strange and random happenstance

For years I put off watching The Mystery of Edwin Drood because I wanted to read the unfinished manuscript by Dickens in order to read Dan Simmons's Drood. Then when this movie came out, because even if they call it a miniseries, only two hour-long episodes only equals a movie, I still hadn't gotten around to my previous goals so I thought I'd wait. Well, seeing as it's now way over a decade later and I still haven't gotten around to reading, well, either of the aforementioned books, I figured it was time to watch this adaptation. Plus, I was going through severe Freddie Fox withdrawal. Who would have thought I'd ever like anyone other than Tom Hiddleston playing Loki!?! And now that Freddie's really the only socially acceptable male Fox, how could I not give into the craving? Which sadly this didn't quite assuage. In fact, if you really need a Freddie Fox fix Year of the Rabbit episode three, "Gangs," is perfection. There is of course the first few seasons of Slow Horses, but, things don't end up so well for him there.... Back to Dickens! There are many problems with this "miniseries," the most glaring of which is how forgettable it is. I just watched this and I am struggling to recall anything that happened. The problem was this should have been minimally a three-part adaptation. It's just too short to get the full panoply of Dickensian characters. This is exacerbated by the fact that the entire first episode is basically Matthew Rhys in a drugged fug, making anything happening too hard to comprehend even for Hunter S. Thompson. Which, if they had stretched this to three episodes would have been mitigated. Because the angry dissociation of the first episode would have been just part of our tale not half of it. Well, more than half of it because it's not like John Jasper is giving up the drugs anytime soon. And yes, I think if Dickens had survived Wilkie Collins would have possibly had a valid case for libel. But the saving grace of this series is David Dawson as Bazzard. David Dawson who just happens to play Joseph Merrick, "The Elephant Man," in the aforementioned episode of Year of the Rabbit, "Gangs." Seriously, go watch that episode. It might be one of the funniest things you'll ever watch in your entire life. While here David Dawson brings the Dickensian vibe this series was so sorely missing in its first half. He is the clerk to Edwin Drood's fiance's guardian. And given this is Dickens, that's actually a concise relationship. Usually they are all convoluted and full of secrecy. He basically gets stuck into all the mysteries and secrets and just solves everything. I'm sad that he couldn't solve the problem of this show, but there's only so much one character can do. Especially if he's given only one episode to do it in.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bazzard, Charles Dickens, Dan Simmons, David Dawson, Drugs, Fifty-Five Years a Masterpiece, Freddie Fox, Hunter S. Thompson, Loki, Matthew Rhys, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Tom Hiddleston, Wilkie Collins, Year of the Rabbit

Superhero fatigue is real. I honestly want to know if there's someone out there who has watched all of the almost forty movies out there in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and loved every single one. Because I sure as hell haven't. There were ones I liked and enjoyed, but there are literally only three that I can watch over and over. They're Captain America: The First Avenger, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, if you were interested to know. The thing that amazes me most is that Marvel takes actors I really like and makes them almost unwatchable. Seriously, what is that accent Benedict Cumberbatch is using? And as for Paul Rudd's Ant-Man? I'd rather watch his CoBro. But the actor and character criminally underutilized is Tom Hiddleston's Loki. Therefore I couldn't at first bring myself to actually watch Loki, we shall ignore the fact that I actually didn't get Disney+ until long after it started. Yes, Marvel seems to have a far better handle on their television properties, but for every win like Agent Carter, there's a massive loss. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D anyone? How did that show last seven seasons? I don't know if I got beyond season two it was so bad. Tom Hiddleston has been in seven movies as the God of Mischief and they just never knew what to do with this character and his glorious purpose. Well, his glorious purpose was this show. A show that's written almost as a play. Loki is notorious for monologuing, but by teaming him up with Owen Wilson's Mobius he has someone perfectly dispositioned to play off of and chew the scenery with. This show makes Marvel more cerebral. You actually have to think versus mindlessly enjoy. It's multilayered and deals with Loki's true purpose, his villainy, and his possible redemption. There's a Wizard of Oz quality to the first season's arc, to the reveal of the Kang behind the curtain. And that's where we start to encounter a possible problem, Kang. Not just that Loki was what jump-started Phase Four which begins Marvel's Multiverse Saga which is built around Kang, but they felt a need to link it into the greater mythos. Therefore Loki suffers a bit because it feels like it's serving the Multiverse versus just serving itself. And lets not even get into the problem that is Jonathan Majors. All this means is going into season two the stakes were even higher, especially given how disappointing Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania performed and how depressing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was. But the thing about how Loki is written is, for the most part, it doesn't make sense until the end. It's this big puzzle and they know where every single piece is going to slot and you have to just have faith. And episode three, "1893," really tried my faith. Aside from the fact they somehow actually made The World's Columbian Exposition boring and obviously didn't know where Wisconsin was, we are NORTH of Illinois not "across the lake" not that that matters seeing as that boat was going south and would be shortly in Indiana, but they really failed the female stars of the show. A trend that was consistent throughout this season. Sylvie was almost a nonentity, and as for Renslayer? Her and Miss Minutes should talk to their agents. But then the ending happened. The most perfect episode that rested completely on the shoulders of Tom Hiddleston. Loki's "Glorious Purpose" was revealed and he was redeemed, and who knows, he might not just have saved all timelines he might have saved the MCU. Rarely is an ending so perfect that I don't want more. It's a compliment to this show, the cast, and the writers, that I don't want more. Take a bow, you've earned it. Bonus points if it's in a seventies tux.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Agent Carter, And the Emmy Goes To, Ant-Man, Benedict Cumberbatch, Captain America, CoBro, Glorious Purpose, Guardians of the Galaxy, Jonathan Majors, Loki, Mobius, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd, Tom Hiddleston, Wisconsin

The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: February 9th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When a banished witch falls in love with the legendary trickster Loki, she risks the wrath of the gods in this moving, subversive debut novel that reimagines Norse mythology.

