strange and random happenstance

The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: October 19th, 1990
Format: Kindle, 1,058 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

The Talamasca is a secret society whose mission is to monitor the supernatural. There motto is "We watch. And we are always here." They do not get involved, they document. But there have been mishaps along the way. They have been watching the Mayfair Witches since the 1600s when the secret order became irrevocably entwined with the Mayfairs when one of their members, Petyr van Abel, begat a child by Deborah Mayfair. Deborah was the daughter of the first Mayfair Witch, Suzanne, a clever woman at a time when clever women were often put to the stake. Both mother and daughter would feel the flames in their lifetimes. A rare instance when a witch hunt caught the genuine article. They were the beginning of the line. A line that prospered in the new world, first in Saint-Domingue and later Louisiana. Down the generations they built an empire, first at their plantation Maye Faire, then Riverbend, and then in New Orleans at the house on First Street. Yes, they were clever, but one cannot discount supernatural assistance at the hands of Lasher, a spirit called forth from the stones at Donnelaith by Suzanne. And while all the family has some psychic abilities there is only one in each generation, the designee, who wields the power and the ability to command Lasher and the family's vast empire. They wear the Mayfair emerald as a symbol of their power. The same emerald necklace that Deborah wore when Rembrandt painted her in Amsterdam, a painting which hangs in the Talamasca Motherhouse there. After the death of Petyr van Abel at the hands of Lasher the Talamasca has twice more attempted to approach the family, both times fatally. The files on the Mayfair Witches are filled with secondhand accounts and stories. Sightings of Lasher and any intel anyone was able to give them. Gossips, lovers, servants, all were in the employee of the Talamasca and anything was fair game. And to some of the Mayfairs it was a game. They knew full well who the Talamasca were and what they were up to, but as time went on it seemed the family wanted to be ignorant of their own history. When Aaron Lightner took over the files on the Mayfair Witches he knew it would be his life's work, he just never knew he would be so intimately involved. But when poor Deirdre Mayfair dies and her daughter Rowan, the thirteenth witch, becomes the designee everything changes. Rowan has been raised in California by her adoptive mother, Ellie Mayfair. Rowan was raised in ignorance and when Ellie died she made Rowan sign a document that stated she would never return to New Orleans. But it is her destiny to return there with the man she rescued, Michael Curry. There they are to return the house on First Street to it's former glory and bring all Lasher's plans to fruition.

Anne Rice had lofty ambitions for this Gothic doorstop of a novel. She wanted it to be "as great or greater than Henry James." Instead this is if Stephenie Meyer wrote Frankenstein. Though in fairness to Anne Rice, I don't think Stephenie Meyer would have included so much incest that it would make a Targaryen blush. The Witching Hour, coming in at over a thousand pages, is very faithful to the structure of Mary Shelley, in that only the middle section of the book is worth reading. I honestly didn't know what I was getting into with this book and there were many times over the three months I slogged though it that I had to just put in down and walk away. But my struggle with the book mirrors the book's struggle with itself. The Witching Hour is in the grip of an identity crisis, it doesn't know if it wants to be an ode to the cities that Anne Rice loves, a sexually explicit YA romance, historical fiction of epic proportions, or a home improvement book. Because yes, there's an almost hundred page section of the book, "Come Into My Parlor," which is nothing but detailing the renovations of the house on First Street. This entire section could have been omitted. I did not need to know that the original pine floor was still there. And no, I didn't need to know about the linens. Oh, she's talking about the linens anyway. Please not the china. She's going for the china. All the patterns. Please no. Not the silver. NOT THE SILVER I internally scream and cry as I look in vain for her editor. Oh no, I'm learning about flue structure. Can Michael fall off the roof already at the hands of Lasher? Oh, you're choosing peach with tan curtains for the double parlor? How cliched late eighties early nineties do you want to be? Why are they cleaning during construction, shouldn't one thing follow the other no matter the speed so you don't have to clean more than once? Or, you're not going to go into that lunacy and instead tell me more about how surprisingly the swimming pool has very minimal damage for how long it was unattended. I did not need to have this in my life. And knowing that she based the house on First Street after her own house I'm wondering if this was just her instructions for her remodelers and no one bothered to notice that it somehow was thrown into this book. But she does love that house, as she does New Orleans and San Francisco, writing about the locales in the most lyrical way. I just could have done completely without Michael and Rowan and their rape fantasies with occasional conspiracies theories thrown in. When the hero and supposed heroine of the book are so annoying and milquetoast that you long for Aaron's case files on the Mayfair Witches, comprising ten parts and clocking in at around four hundred pages, maybe you want to rethink the overall concept of the book. And I do think there were times when Anne Rice rethought her plans for her characters. At over a thousand pages this book ends on a cliffhanger. Which is really shitty to do to your readers, but more so, as another reviewer pointed out, really shitty to do to your characters. Rowan's motivation completely changes in the last few chapters. Chapters that I think were rewritten to leave it open ended. Why not make it a trilogy she pondered? Again where is her editor!?! And here I am thinking I have to read two more books to even finish the story? How many months will that take me? And do I even want to try?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anne Rice, Frankenstein, Gothic, Historical Fiction, Home Improvement, Lasher, Mary Shelley, Mayfair Witches, Michael Curry, New Orleans, Rowan Mayfair, San Francisco, Season of the Witch, Talamasca, The Witching Hour, Travelogue

I get it, you haven't tried this show because you're intimidated. The lore of Dune is overwhelming. You went to a bookstore once and were like, I think I'd like to read Dune, you picked up the book, which is already pretty thick, you saw how tiny the print was and thought, I'll just watch Chalamet and Zendaya. Then you watched the Denis Villeneuve films and enjoyed them. Obviously the first part is way better than the second in spite of the infrared scene, but again, going further into this world is daunting and Austin Butler is dead. I am here to allay you fears. First, Dune: Prophecy is set about ten thousand years before the time of Paul Atreides. What does this mean? You don't need to know anything from the movies. I mean, obviously if you were paying attention the fact that technology has stagnated over a ten thousand year time period is fascinating with the ouster of "thinking machines" but seriously, you don't need to go that deep. That's for the uber nerds. This show works on many levels and even at the simplest level it is a stunning tale of court intrigue. You have three houses that are vying for dominance, the same three houses that the films concern; House Harkonnen, House Atreides, and House Corrino. Then there's the Bene Gesserit, a religious order of women who wants control more than the Houses and are willing to work in the shadows in secret and as advisors to steer the Imperium and control the galaxy. This is all neatly summarized at the beginning of the show, but again, you don't need to be in the weeds to enjoy this, because this could be any court scandal. Who has power, and who wants power, and who is willing to manipulate the universe to get it and who wants to upset the status quo and wrest control from those in power. Meaning, this isn't confusing at all, Dune: Prophecy tells a tale simply and well. Plus we have stunning costumes and actors drawn oddly from the stable of British actors who have appeared on The Witcher. Perhaps they have a love of court intrigue with an otherworldly aspect? I mean, obviously the draw is Oscar nominee Emily Watson, but there are so many British actors I love, especially the young actress from Steven Knight's Great Expectations, not the older Estella who is ironically also in this, but the younger one, Chloe Lea. But the standout is Travis Fimmel as Desmond Hart. So Desmond Hart is that figure that any fan of court intrigue roots for, the lightning rod who appears out of nowhere and changes history, usually not for the better. They are a shit stirrer. What we have here is literally Grigori Rasputin showing up in the Imperial Court of Russia and fucking everything up. Oh, the doomed angst ridden Russian vibe of this show is so me. I love everything about it. Rasputin is such a fascinating historical figure, so full of contradictions yet with a magnetic pull that draws you in as you are simultaneously revolted. That is how I feel about Desmond Hart. He has that otherworldly aspect that you can't turn away from. Plus the way his story ties back into the Bene Gesserit. Oh, how I wish I could watch this show all over again without knowing anything about it. And as for the touches of Mary Shelley? That's just like the cherry on top of the cake. I can't wait for more. It just proves you can have your cake and eat it too. Though here it would probably be spice cake.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: And the Emmy Goes To, Bene Gesserit, British Actors, Court Intrigue, Denis Villeneuve, Desmond Hart, Dune, Dune: Prophecy, Emily Watson, Great Expectations, Imperial Russia, Lore, Mary Shelley, Rasputin, The Witcher, Travis Fimmel

