Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: stories

  • Stories for Lovers

    Stories for Lovers

    The British Library has produced this series of “Women Writers of the Twentieth Century. There is a full range of titles available, but this book, Stories for Lovers, focusses on love stories.

    The Library wished to share stories written by women who had mastered the ability to write short stories. These were published pieces first appearing in books and periodicals. The relationship with Romantic Fiction rather than the demeaning love stories of the time, is interesting.

    Depicted in Stories for Lovers, the selected stories show the glow of early love, the despair of ended love, the bonds of lasting love and the temptations that could interrupt love.

    How women reacted and responded to these situations reflects the ideas of the times as well as the customs. These love stories were once seen as guilty pleasures to read, but today complete sections of Libraries and bookstores are taken up by Romance Fiction.

    The stories in this volume are arranged from the scale of first love to mature marriages. The early story highlights the lack of understanding a first love can bring, showing the consequences if this inexperienced and youthful passion is allowed to continue. Dorothy Parker has used a ‘’stream of consciousness style’ to tell the story of a young woman waiting for the phone to ring. It is powerful and distressing.

    It is fascinating to compare these wonderful women writers and their works to modern love stories. The thinking, the customs, the huge shift in values is very evident and something to reflect on. However, one thing remains the same and that is the masterful and brilliant writing which was their signature.

  • Beam of Light

    Beam of Light

    Whenever John Kinsella releases a new book it always interesting to see what he has chosen as his latest inspiration; conservation, protest, history, people or a combination of subjects which have intrigued sufficiently to make their way onto the pages of a book.

    Beam of Light is a series of short stories that looks at people; the many idiosyncrasies that go to make up who they are and the influences that make them the people they become.

    Twenty-nine stories, many of which have been published as articles and short stories, are gathered together to be enjoyed slowly, one at a time, to allow time to reflect on the message couched very delicately within the story.

    In his gentle, keenly observant style Kinsella captures the very human traits in the people we all know, or whom at some time have passed through our lives, leaving behind lessons hard earned, coupled with the ghosts of time passing.

    No one story stands out as each one stands on its merit. Beam of Light begins the anthology which looks at the hopelessness of addiction, the desire to change, the inability to do so, couched in words of understanding.

    The Winged Nike of Samothrace is the final story which looks at dreams woven in a journey to discover alternatives in life, returning in a circle as life so often does, to the place where it all began.

    There is a sadness that permeates each of the stories, the characters, flawed but hopeful, challenged, each one holding a desire for a better life, maybe someday; of young men clueless about life, young women desperate to change, about change and the reasons why!

    Beam of Light – shines a light on what is essentially the ‘law of cause and effect’ which even though it is seldom acknowledged or accepted, is portrayed thought the voices of societies marginalised, captured for all time by a master wordsmith – John Kinsella.

  • Write Your Own Funny Stories

    Write Your Own Funny Stories

    A laugh-out-loud book for budding writers

    First off, all budding young writers need to grab a copy of Write Your Own Funny Stories, read it from cover to cover, then go back to the beginning and begin your very own personal writers course with James Campbell.

    Known for his ability to write really fantastic stories for a wide range of young readers, James Campbell has decided to share his vast knowledge, gained over many years, on how to write a story that is really, really funny and really, really good.

    His mate Rob Jones, who also knows a thing or two about illustrating really funny stories, adds his bit to the ’workshop’ to show how a strategically placed picture can make all the difference.

    As he says from page 1, this is not an ordinary book and if it is an ordinary book you are looking for, this is definitely not it. Why? Because this book lets you into a secret about authors and people who write stuff and the reason why they are perhaps the very same person.

    If you are someone who fills notebooks with ‘stuff’, sometime funny, sometimes just some thoughts or words, or who likes writing those essays your teacher ‘forces’ you to write, perhaps you could consider yourself an author, because really, according to James Campbell there is little or no difference, as it is words on paper that make a story, regardless of how long to short the story lasts.

