Loretta Livingstone

The purpose of poetry is to tell a story or relate someone’s feelings through rhyme or verse, and this little pocket sized book hits the mark in many places, but falls short too.

The compilation is full of funny – ‘The Ballad of the Creme Egg’; uplifting; spiritual (the poet really lets us into her soul in these poems), and the usual love poems. But what makes this different to other pocket poetry books, is that each one is printed on stunning colour photographs taken by the Poet herself.

The one poem that really stuck out from all the others though, was ‘Past Times’, as it had all the makings of having been penned by Christina Rossetti, namely bringing to mind her ‘When I am dead, my dearest’. It was written in a fluid and relaxed manner, which really had me feeling that, finally, the Poet had found her stride and was totally at ease with this style. Unfortunately that was not the case.

With many of the poems I found the lack of punctuation caused me to take a deep breath, mentally, before reading them and, at times I found the rhyming scheme to become a little annoying. Just as I was becoming totally frustrated with this, I fell over ‘The Balled of the Creme Egg’

Like ‘Past Times’, this also struck a chord with me, and made me chuckle out loud when I read it. It caused me to remember the times that I had done exactly what she wrote about, and brought back some fond memories.

I like 2 things in the poetry I read, one is that it will make me think and reflect, as ‘Past Times’ did; and two, that it will make me smile and remember fun places and people such as the ‘Creme Egg’ delivered.

I would recommend this pocket book to anyone that enjoys poetry, and I will most likely be adding a hard copy to my collection, just for the two poems I have mentioned in this review. It definitely wasn't mind blowing, but there are definitely some hidden gems between its covers that are worth searching out. I would be interested to see how the Poet develops as she continues to write, and into what niche she finally finds herself feeling more comfortable in.

Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/review-jumping-in-the-puddles-of...




This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.… (más)

This is the second collection of poetry from this Author, and it is nowhere near as good as the first collection; it far exceeds it.

Whilst reading this I was aware of how much the Author had grown since they wrote their first collection, not only in content but in writing style. Whether you burnt out on poetry at school, or looking for a way to introduce poetry into your reading; if you pick up this small collection of 57 poems you will not be disappointed.

This collection covers everything about life the reader could think of from love to junk mail and beyond. My favourite poems in this collection, and by far the best work to date from this Author, are The Mountain and The Unseen Rose. Through reading these it is apparent that the Author has finally found her stride and the words just flow off the page and through the mind long after the book has been laid aside.

I highly recommend this collection, as well as her early works, to lovers of poetry or any reader that is looking for a piece of work that speaks to them.


Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2013/12/09/review-rhythms-of-life-loretta-livingstone...



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
… (más)

Making the transition from Poet to Author is a tricky one that some Poets are not able to make successfully; however, this Poet has managed to add Author to their résumé with what appears to be consummate ease.

In this debut novella the readers given the chance to read of series of short stories; but are they just short stories? Each one of them is a tale within itself, but the Author manages skilfully to weave them all together to centre on the main character. The stories are all based on the same theme, but told from the different perspectives of each of the characters involved.

The characters are well-written and immediately spring to life on the page. In writing the characters this Author has managed to give a name and a back story to members of our society that often go overlooked, the homeless. The main protagonist, around which all these stories revolve is a young homeless girl; fragile, vulnerable and scared, but also determined to make the best of her lot. The reason she finds herself in this situation is handled with kid gloves, and although brings a powerful picture of the home life of this girl, it is not done in such a manner that it could offend or shock those who are of a sensitive nature.

In writing this novella the Author is able to remind the reader that, in this world of chaos, violence and the unspeakable acts we commit against each other, there is hope and that humanity has not become so lost that there is no way back. Yes, this book does have religious undertones to it, but that does not make it a novella that cannot be enjoyed by the religious and non-religious alike.

I would highly recommend this book to any and all readers who are looking for a short uplifting read that proves the world is not such a miserable place after all. My reason for the 4 thumbs rating...it just wasn’t long enough. I look forward to reading more fiction from this Author.

Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/05/30/review-where-angels-tread-loretta-livingst...



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
… (más)

This is the second collection of poetry from this Author, and it is nowhere near as good as the first collection; it far exceeds it.

Whilst reading this I was aware of how much the Author had grown since they wrote their first collection, not only in content but in writing style. Whether you burnt out on poetry at school, or looking for a way to introduce poetry into your reading; if you pick up this small collection of 57 poems you will not be disappointed.

This collection covers everything about life the reader could think of from love to junk mail and beyond. My favourite poems in this collection, and by far the best work to date from this Author, are The Mountain and The Unseen Rose. Through reading these it is apparent that the Author has finally found her stride and the words just flow off the page and through the mind long after the book has been laid aside.

I highly recommend this collection, as well as her early works, to lovers of poetry or any reader that is looking for a piece of work that speaks to them.


Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2013/12/09/review-rhythms-of-life-loretta-livingstone...



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
… (más)