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Noll's Reading Log 2017


Nollaig

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#2 Dear Amy - Helen Callaghan    

 

Genre: Psychological Thriller
Synopsis: Margot Lewis is the agony aunt for The Cambridge Examiner. Her advice column, Dear Amy, gets all kinds of letters - but none like the one she's just received: Dear Amy, I don't know where I am. I've been kidnapped and am being held prisoner by a strange man. I'm afraid he'll kill me. Please help me soon,Bethan Avery/ Bethan Avery has been missing for years. This is surely some cruel hoax. But, as more letters arrive, they contain information that was never made public. How is this happening? Answering this question will cost Margot everything.


*** 

Review: This novel has a really interesting premise (I really do love a good mystery in my thrillers), the writing was good, the story was good, I quite liked the characters- for all intents and purposes, it's a solid read.

It's been a while now since I've read it, and of the four books I've read so far this year, this one has definitely stuck with me the least. Even though that it itself is probably grounds for knocking it to one star lower than the other books, I can't entirely remember now what exactly it was that missed the mark a little for me about this book. I have a feeling it was that I wanted it to be more fleshed out, and maybe more detailed, than it actually was - which of course is a quality that is reduced anyway when broadly recalling a story. I guessed the twist pretty easily, so maybe I wanted to be more shocked or surprised, and just didn't get that.

The fact that I haven't a huge amount to say here also indicates a less than stellar read. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it, I just found it a bit lacklustre. I'd recommend it as a good one to pick up if you want something pretty quick and easy to get through, without getting too dark or complex. 

Rating: 3/5

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#3 Good Me Bad Me - Ali Land  

 

Genre: Psychological Thriller
Synopsis: 'NEW N A M E . NEW F A M I L Y. S H I N Y. NEW. ME . ' Annie's mother is a serial killer. The only way she can make it stop is to hand her in to the police. But out of sight is not out of mind. As her mother's trial looms, the secrets of her past won't let Annie sleep, even with a new foster family and name - Milly. A fresh start. Now, surely, she can be whoever she wants to be. But Milly's mother is a serial killer. And blood is thicker than water. Good me, bad me. She is, after all, her mother's daughter...


*** 

Review: I've been in the mood for psychological thrillers lately and boy did this one get my reading year off to a good start. I'd noticed a bit of chatter surrounding this release - just out in January 2017 - and found the premise intriguing, so I snapped it up as soon as it came out.

The writing style is definitely unusual - written in the second person, and occasionally. A bit. Stilted. It took a little bit of getting used to, but it worked pretty well. The story is narrated by Milly, a troubled, traumatized young girl adjusting to life in foster care while preparing to face the aftermath of turning in her murderous mother. Although the novel is so well written as to completely absorb my attention (I read this book within 24 hours), I did occasionally pause to ponder Land's ability to so brilliantly portray the complexity of Milly's perspective.

I will say, I guessed the main twist fairly early on. Perhaps I was supposed to, but I didn't find this to be a 'shocking' or 'surprising' read, just a thoroughly immersive one. The ending for me was a bit rushed, a bit forced and generally a little hard to swallow, so that brought the book - which had been teetering on the edge of five stars - down to four. But otherwise - the plot, the characters, the writing - all made for a really great read.

Rating: 4/5

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#4 The Last Days Of Jack Sparks - Jason Arnopp  

 

Genre: Paranormal/Thriller
Synopsis: Jack Sparks died while writing this book.  In 2014, Jack Sparks - the controversial pop culture journalist - died in mysterious circumstances.  To his fans, Jack was a fearless rebel; to his detractors, he was a talentless hack. Either way, his death came as a shock to everyone. It was no secret that Jack had been researching the occult for his new book. He'd already triggered a furious Twitter storm by mocking an exorcism he witnessed in rural Italy. Then there was that video: thirty-six seconds of chilling footage that Jack repeatedly claimed was not of his making, yet was posted from his own YouTube account. This book, compiled from the files found after his death, reveals the chilling details of Jack's final hours.

*** 

Review: This book was one hell of a ride. One HELL... geddit? Ahem. Okay, well, I really enjoyed it. It was a rollercoaster - I wasn't too sure at the start, then it drew me in, then it started to dip a bit, and just when I thought it was about to drop from four stars down to three, it rocketed right up to five stars. With a bit of time to process the experience and allow for the flaws, I've put it back down to four. I know, right? What kind of book is this? Haven't a notion.

It's very well written. I don't want to oversell the writing, because - for example - I didn't *really* like any of the characters at all - particularly Jack. But what I would say for the writing is that I spent half the book thinking I hated the writing style, when in fact in turned out in the second half that I hated the persona Jack Sparks exudes in the pages of his book, and this turns around a bit in the second half. His writing is full of witty sarcasm and cynicism, which at times is very funny, at times slightly annoying, and later in the book, features irritating refusal to accept mountains of evidence for apparent facts.

What I loved about this was the adventure. It's not a fun adventure for Jack - after all, we know he winds up dead. But it's creepy, drawing on just enough of the standard tropes to support its own original direction. What was unexpected about this book is that it is not just a quest to disprove the existence of the paranormal, but something much closer to home too.

The ending though. I absolutely bloody LOVED the ending. Fantastic. Perfect. Flawless. It redeemed all of the questionable aspects of this book to make me absolutely love it. This is one I'm gonna be buying in hardcopy and rereading. It's quirky, funny, sometimes gross, a little bit creepy and - I think - quite clever in the end. Highly recommended.