Angrboda’s story begins where most witches' tales end: with a burning. A punishment from Odin for refusing to provide him with knowledge of the future, the fire leaves Angrboda injured and powerless, and she flees into the farthest reaches of a remote forest. There she is found by a man who reveals himself to be Loki, and her initial distrust of him transforms into a deep and abiding love.

Their union produces three unusual children, each with a secret destiny, who Angrboda is keen to raise at the edge of the world, safely hidden from Odin’s all-seeing eye. But as Angrboda slowly recovers her prophetic powers, she learns that her blissful life - and possibly all of existence - is in danger.

With help from the fierce huntress Skadi, with whom she shares a growing bond, Angrboda must choose whether she’ll accept the fate that she’s foreseen for her beloved family...or rise to remake their future. From the most ancient of tales this novel forges a story of love, loss, and hope for the modern age."

Loki and subversive? Sold. 

The Girl from Shadow Springs by Ellie Cypher
Published by: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: February 9th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Revenant meets True Grit with a magical twist in this thrilling and atmospheric debut fantasy about two teens who must brave a frozen wasteland and the foes within it to save their loved ones and uncover a deadly secret.

The answer to what freezes first is the eyes. That ain’t what most people would guess.

Everyone in Shadow Springs knows that no one survives crossing the Flats. But the threat of a frozen death has never deterred the steady stream of treasure hunters searching for a legendary prize hidden somewhere in the vast expanse of ice. Jorie thinks they’re all fools, which makes scavenging their possessions easier. It’s how she and her sister, Brenna, survive.

Then Jorie scavenges off the wrong body. When the dead man’s enemy believes Jorie took something valuable from the body, he kidnaps Brenna as collateral. He tells Jorie that if she wants her sister back, she’ll have to trade her for the item he thinks she stole. But how can Jorie make a trade when she doesn’t even know what she’s looking for?

Her only source of information is Cody, the dead man’s nephew and a scholar from the South who’s never been hardened by the harsh conditions of the North. Though Jorie’s reluctant to bring a city boy out onto the Flats with her, she’ll do whatever it takes to save her sister. But anything can happen out on the ice, and soon Jorie and Cody find they need one another more than they ever imagined - and they’ll have to trust each other to survive threats beyond their darkest nightmares."

I reading a book right now heralded as True Grit meets True Blood, and I need more books of this ilk in my life. 

The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: February 9th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"An unconventional vicar must exorcise the dark past of a remote village haunted by death and disappearances in this explosive and unsettling thriller from the acclaimed author of The Chalk Man.

A dark history lingers in Chapel Croft. Five hundred years ago, Protestant martyrs were betrayed - then burned. Thirty years ago, two teenage girls disappeared without a trace. And a few weeks ago, the vicar of the local parish hanged himself in the nave of the church.

Reverend Jack Brooks, a single parent with a fourteen-year-old daughter and a heavy conscience, arrives in the village hoping for a fresh start. Instead, Jack finds a town rife with conspiracies and secrets, and is greeted with a strange welcome package: an exorcism kit and a note that warns, “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known.”

The more Jack and daughter, Flo, explore the town and get to know its strange denizens, the deeper they are drawn into the age-old rifts, mysteries, and suspicions. And when Flo begins to see specters of girls ablaze, it becomes apparent there are ghosts here that refuse to be laid to rest.

Uncovering the truth can be deadly in a village with a bloody past, where everyone has something to hide and no one trusts an outsider."

Sounds very much like Midsomer Murders gone horrific... I LOVE IT!

Loner by Georgina Young
Published by: Text Publishing Company
Publication Date: February 9th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Set in Melbourne, Loner is a humorous and heartfelt exploration of new adulthood. Lona kills her days by sneaking into the dark room at her old art school to develop photographs. She kills her nights DJ-ing the roller disco at Planet Skate. She is in inexplicably, debilitatingly love with a bespectacled Doctor Who-obsessed former classmate, and in comfortable, platonic love with her best friend Tab. Lona works hard to portray a permanent attitude of cynicism and ennui but will her carefully constructed persona be enough to protect her from the inevitable sorrows and unexpected joys of adult life? Loner re-examines notions of social isolation experienced by young people, suggesting sometimes our own company can be a choice and not a failing."

I'm all about books set in Australia right now!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Australia, C.J. Tudor, Ellie Cypher, Genevieve Gornichec, Georgina Young, Loki, Loner, Norse Mythology, The Burning Girls, The Girl from Shadow Springs, The Witch's Heart, True Blood, Tuesday Tomorrow

The Long Call by Ann Cleeves
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In North Devon, where two rivers converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his estranged father’s funeral takes place. On the day Matthew left the strict evangelical community he grew up in, he lost his family too.

Now, as he turns and walks away again, he receives a call from one of his team. A body has been found on the beach nearby: a man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death.

The case calls Matthew back to the people and places of his past, as deadly secrets hidden at their hearts are revealed, and his new life is forced into a collision course with the world he thought he’d left behind.

From Ann Cleeves, bestselling author of Vera and Shetland, beloved by readers and TV viewers alike, comes a spectacular new series, told with deep compassion and searing insight."

A new Ann Cleeves series, be still my heart! Also, how long until it's a TV series? My guess is REALLY SOON.

