Book Review: The Twelve Days of Christmas by Laurel Long

If you haven’t seen Laurel Long’s The Twelve Days of Christmas yet, you need to. Go ahead, do an image search. I’ll wait.

This is, quite possibly, the most beautiful Christmas book I have ever seen. Every page is an incredible rendition of a verse in the song. The artwork is intricate and detailed. As you move through the song, previous days’ gifts are hidden in the pages that follow, making it a terrific book to share with children.

I saw this book at my youngest daughter’s school book fair and could not resist buying it. We have read it numerous times throughout the Christmas season, and with each reading we’ve noticed something new in the illustrations.

I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone, whether you have children and celebrate Christmas or not.

It’s not just a book, it is a masterpiece.

Rating: Five stars

 

Book Review Ratings

Image via Wikipedia

I have decided to start giving the books I review a rating.  Book reviews are, by their very nature, subjective.  Still, it is sometimes hard to figure out where a book falls in relation to other books.  I know a lot of sites that I read use rating systems, and I like that because it gives me something a little more concrete to take into account.  I know that if a reviewer has great things to say about two movies, for example, but rates one a 5 and one a 4, I’ll check out the 5 first if I value their opinion.  For those of you who read my reviews, here is how it all breaks down:

5 Stars:  I LOVED it.  It has earned a space on my “permanent” book shelf and will be reread.  NOTE:  There are very few books in this category.  It is reserved for books that I want to reread again and again, whether timeless classics like Little Women or more modern ones.  Not much will actually fall in this category.

4 Stars:  It was very good, and I enjoyed it (or at the very least appreciated how well-written it is), but it’s still moving on from my limited shelf space.

3 Stars:  Meh.  I don’t regret the time I spent reading it, and it had its good points, but I won’t be telling people to run right out and buy it either.

2 Stars:  I didn’t like it, I don’t recommend it, and I won’t be keeping it.

1 Star:  I want to punch the author for wasting precious minutes of my life on this crap.  I physically threw the book across the room, more than once, while reading it.

 

The State of Today

Yesterday I began to gather and organize my sources for freelance jobs.  I made a list of the ones I could think of off the top of my head, and I’ve started going through those to cull the ones that don’t really offer what I need.  Once I’ve done that, I’ll start looking for new ones.  I want to have a list that I can quickly run through each morning before I start writing to apply for or claim any new assignments that I might be suited to.  Then, I can get to my writing and spend time working on whatever projects I have on my plate at the time.
I’m still working on getting on a better schedule.  I’ve started getting M. on one, and it seems to be working well.  I’m still having trouble getting her to sleep on time, but I realized last night that it’s because every night before bed she says that she’s hungry, and I just need to make sure to give her something to eat a little earlier so she doesn’t ask for something right when I’m trying to put her to sleep.
I also realized that I wasn’t giving myself enough time in the mornings to write.  On the days I don’t go to the gym (which I still plan to do on Monday, Wednesday and Friday) I plan to give myself until noon to work.  I need time to look for work as well as do my writing, and only giving myself an hour was not nearly enough time to do both.
That’s where things stand for today.  I’m still looking for my next big job now that I finished the children’s book.  I do have a couple of new book reviews coming up.  I still want to get moving on editing my book, and I also would like to start writing some articles or stories so I can start querying magazines.

 

Book Review: The Tree Lady

I just finished reading The Tree Lady by Virginia J. Marangell.  I briefly met Mrs. Marangell when she did a book signing/sale at a craft fair in Hamden, CT at a local catholic school.  She is a self-publishing author who has written and published eight books, seven of which she published after she turned 75.

The story is about a group of people who live on the second floor of the Grandmoor, an apartment building that in its heyday was elegant and desirable, but now has descended into squalor and is in a bad section of town.  It takes place over less than a year, and shows how the lives of the residents change as they go from strangers to neighbors to friends.

The book was, for me, a mix.  The story was good, if a bit predictable, and kept me engaged.  It was a very quick read, taking me only a couple of days, which is fast considering I don’t get to read for pleasure as often as I would like.  The editing could have been better, and some of the writing was problematic, mainly in the dialogue of certain younger characters.  Still, the technical problems that did occur didn’t detract from the enjoyability of the story.

I gave my mother one of Mrs. Marangell’s other books, Gianna Mia, for Christmas.  This was her only professionally published book, but she has since regained publishing rights and self-published it too.  I haven’t had a chance to read that one yet, but after reading The Tree Lady I look forward to doing so.

All-in-all, I would say that this book is an enjoyable read.  The writing is a bit simplistic, but the idea is lovely, and I like the idea of supporting self-published writers.  I also have immense respect for a woman in her, by now, 80s who is still publishing and marketing her books in whatever way she is able.  I found that  inspirational.

To purchase a copy of this book, visit Amazon.