A Breath of Life by Clarice Lispector
Published by: New Directions
Publication Date: 1978
Format: Paperback, 167 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Angela Pralini has been given life by her creator, a God-like auteur with whom she holds a dialogue. Breath, words, life, death. Because once created there is only one outcome for Angela, and that is death. As Angela writes, she grapples with what she is and what her purpose is and whether there is a God and is her God everyone's God or is her creator, much like Victor Frankenstein, her God as he was to his creation. Or is her "God" her master? A philosophical monologue envelopes her. But it is a monologue where she knows who she is talking to. She is talking to her creator. And she needs answers to this life, to this strange feeling of being alive with blood flowing like lava. Why was she created? Why is anyone created? And why create when the only outcome is death? Angela's stream of consciousness washes over you. Yet is the dialogue really between Angela and her creator or is it between Clarice Lispector and her authorial voice as embodied by Angela trying to come to terms with her own impending death? Because as Clarice Lispector wrote this fragmented and existential piece that is almost more poetry than prose she lay dying. She would never see this book published. The heights of joy that Angela reaches are that which Clarice Lispector will miss the most, as the depths of Angela's despair are what she herself is grappling with. This is a transcendental meditation on what it means to be human. The small joys, staircases and music, the fact Angela feels herself nothing more than a mirage. Life is brutal but it is filled with miracles. This is the human experience hitting you full in the face while at the very end of the journey. But in the end, do we know anything? Do we know why we were here, why we experienced joy or sorrow? Did the weight of one make the other worth it? Or was life just in the living? In the emotion? In the feelings like lava through the veins, the absurdities or what it is to be alive. If nothing more can be said of Angela and her author, at least they both lived. Angela lived because Clarice Lispector lived. A fictional person can be real because they help the reader understand what it is, what it was, to be alive when the end comes.

I don't think I'm alone in thinking that books should, for the most part, have cogent sentences. That the words and meaning should form to be something legible. There are people who just like the cascade of words flowing over them, and that's fine. It's just not my thing. I don't like word salad. I don't like stream of consciousness. I like to pick up a book and know that it's going somewhere. That wasn't A Breath of Life. But I don't think I can judge Clarice Lispector as an author by this, her final book. Because the truth is this book wasn't just her coming to terms with her end and railing against the God who had created her, it was also unfinished. Olga Borelli, her assistant and friend, took writing fragments and structured them into a book. So who knows if this is what Clarice Lispector would have wanted. Did she desire these half-finished thoughts to be put out in the world? Did she want the final memory of her work to be this weak? That's why there's this part of me that agrees with Terry Pratchett whose unfinished work and hard drives were steamrolled into oblivion at his request. He didn't want anyone else tinkering with his work after he was dead and gone. He didn't want what happened to Truman Capote to happen to him, where Capote's Answered Prayers was just thrown out into the world to harsh criticism due to it's unfinished state. And here's the thing, there's a big difference between assembling unfinished material and hiring someone to finish it. This was an assemblage, which, when you think of the nature of the book, an author bringing life to "his" creation, there's a very Frankensteinian vibe which makes sense. The creature in Mary Shelley's tale was an assemblage. Fragments from different places. So while Frankenstein is a modern prometheus, this is a post-modern prometheus, and with all due respect to The X-Files, this book was written first and that episode is about a rapist. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is a book that can be studied and taken apart but as a reading experience it's far from enjoyable. You shouldn't take great pleasure in random asides like Angela declaring "I like staircases." You should enjoy the whole thing. Not plan to sit in a chair and plough through until the end. And maybe that's not the way to read this book, maybe it should be taken slower, like poetry, allowing the words to wash over you. But as I've said before, that's just not me.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Breath of Life, Angela Pralini, Clarice Lispector, DEATH, Dying, For the Love of Book Clubs, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, Poetry, Post-Modern Prometheus, Stream of Consciousness, Terry Pratchett, The X-Files

Leech by Hiron Ennes
Published by: Tordotcom
Publication Date: September 27th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Before the inhabitants of the chateau can send word to Inultus and the Institute that the Baron's doctor has died a new doctor has arrived, unexpectedly stepping down from the train in Verdira. The mystery though isn't how the Institute knew to send a new doctor the mystery is how the previous doctor died. The Institute's body is one, spread out all over the world. Their knowledge is shared, their knowledge is sole, therefore to not know something that happened to one of their own is truly a mystery. And they do not know how the doctor died at the chateau in the far north. They should have remembered the cause of death not just the death. The new doctor arrives and immediately starts to investigate. Trying to fill in the gaps in their memory. What could have killed this host? And there it is. The answer, waiting in their corpse for discovery; a competitor. Another parasite trying to take root. A parasite capable of killing. Because the Institute keeps their secrets to themselves the residents of the chateau do not realize they are dealing with someone who has walked their corridors for years. The Baron's son Didier, Didier's pregnant wife Helene, excluding their twins all believe that the doctor is a new entity and therefore are spending needless time introducing them to how life works at the chateau. While the doctor views this all as an inconvenience. The competition must be found, examined, studied, and then eliminated. Luckily dinner is the only time when the household assembles and no one has ever made it to dessert under the Baron's gimlet glare therefore there is plenty of time for hunting the parasite. But where could the previous body have encountered it? In a flash it comes to them, the mine. The chateau gets it's money from a wheatrock mine and there was a collapse. Something in the dark. They must return to the mine. They get the houseboy Émile to help, risking the wintry weather to find their enemy. But what if that is exactly what the enemy wants? What if returning to the mine brings the parasite back to the chateau? What if it is all happening again and there's no stopping another death and another? The Institute has bodies to spare, but does the Baron's doctor?

To have a gestalt entity be your narrator is a ballsy move. But Hiron Ennes makes it work because they have such a strong authorial voice. I often found myself questioning if someone capable of such confident worldbuilding was truly a first time author and then, when the book completely fell apart at the end, I found myself no longer asking that question. The problem is this book is dealing with big issues from bodily autonomy to class warfare to climate change on a more intimate scale. Yes we see the macro, but only filtered through the eyes of one part of the whole. And it's the continual narrowing of the vision which in the end is Leech's downfall. When the gestalt entity loses connection to the greater whole at first it's interesting. How can someone used to being something more thrive? The answer is they can't. Of course what's really happening is that the original personality is coming through. The parasitic infection is losing it's hold. And the original personality coming through is where everything falls apart. That and the fact that there really is no ending. But more on that later. Once the original personality is back in control there's a disconnect. You have forged such a connection to the gestalt entity that even though you are revolted by everything they stand for you're also somehow rooting for them. And the hints and flashes of the original personality coming through actually doesn't connect you to that character but seems to be used more to understand the world they are living in and how this entity got a foothold. The original personality should be who we are rooting for, but instead they are flat and lifeless. And that's why the last quarter of this book is such a disappointment. This world and the characters that people it are so interesting and unnerving. You feel restless and ill at ease reading Leech but at the same time you don't want to leave the Swiss Chateaux with all it's Gothic goodness and Frankensteinian vibes. But Hiron Ennes's "burn it all down" vibe that takes over the last quarter of the book while logical in the Mary Shelley sense just feels rushed. And our two protagonists riding a train off into the sunset? It somehow discounts all that came before. What is the message? That escaping from trauma is a victory even if your continued survival is questionable? And while that might be true in life this is fiction. There could have been more solidity and less ambiguity and it's only subpar Gothic literature that doesn't understand this imperative.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Chateau, Dystopian, Émile, For the Love of Book Clubs, Frankenstein, Gestalt, Gothic, Hiron Ennes, Inultus, Leech, Mary Shelley, Narrator, Parasite, Switzerland, The Baron, The Institute, Verdira, Wheatrock, Winter