Iced in Paradise by Naomi Hirahara
Published by: Prospect Park Books
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2019
Format: Paperback, 216 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Leilani Santiago is back in her birthplace, the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i, to help keep afloat the family business, a shave ice shack. When she goes to work one morning, she stumbles across a dead body, a young pro surfer who was being coached by her estranged father. As her father soon becomes the No. 1 murder suspect, Leilani must find the real killer and somehow safeguard her ill mother, little sisters, and grandmother while also preserving a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend in Seattle."

Last year I watched all of Magnum, P.I. and I miss it horribly. I think this will fill the void. Or I might just have to rewatch it all again...

Murder on a Mystery Tour by Marian Babson
Published by: Open Road Media Mystery and Thriller
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2019
Format: Kindle, 187 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"With their fortunes dwindling, Reggie and his wife, Midge, have turned the family mansion into an English country inn. When Midge gets a call from an old classmate who arranges “mystery tours” for visiting Americans, she happily agrees to host one of these staged-murder events.

But the tour seems to be a disaster from the get-go, with lots of arguing and complaining among those involved. Then, after a massive snowstorm, a real murder takes place - and it’s up to the amateur sleuths to solve the case before the killer checks them out permanently."

Wannabe detectives snowed in when the killings start? YAS! 

A Dangerous Engagement by Ashley Weaver
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A Dangerous Engagement is the stylish, charming sixth novel in the Edgar-nominated Amory Ames mystery series by Ashley Weaver, set in 1930s New York.

As they travel by ship to New York for her childhood friend Tabitha’s wedding, Amory Ames gazes out at the city’s iconic skyline, excited by the prospect of being a bridesmaid. Her husband Milo, however, is convinced their trip will be deadly dull, since Prohibition is in full swing. But when a member of the wedding party is found murdered on the front steps of the bride’s home, the happy plans take a darker twist.

Amory discovers that the dead groomsman has links to the notorious - and notoriously handsome - gangster Leon De Lora, and soon she and Milo find themselves drawn into another mystery. While the police seem to think that New York’s criminal underworld is at play, Amory feels they can’t ignore the wedding party either. Tabitha’s fiancé Tom Smith appears to be a good man, but he has secrets of his own, and the others in the group seem strangely unaffected by the death of their friend...

In an unfamiliar city, not knowing who they can trust, Milo and Amory are drawn into the glamorous, dangerous world of nightclubs and bootleggers. But as they draw closer to unraveling the web of lies and half-truths the murdered man has left in his wake, the killer is weaving a web of his own."

Because who doesn't like the siren call of the thirties with a dash or murder and mayhem?

The Lady and the Highwayman by Sarah M. Eden
Published by: Shadow Mountain
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2019
Format: Kindle, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Elizabeth Black is the headmistress of a girls’ school in 1830s Victorian London. She is also a well-respected author of "silver-fork" novels, stories written both for and about the upper-class ladies of Victorian society. But by night, she writes very different kinds of stories - the Penny Dreadfuls that are all the rage among the working-class men. Under the pseudonym Charles King, Elizabeth has written about dashing heroes fighting supernatural threats, intelligent detectives solving grisly murders, and dangerous outlaws romancing helpless women. They contain all the adventure and mystery that her real life lacks.

Fletcher Walker began life as a street urchin, but is now the most successful author in the Penny Dreadful market, that is until Charles King started taking all of his readers. No one knows who King is, including Fletcher’s fellow members of the Dread Penny Society, a fraternity of authors dedicated to secretly fighting for the social and political causes of their working-class readers. The group knows King could be an asset with his obvious monetary success, or he could be the group’s undoing as King’s readership continues to cut into their profits.

Determined to find the elusive Mr. King, Fletcher approaches Miss Black. As a fellow-author, she is well-known among the high-class writers; perhaps she could be persuaded to make some inquiries as to Mr. King’s whereabouts? Elizabeth agrees to help Fletcher, if only to insure her secret identity is never discovered. What neither author anticipated was the instant attraction, even though their social positions dictate the impossibility of a relationship.

For the first time Elizabeth experiences the thrill of a cat-and-mouse adventure reminiscent of one of her own novels as she tries to throw Fletcher off her scent. But the more time they spend together, the more she loses her heart. Its upper-class against working-class, author against author where readers, reputations, and romance are all on the line."

This book had me at writer of Penny Dreadfuls... 

Magic Under the Mistletoe by Lucy Coleman
Published by: Aria
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2019
Format: Kindle, 334 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Christmas and romance are in the air...

It's December 23rd and while everyone else is rushing home for the holidays, workaholic Leesa Oliver is dreading switching on her out-of-office for the festive season. And it seems her equally driven boss, Cary Anderson, isn't relishing spending Christmas at his family's country estate either.

So together, they draft an unexpected Christmas contract: They'll spend half of the holidays with each other's families, pretending to be a couple. Leesa knows the insufferably good-looking Cary will make her Christmas more bearable, but what happens after the last of the mince pies have been eaten...?

Leesa signed off on a sensible business agreement, but somewhere, amongst the fairy lights and carols something seems to have changed... It seems there might just be some magic under the mistletoe this Christmas!"

Yes, I'm setting up my holiday reading, do you want to make something of it?

There Will Come a Darkness by Katy Rose Pool
Published by: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 496 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows meets Kristin Cashore's Graceling, with a dash of Winter is Coming, in this showstopping debut YA fantasy!

The Age of Darkness approaches.
Five lives stand in its way.
Who will stop it...or unleash it?

For generations, the Seven Prophets guided humanity. Using their visions of the future, they ended wars and united nations - until the day, one hundred years ago, when the Prophets disappeared.