    Pages turn quickly, worksheets have been included to help you sort out your thoughts, look at that thing called inspiration, going to the next step, planning your characters, plotting the story line and then the crunch question, to use the computer or to write it out by hand. Hmm, serious decision time and James Campbell explains the pros and cons of making the right decision at this time.

    By the last page, on which there is a surprise, you will not only have written your own story, but will have also read though the book a second or may be third time and will know for sure something many people, children and adults never, ever get to really know, or understand, how to Write Your Own Funny Stories.

    Super well done, You!!!! And of course, you have added your own funny cartoons to help illustrate the story just as Rob Jones has done in this very funny book!

  • The Book of Hopes

    The Book of Hopes

    Words and Pictures to Comfort, Inspire and Entertain

    From the delicate cover to the engaging contents The Book of Hopes is more just a product of the times lived through over the past year. It is a  book that will go on to become a children classic, a book filled with beautiful representations of a time in the modern world not easily forgotten; a time when the world as it once changed dramatically to a world which is still far from anything ‘normal’.

     Edited by much loved children author Katherine Rundell, The Book of Hopes is filled to the very top with short stories, cartoons, quirky sayings and deliciously funny poetry, designed to be able to be enjoyed little by little, whenever there is a spare moment to sit and enjoy a vastly different aspect of the year past, which is reflective of life, as well as the spirit of resilience and courage shown during difficult and tragic times.

    Begun almost as a whim and during at a time when Katherine Rundell felt desperately in need of hope, she immediately went to the great love of her life, her books. As she read and re-read her beloved books she found she was becoming more hopeful, more resilient and happier.

    She decided to begin a ‘Hope’ project, sending out a series of emails to other children’s authors, writers and illustrators asking for a short story, a poem or something that would make people laugh, to feel happier, to have a lighter spirit and a sense of hope for a better, brighter future.

    More than one hundred people replied and between them all, have created a book for all times with their wonderful imagination, generosity and tons and tons of wonderful stories and poems to enjoy. Axel Shaffer’s The Hope Tree begins with a simple and yet telling illustration and from there on, dip in and enjoy.

    If you are someone who loves order in your reading, the pages are divided into categories to keep life easy, but if you love a riot of many things, or enjoy simply opening a book and reading what is on the page, go for it.

    The Book of Hopes is not just for children, sorry kids, but for any who needs a little lift to their spirits, a small injection of hope in their lives or a happy smile reaching out from the pages of fun, wonder, awe and love.

  • Sorry For Your Trouble

    Sorry For Your Trouble

     Sorry for your Trouble is a collection of short, but poignant stories that capture a small schism in time, a time which when viewed in retrospect could be something, or nothing other than a mere passing of time.

    Richard Ford very carefully presents many moments in time when perhaps a different decision may have been made, leading to a different outcome, looking backwards facing forward. A man meeting a former lover, wondering what may have happened if they had remained together, realising all the while that even thought this was not to be, but maybe perhaps, curious to discover if that ‘flame’ they once kindled was still alight there somewhere is captured in Nothing To Declare with the final acceptance of a youth once enjoyed, a present a reality.

    The death of a sometimes husband and partner also places friendship in the spotlight with Happy; a woman always living on the edge, accepting the hand of friendship  but always on her own terms.

    Leaving For Kenosha is a delicate piece dedicated to friendship, acceptance and understanding, when a young school friend is worried about leaving to live in Kenosha, a place where she will have to begin afresh, a place where she and her family have to move to in the wake of devastating floods, job loss and change.

    Through the nine short stories is a thread of loss, hope, change and humanity, basically people and their emotions examined for better or worse, or simply as it is, the detritus of a life lived or not, examined with heart-rendering details from a skilled observer of life’s many foibles.

    Short stores by their very nature are only about a moment in time, no specific beginning and no specific ending, leaving the reader to fill in the gaps, to create a fuller picture, draw on their own life experiences to flesh out the story.

    Ford has managed, rather successfully in Sorry for your Trouble to offer nine conflicting and yet similar palates from which to create fuller or more generous pictures of we humans, all too delicate, fragile and in many cases always wondering or wanting more!

