Bradshaw Books

Gillian Bradshaw amply deserves the respect her many fine novels have earned for her. This is not her best book but its still worth a read. Its a deceptively simple first person narrative reflecting both the high intelligence and the emotional and social immaturity of a very likeable but far from perfect young heroine. The book is uneven in parts and does end very abruptly. It reads as if for some reason it had to be not very gracefully edited to fit some predetermined format. Still there's a strong story and some interesting ideas intelligently explored. You could definitely do worse with a few hours of your time.

The plot is a good idea, but the execution is terrible. Bradshaw's writing is on the level of a young writer trying her first fiction. The dialog is stilted, the descriptions are dull. Even with a multi-layered plot, the story feels slow because of the poor writing.

This is a great book that showcases a terrific regional artist. Rodrigue's best Blue Dog work is found here (IMO) as well as wonderful Cajun lanscapes. If you are looking for "Pop Art" pick up Blue Dog Man, not this. This is regionalist work, and it is excellent.

Disillusionment is a bad thing.

It really is.

My opinion of George Rodrigue has slipped so far below respect as to be sloshing about in a sewage drain that empties its contents somewhere near to a cemetery.

Now that I know more than I should ever want to about this very simple, and very trendy artist, I find that my opinion of his actual work, his art, has changed.

Quite simply, I now see George Rodrigue as a trite dabbler in colors and emotionless boredom who's sole ambition is to make money.

Then again, the creators of Barney the Dinosaur and the Tela-Tubbies are inspired by just the same motivation and I don't see anyone criticizing them for it.

Perhaps I am being too hard.

To Barney the Dinosour, George Rodrigue, and the Tela-Tubbies, I express my most profound apologies.

The South Desert country was subject to recurrent and violent trouble, particularly from marauders below the border in Mexico. Constable Mulligan of Stillwater did not favour the law as administered by Judge Colt and tried to give every man a fair trial. Before the dust settled, however, Mulligan came to the conclusion that Judge Colt's kind of justice, bloody though it might be, as at least in some situations, preferable to the law of the land. And there was no appeal!

Buck Bradshaw is one of the many pseudonyms used by writer Lauran Paine on the hundreds of books he wrote, at least 38 of which he used for Black Horse Westerns alone!

This has often brought up comments that Paine wrote incredibly fast, often to the detriment of the story, and Judge Colt, for me, falls into the category.

The book just seems to begin in the middle of an on going story making the reader wonder if they've missed something. Maybe this will be revealed in a flashback, but no that doesn't happen, Paine just gets on telling his story of the hunt for a horse thief that just happens to be a cattle rustler too. The rancher wants to kill the thief, the lawman wants him to stand trial although he soon decides to turn his back if the rancher gets to the thief first; thus the law of Judge Colt. Where there could have been some gripping reading of a man struggling with his conscience this was dealt with in a matter of moments taking away any depth to the story.

If the book hadn't been so short I`d have given up on it long before the end. Perhaps I should have. This is the second Paine book I have read, the first I enjoyed slightly more than this one. Unfortunately I have quite a lot more in my western collection so I may just give one or two more a try; after all he did write the book that became the big film hit Open Range, so there must be a good one amoung them somewhere, mustn't there?

This was Lawrence's first published novel in the UK, and represents the writer's early experiment in the quest for an established style.

Far too much descriptive detail, and too little narrative, to be considered an enjoyable read. It is however interesting to note the early appearance of themes that were to dominate later Lawrence works. In particular, the nature-civilisation dichotomy, which became a Lawrence trademark, is apparent here in the relationship between the cultured, educated narrator and his best friend, the raw-boned but affable farmer, George.

Readers wishing to introduce themselves to Lawrence would be better advised to start with the book published two years later, and that marked the beginning of his literary reputation: "Sons and Lovers"

Not much here worth even Amazon's discount price.

I have always very much admired Woolf's literary criticism and enjoyed many of her novels. I have read the Diaries and Letters complete. So I can't be called an Anti-Woolfian. However, I have to say that this "book" is like Gertrude Stein's Oakland; "There isn't any there there".

I can take comfort in the fact that I bought "Carlyle's House" as a remainder and did get my four bucks worth of pleasure out of Doris Lessing's foreword.