Dracula - October Spooky Reads

A lot of what we know about the mythical vampire/vampyre comes from classics such as Dracula (Stoker) and The Vampyre (Polidori).  For all the love that I have for Gothic fiction I must admit most of the books that I have read fall in to the female Gothic genre.  I am part of an online book club where we vote for a few books each month and discuss them.  One such book for this month was Dracula and I have to say I was reluctant to start with.  I wasn't sure how I would get along with the style of writing - this is something I need to address because I usually end up really enjoying this

writing style more.

With a train trip to London and a week off work this book club choice could not have come at a better time.  The first thing that really stood out to me was the characterisation - I feel like the circle of characters welcomed the reader in to their adventures and allowed us to become invested in them.  In my opinion this is largely due to the narrative style Stoker uses.  The novel comprises of journal entries and letters between the characters.  This gives a real personal feel to the relationships we build with each character.  I can't think of many novels I have read where I have felt more welcome amongst the characters.

Having said all of this I did resent the portrayal of women.  I know that this was very much a standard, stereotypical and widely accepted portrayal of women from the era but it still doesn't sit well with me.  Mina has the potential to be a kick ass female (and definitely has moments where she is) but is let down by how emotionally sensitive she is in comparison to the male characters of the group.

This was a 4 star read for me because I did think there were a lot of plot points that needed a little bit more attention than what they got. Particularly towards the end of the story everything just felt too rushed and glossed over.

It was really clear to me that the tropes that we see in modern Gothic literature were all present but I think isolation was the one that really stood out for me.  The characters were all at their most vulnerable whenever they were left by themselves.  The isolation caused by perceived madness at the start had a really profound effect on my interpretation of the novel and the character of Jonathan.  As a reader I felt as though I was being taken on the journey of discovery along with each of the characters despite having more knowledge owing to the omniscient role played by the reader.

To me this was a masterpiece in writing for the maximum impact when it comes to this genre - the characters, plot and themes were so intricately built through a clever narrative with a subtle lacing of Gothic tropes all the way throughout.

Having read Rebecca at the beginning of the month I was really worried about whether there would be any book that could follow on from it.  The dread for me was that I would have a huge book hangover.  Luckily for me Dracula did not disappoint and gave me a fantastic avenue to continue with my Gothic reading list for the Halloween build up.

Next: Individual review of Rebecca and a reading wrap up for October.

Meg x

Super Late September Book Haul (Sorry!)

It is pretty clear that I have a book buying problem.  One that I have to admit I am not ashamed of - I could spend money on much worse things.  September was no different to any other month.  I ended up buying a grand total of 11 new books.  As a result I am going to keep each summary super short because I will be discussing each book in a lot more depth after I read them.

The first book that I purchased this month was "I See You" by Clare Mackintosh which is a thriller about women who all take the same route to work every day without knowing that they are being stalked.  One such woman notices her picture appears in the newspaper one day under an advert called findtheone.com.  Several women's pictures appear under the advert and Zoe discovers that terrible crimes are happening to the women.   She then works with a cop to help her uncover who the stalker is.







Amazon had a 3 for £10 deal on so it would have been rude to not get a few..."One of Us is Lying" by Karen M. McManus is a book that I have heard a lot about through Instagram and Booktube.  5 students enter detention but only 4 walk out alive.  The person killed is the school's notorious gossip blogger.  Each of the other 4 students have the perfect motive to kill Simon.  This looks at the investigation which aims to find out who the killer really is.

"American Gods" by Neil Gaiman is a book that was made into a TV series I have heard a lot about recently.  All of my knowledge on this book basically comes from Goodreads.  The main character, Shadow, is faced with tragedy when his wife and best friend are killed in an accident just days before he is released from jail.  He takes a job as a bodyguard for a mysterious man, Mr. Wednesday, where he learns that life can be more intriguing and dangerous than he could have imagined.

The final book in my "3 for £10" was "The Girl of Ink and Stars" by Kiran Millwood Hargrave is about a cartographer's daughter named Isabella.  She lives in a society forbidden to leave the island they inhabit.  When her friend disappears Isabella offers to lead the search using all the maps that she has to help.  When she starts on her journey she does not realise that she will uncover the many myths surrounding the island and end up faced with the challenge of saving the whole island.

