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Continue reading →: Book Review: The Spittle of Zimolax by Kirk Parsons
Sometimes, books can take you by surprise. ‘The Spittle of Zimolax’ is one such novel. It is a very underrated work which has as much to do with the author’s lack of confidence as anything, I suspect. Criticisms first – and they are mostly cosmetic. This is a self-published novel…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: How Britain Ends by Gavin Esler
This is a fascinating book written by a well-respected and established journalist who has his own roots in three out of the four nations that make up the so-called ‘United’ Kingdom. That the kingdom is anything but united is the very point of Esler’s book. He sees the end of…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman
On the face of it, this series of books is a really good idea. Inverting the whole white/black supremacy dynamic so that white people can really get a sense of what black people have gone through. I’ve thought of doing something similar. I have considered writing a novel based around…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: The Lost Spells by Robert Macfarlane
I had been introduced to Macfarlane’s writing just recently, via ‘my other job’ – writing theatre reviews for Northern Arts Review – when I was commissioned to review the theatrical production, at Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake, based on this book and ‘The Lost Words’. I was really touched by…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: The Angry Chef: Bad Science and the Truth About Healthy Eating by Anthony Warner
Regular readers of my reviews will know well that I’m not keen on the ‘secret’ methods for gaining wealth, health or happiness that become successful and, more or less always very quickly, fade away back into the nothingness whence they came. In short, I have no time or energy for…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: Love Marriage by Monica Ali
I do enjoy Monica Ali’s books. Brick Lane was superbly written and I read it at a very poignant time in my life when I was leaving Bangladesh after many years of living there, so it is close to my heart. Ali had been criticised by many for effectively being…
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Continue reading →: Thoughts About the London Book Fair
In April I had the joy of being invited by my publishers (Histria Books) to come to the London Book Fair. I thought it would be helpful to put my thoughts down about the experience. Firstly I should say, as a Cumbrian author, it is always rather nice to find…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: Your Dog is Your Mirror by Kevin Behan
I’ll be blunt: this is a ridiculous book. I had a real vested interest in learning from this author. My autistic son, last year, got a German Shepherd puppy to train as an autism assistance dog. GSDs are not the best choice of dog for this kind of profession. They…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson is roughly twelve years older than me. We both grew up in northern towns and, assuming the ‘Jeanette’ of the novel bears enough relation to the author (they are NOT the same person, as the author points out in her introduction), we both grew up in religious homes,…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
While my reading list is eclectic and deliberately as wide-ranging as possible, I do try to make room for ‘classic’ books – novels I should have read decades ago but somehow didn’t – to ‘catch up’ on all of those before it is too late. Regular readers of my reviews…
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) 