Book Review

If you have read my previous blog "CANCER" you will understand when I say that this morning I was feeling down on account of my nose, though things are going well and according to plan; in fact, it was bandaged in such a way today as to suggest that they are starting to expose the graft to the elements. But what has had me feeling low and frustrated, is, not being able to read. Well, mid-day a large envelope arrived addressed to me, which was a surprise, as a good deal more  wood pulp is used in communicating with Jenny. But, what had arrived for me, was the Self Publishing Magazine for Spring 2012, which I leafed through, and there on p. 46 was a review of my poems, some 7 months after I had sent them  to the magazine. In total 30 books were  reviewed under the headings: Biography, Writing, Academic, History, Fiction, Children's Fiction and Poetry, (with just two books reviewed in this last category). The reviewers are independent of the magazine, and are named on the Reviews Editor Page, but I have no idea who, among them wrote the review in my case. So allow me to share with you, something that made a difficult day, a whole lot better.

Book Review
"Who Would be a Girl when
You Can be a Boy?"

"This little volume of poetry is an absolute joy. The poems are simply constructed, take you through all that life throws up and are presented in the order in which they were written, although I much preferred to dip in, marking out my favourites as I went along. There are six pages of notes at the end of this book, which put a little extra colour to the main work, and I found this a very nice and thoughtful touch.

Small collections of personal poetry are notoriously difficult to market and sell, so I don't think that Mr McCloskey will make a fortune. He will however, have something very special to pass on to his family, friends and complete strangers like me. The title is wonderfully un-PC and I hope that it does not put the ladies off. "Who Would be a Girl..." is the fourth poem in this book and I found that transposing "Boy" and Girl" all the way through did not make any difference as even my future wife wanted to join the Navy!

Most books I get for review are given away, go to the car boot sale or are recycled. This little book sits on my bedside table. I think it may be there for a long time.

Cormac E McCloskey Publications
780956845504 £ 8.00"

Review: Self Publishing Magazine Spring 2012  here