Leech by Hiron Ennes
Published by: Tordotcom
Publication Date: September 27th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Before the inhabitants of the chateau can send word to Inultus and the Institute that the Baron's doctor has died a new doctor has arrived, unexpectedly stepping down from the train in Verdira. The mystery though isn't how the Institute knew to send a new doctor the mystery is how the previous doctor died. The Institute's body is one, spread out all over the world. Their knowledge is shared, their knowledge is sole, therefore to not know something that happened to one of their own is truly a mystery. And they do not know how the doctor died at the chateau in the far north. They should have remembered the cause of death not just the death. The new doctor arrives and immediately starts to investigate. Trying to fill in the gaps in their memory. What could have killed this host? And there it is. The answer, waiting in their corpse for discovery; a competitor. Another parasite trying to take root. A parasite capable of killing. Because the Institute keeps their secrets to themselves the residents of the chateau do not realize they are dealing with someone who has walked their corridors for years. The Baron's son Didier, Didier's pregnant wife Helene, excluding their twins all believe that the doctor is a new entity and therefore are spending needless time introducing them to how life works at the chateau. While the doctor views this all as an inconvenience. The competition must be found, examined, studied, and then eliminated. Luckily dinner is the only time when the household assembles and no one has ever made it to dessert under the Baron's gimlet glare therefore there is plenty of time for hunting the parasite. But where could the previous body have encountered it? In a flash it comes to them, the mine. The chateau gets it's money from a wheatrock mine and there was a collapse. Something in the dark. They must return to the mine. They get the houseboy Émile to help, risking the wintry weather to find their enemy. But what if that is exactly what the enemy wants? What if returning to the mine brings the parasite back to the chateau? What if it is all happening again and there's no stopping another death and another? The Institute has bodies to spare, but does the Baron's doctor?

To have a gestalt entity be your narrator is a ballsy move. But Hiron Ennes makes it work because they have such a strong authorial voice. I often found myself questioning if someone capable of such confident worldbuilding was truly a first time author and then, when the book completely fell apart at the end, I found myself no longer asking that question. The problem is this book is dealing with big issues from bodily autonomy to class warfare to climate change on a more intimate scale. Yes we see the macro, but only filtered through the eyes of one part of the whole. And it's the continual narrowing of the vision which in the end is Leech's downfall. When the gestalt entity loses connection to the greater whole at first it's interesting. How can someone used to being something more thrive? The answer is they can't. Of course what's really happening is that the original personality is coming through. The parasitic infection is losing it's hold. And the original personality coming through is where everything falls apart. That and the fact that there really is no ending. But more on that later. Once the original personality is back in control there's a disconnect. You have forged such a connection to the gestalt entity that even though you are revolted by everything they stand for you're also somehow rooting for them. And the hints and flashes of the original personality coming through actually doesn't connect you to that character but seems to be used more to understand the world they are living in and how this entity got a foothold. The original personality should be who we are rooting for, but instead they are flat and lifeless. And that's why the last quarter of this book is such a disappointment. This world and the characters that people it are so interesting and unnerving. You feel restless and ill at ease reading Leech but at the same time you don't want to leave the Swiss Chateaux with all it's Gothic goodness and Frankensteinian vibes. But Hiron Ennes's "burn it all down" vibe that takes over the last quarter of the book while logical in the Mary Shelley sense just feels rushed. And our two protagonists riding a train off into the sunset? It somehow discounts all that came before. What is the message? That escaping from trauma is a victory even if your continued survival is questionable? And while that might be true in life this is fiction. There could have been more solidity and less ambiguity and it's only subpar Gothic literature that doesn't understand this imperative.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Chateau, Dystopian, Émile, Frankenstein, Gestalt, Going Gothic, Gothic, Hiron Ennes, Inultus, Leech, Mary Shelley, Mine, Narrator, Parasite, Switzerland, The Baron, The Institute, Verdira, Wheatrock, Winter

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: August 2nd, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Truth is found between the stories we're fed and the stories we hunger for.

Out on the Yorkshire Moors lives a secret line of people for whom books are food, and who retain all of a book's content after eating it. To them, spy novels are a peppery snack; romance novels are sweet and delicious. Eating a map can help them remember destinations, and children, when they misbehave, are forced to eat dry, musty pages from dictionaries.

Devon is part of The Family, an old and reclusive clan of book eaters. Her brothers grow up feasting on stories of valor and adventure, and Devon - like all other book eater women - is raised on a carefully curated diet of fairy tales and cautionary stories.

But real life doesn't always come with happy endings, as Devon learns when her son is born with a rare and darker kind of hunger - not for books, but for human minds."

Oh, I have shivers, and I kind of wish I was a book eater. Kind of.

The Wild Hunt by Emma Seckel
Published by: Tin House Books
Publication Date: August 2nd, 2022
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A transporting, otherworldly debut of a young woman's fated return to a wind-battered island off the coast of Scotland, and the dark forces - old and new - that she finds there.

The islanders have only three rules: don't stick your nose where it's not wanted, don't mention the war, and never let your guard down during October.

Leigh Welles has not set foot on the island in years, but when she finds herself called home from life on the Scottish mainland by her father's unexpected death, she is determined to forget the sorrows of the past - her mother's abandonment, her brother's icy distance, the unspeakable tragedy of World War II - and start fresh. Fellow islander Iain MacTavish, an RAF veteran with his eyes on the sky and his head in the past, is also in desperate need of a new beginning. A young widower, Iain struggles to return to the normal life he knew before the war.

But this October is anything but normal. This October, the sluagh are restless. The ominous, birdlike creatures of Celtic legend - whispered to carry the souls of the dead - have haunted the islanders for decades, but in the war's wake, there are more wandering souls and more sluagh. When a young man disappears, Leigh and Iain are thrown together to investigate the truth at the island's dark heart and reveal hidden secrets of their own. Rich with historical detail, a skillful speculative edge, and a deep imagination, Emma Seckel's propulsive and transporting debut The Wild Hunt unwinds long-held tales of love, loss, and redemption."

Yes, a fresh start, you know, where Celtic legends are real and October is dangerous.

Wild is the Witch by Rachel Griffin
Published by: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: August 2nd, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the New York Times bestselling author of The Nature of Witches comes an immersive, enemies-to-lovers contemporary fantasy standalone.

After a night of magic turns deadly, Iris Gray vows to never let another person learn she's a witch. It doesn't matter that the Witches' Council found her innocent or that her magic was once viewed as a marvel - that night on the lake changed everything. Now settled in Washington, Iris hides who she really is and vents her frustrations by writing curses she never intends to cast. And while she loves working at the wildlife refuge she runs with her mother, she loathes Pike Alder, the witch-hating aspiring ornithologist who interns with them.

When Pike makes a particularly hurtful comment, Iris concocts a cruel curse for him. But just as she's about to dispel it, an owl swoops down and steals the curse before flying far away from the refuge. The owl is a powerful amplifier, and if it dies, Iris's dark spell will be unleashed not only on Pike but on everyone in the region.

Forced to work together, Iris and Pike trek through the wilderness in search of the bird that could cost Pike his life. But Pike doesn't know the truth, and as more dangers arise in the woods, Iris must decide how far she's willing to go to keep her secrets safe."

Be careful who you curse!

My Imaginary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
Published by: HarperTeen
Publication Date: August 2nd, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 496 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"It’s aliiiiiiiive! New York Times bestselling authors of My Lady Jane are back with the electric, poetic, and (almost) historical tale of the one and only Mary Shelley.

Mary may have inherited the brilliant mind of her late mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, but she lives a drab life above her father’s bookstore, waiting for an extraordinary idea that’ll inspire a work worthy of her parentage - and impress her rakishly handsome (and super-secret) beau, Percy Shelley.

Ada Lovelace knows a thing or two about superstar parents, what with her dad being Lord Byron, the most famous poet on Earth. But her passions lie far beyond the arts - in mechanical engineering, to be exact. Alas, no matter how precise Ada’s calculations, there’s always a man willing to claim her ingenious ideas as his own.

Pan, a.k.a. Practical Automaton Number One, is Ada's greatest idea yet: a machine that will change the world, if only she can figure out how to make him truly autonomous...or how to make him work at all.

