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Continue reading →: Book Review: The Roman Mysteries III – The Pirates of Pompeii
“If tales of destruction and kidnapping of children can be said to be damned good fun – then this is it!” Continuing to work my way through this collection of novels from the brilliant Caroline Lawrence – some read many years previously – and trying to work out what I…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: The Roman Mysteries II – The Secrets of Vesuvius by Caroline Lawrence
“There’s no better way to get into Roman history…” Out of all the books I recall reading from this series long ago, this is the one that remained most lodged in my mind. I could recall the ending before reading and, as I began reading the book, other parts came…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: The Song of the Cell by Siddhartha Mukherjee
“…Mukherjee speaks with such love, care and humility…he could make the weather forecast sound interesting,,,” There’s something rather special about reading a book by someone you’ve never heard of, loving it, and then finding they are a famous author of several books. It kind of legitimises their success, in my…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: The Roman Mysteries I – The Thieves of Ostia by Caroline Lawrence
“…exactly the kind of thing older children want and young adults expect in a satisfying book.” On a sudden whim, I bought the entire collection of the Roman Mysteries series by Caroline Lawrence just recently. They take me back to my days of teaching in Bangladesh when my children were…
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Continue reading →: Reflection: The Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence
Back in the days when my family and I lived and worked in Bangladesh, the kids were quite young and that meant plenty of children’s books got read. As they grew, I either read them Young Adult literature (such as the brilliant Wheel of Surya trilogy by Jamila Gavin) or…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter
“…painful, sometimes ugly and always honest…” This was, without a doubt, an intriguing novella. I can see why – so I am told – Cillian Murphy (of Oppenheimer and Peaky Blinders fame) considers it an excellent book. It doesn’t hurt that he played the lead role in the stage adaptation…
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Continue reading →: A Brief Guide to Writing: 7 – Feedback
My good writing friend Shannon wrote a post recently that really resonated with me and what I see aspiring writers struggling with. Her post is good and I recommend you click the link and have a read before carrying on. There’s a great quote she uses from a superb writer…
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Continue reading →: Review: Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
“Pratchett has the ability, second to none, of bringing us characters who will become our friends.” It is always a delight to read one of Pratchett’s Discworld novels. It is a forever mystery to me how he managed to write so many (uncharitably, you could say ‘churned out’ so many)…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
“…the science fiction equivalent of Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake albeit far more interesting…” This book was not one that had crossed my path and been added as a ‘classic must-read’. I’d honestly never heard of it before until a friend suggested I might like it. This friend’s suggestions are normally spot…
Hello, I’m Ken.
Welcome to Write Out Loud, my blog dedicated to all sorts of things to do with writing.
This page will be updated constantly every week with book reviews and writing-related stuff.
The blog is the baby sister of my personal blog kenthinksaloud where I write ‘Monday Murmurings’—insights into life and philosophy. Get a clever take on politics with ‘Wednesday Banker,’ and ‘Future Friday’ for the latest in psychology, environment, and tech.
I will use this blog to give helpful advice, tips, tricks and resources as I come across them to other writers and to advertise my own writing especially as my books start to be published.
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Write Out Loud (Reviews and Writing) 