All they left behind was one final, secret prophecy, foretelling an Age of Darkness and the birth of a new Prophet who could be the world’s salvation...or the cause of its destruction. With chaos on the horizon, five souls are set on a collision course:

A prince exiled from his kingdom.
A ruthless killer known as the Pale Hand.
A once-faithful leader torn between his duty and his heart.
A reckless gambler with the power to find anything or anyone.
And a dying girl on the verge of giving up.

One of them - or all of them - could break the world. Will they be savior or destroyer? Perfect for fans of Throne of Glass, Children of Blood and Bone, and An Ember in the Ashes."

Yes to the Six of Crows comparison, no to the Children of Blood and Bone. I just didn't like that book. 

The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett
Published by: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Last Magician meets A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue in this thrilling tale filled with magic and set in the mysterious Carpathian Mountains where a girl must hunt down Vlad the Impaler’s cursed ring in order to save her father.

Some legends never die...

Traveling with her treasure-hunting father has always been a dream for Theodora. She’s read every book in his library, has an impressive knowledge of the world’s most sought-after relics, and has all the ambition in the world. What she doesn’t have is her father’s permission. That honor goes to her father’s nineteen-year-old protégé - and once-upon-a-time love of Theodora’s life - Huck Gallagher, while Theodora is left to sit alone in her hotel in Istanbul.

Until Huck arrives from an expedition without her father and enlists Theodora’s help in rescuing him. Armed with her father’s travel journal, the reluctant duo learns that her father had been digging up information on a legendary and magical ring that once belonged to Vlad the Impaler - more widely known as Dracula - and that it just might be the key to finding him.

Journeying into Romania, Theodora and Huck embark on a captivating adventure through Gothic villages and dark castles in the misty Carpathian Mountains to recover the notorious ring. But they aren’t the only ones who are searching for it. A secretive and dangerous occult society with a powerful link to Vlad the Impaler himself is hunting for it, too. And they will go to any lengths - including murder - to possess it."

I'm a sucker for anything Gothic and Dracula related, it is that time of year...

The Girl the Sea Gave Back by Ann Cleeves
Published by: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From Adrienne Young, New York Times bestselling author of Sky in the Deep, comes her new gut-wrenching epic The Girl the Sea Gave Back.

For as long as she can remember, Tova has lived among the Svell, the people who found her washed ashore as a child and use her for her gift as a Truthtongue. Her own home and clan are long-faded memories, but the sacred symbols and staves inked over every inch of her skin mark her as one who can cast the rune stones and see into the future. She has found a fragile place among those who fear her, but when two clans to the east bury their age-old blood feud and join together as one, her world is dangerously close to collapse.

For the first time in generations, the leaders of the Svell are divided. Should they maintain peace or go to war with the allied clans to protect their newfound power? And when their chieftain looks to Tova to cast the stones, she sets into motion a series of events that will not only change the landscape of the mainland forever but will give her something she believed she could never have again - a home."

Tattoos and runes? Yes please!

Sword and Pen by Rachel Caine
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"With the future of the Great Library in doubt, the unforgettable characters from Ink and Bone must decide if it's worth saving in this thrilling adventure in the New York Times bestselling series.

The corrupt leadership of the Great Library has fallen. But with the Archivist plotting his return to power, and the Library under siege from outside empires and kingdoms, its future is uncertain. Jess Brightwell and his friends must come together as never before, to forge a new future for the Great Library...or see everything it stood for crumble."

There is never not a right time for a new installment in this series.

The Unkindest Tide by Seanan McGuire
Published by: DAW
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Now in hardcover, the thirteenth novel of the Hugo-nominated, New York Times-bestselling Toby Daye urban fantasy series!

Hundreds of years ago, the Selkies made a deal with the sea witch: they would have the sea for as long as she allowed it, and when the time came, she would call in all their debts at once. Many people assumed that day would never come. Those people were wrong.

When the Luidaeg - October "Toby" Daye's oldest and most dangerous ally - tells her the time has come for the Selkies to fulfill their side of the bargain, and that Toby must be a part of the process, Toby can't refuse. Literally. The Selkies aren't the only ones in debt to the Luidaeg, and Toby has to pay what she owes like anyone else. They will travel to the fabled Duchy of Ships and call a convocation of the Selkies, telling them to come and meet the Luidaeg's price...or face the consequences.

Of course, nothing is that simple. When Dianda Lorden's brother appears to arrest Dianda for treason against the Undersea, when a Selkie woman is stripped of her skin and then murdered, when everything is falling apart, that's when Toby will have to answer the real question of the hour.

Is she going to sink? Or is she going to swim?"

I'm going to start referring to Seanan McGuire as the Urban Fantasy Stephen King, she really has the output to match! 

Loki: Where Mischief Lies by Mackenzi Lee
Published by: Marvel Press
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"This is the first of three young adult novels from New York Times best-selling author Mackenzi Lee that explores the untapped potential and duality of heroism of popular characters in the Marvel Universe.

Before the days of going toe-to-toe with the Avengers, a younger Loki is desperate to prove himself heroic and capable, while it seems everyone around him suspects him of inevitable villainy and depravity...except for Amora. Asgard's resident sorceress-in-training feels like a kindred spirit-someone who values magic and knowledge, who might even see the best in him.

But when Loki and Amora cause the destruction of one of Asgard's most prized possessions, Amora is banished to Earth, where her powers will slowly and excruciatingly fade to nothing. Without the only person who ever looked at his magic as a gift instead of a threat, Loki slips further into anguish and the shadow of his universally adored brother, Thor.