When fate connects our two masterminds, Mary and Ada learn that they are fae - magical people with the ability to make whatever they imagine become real. But when their dream team results in a living, breathing, thinking PAN, Mary and Ada find themselves hunted by a mad scientist who won't stop until he finds out how they made a real boy out of spare parts.

With comic genius and a truly electrifying sense of adventure, Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows continue their campaign to turn the classics on their head in this YA fantasy that’s perfect for fans of Frankenstein and The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue."

Mary Shelley!?! Woo and a hoo!

Every Rogue Has His Charm by Susanna Craig
Published by: Lyrical Press
Publication Date: August 2nd, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Love, intrigue, and a fresh spin on historical romance make a sexy and suspenseful mix in the latest novel in Susanna Craig’s Regency-set series - as the wife one man left behind becomes the woman he can't live without...

Caroline, Marchioness of Chesleigh, has been married for six years - at least in name. In fact, Caro has hardly seen her husband since the early days of their union. Scarred and reclusive, Maxim wasn’t ready to trust his wife with his secrets - or his heart. Instead, he quickly resumed his life of espionage in France, believing Caro was better off alone.

When the spy who left her returns upon inheriting the Dukedom, he finds his wife is not the girl she once was. Her heart is a little harder. She’s learned to stand on her own. Yet the desire that once ignited between them burns as hotly as ever...

Now, the more Caro learns about the past Maxim tried to hide from her, the deeper their bond grows. But danger haunts her husband’s every move, jeopardizing their passionate reunion..."

You know me, I'm ALL about the Regency!

This Deadly Isle: A Golden Age Mystery Map by Martin Edwards and Ryan Bosse
Published by: Herb Lester Associates
Publication Date: August 2nd, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 1 Page
To Buy

The official patter:
"Running the length and breadth of the British Isles, this illustrated map and guide plots 51 real-life locations from books and stories from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction - the period roughly between the end of the first world war and the end of the second. The titans of the genre are represented here - Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Dorothy L Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Anthony Berkeley - along with many less heralded authors.

This Deadly Isle charts corpses countrywide, from the Home Counties to the Hebrides, all painstakingly documented in a map redolent of the era. Written and researched by crime novelist, critic and historian Martin Edwards, This Deadly Isle reveals the variety of settings into which the genre was adapted and the vast number of stories written, many of them still little known."

I am ALL about the Golden Age of Detective Fiction so literally this map was made for me.

Mademoiselle Revolution by Zoe Sivak
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: August 2nd, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A powerful, engrossing story of a biracial heiress who escapes to Paris when the Haitian Revolution burns across her island home. But as she works her way into the inner circle of Robespierre and his mistress, she learns that not even oceans can stop the flames of revolution.

Sylvie de Rosiers, as the daughter of a rich planter and an enslaved woman, enjoys the comforts of a lady in 1791 Saint-Domingue society. But while she was born to privilege, she was never fully accepted by island elites. After a violent rebellion begins the Haitian Revolution, Sylvie and her brother leave their family and old lives behind to flee unwittingly into another uprising - in austere and radical Paris. Sylvie quickly becomes enamored with the aims of the Revolution, as well as with the revolutionaries themselves - most notably Maximilien Robespierre and his mistress, Cornélie Duplay.

As a rising leader and abolitionist, Robespierre sees an opportunity to exploit Sylvie's race and abandonment of her aristocratic roots as an example of his ideals, while the strong-willed Cornélie offers Sylvie safe harbor and guidance in free thought. Sylvie battles with her past complicity in a slave society and her future within this new world order as she finds herself increasingly torn between Robespierre's ideology and Cornélie's love.

When the Reign of Terror descends, Sylvie must decide whether to become an accomplice while a new empire rises on the bones of innocents…or risk losing her head."

Sigh, a really good book about the French Revolution to take away the bad taste left in my mouth by another one I just read.

Bloody Fool for Love by William Ritter
Published by: Disney-Hyperion
Publication Date: August 2nd, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Bloody Fool for Love from New York Times best-selling author William Ritter marks the beginning of an all-new series that explores prequel stories about fan-favorite Buffy characters.

Spike just wants to enjoy the spoils of his new badass reputation. He's now a legendary slayer-killer, and he's returning to London - the greatest city in the world. Unfortunately, his new abode is far from ideal (mostly a dank basement), and the rest of his strange little "family" is reeling from the fact that their patriarch, Angel, abandoned them. Spike's love, Drusilla, seems especially heartbroken over the loss and spends her time lost in her tarot cards and planning their next gruesome family dinner when they all can be reunited.

Desperate to break Dru out of her melancholy, Spike vows to steal a powerful relic that will help her focus on their dark future together. It's the perfect plan - that is until a monster named Gunnar, leader of the demon underworld of London, steals the relic first. Forced to form his own ragtag group of mercenaries, Spike plans an epic heist against a ruthless gang of undead criminals. Confronted with paranormal plots, royal black ops, and tea (they may be abominations, but they're British abominations, thank you very much), Spike soon realizes that his homecoming is about to get bloody.

This rompy, action-packed novel inspired by one of Buffy's most infamous bad boys is part Bonnie and Clyde, part Sherlock and Watson, with just a bit more bloodsucking."

If there's one thing time has proven it's that I'll by ANYTHING Buffy related...

Doctor Who: The Return of Robin Hood by Paul Magrs
Published by: Penguin Group UK
Publication Date: August 2nd, 2022
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"For the Doctor, this was his first visit to the prince of thieves. For Robin, it's been a long time coming...

Robin Hood is disenchanted. Maid Marion has left, the Merry Men have settled down, and the legend of the Doctor has retreated deep into the shadows of Sherwood Forest.

But the Doctor is back (Although this is his first visit - time travel does strange things to a story.) The poor are fed, and the gang are together again.

That is until a desperate King John calls on the deadliest alien force at the nobilities' disposal: the mysterious, shape-shifting Mother Maudlin .

As dark magic is spun, heroes are captured, and the Doctor must find a way to save the Kingdom.

It's time for the return of the Lionheart..."

A) I'm a Robin Hood Addict. B) I'm a Doctor Who Addict. C) The only Peter Capaldi episode I really liked involved Robin Hood. D) My friend Paul wrote this!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, Emma Seckel, Golden Age of Detection, Jodi Meadows, Mary Shelley, Paul Magrs, Rachel Griffin, Robin Hood, Spike, Sunyi Dean, Susanna Craig, The Book Eaters, William Ritter, Zoe Sivak

The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman
Published by: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 1st, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 656 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Return to the parallel world of His Dark Materials in the second volume of Philip Pullman's new bestselling masterwork The Book of Dust, and discover what comes next for Lyra, "one of fantasy's most indelible heroines." (The New York Times Magazine)

Lyra Silvertongue's adventures in the North are long over - the windows between the many worlds have been sealed, and her beloved Will is lost to her. She does still have the alethiometer: the truth-telling device given to her by the master of Jordan College, which guided her journey.

Lyra doesn't know the full story of the alethiometer, though. Or the role that young Malcolm Polstead played in bringing both the instrument and baby Lyra to Jordan. She's now a twenty-year-old undergraduate at St. Sophia's College. To her, Malcolm is Dr. Polstead, an overly solicitous professor she would prefer to avoid.

But intrigue is swirling around Lyra once more. Her daemon Pantalaimon is witness to a brutal murder, and the dying man entrusts them with secrets that carry echoes from their past. They learn of a city haunted by daemons, of a desert said to hold the secret of Dust.

Powerful forces are about to throw Lyra and Malcolm together once again. And the dangers they face will challenge everything they thought they knew about the world, and about themselves."

I adore, and just re-read The Book of Dust in anticipation of The Secret Commonwealth which feels like I've been waiting decades for it and yet it's only been two years... 

The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: October 1st, 2019
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the first book in a brilliant new fantasy series, books that aren't finished by their authors reside in the Library of the Unwritten in Hell, and it is up to the Librarian to track down any restless characters who emerge from those unfinished stories.

