"Ring of Clay". A novel by Margaret Kaine

Advantages: Well drawn characters and a fast paced storyline.
Disadvantages: Novel ends! Leaves you wanting more...

...Review of ?Ring of Clay? a novel by Margaret Kaine. I am reviewing the paperback version of the novel, 401 pages, published by Coronet books, ISBN 0340828234. Genre- General Fiction, cover price £6.99. The Novel Ring of Clay is set in the Pottery towns of Great Britain in the period from 1947 to the late 1960's. The plot follows the life of a young girl, Beth Sherwin and her family. Beth's father returns from war and struggles to return his family to normality. He resumes is work in the packing department of one of the large 'pot banks', the local name for the pottery workshops. Ill health causes Harry Sherwin to seek alternative work out of doors and he takes a position as a post man, a job he enjoys and which takes him out of the stale, dust laden environment of the potteries. Sadly, he dies at a young age, leaving...

brittle1906 22.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of Ring Of Clay - Margaret Kaine

A Small Deceit by Margaret Yorke

Advantages: Wonderful story with superb characters
Disadvantages: No Epilogue, no humour

...About the Author Margaret Yorke is a very accomplished, respected and famous English crime writing author. Her first book 'Summer Flight' was Published in 1957. Since then she was written 41 other crime novels. In 1999 she won the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for 'The Scent of Fear'. Storyline of the Book The book is set in the late 1980's in Northamptonshire. William Adams is a dangerous and unpredictable man. He has recently been released from prison having served seven years of a ten year sentence for rape. As soon as he is released he changes his name in order to start a new life. By doing this he is not known to the Police and the Sex Offenders Register. After a couple of short term illegal money making scams, he is on the look out for a new way to make money. One night he stays at a Bed and Breakfast in...

CPTDANIELS 15.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of Margaret Yorke

FREE DVDs

Advantages: Free trial, large choice, post included,new realeases
Disadvantages: see review

...I like movies and I like freebies, so when you get offered both in one swoop you?re bound to accept! I used my two week free trial with this company and remained with them for a couple of monthsbefore moving on to try many other companies free trials (and winning a new DVD player on Tesco DVD rental site on their free trial offer). I then had an email from DVDs 365 asking me to go back, and offering me a free DVD if I did so. I had just left Tesco (with my new DVD player) so I chose to go back with them. ∆◊◊ THE SERVICE THEY OFFER ∆◊◊ Basically it?s like going to a video shop and hiring films on DVD, except you don?t pay for each film you chose ? rather a monthly fee for which you can watch as many movies as you can fit in, for us this is usually around 8 a month (2 a week usually weekends...

dabmim 15.11.2004 · Read review
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Review of dvds365.com

Surprising Picture Quality - Panasonic DVD-S54

Advantages: Incredible picture quality when compared to my old non-upscaling player with a scart lead
Disadvantages: Sometimes disc drive can be really noisy when DVD's initially load.

...At first I wasn't convinced by up-scaling DVD player technology but was persuaded after reading an article in "What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision" magazine. Unable to afford a Blu-Ray player my sister and I bought the Panasonic DVD-S54 to match our parents brand new Panasonic TX-32LZD80 LCD television as their Christmas 2008 present. Admittedly it was a slightly selfish purchase as we both live at home and wanted to watch DVDs on the big new TV ourselves! We bought the player from the electrical retailer Comet for about £100 just before Christmas so there were no discounts applied. On Christmas day when opened we found a relatively small box tightly packed with the player in polystyrene packaging. All the components such as cables, remote and manuals were well presented in their own protective plastic bags, to keep them protected. The player...

bobbacon985 12.02.2009 · Read review
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The secret shrine of The Saint Margaret Clitherow

Advantages: An interesting story, free to visit
Disadvantages: Not easy to find, a bit eerie

...I love to stumble upon places by chance and the Shrine of The Saint Margaret Clitherow is an example of one such place that I recently discovered. It is located within a small medieval house in The Shambles area of York, which is the oldest part of the town where many of the buildings are black and white timber framed. Unless you knew of its existence you would almost certainly pass it by. The exterior of this house is nothing out of the ordinary and its very existence is not widely publicised. On the outer wall, sandwiched between the many shop doorways there is a small plaque to mark its presence but other than that there is a just a small doorway. Walk through the tiny doorway however and you find that the entire front room of this building has been converted into a shrine, complete with an altar. Margaret Clitherow was...

micksheff 08.04.2008 · Read review
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Review of Margaret Clitherow Shrine, York

The Penelopiad, Margaret Atwood

Advantages: Funny and highly entertaining.
Disadvantages: Like all Atwood , is a bit wordy.

