The Half Bird by Susan Smillie

[steve yates]

If you like good writing, and you like reading about small boat journeys, just buy it.
Superbly written and interesting tale about one woman who quits her job and just sails off in her nic 26.
Originally intending to go round the uk, she turned left at Penzance instead and ended up in Greece

This is a treat. Go on……

 

[MK101]

Waiting for it to arrive, and very much looking forward to it!

 

[dgadee]

Bought this for the crew (ex English teacher) for Xmas. I give a review at Page 66: "She's doing my head in with all these feelings! Where is the sailing? Where is the adventure?"

I will update ...

 

[dgadee]

... well, as a Xmas present, it didn't go down too well.

Minimal sailing and an awful lot of self indulgence was the verdict. The crew says we went exactly the same trip to Greece and stopped off at most of her stop offs, but we had adventure!

I won't be reading it. Not very keen on introspection - I find many are keen enough on telling me what's wrong with me without having to do it myself - so someone else's is of little interest.

There were a couple of other books I didn't get too far into due to to many "I" incidences by male writers so it's not because of her gender.

 

[Wansworth]

I put out a general alert that I didn’t want nautical books for Christmas …….some success

 

[chriss999]

I read a sample of it on my kindle but found it a dull story and rather poor writing, so didn’t go on to buy it.

Maybe it gets better? Who knows? There’s so little time and so many good books to read.

 

[AndreaFK]

I have this on my "to be read" pile though judging by people's comments I might not hurry to read it. Pity as what I've seen about Smillie before was quite interesting.

 

[Tippy2024]

Its a shame some didnt like the book. I thought it was really really good. I think it bears out the .." sod it!" .."..i am going sailing..." idea all of us in here get. When you go sailing you have time to think. To get your own perspective.
To be.... introspective. Its the gift of the seas.

 

[chriss999]

I have this on my "to be read" pile though judging by people's comments I might not hurry to read it. Pity as what I've seen about Smillie before was quite interesting.

You don’t want take any notice of bad comments or negative reviews.

 

[LittleSister]

You don’t want take any notice of bad comments or negative reviews.

How so, when it's well know that every contributor to this forum is of impeccable taste and discernment?

 

[dgadee]

You don’t want take any notice of bad comments or negative reviews.

I paid attention to the original review and bought it. Are positive reviews with little detail ok, but more critical ones not?

 

[chriss999]

literary taste is very personal, like choosing wallpaper or choosing a life partner. So other people’s opinions are largely irrelevant. Better to give them a proper try and see how you get on with them.

Also it is much easier to dis than to praise, so in reading reviews I try to filter out the vague negative ones.

(My apologies for my earlier post in which I made negative comments on this book without giving it a proper chance.)

 

[dgadee]

literary taste is very personal, like choosing wallpaper or choosing a life partner. So other people’s opinions are largely irrelevant. Better to give them a proper try and see how you get on with them.

Also it is much easier to dis than to praise, so in reading reviews I try to filter out the vague negative ones.

(My apologies for my earlier post in which I made negative comments on this book without giving it a proper chance.)

What you need in a review is an accurate description of the contents. This - according to the crew - was not a really a sailing book. There is certainly a market for the kind of book where the author carries out self analysis, and perhaps this book should have emphasised that the sailing section was not the best location in a book shop to shelve it.

You must differ from me. The first reviews I look at are the negative ones. The really positive ones could be friends or family.

ps: Or paid for positive reviews.

 

[AndreaFK]

How so, when it's well know that every contributor to this forum is of impeccable taste and discernment?

Of course the user of internet forums always have impeccable taste and discernment. Its what we're known for.


I'll read the book but I'm in no hurry.

 

[dgadee]

The worst thing an author can suffer - after all that work - is being ignored, so Susan Smillie can be thankful that she is getting talked about.

 

[doug748]

..........The first reviews I look at are the negative ones. The really positive ones could be friends or family..

Well a warm review here from the Guardian:

The Half Bird by Susan Smillie review – a life less ordinary

Ey up.

In real life she used to be an hackette on the.......................Guardian.

.

 

[dgadee]

Yes, nice review. Not, I suspect, by a sailor,

She was at one point a Guardian travel editor the crew said. Some sceptics (not me!) would suggest there may be a link between being reviewed there and her past employment,

The publishing world is world of its own, full of [fill in whatever you like here]. The first book I did was an edited collection. The publisher said that it was of limited interest but they would publish but only pay royalties after 300 copies were sold. I agreed. Only afterwards did I find out that they only printed 300 copies. At least the Chinese valued it - they digitized it and put it online for sale. I stole their version and put it up on my own research site for free.