Many years ago, Claire was named Head Librarian of the Unwritten Wing - a neutral space in Hell where all the stories unfinished by their authors reside. Her job consists mainly of repairing and organizing books, but also of keeping an eye on restless stories that risk materializing as characters and escaping the library. When a Hero escapes from his book and goes in search of his author, Claire must track and capture him with the help of former muse and current assistant Brevity and nervous demon courier Leto.

But what should have been a simple retrieval goes horrifyingly wrong when the terrifyingly angelic Ramiel attacks them, convinced that they hold the Devil's Bible. The text of the Devil's Bible is a powerful weapon in the power struggle between Heaven and Hell, so it falls to the librarians to find a book with the power to reshape the boundaries between Heaven, Hell....and Earth."

It's like someone took an unfinished idea of Jasper Fforde's full of potential and finally gave it the attention it deserved.

Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris
Published by: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: October 1st, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the author of the multi-million copy bestseller The Tattooist of Auschwitz comes a new novel based on a riveting true story of love and resilience.

Her beauty saved her - and condemned her.

Cilka is just sixteen years old when she is taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp in 1942, where the commandant immediately notices how beautiful she is. Forcibly separated from the other women prisoners, Cilka learns quickly that power, even unwillingly taken, equals survival.

When the war is over and the camp is liberated, freedom is not granted to Cilka: She is charged as a collaborator for sleeping with the enemy and sent to a Siberian prison camp. But did she really have a choice? And where do the lines of morality lie for Cilka, who was send to Auschwitz when she was still a child?

In Siberia, Cilka faces challenges both new and horribly familiar, including the unwanted attention of the guards. But when she meets a kind female doctor, Cilka is taken under her wing and begins to tend to the ill in the camp, struggling to care for them under brutal conditions.

Confronting death and terror daily, Cilka discovers a strength she never knew she had. And when she begins to tentatively form bonds and relationships in this harsh, new reality, Cilka finds that despite everything that has happened to her, there is room in her heart for love.

From child to woman, from woman to healer, Cilka's journey illuminates the resilience of the human spirit - and the will we have to survive."

A story that needs to be told. 

Mary Shelley by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara
Published by: Frances Lincoln Children's Book
Publication Date: October 1st, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 32 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New in the critically acclaimed Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the incredible life of Mary Shelley, the English novelist and creator of Frankenstein.

When Mary Shelley was a little girl, she used to write stories beneath the trees in her garden. As an adult, Mary was inspired by this same imagination to create a ghost story, which became the famous novel: Frankenstein. This gripping book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the novelist's life.

Little People, BIG DREAMS is a best-selling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.

This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardcover versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Boxed gift sets allow you to collect a selection of the books by theme. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games, and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.

Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!"

I love the idea behind this series, if not always the execution.

The Dark Lord Clementine by Sarah Jean Horwitz
Published by: Algonquin Young Readers
Publication Date: October 1st, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The new face of big evil is a little...small.

Dastardly deeds aren’t exactly the first things that come to mind when one hears the name “Clementine,” but as the sole heir of the infamous Dark Lord Elithor, twelve-year-old Clementine Morcerous has been groomed since birth to be the best (worst?) Evil Overlord she can be. But everything changes the day her father is cursed by a mysterious rival.

Now, Clementine must not only search for a way to break the curse, but also take on the full responsibilities of the Dark Lord. But when it’s time for her to perform dastardly deeds against the townspeople - including her brand-new friends - she begins to question her father’s code of good and evil. What if the Dark Lord Clementine doesn’t want to be a dark lord after all?"

Clementine, the BEST name for a Dark Lord EVER! I will fight you on this! 

The Sinister mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl by Theodora Goss
Published by: Gallery / Saga Press
Publication Date: October 1st, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Mary Jekyll and the Athena Club race to save Alice - and foil a plot to unseat the Queen, in the electrifying conclusion to the trilogy that began with the Nebula Award finalist and Locus Award-winner The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter.

Life’s always an adventure for the Athena Club...especially when one of their own has been kidnapped! After their thrilling European escapades rescuing Lucina van Helsing, Mary Jekyll and her friends return home to discover that their friend and kitchen maid Alice has vanished - and so has Mary's employer Sherlock Holmes!

As they race to find Alice and bring her home safely, they discover that Alice and Sherlock’s kidnapping are only one small part of a plot that threatens Queen Victoria, and the very future of the British Empire. Can Mary, Diana, Beatrice, Catherine, and Justine save their friends - and save England? Find out in the final installment of the fantastic and memorable Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club series."

Wait, what, it's over!?! I mean, yes, I like series that have a beginning a middle and an end, but still... more!

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher
Published by: Gallery / Saga Press
Publication Date: October 1st, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When a young woman clears out her deceased grandmother’s home in rural North Carolina, she finds long-hidden secrets about a strange colony of beings in the woods in this chilling novel that reads like The Blair Witch Project meets The Andy Griffith Show.

When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother's house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be?

Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. That would be horrific enough, but there’s more - Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather’s journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants…until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described for herself.

Alone in the woods with her dog, Mouse finds herself face to face with a series of impossible terrors - because sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real, and they’re looking for you. And if she doesn’t face them head on, she might not survive to tell the tale.

From Hugo Award - winning author Ursula Vernon, writing as T. Kingfisher, The Twisted Ones is a gripping, terrifying tale bound to keep you up all night - from both fear and anticipation of what happens next."

One of my friends recently had spent some time in North Carolina and she said the whole place was steeped in the creepy, so the setting of this book has that going for it. 

Full Throttle: Stories by Joe Hill
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: October 1st, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 496 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this masterful collection of short fiction, Joe Hill dissects timeless human struggles in thirteen relentless tales of supernatural suspense, including “In The Tall Grass,” one of two stories co-written with Stephen King and the basis for the terrifying feature film from Netflix.

A little door that opens to a world of fairy tale wonders becomes the blood-drenched stomping ground for a gang of hunters in “Faun.” A grief-stricken librarian climbs behind the wheel of an antique Bookmobile to deliver fresh reads to the dead in “Late Returns.” In “By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain,” soon to be an episode on Shudder TV’s Creepshow, two young friends stumble on the corpse of a plesiosaur at the water’s edge, a discovery that forces them to confront the inescapable truth of their own mortality...and other horrors that lurk in the water’s shivery depths. And tension shimmers in the sweltering heat of the Nevada desert as a faceless trucker finds himself caught in a sinister dance with a tribe of motorcycle outlaws in “Throttle,” co-written with Stephen King.

Replete with shocking chillers, including two previously unpublished stories written expressly for this volume (“Mums” and “Late Returns”) and another appearing in print for the first time (“Dark Carousel”), Full Throttle is a darkly imagined odyssey through the complexities of the human psyche. Hypnotic and disquieting, it mines our tormented secrets, hidden vulnerabilities, and basest fears, and demonstrates this exceptional talent at his very best."

Who's meeting Joe Hill this week? THIS GIRL!

A House of Ghosts by W.C. Ryan
Published by: Arcade
Publication Date: October 1st, 2019
Format: Kindle, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Finalist for the Irish Book Award for Crime Fiction Book of the Year, a Classic Cozy Big-House Mystery Haunted by the Specters of World War One - For Readers of Agatha Christie and Simone St. James.

Winter 1917. As the First World War enters its most brutal phase, back home in England, everyone is seeking answers to the darkness that has seeped into their lives. At Blackwater Abbey, on an island off the Devon coast, armaments manufacturer Lord Highmount has arranged a spiritualist gathering to contact his two sons, both of whom died at the front.

Among the guests, two have been secretly dispatched from the intelligence service: Kate Cartwright, a friend of the family who lost her beloved brother at the Somme and who, in the realm of the spiritual, has her own special gift; and the mysterious Captain Donovan, recently returned from Europe. Top secret plans for weapons developed by Lord Highmount’s company have turned up in Berlin, and there is reason to believe enemy spies will be in attendance. As the guests arrive, it becomes clear that each has something they would rather keep hidden. Then, when a storm descends, they find themselves trapped on the island. Soon one of their number will die. For Blackwater Abbey is haunted in more ways than one....