The next book was a must buy after reading the first book in the series.  "Crooked Kingdom" by Leigh Bardugo was the final part of the series and it definitely did not disappoint.  This is another book which has received lots of (well deserved) hype. The story picks up directly from "Six of Crows" so I don't want to give away too much.  It concludes the story well.  I have already included a series review on this one so I won't go into too much more detail.

"Gravity" by A.B. Bloom is one that came up as a book recommendation on Bookbub for me.  It is about a time that everyone believes is the end of the world.  Bronte is the main character who has problems of her own.  She is experiencing severe physical weakness following her last birthday.  Her bones are breaking and her hair is falling out and nobody knows why.  One day a strange boy appears and turns her life upside down.  He explains that everything is not as it seems and that she is not actually who she believed she was.



I absolutely love books about magic and witchcraft so when I heard about "The Graces" by Laure Eve I knew I absolutely had to give it a go.  The Graces are a group of people who are believed to be magic weavers by those who live in their town.  This is a thriller that explores the glamorous Graces and looks to discover whether they are more dangerous than what they seem.



"Anna Karenina" by Tolstoy is a book that I have never read and must admit find pretty intimidating.  Anna is isolated as a result of her passionate affair with Count Vronsky.  Her failing marriage pushes her into a tragically doomed affair which gives society cause to scorn and judge her.  Meanwhile, everyone around her is experiencing love and happiness which highlights the contrast between Anna and everyone else.

Every since signing up to Bookbub I have to admit I have bought lots more books for my Kindle.  I had heard of Affinity Konar's "Mischling" before but didn't know much about it.  When my Bookbub daily recommendation came through I saw this was on offer.  I haven't read it and don't want to know too much about it.  It is about twins who end up in Aushwitz during WWII and their quest to survive. 


This next book I had a real difficulty finding.  I heard about it on an American Booktube channel and did not realise it was primarily available in the States. "The Child Finder" is by Rene Denfeld and follows the story of a missing girl.  Three years after her disappearance the family turn to an investigator called Naomi who is known as The Child Finder. Naomi has her own secrets to uncover and does so as she goes on a journey to find the truth about what happened to the missing girl.



Finally in September I bought the e-book of "Genuine Fraud" by E. Lockheart.  I know nothing about this one and don't want to find out.  I read "We Were Liars" last year by the same author and had a real mixture of feelings about it.  I also think her books are best read blind because they are so mysterious. 

Is there such a thing as Book Addicts Anonymous? If so where should I sign up?

Meg x

September 2017 Wrap Up

September was a super busy month for me so I definitely did not get as much reading done as I would have liked but 7 (and a half) books is not too bad!

The first two books that I finished reading were Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom which I have already posted a full series review of.  I won't go back over my thoughts on this series but I will say that it is a 5 star series.

I started off reading Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman as a hardback but swiftly transferred to audiobook and I must say I am very glad that I did.  The narrator fitted the character of Eleanor absolutely perfectly.  In the novel we follow the socially inept Eleanor who fails to fit into the social norms of society.  She has a dark past which has left her scarred physically, mentally and emotionally.  Her life is a series of routines that must not be broken.  She is unintentionally hilarious throughout - this is particularly clear through the audiobook verion. When an old man falls in the street Eleanor is forced to work together with a colleague to help the man.  Raymond, her colleague, is a big hearted, kind and genuine guy who has a huge impact on Eleanor and the way she lives her life.  I laughed and cried at this book.  The characterisation was phenomenal throughout.  Eleanor never slips out of character and the mysterious plot kept me wanting to read on. This was a 5 star read for me.  I am amazed that this was a debut novel for the author and will be keeping an eye out for future reads by Gail Honeyman.

The Tempest by William Shakespeare was my next read in September. I must admit that this is defintely not my favourite play by Shakespeare.  I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads but, on reflection, I feel like I may have been too generous with that.  There are some real interesting characters in this play including the magician, Prospero, his daughter, Miranda, and her prince, Ferdinand.  Prospero uses his magic to set the world to rights.  He was previously the Duke of Milan but was usurped by his brother and ended up living his life alone on an island except for his daughter and the monster Caliban.  Prospero traps his brother and the King of Naples on his island and manipulates a situation where the King's son, Ferdinand, ends up marrying Prospero's daughter, Miranda.  This is very much a character driven play as the plot is very sporadic.  This is definitely not one of my favourite Skakespearean plays but the characters were well developed throughout.