When Asgardian magic is detected in relation to a string of mysterious murders on Earth, Odin sends Loki to investigate. As he descends upon nineteenth-century London, Loki embarks on a journey that leads him to more than just a murder suspect, putting him on a path to discover the source of his power-and who he's meant to be."

Because who doesn't need more Loki in their lives? 

Little Witches: Magic in Concord by Leigh Dragoon
Published by: Oni Press
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2019
Format: Paperback, 160 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A charming and magical graphic novel adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women!

Jo, Beth, Amy, and Meg March are four sisters living in Concord with their parents - Father, who's tending to soldiers fighting in the Civil War, and Marmee, who teaches the girls simple but effective witchcraft. The Marches have to keep their craft quiet, as there are many in Concord who see magic in a bad light - especially after things have begun disappearing.

When Mr. Laurence, a witchfinder, moves in next door to investigate the missing objects, the girls fear for their livelihood. But he turns out to be a kind old man, and his grandson, Laurie, quickly befriends the Marches. As the cold winter blusters on, the girls continue their education, even as missing objects soon turn into missing people.

Things take a turn for the worse when Jo and Laurie try investigating on their own, and a dangerous storm takes hold of Concord. There's powerful magic at play here - stronger than anything the Marches, or even Laurie, has ever seen before. Can they hope to defeat it? Or has the magic already become too strong for them to fight against?"

Now THIS is the Little Women adaptation I'm excited for. 

Texts from Mittens by Angie Bailey
Published by: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2019
Format: Paperback, 152 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Internet’s favorite text-happy cat is back at it - with a little help from his friends.

Follow along with Mittens as he enjoys hilarious, snark-filled text volleys with his cast of quirky friends and family: Earl (the “filthy hound”), Stumpy (the best friend), Drunky Patty (the usually tipsy next-door neighbor), Grandma (giver of treats), and Fiona (Mitty’s girlfriend). Based on Angie Bailey’s virally popular blog, Texts from Mittens: The Friends and Family Edition is feline humor at its finest."

A book I'm SO excited to read! And why am I excited to read it? Not just cat snark, oh no, it's because I got a digital ARC through NetGalley and they archived it before they said they would and I didn't get to read it! 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Adrienne Young, Ann Cleeves, Ashley Weaver, Cats, Christmas, Jenn Bennett, Katy Rose Pool, Little Women, Loki, Lucy Coleman, Mackenzi Lee, Marian Babson, Naomi Hirahara, Rachel Caine, Sarah M. Eden, Seanan McGuire

High Rising by Angela Thirkell
Published by: Virago Modern Classics
Publication Date: 1933
Format: Paperback, 276 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Laura Moreland is off to her cottage in High Rising with her son Tony for the winter holidays. Her three other boys are all grown up and flung to the far reaches of the earth after she ably raised them alone as a widowed author. In fact she ended up with quite a following for her fun and frivolous tales told in the world of high fashion staring Madame Koska. In fact many of her fans are right on her doorstep, with her assistant Anne Todd being a neighbor who nurses her ailing mother but has a penchant for couture. Fellow author, though of a historical and biographical bent, George Knox lives in nearby Low Rising with his daughter Sibyl. In fact the holiday season is bound to be interesting by a new arrival at the Knox's house, because it's sure not going to be enlivened by Tony's litany of train facts. George Knox has a new secretary, a Miss Una Grey. Miss Grey, while competent, seems to have her eye on her employer for a precipitous rise in her station. The locals aren't having any of this and soon the gossip over this "Incubus" has both High and Low Rising talking. But George Knox is an honorable man and he can't send a poor, defenseless orphan out into the world, no matter how ambitious and amorous her attentions. Though perhaps Miss Grey isn't as she has presented herself and that might just turn the tables and perhaps give Laura an idea for a new book.

How would it feel to write all your books in a world created by another person? I guess a good author to ask would be Gregory Maguire whose "Wicked Years" are set in the world created by L. Frank Baum in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Though Maguire expanded and parodied the world that Baum created making it very much his own. The reason I bring this up is that most of Angela Thirkell's books are set in the fictional English county of Barsetshire created by Anthony Trollope in his six book series that make up The Chronicles of Barsetshire. I'm of two minds with this. One is that it's an interesting experiment freeing the author in this case from onerous worldbuilding. The other mind is going: lazy, plagiaristic hack, and seeing as she often quoted from other authors without attribution, leaning towards plagiarist. But I knew I'd have to come to a conclusion on my own by reading the books, despite the enthusiastic recommendations of my many friends. And seeing as they are set in a world created by Trollope, I felt I'd have to read those first. It's not like I have anything against Trollope, in fact I quite love him, I just wasn't enamoured of his first Barsetshire book The Warden. But having at least nominally dipped my toe into the world created by Trollope I felt I could take a plunge into this world that Thirkell expanded on.

What struck me most about this book is why did she bother to set it in Barsetshire? This could have been any little small British town anywhere, so why did she frame it within someone else's work? Was it her desperate need for a map? Maps are easy to come by, you pick them up anywhere. Get them while you get your gas! It's not like there was a wicked witch with green skin that needed to be her antihero, so why do it? Because, in all seriousness, by co-opting the world of another author she is doing a great disservice to herself and her work. Going into the book I had prejudices against it's originality because of this. Yet it is so original, minus the county. There's a freshness to it, a world weary snark that spoke to me so deeply that I just wanted to be a part of this story. High Rising has an honesty that makes the misanthrope in me happy while at the same time creating a cast of characters that are in a happy place; which makes me wonder if it was maybe love versus laziness that made Angela Thirkell set her books in Barsetshire. Maybe she loved the world so much that deep down in her bones she didn't want to leave and set out to spend her life there? If this is the case then perhaps her books are some of the very first fan fic there is. Now that would be an interesting topic for a dissertation, "Angela Thirkell, the Origins of Fan Fiction."