An unrelenting, gripping mystery, packed with twists and turns and a kindling of romance, A House of Ghosts is the perfect cold-weather read."

Historical setting, a remote island, spiritualists? Yes, yes, and hell yes! 

A Merry Murder by Kate Kingsbury
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: October 1st, 2019
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"It is an Edwardian Christmas, and the Pennyfoot Hotel is all dressed up. But when one of the guests turns up dead, owner Cecily Sinclair Baxter realizes it is not only the Pennyfoot that is back in business - the hotel's Christmas curse is, too...

The Pennyfoot halls are decked with boughs of holly, a magnificently decorated tree graces the lobby, and the hotel's bookings are finally looking up. Owner of the Pennyfoot, Cecily Sinclair Baxter is in high holiday spirits until disaster strikes, threatening to ruin yet another Yuletide. Her chief housemaid Gertie McBride has found a man's body in the hotel laundry room - with a woman's scarf wrapped around his neck and a note in his pocket from the hotel's new maid.

Cecily is determined to track down the culprit, but with multiple suspects icing her out of crucial clues, she realizes this killer may be more slippery than most. With Christmas right around the corner, it is up to Cecily to prevent this holiday season at the Pennyfoot from turning out more fatal than festive."

Christmas a cozy carnage are what I want for my holidays! 

Whispers of Shadow and Flame by L. Penelope
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: October 1st, 2019
Format: Paperback, 496 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Mantle that separates the kingdoms of Elsira and Lagrimar is about to fall. And life will drastically change for both kingdoms.

Born with a deadly magic she cannot control, Kyara is forced to become an assassin. Known as the Poison Flame in the kingdom of Lagrimar, she is notorious and lethal, but secretly seeks freedom from both her untamed power and the blood spell that commands her. She is tasked with capturing the legendary rebel called the Shadowfox, but everything changes when she learns her target’s true identity.

Darvyn ol-Tahlyro may be the most powerful Earthsinger in generations, but guilt over those he couldn’t save tortures him daily. He isn’t sure he can trust the mysterious young woman who claims to need his help, but when he discovers Kyara can unlock the secrets of his past, he can’t stay away.

Kyara and Darvyn grapple with betrayal, old promises, and older prophecies - all while trying to stop a war. And when a new threat emerges, they must beat the odds to save both kingdoms."

Fantasy that feels like legend!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A.J. Hackwith, Christmas, Heather Morris, Joe Hill, Kate Kingsbury, L. Penelope, Mary Shelley, Philip Pullman, Sarah Jean Horwitz, T. Kingfisher, The Book of Dust, The Secret Commonwealth, Theodora Goss, W.C. Ryan

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Published by: Max Press
Publication Date: 1811
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Elinor is pragmatic about the death of their father. They have lost their home and they will find a new one and carry on. Her younger sister Marianne has opted for another approach, misery exponentially increased by any dear memory of her father and the beloved house they all shared. Their mother is perfectly happy wallowing with Marianne while watching her step-son and his odious wife Fanny destroy Norland Park, that is until that odious Fanny insinuates that Elinor isn't good enough for her brother Edward and Mrs. Dashwood can not remove them fast enough from Norland Park. Thanks to kind relations they are able to leave the odious behind and settle at Barton Cottage, part of Barton Park were Mrs. Dashwood's cousin Sir John Middleton resides. There they have a new social circle of relatives and friends and Marianne is drawn to one in particular, Willoughby. Willoughy is the same in all her sensibilities and they are soon as thick as thieves and their engagement is expected to be announced daily, much to Colonel Brandon's dismay. Yet the announcement never comes and Willoughby takes off to London and they hear no more from him. So when Sir John's mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings, invites the two girls to accompany her to London Marianne jumps at the chance. But London will be a proving ground for the young girls hearts. Will either of them find a happily ever after or are their hearts destined to be forever broken by their first loves?

It seems odd to me that in a high school that actually had a good English department where I read many classics I never read any Jane Austen. By the friends I made through various bizarre and arcane clubs I was introduced to her via the Colin Firth miniseries in February of my senior year. This was on my level, being more into films than books at the tender age of seventeen, it was the perfect bridge from one art form to another. At that time I was adamant that I wasn't going to college in the fall, and I in fact didn't, but that doesn't mean I was averse to learning and reading and I took it upon myself that summer to acquaint myself with the classics, many of which had been made into films starring Emma Thompson. She was a powerful bridge to Austen and also to Forster, though the most powerful of all was anything to do with Monty Python. The summer of 1996 was spent on my side porch reading classics I never thought I would ever pick up. Though it was to Austen I felt the most visceral a connection. Sense and Sensibility was the first book of hers that I read and I remember towards the end reading it in my bedroom because of the copious sobbing that accompanied my reading. When Edward arrived at Barton cottage to declare his freedom and his desire to marry Elinor, I just sat in my window sobbing. I never knew a book could do this to me. I was forever converted to Austen and through her I found the love of classics that my family always wished for me.

Do to what is happening in my life at the moment I've been feeling old. Which might account for why I noticed the characters ages so much on this reading of Sense and Sensibility. When I first read this book I was the same age as Marianne is for most of the story so I could feel a kinship with her and totally identify to being that age, even if I like to think of myself more as Elinor. As I've grown older I've still felt that kinship, that connection, but never internalized the ages of the characters as a did on that first reading. Marianne and Elinor are young, Colonel Brandon and Mrs. Dashwood are old. Or so I've always thought. For the first time ever I noticed their ages. The flannel waistcoat wearing Colonel is 35 and Mrs. Dashwood is about 40. Which gave me an "oh dear" moment. I am OLDER than Colonel Brandon who was thought too old for love and closing in fast on Mrs. Dashwood. Yes, I could say that obviously people married younger in Regency times because the life expectancy was shorter, but I literally have friends I went to high school with with kids in college. If my life had taken an entirely different and unexpected route I am old enough to have an Elinor and Marianne and Margaret of my own! So needless to say I felt myself on this realization seeing things more from the "elderly" point of view. Oh, Colonel Brandon, you are a youngin...

Comparing Sense and Sensibility to Austen's other work is interesting in that despite having a plethora of female characters to root for she usually has one heroine, an Emma or a Lizzy, yet here she has two. Given that one is so reserved and the other so melodramatic it's as if she's split her heroine in half. Yes, we could analyze that her book originally necessitated two leads because it was written in epistolary fashion before being dramatically changed in the edits, but I think it's more fascinating to look at this in the classical sense, as in Plato's Symposium. Mary Shelley was strongly influenced by Aristophanes' myth of primal man being cut in two necessitating two beings that need each other because they originally were one when writing Frankenstein. Who's to say that Austen wasn't as well. Some reviewers note that as the book progresses Austen isn't sure which personality aspect she wants to win the day. Should Elinor and her logic or Marianne and her emotion get the HEA? I don't see this. I think that while yes, Elinor's ending might be more satisfying, they both get the endings that Austen intended all along. But what's more important is that each learns valuable lessons from the other, who they need. Marianne needs some of Elinor's grounding, while Elinor needs to not bury her emotions so deep. If they were one we'd have the perfect heroine. But perfect heroines are overrated, I need mine with some flaws so I can root for them.

But just having people to root for isn't nearly as fun as having someone to root against. Lucy Steele is that person. What's interesting is that each time I read this book I get a different take on Lucy. Obviously you can't NOT hate her, she's keeping Elinor and Edward from their HEA. But there's so many different faces to Lucy, the fake friend, the gold digger, the manipulator. She's ambitious and jealous and won't take no for an answer. I mean just the way she controls Elinor with her confession of her secret attachment to Edward! Gaw, she should die for that. Oh, let me destroy all your faith in the man you love AND make you suffer in silence because you're such a good person you'd never tell another soul! And then as a parting blow, let her think I married Edward and not his brother, ta! Yet for all that one thing that Edward and Elinor always remarked on didn't seem that much of an issue to me, and that is Lucy's lack of an education. Yes, it meant she was limited, but it wasn't until this reading that I really caught how stupid she is. Her speech is grammatically incorrect and her overuse of the word "was" is just annoying and wrong. I think the reason this had never struck me before is that if you haven't read Austen, well, it's kind of like Shakespeare in that you have to get into the groove of the writing style. So obviously when I first read it I wouldn't have picked up on it. All the other readings, well, I wasn't the grammar Nazi I am now. So this time? Oh Lucy, I hate you for a whole slew of new reasons.