Stay With Me by Adebayo Ayobami was the easiest 5 star rating I gave all month.  I had heard a lot of rave reviews about this novel on Booktube and could not wait to get started with it.  This tells the story of Yejide and Akin - a Nigerian couple who have fertility issues.  Whilst they had agreed to a monogamous relationship Akin's family had other ideas and introduce a second wife to him.  The development of the relationship between Akin and Yejide is complex and revealed slowly throughout the plot.  The concept of arranged marriage is explored along with the political turmoil of the 1980s in Nigeria.  The narrative flows freely and, at times, appears to merge the voice of Yejide and Akin through the strength of love they have for each other.  This is an important read and one that definitely deserves all of the praise and 5 star reviews it is receiving currently.


The next novel I read was The Sellout by Paul Beatty which I listened to on Audible.  This was mega weird. I had heard a lot about it since it won the Man Booker 2016 but I really wasn't clear on the actual story until I started to read it. It definitely is not for the faint hearted! This is a satirical take on the issues of racism and equality which poses absurdist "solutions" to the disadvantages faced by black Americans.  The narrator is facing the Supreme Court on several charges which include reinstating slavery and introducing segregation to the local secondary school.  One view that particularly stood out for me was the "pro-slavery" perspective of Hominy (previously a child tv star) who wanted nothing more than to become a slave.  The heartbreaking perspective he has on slavery is based on the fact that this at least gives him a sense of certainty of what to expect from life - it takes away the guess work of how he, as a representative of his race, will be treated by society.  Another character attempts to re-write history by including views of racial equality and pretending that racism and slavery was never a thing.  Whichever perspective you look at it is heartbreaking to consider and be made to face the truth that actually racial inequality is very much alive and kicking in modern society.  The book poses the question - what makes modern treatment of black Americans any different to the slavers of times gone by?

A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin was my final full read this month.  I gave this 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads and can't believe how good this was for a debut novel.  I already am totally in love with Ira Levin's writing style having read Rosemary's Baby a few years ago and I was a little bit worried that this would not be of the same standard.  I need not have worried though - this was absolutely super.  I can't say too much without spoiling the plot.  It follows a young, ambitious man who believes he is destined for greatness.  He is smart, handsome and charming and has big plans for his life.  The mysterious build up of his character starts when he goes unnamed for the whole first section of the novel.  We are intrigued to know more about him.  A sticking point arises in his plans when the young woman he is dating falls pregnant and is determined to marry him regardless of the fact she will be disinherited from a small fortune if she does so.  His only solution: kill her.  Everything from the characterisation to the pace of the plot in this novel was super.  I was desperately turning the pages to get to the end and find out what would happen to each of the characters.  It has made me really keen to read the rest of Levin's works.

There was one book that I regret spending so much time on this month - I feel like if it was not for this book I would have made it to by 8 book target.  Confessions of a Sociopath by M.E. Thomas was a non-fiction novel based on her own life as a non-criminal sociopath.  I have seen many disregarding this book because it was too "self-involved" but I feel that this is something that should be expected given the title.  My reason for disregarding it was that I just did not find the subject interesting.  The narrative was clumsy and too repetitive.  Perhaps this would have been better as a series of short stories rather than a jarred attempt to combine all of the events in her life that showed her lack of emotional connection.   I won't be going back to this one and I doubt I would even give it to anyone to read to be honest.


Finally I read half of the short story collection The Blue Lenses by Daphne DuMaurier.  I will definitely go back to this one and finish it off before I write a full review.  They were getting a little bit much for me to read all at once.











A very positive reading month overall.  I think in October I may try to include a mid-month wrap up if I have time - I always regret leaving all of the typing to the very last minute!

