Category: Gen Lit

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

Review: The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasumussen

by The Lit Bitch2 Comments on Review: The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasumussen

I won a copy of The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasmussen thanks to a Goodreads giveaway.

I had heard lots of good things about this book on Twitter and read lots of awesome reviews on Goodreads about this book and I must say in this case the book lives up to its hype….it was GREAT :).

The story follows the lives of two sisters who couldn’t be more opposite–Twiss and Milly. The sisters are spinsters who live in the same house that they grew up in and are now in their 70’s. We get a little background on them in the beginning of the story and then the story shifts and goes back to one summer that changed their lives forever when they were young girls.

The sisters parents are clearly having marital problems, Twiss struggles with some gender/identify issues and Milly with the uncertainty of a first love, and then as if that isn’t enough their older cousin Bett comes to stay with them for the summer which more or less causes all hell to break loose in their ‘perfect’ worlds. I don’t want to give too much about the story away but having Bett there causes both girls to lose their last bit of innocents and faith. The book is more or less about coming of age and innocents lost but it is also about forgiveness.  Continue reading “Review: The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasumussen” →

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

Review: Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11) by Charlaine Harris

by The Lit Bitch12 Comments on Review: Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11) by Charlaine Harris

This was on my ‘top most anticipated book releases of the year’ list! As most of you know by now, I am a HUGE True Blood fan and  I LOVE the Southern Vampire Mystery Series (SVMS) by Charalaine Harris. Saying that I couldn’t WAIT to get my hands on this book was the understatement of the year!

By lucky accident I have been sick for two days now so I have been able to be home for two days and devoured Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris.

The last book (Dead in the Family), the last book was a huge disappointment to me. Nothing really happened and the story just wasn’t really doing much for me…it seemed forced and thrown together…like I said, I was disappointed but still a devoted fan, I was hoping this book would be better than the last.

I was glad, this book was much better than the previous one, but not a complete resurrection. At this point in the series, I am getting kind of ready for things to unfold and move forward. Continue reading “Review: Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11) by Charlaine Harris” →

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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” →