Category: Gen Lit

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

2012 Outlander Series Reading Challenge, Sign up now!

by The Lit Bitch4 Comments on 2012 Outlander Series Reading Challenge, Sign up now!

It’s that time of year again Sassenachs! Time to sign up for the Outlander Reading Challenge 2012! This is the time of year where all my fellow readers begin looking for new year reading challenges and book clubs and unlike last year, I am getting an early start and spreading the word about the Outlander Series Reading Challenge that I am hosting again this year. This is the second annual Outlander Series Reading Challenge, last year was my first year hosting the challenge and after great success I decided to host it again this year!

I will be changing the format slightly from last years style. Last year I just read and posted my reviews while commenting on other participants review, I also had a discussion forum where I just posted general questions. This year I will be sending out discussion questions to keep you all thinking about Outlander and our beloved Jamie ! Answer the questions, don’t answer the questions, it’s entirely up to you! You can be as active or non active in this challenge as you want to be. The weekly discussion questions will be a new way to keep people actively interested, thinking about, and reading the series.

Here is the info if you want to sign up and please spread the love by grabbing the button!

Grab the button by copy/pasting the code to your blog from the Outlander Series Reading Challenge button on the main page:

For details and official sign up go to the 2012 Outlander Series Reading Challenge page by clicking here. Continue reading “2012 Outlander Series Reading Challenge, Sign up now!” →

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

Review: The Caldecott Chronicles No.1 by R.G. Bullet (Short Story)

by The Lit Bitch1 Comment on Review: The Caldecott Chronicles No.1 by R.G. Bullet (Short Story)

Sweet succulent brains, that is what the undead are looking for in The Caldecott Chronicles by RG Bullet. Though the word ‘zombie’ is never used in the short story it is clear, the 32nd Earl of Rothshire and his home are under siege…from the undead….the zombies are coming! BRAINS!

Since this is more of a short story, my review will not be as lengthy. The author was kind enough to give me an ARC of the short story, since he knows I am a huge Victorian/Gothic lit fan. I was really excited to start reading it when my e-copy of the story arrived.

This is only the first installment and I understand the entire chronicles will be available sometime this month (Nov) according to the author’s website. 

The gruesome siege is recounted by the Earl, who is often quirky and humorous…..there’s just something about a proper, old fashion, English gentleman recounting how to kill the undead with this trusty Purdey shotgun.

The Earl’s home (Caldecott Estates) is in the picturesque area of the English countryside known as the Cotswolds. Set in 1899, the late Victorian social ideals and culture are beautifully brought to life in the Earl’s narrative.  Continue reading “Review: The Caldecott Chronicles No.1 by R.G. Bullet (Short Story)” →

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

Review: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

by The Lit Bitch2 Comments on Review: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Like music to a readers ear, Jennifer Egan’s novel A Visit from the Goon Squad flows lyrically from page to page. The story, character, words, and tone of the novel come together  in perfect harmony from beginning to end.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jennifer Egan at Portland’s book festival, Wordstock, this past month where I had her sign my copy of Goon Squad. Not only was she charming and polite in person, she was also very ‘real’ and down to earth, smiling and greeting every fan and answering all their questions with genuine interest.

I had heard lots of great things about this novel, not to mention its won numberous awards including the Pulitzer Prize. Needless to say, Egan was the author I was most looking forward to seeing at Wordstock. My husband and I listened to her reading from Goon Squad and it’s hard to NOT like a book that so clearly challenges social acceptance and norms. Listening to hear reading the except from her book, it was even harder for me NOT to be excited about reading the book.

I started reading the book shortly after Wordstock, and it was very clear that I was reading something special and different. The book whole tone of the book is gritty, hard boiled….almost a film noir style book. It is set in punk rock era NYC (as well as a host of other cities and locations)…..where the underground music scene rules this vibrant city. Continue reading “Review: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan” →

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

Review: Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynne Shepherd

by The Lit Bitch3 Comments on Review: Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynne Shepherd

Hold on to your bonnets, there’s been a Murder at Mansfield Park! In this charming Jane Austen spin off, author Lynne Shepherd takes a classic English novel and turns it into a classic ‘who done it’.

Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park is the only Austen novel I have not read ironically, for some reason it just never appealed to me. Everyone says that Fanny Price is the worse Austen heroine ever, though I cannot claim my own opinion of the original Fanny Price, I can say with confidence I didn’t care for the Shepherd version of Price in this book which was the obvious point of her novel.

I’ve only read a few other Jane Austen ‘spin offs’ but none like this. Most of the spin off books are more of an extension of the original story, (largely in the romance category) such as Mr Darcy Takes a Wife….some are more eccentric parodies such as Pride  and Prejudice and Zombies…..but over all most of the spin offs are alike, which was the main reason why this particular book caught my eye….a Jane Austen murder mystery? What could be better, it brilliant and not been done before!

Shepherd and I follow each other on Twitter and when I went on to accept her follow request, I was intrigued by what I saw. It sounded like such a fresh take on an old classic…..I was so happy that I started reading it first and just in time the Halloween season! Continue reading “Review: Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynne Shepherd” →

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

Review: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

by The Lit Bitch11 Comments on Review: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Facts. What are the simple facts of a story? How much background, story, context, and fact does one need when assessing a mystery?

Imagine for a minute that you are a jury or perhaps an investigator of a mystery, what facts would you want? What are important? What would influence your decision? That’s what happens in The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins…we get the facts of a case presented to us from various sources and we must assess the facts and piece the story together through intricate statements/narratives by the main characters.

When I first started The Woman in White, I had my doubts. I was worried that the format would be confusing and hard to get into….slow going with lots of background ‘fluff’ like Collins’s counterpart, Charles Dickens. I was surprised how easily everything flowed and how quickly the story started. The story is told in a unique format (an epistolary novel) meaning it is a told through a series of letters and/or journal entries, and in this case testimonies…much similar to another Victorian/Gothic classic Bram Stokers Dracula. While it is clearly a classic Victorian and gothic sensationalism novel it is also widely acclaimed as one of the first detective novels of the time.

The novel jumps right into the story without a whole lot of long eloquent Victorian wordiness, beginning with the primary narrator, drawing master Walter Hartright. Hartright meets a young woman dressed all in white late at night on a deserted road back to London. From there he finds out the woman has escaped from a nearby asylum in order to pass a message along to a mysterious baronet, though Hartright helps her to escape detection he expects never to see her again but somehow he cannot forget the ghostly figure. Eventually his life and the woman in white’s become entangled forever through two ‘sisters’, Laura Fairlie and Marian Halcombe. Continue reading “Review: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins” →