Meg x

Hacienda Moon by Kassondra Leigh (Release Date: 31/10/17)

Hacienda Moon
KaSonndra Leigh
(Path Seekers #1)
Publication date: October 31st 2017
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Suspense

Centuries ago, his ancestor fell in love with a woman cursed by a jealous witch. No one believed him until it was too late. Eric Fontalvo was determined to prove one thing… that a family curse didn’t cause his father’s death.

The plan was working until the day he found her…again. Suddenly his life changes forever, and he is forced to question everything he believes.

Moving into an old plantation house was just what Tandie Harrison needed to recover from tragedy. So she writes a book, a story based on a man in her dreams. There’s only one problem though… the characters from her novel keep showing up on her doorstep.

And then she finds a diary written hundreds of years ago.

As if that isn’t strange enough, she meets him…the man from her dream, someone who reawakens her psychic power along with something else from long ago.

Can Eric and Tandie’s love destroy the force keeping them apart? Or will darkness win again?

Hacienda Moon is a new classic tale of two lovers crossing time. A seductive tale of one woman’s journey to confront the demons of her past and to find the courage to face her future. It is a mesmerizing novel that explores the deepest depths of human nature, and the characters will hold and haunt you long after you have read the final chapter.

Goodreads

Author Bio:

Meet your word sculptress...

Author of the Bestelling Lost Immortals Saga, Musical Interlude Series, and the PathSeekers Novels, KaSonndra is also a mother, blogazine owner, reader, gardener, home renovator, and a slayer of undead Egyptian mummies in Tomb Raider. She believes in karma, coffee, and seriously wish that the producers of Xena would bring her favorite show ever back.

Strange things about KaSonndra: Everything. She's weird, odd, unusual, and generally tends to make people think she swooped down from another planet. Maybe she did. Who knows? She's also a member of the #zombiesurvivalcrew on twitter. So if you need protection from the upcoming apocalypse, don’t hesitate to call on KayLeigh and crew!

KaSonndra was born in the race-car city of Charlotte, NC, and now live in the City of Alchemy and Medicine, NC, when she's not hanging out in Bardonia (Lost Immortals Saga setting). Most of her characters are based on people that she has met throughout her travels and adventures. People tend to stop and start conversations with KaSonndra as if she has known them her entire life. Does this freak her out? Not really. Her mom says that one day she’ll get kidnapped by one of these folks. KaSonndra's response? She told her mom that if it weren’t for these lovely people, then she wouldn’t be able to create such fabulously romantic stories.

A few other tidbits about KaSonndra... She has watched the movie Under the Tuscan Sun almost 200 times. This is her explanation regarding her obsession. She figures that if she keeps watching the film enough times, then suddenly the house that Diane Lane lives in will magically appear in her backyard. Yes! KaSonndra has a huge imagination!

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom - Series Review

Before this month it was a while since I read any YA fiction novels other than those I read to teach.  I was intrigued by the sound of Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows after hearing all about it on Booktube and so I picked it up on Audible with the idea that I would possible have to return it after listening to the first hour. Contrary to what I thought, however, I absolutely loved it almost immediately.

Characters

Kaz Brekker is tasked with putting together a notorious crew for, what seems like, mission impossible.  He is promised millions if he can break into the Ice Court - a military stronghold. From the beginning of the series Kaz presents as a troubled young man with a multitude of skeletons in his closet.  His brutal honesty, intelligence and brooding nature poses an intriguing read.  In the face of every difficulty that is put in his path Kaz shows himself fearless and smart enough to overcome anything.  It is through Kaz that we eventually are introduced to the rest of the main characters.

The Wraith - also known as Inej - is Kaz' main weakness.  She is a trained acrobat as well as a skilled fighter.  She gains the secrets of the city to provide Kaz with the information he needs to stay on top of his enemies.  From the beginning it is very clear that Inej is in love with Kaz but as to whether those feelings are reciprocated we do not find out until much later.  Inej is a character who comes to life through her dry sarcastic humour and her emotional capacity. As a reader, I loved Inej and felt like I was routing for her all the way through the series.

Jesper is a gambling addict with a knack for shooting exactly on target.  He is extremely lovable but it is clear that he has done some very questionable acts to get through a tough life.