The character of Laura Morland is now my literary heroine. I seriously adore her. In a time when parents are always PC in books and television shows like The Slap make headlines it's so refreshing to have a heroine who loves her children but knows that they are annoying brats. Laura will willingly hate on her child, but not vindictively. She points out that which aggravates one in the young but never is mean spirited about it. Ah, to have children in a book that aren't precious or precocious! Laura is just honest. She knows herself, she knows the world, she just seems to know everything, including the perfect put-down for an ill-advised yet ardent suitor and seriously, can I be her when I grow up? She is not deluded, she knows she's not the best writer in the world, she knows where she belongs. To read about a person who knows their place in the world so well is interesting. Because so often the world doesn't make the least sense and we can never quite fit, always feeling like the last puzzle piece that obviously doesn't go where it is supposed to. Yet here comes Laura, self assured, self deprecating, self reliant, and true to that self. So many books are about characters finding their place, trying to fit in, the struggle is all, to read a story with a heroine who is past all that is a luxury. To me, this is the ultimate comfort read. I, like Laura, will chose my bed and a gruesome book over King Lear any day.

Another aspect of Laura that I love that extends outwards to the whole of High Rising is this love of the literary, books within books. We have a handful of authors as our main characters and they run the gamut from poets to scholars to cozy mystery writers. I love how Thirkell is able to convey their personalities through their chosen mediums. Adrian Coates was a published teenage poet, and has therefore the right level of demureness coupled with a desire to forget his opus that you would expect of a languishing poetic soul. George Knox is verbose and preachy, which you would expect of a historian. Laura, well, Laura I think is the author in disguise, all honest about her work being their to pay the bills. Laura in fact shares a kindred spirit with another of my favorite literary character, Ariadne Oliver, who, as anyone knows, is Agatha Christie in disguise in her own Poirot mysteries. Perhaps there's just something about authors "secreting" themselves into their own stories that lends something extra, something jovial to the story that is addictive. The ability for anyone to laugh at themselves is key to a good personality, in my mind, so therefore an author who can do the same and then incorporate that into their work, well, that just tickles me. It is rare to find a book that so tailors with what I value in life and in literature, and High Rising is definitely a book written for me.

The most interesting fact of this entire book is even the character I hated, aka Miss Una Grey, aka the Incubus, I loved to hate, and rarely have I hated a character more. I totally disagree with Alexander McCall Smith's statement in the introduction that Miss Grey should have our sympathy. Doesn't he see that she is a total sociopath? She's not a poor lonely girl who is misunderstood, she is a lying, manipulative, she-devil. Yes, sure, occasionally working with someone you might develop feelings, but she takes it to stalker levels. In fact she takes everything too far. She does her job flawlessly, but this is balanced by her doing her crazy flawlessly too. Everything is done to the perfect extreme. When I tried to think of other characters that you are meant to love to hate, Caroline Bingley, Blanche Ingram, Loki, yes, I had to work Tom Hiddleston in somehow, never have I had such a visceral reaction where I longed for the moment everyone would have the definitive proof of her wrong doing and she would be sent packing. This was up there with the childish glee I got when watching The Parent Trap for the first time and the upstart Vicky was sent packing, bear cubs and all! I almost want to re-read the whole book again just to see Miss Grey get what's coming to her.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Angela Thirkell, Barsetshire, Caroline Bingley, Fan Fic, Gregory Maguire, High Rising, Jazzy July, L. Frank Baum, Laura Morland, Lauren Willig, Loki, The Other Daughter, The Warden, The Wizard of Oz, Tom Hiddleston

High Rising by Angela Thirkell
Published by: Virago Modern Classics
Publication Date: 1933
Format: Paperback, 276 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

"If you haven’t read Angela Thirkell yet, you’re in for a treat! I’ve always described her books as a cross between Waugh and Wodehouse. They have the kindly good humor of Wodehouse and the satirical eye of Waugh. What they really do brilliantly, though, is showcase a timeless (and idealized) image of village life, in which vicars are always daydreaming over their pipes and muddling over the annual fete, the bossy grande dame of the village throws amateur theatricals, young men just down from Oxford go into sulks, and everyone, in the end, goes merrily on their appointed ways.

There are aristocrats in Thirkell’s Barsetshire books (Lord Pomfret, for one, or Lady Emily, for another), but it isn’t primarily an aristocratic world. This is the province of the gentry, of gentlemen farmers, lady novelists, schoolmasters in tweed jackets, and rising young barristers. It’s a very restful and charming sort of world and provided the foundation for my image of my heroine, Rachel’s, childhood in just such a small village." - Lauren Willig

Laura Moreland is off to her cottage in High Rising with her son Tony for the winter holidays. Her three other boys are all grown up and flung to the far reaches of the earth after she ably raised them alone as a widowed author. In fact she ended up with quite a following for her fun and frivolous tales told in the world of high fashion staring Madame Koska. In fact many of her fans are right on her doorstep, with her assistant Anne Todd being a neighbor who nurses her ailing mother but has a penchant for couture. Fellow author, though of a historical and biographical bent, George Knox lives in nearby Low Rising with his daughter Sibyl. In fact the holiday season is bound to be interesting by a new arrival at the Knox's house, because it's sure not going to be enlivened by Tony's litany of train facts. George Knox has a new secretary, a Miss Una Grey. Miss Grey, while competent, seems to have her eye on her employer for a precipitous rise in her station. The locals aren't having any of this and soon the gossip over this "Incubus" has both High and Low Rising talking. But George Knox is an honorable man and he can't send a poor, defenseless orphan out into the world, no matter how ambitious and amorous her attentions. Though perhaps Miss Grey isn't as she has presented herself and that might just turn the tables and perhaps give Laura an idea for a new book.

