Literary Criticism
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Review: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Like the misty, whispering moors of northern England, Emily Bronte’s one and only novel, gets under your skin….tapping oh so quietly on the lattice window like Cathy asking that you only let it in to come home. Every Thanksgiving break I read Wuthering Heights, don’t ask me why but somehow it became part of a holiday tradition but this year I was able to enjoy it knowing I was also reading it as part of both the Victorian Literature Reading Challenge and the Gothic Literature Reading challenges. I had hoped to read loads more Victorian novels this year but sadly I don’t think I will satisfy my original challenge goal of…
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Review: The Mischief of the Mistletoe (Pink Carnation #7) by Lauren Willig
Tis the season for purloined pudding! Christmas pudding, bonnets, love, and mystery are all literary in the air in Lauren Willig’s book The Mischief of the Mistletoe. This book is #4.2 in Willig’s wildly popular Pink Carnation series. I saw this book advertised on Goodreads a few weeks ago and fell in love with the cover and….suddenly I had to read it! So I picked up a copy and then I saw the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge hosted by the True Book Addict and suddenly I couldn’t wait for it to be Christmas season so I could read this book! Biding my time, I started the book the day the challenge started and finished the book…
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Review: The Devil’s Ribbon (Hatton and Roumonde Mystery #2) by D. E. Meredith
Green, the symbol of Irish pride and a symbol of Irish rebellion–this is what forensic scientist and doctor Adolphus Hatton is thinking when he pulls a green ribbon from the mouth of cadaver. In D.E. Meredith’s latest thriller, The Devil’s Ribbon, London is a pressure cooker….the searing July heat of 1858, the wretched stink of the Themes, deadly diseases lurking in every inch of filth from Highgate to the Rookeries of the East End, and….feuding Irish and British tensions are at their breaking point. Hatton and his assistant Albert Roumande, are knee deep in a spike of cholera deaths when Inspector Grey of Scotland Yard approaches them with a curious case….a predominant…
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The Christmas Spirit 2011 Reading Challenge
The holiday season is upon us! With the year coming to a close in a few weeks, I was not going to join anymore challenges but I just couldn’t resist! The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge 2011 was just too cute to pass up! The challenge is being hosted by the True Book Addict on her special blog page devoted just for this challenge! Since the challenge is only going on for a few weeks, I am only planning on reading one book (maybe two if I am lucky) so I will be going for the ‘Candy Cane’ level (1 book). I might make Mistletoe level (2 books) since crossovers are ok,…
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Review: Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1) by Cassandra Clare
How strange it is to have the power to literally transform yourself into other people and yet be unable to put yourself in their place. This is the problem that plagues shapeshifting heroine Tessa Gray in Cassandra Clare’s steampunk novel, Clockwork Angel. Part of a trilogy The Infernal Devices, this first book blends romance, sci-fi/fantasy, steampunk, and adventure all together churning out 400+ pages of entertainment. When I first started the Steampunk Reading Challenge, I considered reading this book as one of my five books but then I started the Parasol Protectorate series instead. But as the year is winding down I still needed one book for the challenge, Clockwork Angel…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…