Yet the character that I hate the most is Willoughby. And this is a hate that has grown over time. I remember when I first saw Emma Thompson's adaptation of Sense and Sensibility I felt cheated that she didn't keep the scene where he "redeems" himself. He really wasn't that bad in my mind. Now I can see why she didn't, he doesn't deserve ANY redemption. The reason is all in his seduction of Eliza. Reading this book for the first time at 17 an unwanted pregnancy didn't seem that horrific. In fact, they were kind of popularized by movies like For Keeps? Interesting fact, it was filmed here in Madison, Wisconsin. OK, Molly Ringwald and her ironically Darcy named heroine aside, I just didn't think it was a big deal having a baby. Because I didn't understand Regency England. Colonel Brandon's ward having a baby out of wedlock is the worst thing that could happen to any woman. To be seduced and left with a parting gift that would arrive nine months later is the most vile thing I man can do, especially to a well bred woman, and even more especially when he could have just paid a prostitute. It was the game of destroying her that made if more fun, no matter what he said after the fact about her TOTALLY having his address, because he could have made it right! Once discovered by his benefactress he could have married Eliza and made everything right in the world. Instead he marries an heiress and regrets not marrying Marianne and never gives another thought to Eliza. He deserves NO FORGIVENESS! NONE AT ALL! If this book has one flaw it's that Austen feels a little bad for him. She wrote him that way, she can't now apologize for it!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Aging, Bicentenary Ball, Colin Firth, E.M. Forster, Emma Thompson, Frankenstein, Heroine, Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Molly Ringwald, Monty Python, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Willoughby

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Published by: Max Press
Publication Date: 1811
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Elinor is pragmatic about the death of their father. They have lost their home and they will find a new one and carry on. Her younger sister Marianne has opted for another approach, misery exponentially increased by any dear memory of her father and the beloved house they all shared. Their mother is perfectly happy wallowing with Marianne while watching her step-son and his odious wife Fanny destroy Norland Park, that is until that odious Fanny insinuates that Elinor isn't good enough for her brother Edward and Mrs. Dashwood can not remove them fast enough from Norland Park. Thanks to kind relations they are able to leave the odious behind and settle at Barton Cottage, part of Barton Park were Mrs. Dashwood's cousin Sir John Middleton resides. There they have a new social circle of relatives and friends and Marianne is drawn to one in particular, Willoughby. Willoughy is the same in all her sensibilities and they are soon as thick as thieves and their engagement is expected to be announced daily, much to Colonel Brandon's dismay. Yet the announcement never comes and Willoughby takes off to London and they hear no more from him. So when Sir John's mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings, invites the two girls to accompany her to London Marianne jumps at the chance. But London will be a proving ground for the young girls hearts. Will either of them find a happily ever after or are their hearts destined to be forever broken by their first loves?

It seems odd to me that in a high school that actually had a good English department where I read many classics I never read any Jane Austen. By the friends I made through various bizarre and arcane clubs I was introduced to her via the Colin Firth miniseries in February of my senior year. This was on my level, being more into films than books at the tender age of seventeen, it was the perfect bridge from one art form to another. At that time I was adamant that I wasn't going to college in the fall, and I in fact didn't, but that doesn't mean I was averse to learning and reading and I took it upon myself that summer to acquaint myself with the classics, many of which had been made into films starring Emma Thompson. She was a powerful bridge to Austen and also to Forster, though the most powerful of all was anything to do with Monty Python. The summer of 1996 was spent on my side porch reading classics I never thought I would ever pick up. Though it was to Austen I felt the most visceral a connection. Sense and Sensibility was the first book of hers that I read and I remember towards the end reading it in my bedroom because of the copious sobbing that accompanied my reading. When Edward arrived at Barton cottage to declare his freedom and his desire to marry Elinor, I just sat in my window sobbing. I never knew a book could do this to me. I was forever converted to Austen and through her I found the love of classics that my family always wished for me.

Do to what is happening in my life at the moment I've been feeling old. Which might account for why I noticed the characters ages so much on this reading of Sense and Sensibility. When I first read this book I was the same age as Marianne is for most of the story so I could feel a kinship with her and totally identify to being that age, even if I like to think of myself more as Elinor. As I've grown older I've still felt that kinship, that connection, but never internalized the ages of the characters as a did on that first reading. Marianne and Elinor are young, Colonel Brandon and Mrs. Dashwood are old. Or so I've always thought. For the first time ever I noticed their ages. The flannel waistcoat wearing Colonel is 35 and Mrs. Dashwood is about 40. Which gave me an "oh dear" moment. I am OLDER than Colonel Brandon who was thought too old for love and closing in fast on Mrs. Dashwood. Yes, I could say that obviously people married younger in Regency times because the life expectancy was shorter, but I literally have friends I went to high school with with kids in college. If my life had taken an entirely different and unexpected route I am old enough to have an Elinor and Marianne and Margaret of my own! So needless to say I felt myself on this realization seeing things more from the "elderly" point of view. Oh, Colonel Brandon, you are a youngin...

Comparing Sense and Sensibility to Austen's other work is interesting in that despite having a plethora of female characters to root for she usually has one heroine, an Emma or a Lizzy, yet here she has two. Given that one is so reserved and the other so melodramatic it's as if she's split her heroine in half. Yes, we could analyze that her book originally necessitated two leads because it was written in epistolary fashion before being dramatically changed in the edits, but I think it's more fascinating to look at this in the classical sense, as in Plato's Symposium. Mary Shelley was strongly influenced by Aristophanes' myth of primal man being cut in two necessitating two beings that need each other because they originally were one when writing Frankenstein. Who's to say that Austen wasn't as well. Some reviewers note that as the book progresses Austen isn't sure which personality aspect she wants to win the day. Should Elinor and her logic or Marianne and her emotion get the HEA? I don't see this. I think that while yes, Elinor's ending might be more satisfying, they both get the endings that Austen intended all along. But what's more important is that each learns valuable lessons from the other, who they need. Marianne needs some of Elinor's grounding, while Elinor needs to not bury her emotions so deep. If they were one we'd have the perfect heroine. But perfect heroines are overrated, I need mine with some flaws so I can root for them.

But just having people to root for isn't nearly as fun as having someone to root against. Lucy Steele is that person. What's interesting is that each time I read this book I get a different take on Lucy. Obviously you can't NOT hate her, she's keeping Elinor and Edward from their HEA. But there's so many different faces to Lucy, the fake friend, the gold digger, the manipulator. She's ambitious and jealous and won't take no for an answer. I mean just the way she controls Elinor with her confession of her secret attachment to Edward! Gaw, she should die for that. Oh, let me destroy all your faith in the man you love AND make you suffer in silence because you're such a good person you'd never tell another soul! And then as a parting blow, let her think I married Edward and not his brother, ta! Yet for all that one thing that Edward and Elinor always remarked on didn't seem that much of an issue to me, and that is Lucy's lack of an education. Yes, it meant she was limited, but it wasn't until this reading that I really caught how stupid she is. Her speech is grammatically incorrect and her overuse of the word "was" is just annoying and wrong. I think the reason this had never struck me before is that if you haven't read Austen, well, it's kind of like Shakespeare in that you have to get into the groove of the writing style. So obviously when I first read it I wouldn't have picked up on it. All the other readings, well, I wasn't the grammar Nazi I am now. So this time? Oh Lucy, I hate you for a whole slew of new reasons.

