Wulf's Book Reviews

Holiday Romance by Catherine Walsh My rating: 4 of 5 stars 2023 was… not a good year. Not even reading-wise. So, as one of the last books in 2023 I wanted to read something holiday’ish, funny and emotional. Thankfully, this novel worked out very well: Andrew and Molly are kind, empathetic and relatable people… » “I’m honestly okay.” Only now that I’ve opened the floodgates, hell if I know how to close them again. Oh God, did I break something inside? Is this just who I am now? I’m going to be so dehydrated. « Both have been flying home for Christmas for nine consecutive years and although they predictably became friends soon, things have been shifting between them. Now, on their tenth journey together, pretty much everything goes wrong. Yes, it’s all very predictable but the chemistry between Molly and Andrew is a formula for success and their banter - both in the present and in the interspersed flashbacks to earlier years - is both heartfelt and, very often, hilarious. ...

The Princess Bride by William Goldman My rating: 1 of 5 stars “Not to be confused with William Goldman.”, Wikipedia helpfully told me when I looked up Golding - and yet I did confuse flashy, flamboyant Goldman with the unpretentious Golding. A grave mistake. “The Princess Bride”, supposedly the “good parts only” version of his alter ego’s novel, starts with an introduction by its author whom I immediately disliked after reading it. His often-occurring interruptions of an extremely banal and simple story were further aggravating. I also strongly disliked pretty much every single character: Buttercup, beautiful and an enormously stupid damsel-in-distress; the perfect Westley who is basically super-human from his first appearance onwards; Humperdinkh, the plotting prince of the land; the evil six-fingered count - I was almost bored to death by them all. The story is mind-numbingly daft: Girl rejects boy in favour of a prince, boy finds fame/infamy, girl gets rescued by boy, ...

Tinkers by Paul Harding My rating: 2 of 5 stars I have to say Paul Harding's " Tinkers " left me feeling unmoved and dissatisfied - like so many other books this year… The novel revolves around an old man named George who is dying from cancer, and the narrative follows his thoughts and memories as he grapples with his mortality. The language used by the author is often ornate and overwrought, which, coupled with the slow pacing of the story, made for a tedious reading experience. The characters lack depth and development, with George being the only character with any discernible personality traits, and even those are underwhelming. The supporting cast feels two-dimensional, failing to contribute anything meaningful to the narrative. The themes of loss, mortality, and the passing of time are not uncommon in literature, but Harding's handling of them is clichéd and trite. Rather than telling a compelling story, the author seems more concerned with showcas...

A Cross-Country Christmas by Courtney Walsh My rating: 2 of 5 stars The moment you find out the perfect review, down to the actual notes and highlights, has actually already been written… Go on, read this review, there’s nothing I could add: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show… I was at three stars originally but I simply didn’t see things as clearly as Kristina. Two stars, it is. Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam View all my reviews https://turing.mailstation.de/a-cross-country-christmas-road-trip-romance-1-by-courtney-walsh/?feed_id=2762&_unique_id=6579b4c82626c

Die drei ??? und das Gespensterschloß by Robert Arthur My rating: 3 of 5 stars Als Kind habe ich nichts mehr geliebt als Detektivgeschichten und als ich auf “ Die drei ??? ” stieß, war es um mich geschehen: Über Jahre habe ich jeden einzelnen Band gelesen, dann das Hörspiel auf Kassette genossen und weitere “Merch” (damals allerdings eher: Devotionalien) gekauft. Auf diese Weise entstand eine beachtliche Drei-Fragezeichen-Sammlung. Schon lange habe ich mich gefragt, ob diese Bücher wirklich so spannend, interessant und nett waren, wie ich sie in Erinnerung hatte. Nachdem ich gestern ein wirklich schlechtes Buch beendet hatte, beschloss ich, mir diese Frage durch eine gründliche Untersuchung zu beantworten - entweder ich würde mir eine weitere Kindheitserinnerung zerstören oder aber einen positiven Abschluss finden. Um es vorwegzunehmen: Ich habe das Gespensterschloss “in einem Rutsch” gelesen. Klar, mit 144 Seiten und ca. 37.000 Worten war das nicht schwer, aber es zeigt...

Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks My rating: 1 of 5 stars “Be more positive!”, they said, so here we go: “Morbidly Yours” wasn’t horrible ! Just very bad. 30-year-old widow Lark flees her native Texas, her embittered sister-in-law Rachel, who cyber-stalks her, to Ireland to work as an animator for a local studio. She moves into a house next to the undertaker’s, our male protagonist, Callum, who is about as interesting as a dead tree in winter. At first, the chemistry and banter between the two was great and I looked forward to lots of fun. What followed, though, was basically this: Lark: Callum is so wonderful but I must not fall in love with him because I practically killed my husband because we had an argument and he drove recklessly around afterwards. Callum: Lark is so wonderful but I must not fall in love with her because I need to marry someone I don’t love to keep my business from falling into the hands of a greedy corporation. Lark: Let’s be friends with benefits,...

Regen: Eine Liebeserklärung by Ferdinand von Schirach My rating: 1 of 5 stars » Ich bin eine Enttäuschung, ich weiß. « Ich muß schon sagen, ich fühle mich betrogen: Von einem Rechtsanwalt auch noch. Von einem, den ich als Schriftsteller eigentlich überaus schätze, aber was Ferdinand von Schirach hier diesmal abgeliefert hat, dafür sollte er sich schämen. Der Verlag, der für ein 113-Seiten-”Buch” EUR 17,99 (eBook) bzw. EUR 20 (Hardcover) als Preis festsetzt, liefert damit zudem ein weiteres eindrückliches Argument gegen die Buchpreisbindung . Zum “Inhalt”: Schon der Klappentext verrät, daß wir es einmal mehr mit dem “Onkel Ferdinand erzählt”-Modus zu tun bekommen; die Hälfte dieses “Buches” ist ein Monolog, ein Stream of Consciousness, der in extrem verkürzter Form altbekannte Standpunkte von Schirachs lau aufwärmt. Ein Beispiel; hier in “Regen” läßt der Autor sein alter ego folgendes sagen: » Aber das nach Hause , das habe ich sofort verstanden. Zu Hause ist ja kein Or...