Nina is my absolute favourite character.  She is a charming young woman with the power to turn people's internal organs to mush.  She is a Grisha Heartrender who was saved from a life in a brothel (The Menagerie) by Kaz when he brought her into a life in the Dregs.  Nina is hilarious - she is a character who can simultaneously make light of a situation while kicking ass at the same time. My favourite quotation from Nina is: “Fear is a phoenix. You can watch it burn a thousand times and still it will return.” Nina goes through one of the toughest journeys of all the characters.  It is depicted in a realistic representation of the hardship she faces as well as a believable portrayal of the human responses to such situations.

Other main characters include Matthias Halvar, a Fjerdan Druskelle, who is grudgingly in love with Nina.  He is very much stuck in a mindset that has been drummed into him by his peers.  This mindset almost stops him from making the right decisions on so many occasions.  He is a character that I feel real sympathy for.  I think everyone, at some point, is guided by the wrong people to believe in things that are not necessarily true.  Matthias is a particular example of this who really goes on a journey of discovery to make up his own mind on his beliefs.


Plot

Six of Crows has a real page turning quality to the plot.  It is, on the surface, an impossible quest but one that we get behind straight away because we are so invested in the characters.  Leigh Bardugo is very good at showing the events of the story rather than just telling us what is happening.  I really enjoyed her portrayal of the plot (more of that in the narrative style section).  The seamless transition between Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom was excellent.  I actually don't read a lot of series, particularly fantasy, because they can get caught up in the time gaps between each release which really turns me off as a reading experience.  The plot of the series is eloquent, fast-moving and engaging from the very start to the last word.


Narrative Technique

As with most YA fantasy novels the story is told through multiple narrative perspectives.  Each character's story is closely intertwined.  At first it can be a little bit confusing because you are trying to follow the plot as well as getting to know all of the different characters.  There are lots of strands of stories that are started but then cut to start someone else's story.  I was very worried that I would lose the place with the plot and end up missing out on the story but actually came to appreciate Bardugo's writing style even more.  She ensured that the plot was paced appropriately at the beginning to allow us to keep up with what was happening at the same time as getting to know everyone.

Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom have definitely opened my eyes up to a new genre that I would not normally have given a second look at. I feel like my reading horizons have definitely broadened as a result of reading this series.  My only flaw with the series is the characters are very young in age but not in attitude or actions.  It is clear that the characters are written from an older perspective.  I feel like that does not actually take anything away from the plot.

There are a few posts on the way...September Wrap Up, October Reads, September Book Haul which will all be up in the next few weeks.

Meg x

A New Venture...Inspired

Sometimes inspiration just happens.  Not when you are looking or necessarily want to be inspired.  For me it has been one of those inspiring weeks.

I took a trip to a creative writing convention with some young people and I will be honest and say that I had solely looked at this as an opportunity for the young people I was supervising.  Never did I expect to walk away totally inspired to kick start my own writing creative writing back up again. I was so fortunate to meet some wonderful Scottish writers and hear their own stories of how they write, what made them write and where they draw their creative musings from. 

The whole day is run by the Scottish Book Trust and offers pupils the chance to meet poets, novelists, playwrights and short story writers with Scottish backgrounds.  The pupils are divided into groups and each group experiences the workshops of two writers.  My group first met an ex-English teacher named Martin Stewart who recently released his debut novel, Riverkeep.  This workshop was a lot about choosing the right words to express what you are trying to say.  Not over-writing and falling into cliched habits.  I particularly enjoyed the editing techniques that he suggested. This has to be one of the most practical advice sessions I have ever had when it comes to writing.  I will definitely be putting his advice to good use.

The second workshop I attended was by poet Liz Niven.  Her workshop was less about the practicalities of writing and more about actually getting us to put pen to paper and to look for inspiration all around us.  Liz was super keen to get us all involved and we took inspiration from some poems she had selected in order to start writing our own poetry.  The first exercise was that we were given the colour blue then given one of the senses. Mine was sound. I had to write down what the colour blue sounds like.  We wrote a series of short poems using different exercises and were encouraged to write both in standard English as well as in Scots.  The outcome of this surprised me - what I ended up with written on the paper left me feeling really inspired to start writing again.

