Category: Book Challenges

Book Challenges, Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Gen Lit, Literary Criticism, Reading, Reading Challenges

Review: Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen

by The Lit Bitch3 Comments on Review: Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen

For my birthday a few months ago, my sister got me this book. Both her and I have very similar literary tastes so when she got me this book I was very excited to start reading it–I totally trust her literary judgement, since she is a librarian she knows all the good books/authors :).

She had heard lots of good things about it and said she thought it was part of a series but wasn’t sure. She knew the author had written other historic works such as Before Versailles: A Novel of Louis XIV which I saw featured on Goodreads around the same time.

Karleen Koen has written four books, Dark Angles, Through a Glass Darkly, Now Face to Face, and Before Versailles….for more info check out her website. All of the books are set in 17th-18th century England and France  and all feature colorful blue blood aristocrats so if you love historic fiction of this period, these books are for you!

I was ready for something new and different. As I was browsing my bookshelf I decided to pick up Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen. Since the book falls under the historic fiction category I decided to use it as part of the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.  Continue reading “Review: Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen” →

Book Challenges, Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Gen Lit, Literary Criticism, Reading, Reading Challenges

Review: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

by The Lit Bitch5 Comments on Review: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Well it’s taken me a few months but I have finally finished Great Expectations! Yes I know I started it like months ago and have been slowly trying to finish it up between the move and other books I’ve been reading.

I started reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens for the Gothic Literature Reading Challenge, I had it down to read for the Victorian Literature Reading Challenge also but I decided to use it for the Gothic one since it had a lot of classic Gothic themes which I love.

I have struggled with reading Dickens over the years only because I think he is wordy and often his stories seem a little slow to start.

However, last year I read the book Drood which is a fiction work based on two English literary greats…Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens. After reading that book I was curious about Dickens’s life and works. After signing up for both the Victorian and Gothic literature challenges having some Dickens novels on my ‘to read’ lists was a no brainer.  Continue reading “Review: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens” →

Book Challenges, Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Gen Lit, Literary Criticism, Reading, Reading Challenges

Review: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

by The Lit Bitch5 Comments on Review: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

I decided to read Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as part of the Victorian Literature Challenge.

I have read Heart of Darkness before for a Comparative/Literary Criticism class in college. I’ll be honest, I didn’t care for it much then and I didn’t care for it reading it again two years later. Though I hoped that not having to write a paper on the book and not having to deconstruct the entire concepts would help me be able to get into it more but I was sadly disappointed.

Conrad’s novel is an interesting specimen in literature, it is more of a transitional book that has a foot in the Victorian era but also has a foot in modern literature. The book is about one man’s journey into madness while he travels the Congo.

The main character (Charles Marlow) is on the Themes on a boat waiting for the tide to change, he beings to tell his travel companions about his adventures in the Congo. He talks about the ‘evils’ he expeirences while there and how he worked to transport ivory down river….he was more or less a mercenary. Continue reading “Review: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad” →

Book Challenges, Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Gen Lit, Literary Criticism, Reading, Reading Challenges

Review: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

by The Lit Bitch3 Comments on Review: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I have settled on re-reading one of my fav books of all time….The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

I decided to read Dorian Gray for the Gothic Reading Challenge, I had it on my list to read for both the Gothic Reading Challenge and the Victorian Literature Challenge but decided to use it for the Gothic Challenge since I am in a ‘dark’ mood with all the madness happening…..why not have madness in my literature too LOL.

Oscar Wilde is one of my most fav authors, he literally just didn’t care who he made mad and wrote about what he loved….he is eccentric, carismatic, and philosophical in his writing style, I just cannot get enough Wilde :).

In Dorian Grey, we as readers are introduced to many “monstrous” sides of vanity and pride. We first met protagonist, Dorian Gray, as a naive young man who is gentle and kind. He is oblivious to the idea of age, maturity and growing “old”. The story focuses on the moral disintegration of Dorian which of course is a metaphor for the Victorian/Gothic era….the who era is about ‘darkness’, moral corruption, and the ‘daemons’ in us all.  Continue reading “Review: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde” →

Book Challenges, Book Critic, Book Review, Books, Gen Lit, Literary Criticism, Reading, Reading Challenges

Review: A Beautiful Blue Death (Charles Lenox Mysteries #1) by Charles Finch

by The Lit Bitch9 Comments on Review: A Beautiful Blue Death (Charles Lenox Mysteries #1) by Charles Finch

In between books I picked up the first book in the Charles Lenox Mysteries, A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch. I read this book as part of the Historic Fiction Reading Challenge hosted by Historical Tapestry.

The HF Reading Challenge required one thing….the book must by set in a historic setting so that means any genre (mystery, sci-fi, YA, fantasy….anything.

I don’t really know too much about the series but the books sounded like they would be right up my alley. I saw the series listed on Goodreads and they had favorable reviews from readers. The are more or less a remake of the Sherlock Holmes Mysteries and since I have read many of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries I thought these would be a modern twist on an old classic.

The series follows protagonist Charles Lenox who is a wealthy gentleman who resides in the posh/exclusive London address of Mayfair. He is what most readers refer to as the ‘armchair explorer/detective’. Because he is independently wealthy he has lots of time on his hands…and he has a very analytical mind and pays attention to details. He has a great ability to deduce little things which no one else seems to make heads or tails of (like Holmes in that way at least). Continue reading “Review: A Beautiful Blue Death (Charles Lenox Mysteries #1) by Charles Finch” →