatable Friend by Gerald Everett Jones— Well-written and funny, My Inflatable Friend promises language that's rich, a plot fast-paced and satisfying, and a well-rounded main character who won’t jar a feminist.
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Book Review: In the City by Roland Harvey
— Addictive cartoons for kids and adults.
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Book Review: Aphelion by Emily Ballou
— Ballou's complexity, sensitivity and sophistication is complemented by a love of character and language, and an undercurrent of subtle humour.
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Music Review: Missy Higgins - On A Clear Night (Special Concert Edition)— There's something compelling about Missy Higgins that goes beyond her specific talent, or the music she produces.
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Book Review: Long Afternoon of the World by Graeme Kinross-Smith— You'll feel that there is some sense not only of a life lived, but a sense of universal meaning that makes up any life.
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Book Review: 10 Steps to Creating Memorable Characters by Sue Viders, Lucynda Storey, Cher Gorman, Becky Martinez— A terrific workbook, simplicity belying its power, and an effective roadmap for directions through the inchoate haze that constitutes pulling together a fully-fledged fictive dream.
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On Song Lyrics and Semantics— The point isn’t to make sense.
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Book Review: The Great Big Show by Justin Lowe — In this epic poem with a Homerian feel, we get a unique sense of history told in the author's rich sensual vernacular.
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Book Review: Above the Starry Frame by Helen Townsend
— The real story is in Townsend's imagining.
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Book Review: Cormac McCarthy's The Road— Death, destruction, annihilation, and overwhelming beauty at the end of the road.
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Book Review: The Island by Armin Greder— With its broad sweep of current affairs, I can think of no country, person, or situation where this book wouldn’t be relevant and important.
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'Best-Smeller' Lists: Should You Turn Your Nose Up At 'Top-Ten' Abuse?— Lists include top 10 psychological journeys, books about outsiders, even smelly books. Of course, the 'Top 10 Tales of Metamorphosis' is subject to change.
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Book Review: Collins English Dictionary, 9th Edition— Move over OED. The latest 'Collins English Dictionary' is ultra-modern and classic, attractive but not obsequious, serious but with a fun nod to lingo.
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Book Review: 3rd i or within the contingent skin by Basil Eliades
— There is also an almost painful intimacy contained within this work.
All BC Articles