...The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood is based on Homers Odyssy. This however is not simply the idiots guide to Homer! Its an interesting exploration into the thoughts and feelings of Penelope (wife of Odysseus) written with her as the narrator after her murder. The voice is of a bitter woman who has not forgiven her husband for leaving her for years and years and then later having her killed - which seems understandable to me! Whats also interesting is Penelope's view on Helen (Helen of Troy) who is viewed as a sex symbol and steals men! A great story, very witty and sarcastic with a decent amount of sex and scandal thrown in for good measure! Another triumph by Atwood and well worth listening to. It comes highly recommended by me and all my friends who borrowed it afterwards....

RachelBuckley 04.08.2007 · Read review
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Review of The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus - Margaret Atwood

  The Novel of England

Advantages: Thoroughly researched, ambitious, takes in the full span of English history
Disadvantages: Weak characterisation, chapters of varying quality

...?Sarum? is an ambitious book to say the least. Weighing in at an impressive 1300 pages, it represents an epic historical novel, several years of research and writing and a good many hours of reading. (Or listening - Sarum is also available on audiobook, with a running time of some 47 hours!) Rather than focussing on one era of history as most authors chose to do, Edward Rutherford has rather traced the entire course of English history from the Mesolithic to the present day (or at least 1987; the present day at the publication of the work) of one region over the course of this book. It was both this ambition and a number of personal recommendations that led me to read Sarum; I was intrigued to see just how such a lengthy and eventful span of time could be condensed into one novel. And more to the point, could it be done effectively...

Collingwood21 14.06.2003 · Read review
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Review of Sarum - Edward Rutherford

I will resist the invite to go camping

Advantages: A few good pieces
Disadvantages: Atwood's talent struggles to breathe in this tent

... Margaret Eleanor Atwood - The Tent I personally think that Margaret Atwood is one of today?s most imaginative writers. After reading Atwood?s ?Oryx and Crake? and being completely blown away with it I looked forward to reading this book of short stories from the author. Unfortunately, after reading ?The Tent? I have no desire to go camping with Atwood at all. This slim, little book is billed as fiction, and it consists of a collection of previously published essays, poems, and thoughts ? that range in length from one paragraph to three or four pages ? it is illustrated by Atwood's own pen and ink drawings. It is a small book with only 155 pages that has 35 stories reflecting contemporary life and society packed into it. Most of the stories centre around aging, coming to terms with getting older, how age changes...

oldchem 19.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Tent - Margaret Atwood

Do you prefer 'Margaret' or 'Satan's Mistress'?

Advantages: Funny, enjoyable and entertaining
Disadvantages: Nothing special

...The Proposal is the second of three films I watched on our recent flight to Canada. I was in the mood for a comedy, having just watched the emotional My Sister's Keeper just half an hour before. The trailers for The Proposal had made it seem quite a funny film, and it turned out to be quite true. Sandra Bullock plays Margaret Tate, high flying city editor, who is given the news that she must leave the US, as she is a Canadian national who violated a Visa restriction a number of years before. Thinking on her feet, she announces that she is okay to stay, as she is getting married to her assistant, Andrew Paxton. This is news to Andrew, but he goes along with it, as he is keen to curry favour with Margaret to get that all important promotion. However, their one lie soon becomes a huge thing as they are pressured by the Visa officials...

pmcds 15.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Proposal

Earl Bothwell "Serves" his Queen

Advantages: Great tale with strong main characters.
Disadvantages: No list of key characters, with their titles, or map.

...Margaret Irwin wrote many historical fiction books during her life (1889-1969). The Galliard was first published as The Gay Galliard in 1941. As no official reason is given for the amendment to the title, readers will have to make their own deduction as to why this was changed for later reprints of this novel about an extremely viral Scottish warrior. As much of the life of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, who was also given the nickname of the Gay Galliard, was spent protecting the Monarchy?s right to rule Scotland, this tale also includes of life of Mary Queen of Scots. The relationship between these two strong spirited personalities is a complicated one, and I have had difficulty trying to reconcile the various strands of the historical facts and implications. I was hoping this book would help me better understand their...

DavidCoulthard 13.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Galliard - Margaret Irwin