Finding Your Way Around

The Library of Congress, circa 1900

The Library of Congress, circa 1900

To find a particular author, type the name into the search box.

To find reviews within a particular genre or to see all authors with a particular, look to the categories in the sidebar.

The results you get from searches or by going to the different categories are in the order in which the posts were written. The order in which they appear has nothing to do with their relative qualities.

Ratings of particular authors may be changed from time to time. I struggle with ratings because not all authors are wonderful or terrible in the same way. Some writers are wonderful because they are masters of language, some because they are masters of ideas. Really terrific writers are masters of both. In some cases I give the A rating because the author has a body of work which is significant either to me personally or to our culture.

Author ratings:

  • A:  Not always perfect but remarkable in some way that lifts the author above the crowd. My life is happier for reading this author.
  • B:  Decent writing, reasonably entertaining.
  • C:  Passable. It won’t kill you.
  • D:  How writers like this get published is beyond me.

A great book is not always Great Literature, and Great Literature is not always a great book. My reaction to a book can be affected as much by where I am at the point that I am reading it as by the attributes of the book itself. What I hope to do is save others from wasting their time on pure dreck.

Book ratings:

  • Recommended (If I had it to do over, I probably would.)
  • Meh (If I had it to do over, I probably wouldn’t, but there are worse ways to spend time.)
  • AVOID (Not worth the time; these are in the “Banished” category.)

Don’t hesitate to add your two cents in the comment threads.

(Photograph courtesy of The Library of Congress)

135 Responses to “Finding Your Way Around”

  1. Inkweaver Review Says:

    May 4, 2009 at 10:14 pm

    Sounds like a good start to a blog, Karen. One word of advice, you’ll get a lot more visitors if you post longer reviews than if you just post a list of books. I know you said it is “too time-consuming” but it is worth the effort in visitors and search engine results.

    Keep up the good work, and thanks for linking to Inkweaver Review in your blogroll. If you ever want to submit a guest review to Inkweaver Review feel free to do so. :)

    Nathan – Inkweaver Review

    Reply
    1. fromlaurelstreet Says:

      May 5, 2009 at 10:40 am

      thanks for the input. yes, i absolutely agree. i have been doing short reviews of more recent books and, as time permits, i will go back and make notes on the books that are now simply listed, as well as putting in pertinent links.

      Reply
      1. Inkweaver Review Says:

        May 5, 2009 at 10:48 am

        Well, best of luck with your blog, and have fun. :)

        Thanks again for linking to me in your blogroll.

  6. Ray Bradbury « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 2:37 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  10. Ken Hodgson « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:12 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  12. Rudy Rucker « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:13 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  19. Thomas Mann « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:25 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  20. Hugh Laurie « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:25 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  25. Carl Hiaasen « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:27 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  26. Thomas Hardy « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:28 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  27. Rick Hanson « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:29 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  31. Mark Gatiss « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:31 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  32. Stephen Fry « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:33 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  36. Edna Ferber « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:34 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  37. Howard Engel « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:35 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  42. Hal Clement « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:37 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  43. Peter Carey « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:37 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  44. Peter David « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:37 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  48. Tim Cockey « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:40 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  49. Daniel Defoe « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:41 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  50. Liza Cody « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:41 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  53. Tim Dorsey « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:42 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  59. Karel Capek « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:45 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  62. Paul Bowles « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:46 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  64. Iain Banks « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:47 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  65. Bob Morris « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:47 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  66. John Barth « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:48 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  67. Dave Barry « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:48 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  69. John Barnes « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:49 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  72. Jane Austen « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:51 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  73. Ian Rankin « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:52 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  77. Plum Pie « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:58 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  78. Neil Gaiman « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 29, 2009 at 3:58 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  81. Tucker Coe « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    June 18, 2009 at 10:00 am

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  103. All Fiction All The Time Says:

    December 9, 2009 at 11:52 am

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  116. Willa Cather « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 3, 2011 at 12:50 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply
  117. Tillie Olsen « All Fiction All The Time Says:

    May 3, 2011 at 1:02 pm

    [...] Finding Your Way Around [...]

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.