After I got home from the conference I felt like I had been away from writing for too long.  I always said that I would write a novel one day.  That I would be a published author.  When I left the feeling I had was that I want to start slightly smaller and go with writing short stories and maybe even poetry.  This week I have finally put my pen to paper and jotted out my ideas that I have had for a while.  Hopefully I will be posting some snippets of writing very soon.

Meg x

September TBR

Already I feel like I have been side tracked from my original TBR for September because of how much I enjoyed "Six of Crows" at the start of the month.  I got an Audible credit and just felt like I had to spend it on the sequel.  I have no regrets!

The first book on my TBR is "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo.  I got this from Audible to keep me company on a long car journey after hearing so much about it on Booktube.  I was pretty intrigued and had gotten about halfway through it in August.  It was my priority to finish this one first (which I have) and get on to reading the rest of my September TBR.  I will put a full review in my September wrap up but it was a superb read.










The next book is one that I am totally unsure about, even a bit wary, if I am honest.  There are so many mixed reviews about it that it took me a while to convince myself to put it on my list.  "Confessions of a Sociopath" by M.E. Thomas is one that should be right up my street - I love anything remotely psychological and especially books that look at things from a different perspective.  As M.E. Thomas is a diagnosed non-violent sociopath I figured that it would be an interesting way to learn a bit more about the condition.  I have started this one already and I can totally see where the negative reviews are coming from.






"Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" by Gail Honeyman is book 3 on my to be read list this month.  The title caught me straight away - who is Eleanor Oliphant!? Why wouldn't she be fine? Is she really fine?  All questions that have popped into my head when I look at the title of the book.  To me this sounded like a book of balance - it has a serious side but a bit of humour injected too.  I am saving this one for the middle of the month when I need something to cheer me up a little bit amongst my other dark, gloomy reads. 


This next book is one I picked up for a few reasons: the nomination for the Women's Prize for Fiction and the hype that surrounds it.  "Stay With Me" by Ayobami Adebayo is set in a community where polygamy is normal and the idea of staying faithful to one person is absurd.  It follows the journey of a couple who are trying (unsuccessfully) for a baby and the devastation they face when they don't get what they want.  The couple's devastation is deepened when the family arrives with another wife to join the family and provide children to Akin.  I am so keen to read this beautiful book - the yellow edged pages are stunning!





I fell in love with Ira Levin when I read "Rosemary's Baby" at university and I have always been meaning to come back and read more of his work but never quite found the time.  This month I have added "A Kiss Before Dying" to my list to ensure I finally get around to this one.  I don't know very much about the actual plot other than it is about a young man who will do anything to get to where he wants to be.  I know that Ira Levin's writing style is one that I previously enjoyed and I know that this book gets rave reviews so I have high hopes for this one.






"The Sellout" by Paul Beattie which won the Man Booker prize is another book on my list this month. This is about a man brought up by a racist father who has shaped his view of the world.  To try to make a point he re-introduces segregation and slavery in modern day America.  This is a shocking story but one that I am genuinely scared of becoming a reality in the future.  The way that the world is heading seems to be further and further from what is morally acceptable.  I think this may well end up an important lesson that should be heeded by many world leaders today.






For years I have been meaning to work my way through the works of Shakespeare that I (shame-faced) admit that I have not actually read yet.  I feel this list is WAY longer than it should be!  I also feel that I have added "The Tempest" to this month's list because I really want to read Margaret Atwood's "Hag-Seed" which is a re-telling of the original story.  I figured it is definitely some sort of sacrilegious act if I was to read "Hag-Seed" before the real deal.








Having read my first Daphne DuMaurier novel in August I was intrigued to compare the quality of her short stories to the novel.  I have picked "The Blue Lenses" as a short story collection to start reading this month.  My aim is to get this finished pretty quickly - especially since it is actually a book borrowed from the library. I know nothing about the stories but I am intrigued to find out more.

Finally, as mentioned earlier, I want to listen to "Crooked Kingdom" by Leigh Bardugo.  I was so impressed with "Six of Crows" that I just don't want there to be a huge time gap before I get the chance to binge on this one too.  The cliffhanger in "Six of Crows" left me glad that I came late to the party and could move straight on to the next book in the series!









I am going to do a mid month reading review in September I think so that will be up in the next week or so.  I also want to do a proper individual review of a few books I have loved recently.

Meg x