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Review: The September Society (Charles Lenox Mysteries #2) by Charles Finch
How perfect and fitting that I am finishing this book today on the first day of September! I’ve just come off a string of long and content heavy books. So I just mentally needed a break from reading things that were hard/complicated, wordy, and had long, extensive family trees (which is so typical of English literary classics and British based books like Outlander or Through a Glass Darkly!). So, I was eager to read something else historically based but yet something I also knew to be a little less complicated and easy to read/understand….I immediately turned to the next book in the Charles Lenox Series, The September Society by Charles…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Review: Emma by Jane Austen
I finally find myself at the end of another book and at my computer long enough to compose a post. I just finished Emma by Jane Austen last night as part of the Victorian Literature Reading Challenge hosted by Subtle Melodrama. As the challenge outlines, the books must have been written during the Victorian era (1837-1901) or contain Victorian era thoughts/values which Austen does….though Austen wrote more in the Georgian era/ Regency era (1811-1817) her concepts and ideals were generally Victorian so I was happy I could include some of her novels as part of the challenge. Of course I have read Emma before, once in high school and once as part of…
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Review: Blameless (Parasol Protectorate #3) by Gail Carriger
Well everyone I am sad to say I just finished my last Alexia Tarabotti novel until July 2011. Blameless by Gail Carriger is the third book in the Parasol Protectorate series. I don’t know that I am going to be able to wait that long! I have become so enthralled with the series over the last week that I have managed to devour the entire series in a matter of eight days…that’s how you know a series is good, when you think of nothing else but getting home and reading that next book! I love all the characters in this series–Alexia is a kick. She is witty, smart, independent, and it…
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Review: Changeless (Parasol Protectorate #2) by Gail Carriger
I am happy to report that I am making good progress with the 2011 Steampunk Reading Challenge. I just completed the second book for the challenge last night and yes it was another sleepless night–well late anyway–I just couldn’t unwind! I finished reading Changeless by Gail Carriger, most of my time at my ‘day job’ was spent longing to go home and keep reading Changeless so I of course picked it up the minute I walked in the door. As I mentioned review of Soulless, I was hooked before you could say ‘Parasol Protectorate’! The first book was a great mixture of humor, supernaturalism, romance, and mystery. Besides the aesthetically pleasing cover, the…
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Review: Soulless (Parasol Protectorate #1) by Gail Carriger
I am pleased to say that I have finished my first book for one of my reading challenges and the first day of 2011 is barely over! The 2011 Steampunk Reading Challenge hosted by Bookish Ardour kicked off 1/1/11 and I started reading Soulless by Gail Carriger in the wee hours of 2011 simply because I was not tired and thought there is no time like the present when it comes to New Years resolutions! The 2011 Steampunk Challenge intrigued me because of course I am a huge fan of all things Victorian and Gothic but had never really gotten into the other sub-genres such as Steampunk. For those of you who don’t…
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2011 Victorian Literature Challenge
2011 Victorian Literature Challenge (Starts Jan 1, 2011) Selected Level: Desperate Remedies: 15+ books. Here is the list of books I’ll be reading over the next year as part of the 2011 Victorian Literature Challenge. I will try to blog and post about each one. Many of these I have read and many I have not but have wanted to and thought this would be the perfect excuse. All of these books were written during the specified Victorian timeline (1837-1901). These books are in no special order and I will not be reading in this order but I will post what I am reading. Challenge starts Jan 1 2011! Here’s…