Blogcritics Author: Maggie Ball

Book Review: Three of the Best - The Modern Woman's Guide to Everything by Candace Lewis & Margaret O'Sullivan

Maggie Ball — Fri, 2 Jan 2009 18:58:17 EST

f you know someone who loves magazines, this is the perfect gift, as it�s more portable, and more pithy, and easier to refer to.
I have to admit upfront that I'm not big on self-help books. The advice that they tend to provide is too pat, and often a little shallow: like the kind of article you might read quickly for relaxation, and then forget instantly in a woman's magazine. That said, we can all use a bit of advice on how to improve ourselves. Besides, after a heady...

Book Review: Magellenica by Justin Lowe

Maggie Ball — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 15:53:44 EST

As a portrait of a post-WWI veteran, cricket at its most exciting period in Australia, and 1920�s Sydney, Magellenica is a lovely, evocative book.
The verse novel is a tricky form to master. It requires combining the power of story and its narrative progression, with the instant impact of poetry. Another complexity is trying to keep track of who’s talking, and all of the normal complications of a standard novel such as setting, and time sequencing, without losing the flow and power of...

Book Review: Growing Great Boys by Ian Grant and Growing Great Girls by Ian and Mary Grant

Maggie Ball — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:49:56 EST

For parents of boys and girls, the two books together form a terrific bible of parenting that will be referred to and re-used again and again.
Just yesterday there was another story in the news about a teen suicide. Many of my friends and colleagues are struggling with depressed and angry children, and as a parent, I feel that there must be something I can do now while my children are young, to prepare them for the ups and downs of life: to give them resilience, and self-confidence....

Book Review: Wanting by Richard Flanagan

Maggie Ball — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:59:38 EST

History is undermined and recreated in a fictionalised form that tells a greater truth.
One of the key objections I had to Richard Flanagan’s last novel, The Unknown Terrorist, was that it put the ideology first: making a political point at the expense of the characters and the plot. This isn't at all the case in Wanting. Indeed, in Wanting, as in Gould’s Book of Fish, the whole notion of historical fact becomes...

Book Review: One Pot French - More Than 100 Easy, Authentic Recipes by Jean-Pierre Challet

Maggie Ball — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 22:44:49 EST

A nice offering for the beginning or intermediate cook looking to take on the world of French cuisine in a non-pretentious, easy to learn form.
If you’re anything like I am, the idea of a single pot dinner is very appealing. For one thing, it’s much easier to make a one pot dinner than it is to make multiple dishes. For another, the simplicity makes for a much easier serving process, not to mention decreased electricity costs. But one pot French? Well, there is Cassoulet, and...

Book Review: The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay

Maggie Ball — Mon, 8 Dec 2008 03:07:30 EST

The real draw is the story, which manages to walk the difficult line between morality and subversiveness, humor and intrigue.
The Magic Pudding hardly needs an introduction. A classic since its publication in 1918, the book has not only graced bookshelves of children and adults around the world, but also inspired Pudding Day (Oct 12th), memorabilia, sculpture, recipes, a stageplay and even a film with John Cleese as Albert the pudding. As for the book, which has never...

Book Review: Nigella Christmas by Nigella Lawson

Maggie Ball — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 05:41:49 EST

The Manolo Blahnik of cookbooks: lavish and practical at the same time.
I must confess here that I’m one of those bah humbug types who is probably going to be visited by Jacob Marley in chains one of these day. Christmas to me is mega-fuss, greedy children (mine mainly), overwrought days of forced shopping, and too much of everything. Having said that, I’m inclined to do things like make my own pickles...

Book Review: Exit, Pursued by a Bee by Geoff Nelder

Maggie Ball — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:02:26 EST

As in all good sci-fi, the plot is built on scientific principles that are absolutely believable, mirrored as they are to what we already understand.
Most of us experience a psychological disconnect between “time’s arrow”; the accepted construct that time is moving ever forward in a neat continuous stream (the basis for most of our routines, our calendars, and our plans), and the way we feel time. Everyone knows that time goes faster when you’re having fun; faster for...

Book Review: Voice of the Muse - Answering the Call to Write by Mark David Gerson

Maggie Ball — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:25:55 EDT

The key message is that you must write, and that if you do surrender and listen, and keep writing, you will succeed in your writing.
The hardest part about being a writer is accepting it. Even if you’ve been writing all your life, to actually step forward and allow yourself the freedom, even the indulgence, of calling yourself a writer, is not easy. Even after three published books, one of which was an award winning novel, I tend to shrug and dismiss my writing as an...

Book Review: Standing at Water's Edge - Moving Past Fear, Blocks, and Pitfalls to Discover the Power of Creative Immersion by Anne Paris

Maggie Ball — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:04:19 EDT

Paris� prose is affirmative, compassionate, and supportive and will help artists to take better care of their emotional needs.
Any artist/writer who creates from a deep seated place -- a place of intensity and authenticity -- will understand the fear at the point of immersion. It’s always scary and often confronting to work with our own deep seated material. Anne Paris’ book Standing at Water's Edge looks specifically at the concept of creative immersion;...