How would it feel to write all your books in a world created by another person? I guess a good author to ask would be Gregory Maguire whose "Wicked Years" are set in the world created by L. Frank Baum in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Though Maguire expanded and parodied the world that Baum created making it very much his own. The reason I bring this up is that most of Angela Thirkell's books are set in the fictional English county of Barsetshire created by Anthony Trollope in his six book series that make up The Chronicles of Barsetshire. I'm of two minds with this. One is that it's an interesting experiment freeing the author in this case from onerous worldbuilding. The other mind is going: lazy, plagiaristic hack, and seeing as she often quoted from other authors without attribution, leaning towards plagiarist. But I knew I'd have to come to a conclusion on my own by reading the books, despite the enthusiastic recommendations of my many friends. And seeing as they are set in a world created by Trollope, I felt I'd have to read those first. It's not like I have anything against Trollope, in fact I quite love him, I just wasn't enamoured of his first Barsetshire book The Warden. But having at least nominally dipped my toe into the world created by Trollope I felt I could take a plunge into this world that Thirkell expanded on.

What struck me most about this book is why did she bother to set it in Barsetshire? This could have been any little small British town anywhere, so why did she frame it within someone else's work? Was it her desperate need for a map? Maps are easy to come by, you pick them up anywhere. Get them while you get your gas! It's not like there was a wicked witch with green skin that needed to be her antihero, so why do it? Because, in all seriousness, by co-opting the world of another author she is doing a great disservice to herself and her work. Going into the book I had prejudices against it's originality because of this. Yet it is so original, minus the county. There's a freshness to it, a world weary snark that spoke to me so deeply that I just wanted to be a part of this story. High Rising has an honesty that makes the misanthrope in me happy while at the same time creating a cast of characters that are in a happy place; which makes me wonder if it was maybe love versus laziness that made Angela Thirkell set her books in Barsetshire. Maybe she loved the world so much that deep down in her bones she didn't want to leave and set out to spend her life there? If this is the case then perhaps her books are some of the very first fan fic there is. Now that would be an interesting topic for a dissertation, "Angela Thirkell, the Origins of Fan Fiction."

The character of Laura Morland is now my literary heroine. I seriously adore her. In a time when parents are always PC in books and television shows like The Slap make headlines it's so refreshing to have a heroine who loves her children but knows that they are annoying brats. Laura will willingly hate on her child, but not vindictively. She points out that which aggravates one in the young but never is mean spirited about it. Ah, to have children in a book that aren't precious or precocious! Laura is just honest. She knows herself, she knows the world, she just seems to know everything, including the perfect put-down for an ill-advised yet ardent suitor and seriously, can I be her when I grow up? She is not deluded, she knows she's not the best writer in the world, she knows where she belongs. To read about a person who knows their place in the world so well is interesting. Because so often the world doesn't make the least sense and we can never quite fit, always feeling like the last puzzle piece that obviously doesn't go where it is supposed to. Yet here comes Laura, self assured, self deprecating, self reliant, and true to that self. So many books are about characters finding their place, trying to fit in, the struggle is all, to read a story with a heroine who is past all that is a luxury. To me, this is the ultimate comfort read. I, like Laura, will chose my bed and a gruesome book over King Lear any day.

Another aspect of Laura that I love that extends outwards to the whole of High Rising is this love of the literary, books within books. We have a handful of authors as our main characters and they run the gamut from poets to scholars to cozy mystery writers. I love how Thirkell is able to convey their personalities through their chosen mediums. Adrian Coates was a published teenage poet, and has therefore the right level of demureness coupled with a desire to forget his opus that you would expect of a languishing poetic soul. George Knox is verbose and preachy, which you would expect of a historian. Laura, well, Laura I think is the author in disguise, all honest about her work being their to pay the bills. Laura in fact shares a kindred spirit with another of my favorite literary character, Ariadne Oliver, who, as anyone knows, is Agatha Christie in disguise in her own Poirot mysteries. Perhaps there's just something about authors "secreting" themselves into their own stories that lends something extra, something jovial to the story that is addictive. The ability for anyone to laugh at themselves is key to a good personality, in my mind, so therefore an author who can do the same and then incorporate that into their work, well, that just tickles me. It is rare to find a book that so tailors with what I value in life and in literature, and High Rising is definitely a book written for me.

The most interesting fact of this entire book is even the character I hated, aka Miss Una Grey, aka the Incubus, I loved to hate, and rarely have I hated a character more. I totally disagree with Alexander McCall Smith's statement in the introduction that Miss Grey should have our sympathy. Doesn't he see that she is a total sociopath? She's not a poor lonely girl who is misunderstood, she is a lying, manipulative, she-devil. Yes, sure, occasionally working with someone you might develop feelings, but she takes it to stalker levels. In fact she takes everything too far. She does her job flawlessly, but this is balanced by her doing her crazy flawlessly too. Everything is done to the perfect extreme. When I tried to think of other characters that you are meant to love to hate, Caroline Bingley, Blanche Ingram, Loki, yes, I had to work Tom Hiddleston in somehow, never have I had such a visceral reaction where I longed for the moment everyone would have the definitive proof of her wrong doing and she would be sent packing. This was up there with the childish glee I got when watching The Parent Trap for the first time and the upstart Vicky was sent packing, bear cubs and all! I almost want to re-read the whole book again just to see Miss Grey get what's coming to her.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Angela Thirkell, Barsetshire, Caroline Bingley, Fan Fic, Gregory Maguire, High Rising, Jazzy July, L. Frank Baum, Laura Morland, Lauren Willig, Loki, The Other Daughter, The Warden, The Wizard of Oz, Tom Hiddleston

Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone Book 1) by Laini Taylor
Published by: Little Brown
Publication Date: September 27th, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 432 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

"Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well."

