Showing posts with label karen maitland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label karen maitland. Show all posts

Tuesday, 22 September 2015

Top Ten Tuesday | My (very over-ambitious) Halloween TBR!


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!


This week's theme is all about the books on our Autumn TBR. As I've said many times before I'm not a fan of TBRs - I often feel bogged down by them and I feel like I've 'failed' if I don't read the books on my TBR or if I read a book that isn't on my TBR at all - but I do like seasonal TBRs. I love these because I don't pressure myself to read all of these books, but I love the chance to talk about books that fit a certain theme.

In Autumn I like to try and read as many spooky books as I can during the build up to Halloween, so those are the ten fifteen books I've picked today!


My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier: Is this book spooky? No idea, I haven't read it yet! But it does include a possible murder, and it's been likened to Rebecca, which is most definitely a psychologically spooky read. Plus I love Daphne du Maurier and I want to read more of her work.

Sugar Hall by Tiffany Murray: This book is published by the publishing house where I work, Seren! It's a ghost story set in the border between England and Wales during the '50s, so perfect for this time of year. One of my colleagues and I will be reading it throughout October - come and join us!

The Bird's Nest by Shirley Jackson: Shirley Jackson is my favourite horror writer. I love her. I now own all of her novels, and one of her short story collections, that have been published in the Penguin Modern Classics editions and I'm slowly working my way through them all. This one's next!

Carrie by Stephen King: I don't like Stephen King's books. There. I said it. There's just something about his writing style that means he and I don't get along, and it irritates me that his main characters are almost always writers. Seriously dude, write about someone else for a change. Having said that, I did enjoy Misery when I read it because there was nothing supernatural in it - as much as I love supernatural elements in the stories I read, I don't like them when King writes them - but I'd really like to give Carrie a try because I'm pretty sure it was the first novel of his that got published, and the concept does interest me. I've got it on my kindle, so we'll see what I think of it!

The Poor Clare by Elizabeth Gaskell: This little novella is the story of a family curse. I've read one of Gaskell's ghost stories before and enjoyed it, so I'm looking forward to this one.


The Raven's Head by Karen Maitland: I think this is Karen Maitland's most recent novel, and I still haven't read anything of her's which, as a lover of historical fiction, is practically scandalous. She writes historical crime/mystery novels set in Medieval Europe, and this book sounds particularly spooky!

Horrorstรถr by Grady Hendrix: This is a haunted house story, set in IKEA. IKEA! Okay, so it's not actually called IKEA in the book but we all know it's IKEA, right? Right. What I love most about this book, though, is that it's set out like a department store catalogue. It's the same size, shape and feel as a catalogue, and it even has an order form in the front. It's adorable! Even if I don't end up liking this book (it seems to have very varied feedback on Goodreads) I'm still glad to own it because I love it when publishers do something different like this.

How the White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back and White Trash Zombie Gone Wild by Diana Rowland: I love this series, and with the fifth book coming out next month I'm looking forward to getting all caught up with the series so far!

This Strange Way of Dying by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: As you know if you've been following my blog for a while, I adored Silvia Moreno-Garcia's debut novel, Signal to Noise, and now I'm really eager to check out some of her short stories. This collection sounds like the perfect collection to read as Halloween approaches!



Half Bad and Half Wild by Sally Green: I've been meaning to start this trilogy for the longest time (I meant to read Half Bad with Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight earlier this year and completely failed) and after I picked up a copy of Half Wild for just £1 at the weekend I figured I might as well give the series a try!

Demon Road by Derek Landy: I pre-ordered a signed, limited platinum edition of Derek Landy's latest book and I'm very excited to read it - I'm saving it for October!

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater: I'm pretty sure I put this book on my spring TBR, and I still haven't read it. I really want to, though! I did read the first chapter and I got distracted by something else, but considering it basically opens in a graveyard I think it's a pretty good read for this time of year.

Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst: This is more fun than spooky, it sounds like a very entertaining reading experience and I'll turn to it when I'm in the mood for a giggle.

Which books made your list?