  • My Storee: Just Because You Can’t Spell Doesn’t Mean You Can’t Write

    My Storee: Just Because You Can’t Spell Doesn’t Mean You Can’t Write

    This charming story is aimed at older children who are competent readers and writers. It is controversial as it deals with issues of spelling. There is a school of thought now that says spelling is not so important, as every computer has spell check. Other people believe that spelling is important as it leads to a more comprehensive understanding of literature and also helps with pronunciation of words. One thing is for sure, teachers don’t use a red pencil in children’s writing, these days; most encourage students to edit their own work.

    The boy in the book has so many stories in his head that they keep him awake at night. He has such a delightful imagination that he wants to put his ideas down on paper. He does that a lot at home, but not so much at school anymore. In bed at night he is surrounded by pages and pages of paper as he records the antics of dragons and unicorns before he falls asleep. At school though he can’t find his dragon because of all the spelling rules and the teacher corrects his work, which seems to alter the meaning.

    The arrival at school of a new teacher heralds a complete change for the boy. The new teacher stimulates imagination and allows free writing to express ideas. He also expects the children to correct and edit their work once it has been completed. For this young student it is a dream come true and the stories patiently waiting at the end of his pencil may now emerge. Spontaneous writing coming from a busy imagination is a wonderful thing.

     The illustrations in this story are wonderful and add meaning to the text. They are colourful and humorous and show a great deal of emotion. In the text, the incorrectly spelt words are in a different font. This is a great idea for the young reader who can quickly identify incorrect spelling. An interesting topic has been raised and deserves discussion.

  • A Piano Story

    A Piano Story

    In a slightly different direction to his usual jazz style, Jim Pearce has created a wonderful album of music that encourages the listener to simply listen, enjoy and return to a time when many, many, movies came with wonderful music scapes, depicting a softly romantic overtone: a time when to go out meant to ‘dress to the nines’ as a night out was a very special event.

    A Piano Story shows the full scope of Pearce’s creativity, as it is allowed to blossom and grow with the music coming under the lose category of ‘feel-good’, with many of the pieces taking on an influence from composers such as Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, George Gershwin and the like, but with, in some instances, a slightly classical overtone.

    Pearce’s passion for music from the 1940’s era has been threaded throughout this lovely series of what can be considered, and as described by Pearce, as ‘small soundtracks through life’ as reflected in The Old Neighbourhood, which is a catchy little tune featuring a lovely strings section, accenting the style of pizzicato, reminiscent of old movie introductions, which flows along nicely, then comes to an abrupt halt!

    Beautiful Moment is a dreamy piece featuring woodwinds and strings, with a major element of piano threading together which is slow, stately and immensely enjoyable all the while allowing a picture to be created in the mind. A light romance, fitting for summer time, or any time for that matter, when the heart is light, has been created with Deep in your eyes, which is another attractive, enjoyable orchestral piece, filled with joy and sunshine which simply bounces along.

    A charming little music picture arrives with Ecstatic Musing which is an interesting title, but one that describes the piece perfectly, as although it has a light melody it has a hidden depth which calls for a pause, a minute in time to spend musing.

    Changing the pace to a lively beat is Clouds and Bicycles which is a rich and once again, catchy little tune, guaranteed to remind one of riding the bicycle ever faster to try and make it indoors before the clouds arrive, bringing with them the rain: fun, fast and a little ditzy, this pieces showcases the talents of the orchestral backing very nicely.

    Each of the songs is reflective of the era of moody music, scene setting pieces, combined with gentle influences and pays tribute to time long gone, now only to be experienced through the medium of many of the classic movie scores of the 1940’s and ‘50’s, as in the piece Dark Moon Sets which is sombre and moody.

    You Are My Sun and Moon, created in a tribute to Richard Rodgers encapsulates all of the greatness to be found in this style of music.  Slightly bluesy, it lets the imagination proceed to a jazz club or bar, the lights are low, the mood mellow and romantic, the dance slow, seductive and tender.

    Gorgeous, rich, sensual and simply designed for enjoyment this is an album created with music that tells a story which will appeal time and time again.