Karou might be just as she seems, a gifted art student in Prague. Yet the fantastical beasts that she fills her sketchbooks with aren't a figment of her imagination. They are her family. And like most family, they sometimes have favors to ask of her that take her away from the normal life she is trying to live. A life that is about to end. All over the world black hand prints are appearing on doors, burned into the wood by winged strangers. One day it is the door Karou takes to visit her family. She is cut off from them, she doesn't know if they are alive or dead. What will she do if she is cut off from all that she knows?

Yet what of the winged strangers? One of them, Akiva, sees Karou and cannot believe his eyes. She looks just like his lost love. But she is dead and gone. Their love was forbidden. Two star crossed lovers on different sides of an otherworldly war. There can not be a connection between the two women. Yet Akiva's heart is telling him differently. Could Karou be his lost love? Could she love him again in this new life once she knows the whole truth?

If someone had said to me that I would become enamoured with a book series about "devils" and "angels" I would have laughed. Angels to me have never seemed the stuff of literature, more the stuff of Sunday School. Yet there are angels out there that have fascinated me... Loki and Bartleby in Dogma, Balthamos and Baruch in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series for example. So, add to this many of my friends clamouring that I must read this book now, which increased a hundred fold once the second book came out, I caved and fell in love with this world.

What I adored was the world building. The seamless twining of reality and fantasy. Prague was the perfect choice in it's character to couple it with an imaginary land. The history and the Gothic feel of the city make it totally believable that you might accidentally stumble upon a chimera walking down a twisty back alley. Or a winged creature might descend from the skies and accost you. There's a part of me that wishes I had been raised in that little office of Brimstone's where wishes were made, literally. Add to Taylor's creatures and continents this elaborate currency of wishes and their effectiveness, and it's so alive and real that I really thought I might be able to barter some teeth for a scuppy or a shing to give myself really cool colored hair like Karou...

Though, I did have a hard time after becoming so invested in Karou's life as it revolved around Prague, that when we are pulled out of that life and into her previous life as Madrigal I was so jarred that I didn't really take to her previous life. Having already read the second book, I know that there is a merging of the two halves of herself that takes place that then makes everything make sense, but at this point in Daughter of Smoke and Bone was when my love for it wavered. I needed to know the full history of Akiva and Karou's previous life when she was Madrigal, but at the same time, this fearless warrior that was Madrigal, was so different from Karou, that my heart hardened a little towards her. Madrigal is what Karou would have been/was in a different world. A "person" I just didn't take to. Thankfully this was rectified in the second book, which is one of the most amazing books I have read in a long time.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Akiva, Bartelby, Chimera, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Days of Blood and Starlight, Dogma, His Dark Materials, Karou, Laini Taylor, Loki, Madrigal, Philip Pullman, Prague, Scuppy, Seraphim, Shing, Summer Series

Name: Tom Hiddleston

Dream Character Casting for the Lauren Willig Fantasy Movie Adaptation: Nicholas "Nick" Dorrington

First Impression: I don't really have a first impression of Tom. He was kind of in the background of so many things for so long and then wham, superstar, that I can't quite figure what left the first memory in my brain. Perhaps Return to Cranford, though I had seen him in many things prior to this.

Why they'd be the perfect actor for the Lauren Willig Dream Movie Adaptation: Because why not really? He's everywhere, so why can't he be here? Also he has the right sexiness to bookishness needed to pull of the role of Nick. Plus, he feels to me like he'd be a Dorrington descendant (aka, great whatever of these two, Henrietta and Miles). Can't you tell he'd love a ginger biscuit right about now?

Lasting Impression: Is there really anything else to choose from? If given a choice we would willingly surrender the world to Loki.

What else you've seen them in: Um... he's everywhere! He started in smaller British shows like Return to Cranford and an obligatory Dickens adaptation. Wallander though I think is what brought him into another tier of stardom. Working with Kenneth Branagh made him and introduced him to other big name directors like Woody Allen who perfectly cast him as F. Scott Fitzgerald in Midnight in Paris. Also, his ability to do Shakespeare, swoon worthy.

Can't believe it's them: I really can't believe that he was in Suburban Shootout, because I watched all that was available stateside and only vaguely remember him. Same but worse with Miss Austen Regrets and A Waste of Shame, no memory of him at all. At least I'll watch Miss Austen Regrets again, A Waste of Shame... I don't think you could pay me to watch that again...

Wish they hadn't: Quit Wallander! Seriously, bring him back. Damn you Branagh for making him a star and then having to eliminate him from your own series! On the other end of "wish they hadn't" is Return to Cranford. Oh how I hate this miniseries. It destroyed Cranford! All the characters went against type and they crammed in all these other short stories of Elizabeth Gaskell's to be filler, just, gaw. No.

Bio: Tall, handsome, went to Cambridge and got a double first in Classics, had his big break worldwide when he dyed his hair darker... seems to be really likable and tends to randomly sing and dance in interviews. Did a spot for Sesame Street about delayed gratification... mmm, just so many things right and wrong with that...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Elizabeth Gaskell, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henrietta Selwick, Kenneth Branagh, Lauren Willig, Loki, Midnight in Paris, Miles Dorrington, Return to Cranford, That Summer, That Summer Spotlight, Tom Hiddleston