Friday, 1 August 2014

Reading Wrap-Up + Mini Book Haul | July 2014

Once again, stressing about university and the future meant I barely did any reading in July, but I really enjoyed both of the books I did read and really that's all that matters!




by Margaret Atwood

My Rating: 

Now that all the others have run out of air, it's my turn to do a little story-making.
In Homer's account in The Odyssey, Penelope--wife of Odysseus and cousin of the beautiful Helen of Troy--is portrayed as the quintessential faithful wife, her story a salutary lesson through the ages. Left alone for twenty years when Odysseus goes off to fight in the Trojan War after the abduction of Helen, Penelope manages, in the face of scandalous rumors, to maintain the kingdom of Ithaca, bring up her wayward son, and keep over a hundred suitors at bay, simultaneously. When Odysseus finally comes home after enduring hardships, overcoming monsters, and sleeping with goddesses, he kills her suitors and--curiously--twelve of her maids.
In a splendid contemporary twist to the ancient story, Margaret Atwood has chosen to give the telling of it to Penelope and to her twelve hanged maids, asking: "What led to the hanging of the maids, and what was Penelope really up to?" In Atwood's dazzling, playful retelling, the story becomes as wise and compassionate as it is haunting, and as wildly entertaining as it is disturbing. With wit and verve, drawing on the story-telling and poetic talent for which she herself is renowned, she gives Penelope new life and reality--and sets out to provide an answer to an ancient mystery.
I'm ashamed to say that before last month I had never read any of Margaret Atwood's fiction. Yes, that really does mean I've never read The Handmaid's Tale. As both an avid reader and a feminist, I'm appalled with myself. 

I stumbled across this little hardback edition of The Penelopiad for just £1 in a charity shop in South Wales and I just had to have it. I love Greek mythology, and the idea of reading Penelope's side of the story really interested me - that poor woman really does put up with a lot of crap in The Odyssey!

Considering I was in a bit of a slump despite being in the middle of several great books - books I'm still in the middle of! - my friend Laura and I decided to read The Penelopiad together, and we both enjoyed it. I loved what Atwood did with the original tale, the little ways in which she tweaked it, and the voice she gave Penelope was just exquisite. Now I'm very eager to read more of her fiction!



by Jemma L. King

My Rating: 

The Undressed is a poetry collection inspired by a cache of antique nude photographs of women. King studied the photographs ranging from the 1840s to the 1930s and attempted to return voices to these mostly anonymous women lost to history.

Meet Olive, the silent movie star, Karolina, 'The Folding Girl of Kotka', and Mary, the prostitute who hopes the judge she's due to stand before will turn out to be a client...

The second book I read in July I read on the very last day of the month and it has to be one of the best books I've read this year; this is especially unusual for me considering, I'm ashamed to admit, I very rarely read poetry collections for pleasure. Reading poetry is something I need to do more of, because there are some amazing poets out there.

This collection is just gorgeous. Each poem is like its own little story - something I love in a poetry collection - and each voice sounds different from the others. I definitely recommend this collection, whether you frequently read poetry or not!

Last weekend I went to a market stall with my parents where second hand books were being sold: 3 for £5. Naturally, I couldn't leave empty-handed and I ended up coming away with a miniature historical fiction haul.

Nowadays I tend to buy most of my books second hand - I don't care if books look a little worn, in fact I think it gives them character! - and all three of the books I picked up are ones I've been after for a while now, including another of Margaret Atwood's novels!


I picked up copies of Karen Maitland's The Gallows Curse, Daphne du Maurier's Frenchman's Creek, and Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace. I mentioned Daphne du Maurier in a post at the beginning of last month as one of the authors I'm most ashamed to admit I have yet to read. I have a copy of Rebecca, but I've been wanting to read Frenchman's Creek for a long time now so I'm hoping to start it soon!

What did you read in July?

J.

Thursday, 24 July 2014

My Underhyped Books!

As some of you may know this week is the Underhyped Read-A-Thon. I am sort of taking part in this read-a-thon (I say 'sort of' because, sadly, I have too much work to do to commit to an entire week of non-stop reading) and I decided to only read books with less than 1,000 ratings on Goodreads.

I thought there wouldn't be that many, but it turns out I own quite a lot of book with less than 1,000 ratings and it makes me sad that so many books aren't getting a lot of attention. There could be a book out there you might love, you've just never come across it before!

So today, I thought I'd share with you a list of just some of the books I own with less than 1,000 ratings on Goodreads. I'm going to give you nothing but the title, the author, the number of ratings and a link to the Goodreads page, then if there are any titles which catch your eye you can go and look it up and perhaps discover a new book.

Happy reading!

J.