Authors > M Authors

"Writers should be read, but neither seen nor heard."

Advantages: One of the best authors of the 20th century
Disadvantages: None

...I enjoy the work of Daphne Du Maurier - 'Rebecca' has to be in the running for my most favourite book ever. When you hear of her background it is not really surprising that she became such a great novelist. Born on 13th May1907 in London into an artistic and prosperous family, she had two sisters - Angela and Jeanne - she was the second daughter and her father,who had wanted a son, encouraged her to dress like a boy, cut her hair short, and adopt ...
...It was here - when Daphne found the constant entertaining in the family home in London too distracting for her writing - that she persuaded her parents to let her move to. Daphne Du Maurier began writing short stories in 1928, and in 1931 her first novel, 'The Loving Spirit' ( The title was inspired by lines from an Emily Brontë poem) was published. It received wonderful reviews and brought her to the attention of Major ( later Sir Lieutenant Colonel ...

oldchem 09.07.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Daphne Du Maurier

Probably the worst poetry in the world.

Advantages: Unintentionally hilarious poetry
Disadvantages: Eye-wateringly bad scansion and appalling themes - great in small doses, but not for prolonged reading

McGonagall's poetry is hilariously funny. It completely ignores all the basic rules of writing poetry, and combines this with Victorian melodrama. Widely hailed as the worst poet ever, his works are still in print and easy to find. Here is an excerpt from "Saving a Train": But the breaking of the car stops the train, And poor Carl's struggle is not in vain; But, poor soul, he was found stark dead, Crushed and mangled from foot to head! And ...
...the cold wet ground they did him raise, And tears for brave Carl fell silently around, Because he had saved two hundred passengers from being drowned. This shows some typical McGonagalesque traits: the heroic rescue with gory details to add drama, the simple, cliched vocabulary and the triumphantly bad scansion of the final line. Truly inspired. McGonagall was actually a hand-loom weaver by trade, who suddenly decided that he would become a poet. ...

drewish 29.11.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of William McGonagall

Dervla Murphy- what a lady!

Advantages: Interesting
Disadvantages: none

Dervla Murphy grew up in Lismore, County Waterford which was in Ireland. Her parents who's to call her "Dublin bourgeoise. Dervlas's father was a librarian in the library near by and her mother suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and she had a passion of wanting to travel from an early age. On her tenth birthday she was given an atlas which she claims gave her the bug to travel. Also she was given a bicycle and so she travelled to different countries ...
...trips abroad. So in 1963 Dervla Murphy set off on her first major trip by bike from Ireland to India. When she got to Yugoslavia she then started to write her journal of her experiences and the places she had visited. This was instead of sending letters home. This was then published when she got back home and this was her first book which then got published and was titled Full Tilt and it was her first solo trip where she describes her adventures ...

ruth1957 17.09.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Dervla Murphy

Fluttering Fluff (The Rainbow Magic series - Daisy Meadows)

Advantages: girly girls will like it, not as bad as some books coming in such collections
Disadvantages: money-spinning emptinesss

Daisy Meadows is a pen name for a consortium of authors who produce the endless series of "Rainbow Magic" sets of fairy books. All the books bear the rainbow logo. Slightly confusingly, the first set of seven books was about the Rainbow Fairies. As for now, the franchise covers more than 80 books in sets, each comprising seven books, plus several one-off specials (usually connected with holidays or Christmas. Everything below applies to all the ...
...the Rainbow Magic series by Daisy Meadows. There are, indeed, Rachel and Kirsty, a couple of girls aged about 8-9 who get to have magical adventures in which indeed they help fairies harassed by Jack Frost and those nasty goblins of his. The books come in sets, each one with seven sub-stories. There is a Rainbow Fairies series, the Weather Fairies, Party Fairies, Pet Keeper Fairies, Jewel Fairies; Magical Animal Fairies, Music Fairies, Jewel Fairies, ...

magdadh 31.03.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Daisy Meadows

MacLean the master of the action thriller

Advantages: Large number of books of high class action
Disadvantages: A few weak links

Alistair MacLean is one of the most highly regarded authors of action thrillers that Britain has ever produced. Born in 1922 to the son of a Scottish Minister, English was in fact his second language after Scottish Gaelic. Joining the Royal Navy in 1941 his war time exploits in the Arctic, Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific, gave him the background that served him well in his later writings. Following his release from the Royal Navy in 1946, he ...
...which he then used to gain a post as a teacher. It was his student days that saw the first elements of his future writing career, as he gained an additional income by writing short stories. The publisher, Collins, asked MacLean to write a novel for them, and as a result in 1955 he produced HMS Ulysses. There then followed a writing career lasting 31 years, consisting of 28 novels, 1 collection of short stories and 3 non-fiction works. MacLean was ...

mrtimharry 25.11.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Alistair MacLean