Yet the character that I hate the most is Willoughby. And this is a hate that has grown over time. I remember when I first saw Emma Thompson's adaptation of Sense and Sensibility I felt cheated that she didn't keep the scene where he "redeems" himself. He really wasn't that bad in my mind. Now I can see why she didn't, he doesn't deserve ANY redemption. The reason is all in his seduction of Eliza. Reading this book for the first time at 17 an unwanted pregnancy didn't seem that horrific. In fact, they were kind of popularized by movies like For Keeps? Interesting fact, it was filmed here in Madison, Wisconsin. OK, Molly Ringwald and her ironically Darcy named heroine aside, I just didn't think it was a big deal having a baby. Because I didn't understand Regency England. Colonel Brandon's ward having a baby out of wedlock is the worst thing that could happen to any woman. To be seduced and left with a parting gift that would arrive nine months later is the most vile thing I man can do, especially to a well bred woman, and even more especially when he could have just paid a prostitute. It was the game of destroying her that made if more fun, no matter what he said after the fact about her TOTALLY having his address, because he could have made it right! Once discovered by his benefactress he could have married Eliza and made everything right in the world. Instead he marries an heiress and regrets not marrying Marianne and never gives another thought to Eliza. He deserves NO FORGIVENESS! NONE AT ALL! If this book has one flaw it's that Austen feels a little bad for him. She wrote him that way, she can't now apologize for it!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Aging, Bicentenary Ball, Colin Firth, E.M. Forster, Emma Thompson, Frankenstein, Heroine, Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Molly Ringwald, Monty Python, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Willoughby

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
Published by: Vintage
Publication Date: 1983
Format: Paperback, 164 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Arthur Kipps could easily contribute to his family's tradition of ghost stories on Christmas Eve... only his ghost story is so dark and so disturbing he dare not utter it. After the holidays he decides he will commit it to paper so that it is recorded, exorcised from his life. A life that was destroyed by him going to Crythin Gifford to deal with the estate of Mrs. Alice Drablow. As a young solicitor he was excited at the opportunity this job gave him to prove his worth. He planned to spend a few days sorting out the elderly widow's papers and return to London and his fiance. Though the townspeople seemed reluctant to endorse his staying out at Eel Marsh House by himself. Arthur thought it was because of the Nine Lives Causeway which would cut him off from the mainland during high tide... but the seclusion wasn't the only reason. The main reason is a woman in black Arthur saw at Mrs. Drablow's funeral. A woman whose appearance presages something which the villagers dare not discuss. Despite vocal opposition Arthur ensconces himself at Eel Marsh House and is subjected to many supernatural apparitions, terrifying noises coming from the causeway, as well as many revelations. He learns who the woman in black is and what she wants, and what she will take from him... though, even in death, it looks like she will forever be unsatisfied.

I remember when the Daniel Radcliffe adaptation of this book arrived in cinemas, everyone who saw it kept insisting that it didn't capture the book. How The Woman in Black was a classic of Gothic storytelling and the stage adaptation was brilliant, but how I should avoid the movie and just go to the source. Of course I did both. I picked up the book at Barnes and Noble and then I eventually got around to watching the movie. Oddly for me I actually decided to watch the movie first and was unimpressed and confused. The sequel, The Woman in Black: Angel of Death, which had almost nothing to do with the book or the adaptation, might actually be my favorite among the three. As for the book, I don't know if it's because people were building it up to me or if it's just that horror films and other Gothic stories have gone so far beyond what Hill did here in the early eighties that it fell flat. The worst person though in building up this story is Hill herself. She set herself up for a fall with all the allusions to this story being too terrifying for Christmas Eve, and that it really shouldn't be uttered. I'm sorry, but if your narrator is telling a story about his past right there almost all jeopardy is gone. He's alive at the end. He survives into old age. He's never in real danger, so why is this story so scary if he makes it out alive?

But Hill keeps insisting on the danger... and with each insistence, with each demurral from daring to tell the tale she comes across as smug and overly pleased with herself. Oh Arthur was so damaged he never recovered... yet here he is with his new family surrounded by love and light at Christmas! So Hill thinks she's SO clever trying to break all the tropes? Others have broken the tropes and FAR better. She thinks the beauty of nature and the surrounding country makes it not your typical ghost story? I think that Mary Shelley kind of blasted apart the setting trope with her Gothic classic. Breaking with genre locals and connecting with nature... sorry to say but a pretty place doesn't a book make. The question of who is really the baby's mother? Um, yeah, it's not like this is anything original. Especially in Gothic literature! As for the townsfolk who don't trust outsiders and close ranks? Seriously, you think this was groundbreaking? In fact, this is also to everyone who recommended this book to me. Seriously? And no, you're not allowed to use the excuse that she did it first, because 1983 isn't that long ago and many many people did it better first. I just couldn't shake this feeling of Hill thinking she was superior throughout the book and this continually alienated me.

The narrative just didn't sit right with me. But then again this could all be Arthur's fault. Arthur isn't a good lead. Skipping over his dramatics about even wanting to tell his story, let's just go with him being a whiny little pretentious bitch. He views this job as a real feather in his cap. Oh, he'll just do this job so well that he'll get a huge promotion enabling him to marry his fiance sooner and well, his boss will just love him and never want to let him go, just throwing money at him for simply doing his job. I could say that this was Hill showing the naivety of youth that will be jaded by experience... but the fact is I wanted to smack him so bad that I couldn't relate to him on any level. Plus he's like manic depressive or something, split personality perhaps? Because during the days at Eel Marsh House nothing bothers him, he's all rainbows and puppies and oh, that noise was nothing, look at the beautiful view out these glorious windows, and the night falls and he's running around like a chicken with his head cut off screaming about the noises on the causeway. Maybe Jekyll and Hyde is a more apt way of describing Arthur. Yes, things can get scary at night, in the dark, but having him so blithely swan through the day talking about how lovely everything is? He's in serious denial and needs help. But it's not coming from me.

What does "help" Arthur is that lovely trope of the fever that puts him abed. Suffered by any overactive man who just collapses from strain. I kind of wonder if this is a trope that women writers use to just poke fun at men who have been claiming that women are weaker and prone to fainting... because whenever I've seen this trope used so heavy-handedly it's always been from the pen of a female author. Like they're saying, "we'll show you a wilted flower!" Which amuses me to no end. But then again Conan Doyle even used this trope in a Sherlock Holmes story... so maybe it was really a thing. And I have to say, if this is a real thing, how can I get in on this action? Because I'd seriously like a month off to just lay in bed and read. Because I don't want to take it to the extreme of delirium, but just a slight wasting problem that needed bed rest. Can you seriously, in this day and age, imagine someone saying that they are convalescing for the foreseeable future do to nerves? Everything is so diagnosable now this isn't something that can be believable in novels written in present times about the past. We know better now and so this trope too must pass.

The Woman in Black was actually in a perilous position. Until the last few pages it was about to receive the dreaded one star rating and then it surprisingly redeemed itself, just a little. If you don't know the motives of the woman in black, Mrs. Drablow's sister, now is the time to get a fever and take to your bed. OK, so I assume now if you're still reading you either already know or don't care to be spoiled that the woman in blacks appearance heralds the death of a child, which is why the villagers never wanted to talk about it, because it might be their child next. So Arthur figures this all out we and think he's getting his happily ever after, he gets married, has a child, but turns out, things aren't so resolved. Because the woman in black, she is a ghost that is unrepentantly evil. She is not able to be "put to rest" or "exorcised" and THIS is the selling point of the book. There is no happy resolution. Arthur loses his wife and child to the woman in black because she is pure evil. This is rare in ghost stories, I can only think of a few, usually Japanese in base, where there is no tidy resolution, evil wins. Yes, you could say that Henry James did this with The Turn of the Screw, but he didn't do it effectively. Here there is no doubt that evil wins. And I like that. It's spelled out cleanly and clearly, like the vengeful ghost in The Ring. So if you stick with it, there's this lovely light at the end of the tunnel. Sure it's actually a train, but it brings you some satisfaction.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Children, Christmas, Daniel Radcliffe, Fever, Ghost Story, Going Gothic, Henry James, Jekyll and Hyde, Mary Shelley, Susan Hill, The Ring, The Turn of the Screw, The Woman in Black, Trope