Rating: 4/5

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I heard Good Me Bad Me being discussed on the radio the other day.  It was a crime special, and the reviewer was picking the best new crime thrillers from debut authors, and this one was one of the recommended books.  I'm sure I also read somewhere that it's already been translated into quite a few different languages.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Okay, I think it's time for some short reviews for books I don't have a huge amount to say about, as I've been putting off their reviews for a while.

 

The Inferior - Peadar O'Guilín 3/5

 

I did really enjoy The Inferior - a book about a seemingly stone-age society which might be more than it seems. The construction of the society - while simple enough to appeal to a YA audience - was really interesting, and I really liked the characters. For the most part, I liked the plot - a mysterious girl (of course) turns up shortly before a lot of trouble starts involving tribes of other creatures (all living in their own sections of a larger area) and an adventure begins. My main issue with the book was, I suspected part of the twist implied about where the girl came from very very early on, but because the author is so slow to reveal the bigger picture (and indeed, doesn't by the end of the book, which is the first of a series), I felt like I was waiting for the book to hurry up and reveal things. I'm also not sure how I'm going to feel about those revelations in book 2 - but, I will definitely read book 2 as there was a lot about this one that I enjoyed.

 

Before I Let You In - Jenny Blackhurst 2/5

 

Honestly I can't remember exactly why I gave this two stars. I know I didn't like the ending much. It was one of those cheapy Amazon thrillers with a 'psych thriller/twist you won't see coming' taglines, and it fulfilled the basic standard for that. Decent base plot, likeable characters, but just overall kinda meh execution. Grand for a quick mindless read.

 

My Name is Leon - Kit De Waal 3/5

 

I loved the first half or so of this book, and wasn't so keen on the second half. I didn't really like the allotment characters, or references to riots (I'm assuming some kind of historical event I know nothing about, which may be to my shame, I'm not sure - I'm Irish though, so that's my excuse!) Those two things were just background context for the journey little Leon goes on in coming to terms with foster care and separation from his brother, but I felt they overwhelmed Leon's story towards the end and felt the resolution just sort of 'happened', rather than feeling like a natural end to Leon's journey. That said, I loved the first half, the writing is great, Sylvia and Maureen (his foster carers) are great characters, and it's a really interesting premise. It would have been a four star read, if I hadn't felt the end brought it down a bit.

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Some Will Not Sleep - Adam Nevill

 

Genre: Horror/Short Stories
Synopsis: A bestial face appears at windows in the night. In the big white house on the hill angels are said to appear. A forgotten tenant in an isolated building becomes addicted to milk. A strange goddess is worshipped by a home-invading disciple. The least remembered gods still haunt the oldest forests.  Cannibalism occurs in high society at the end of the world.  The sainted undead follow their prophet to the Great Dead Sea.  A confused and vengeful presence occupies the home of a first-time buyer . . .  In ghastly harmony with the nightmarish visions of the award-winning writer's novels, these stories blend a lifelong appreciation of horror culture with the grotesque fascinations and childlike terrors that are the author's own.

*** 

Review: Ooh this book was an absolute treat. I'm always a little wary of short story collections, as I rarely (in fact, never) love entire collections of stories, and much prefer to spend time on one full-length story which I have established from early on that I will likely enjoy. I've read one of Nevill's novels - The Ritual, which I absolutely adored, up until the end. Did not like the ending, but I loved the writing and the atmosphere was fantastic. Those two elements are present in Some Will Not Sleep with absolute abundance. Although there were one or two stories I was not so fond of, the majority of the unsettling tales in this collection are chillingly enjoyable, and even the stories I was not so keen on will be to someone else's taste for sure.

I don't quite know how to describe the atmosphere of these stories - while Nevill does not shy away from conveying quite gruesome or repulsive things at times, there is nothing gratutious in his stories. In fact, they almost lull you in with only a slight sense of dread before revealing dark and disturbing things. When I say some of these stories left me with a feeling of uncleanliness, it is actually a compliment.

This will probably be the first collection of short stories I will ever purchase in hard copy, because I can say with certainty it is one I will dip in and out of for Halloweens to come. For good old fashioned creepy, icky weirdness in your horror, this is the way to go.

Rating: 4/5

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Some Will Not Sleep looks interesting and you did a nice review. I am tempted to put it on my list but I really don't like short stories either. The only book of short stories I liked was one by James Lee Burke titled "Jesus Out To Sea" and the stories really weren't real short. :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

It's aaaages since I posted here. I'm reading quite slowly at the moment, and have a couple of reviews to write. That's because I'm spending so much time cross stitching!

 

This is what I'm working on at the moment - it's the size of a large poster, I think about 22" by 28" in size. My hand is about the size of the coloured area of what I've stitched so far. It's not much to look at yet - these bits are just the decorative border. It's meant to be a stained glass effect, though I think that will be more apparent when its completed. I've included a small look at the full thing, too. It looks a bit washed out, but it looks quite warm in real life, so I'm hoping the nice soft stitches will make it look warmer overall when done.

 

The characters are from the Legend of Zelda series of video games.

 

post-4797-0-19266200-1488803950_thumb.jpg post-4797-0-29146700-1488804432_thumb.jpg

 

It's not a great picture - Wednesday will be 1 month since I started, so I'm trying to get as much as possible done by then and will post a better, updated picture.

 

I have to say, I'm loving working on this piece much more than the smaller pieces I've done (except for my robin and bunny, which was a proper scene too). I have a few small ones I've found that I want to do, but most are either scenes or quite detailed - I have a Calvin and Hobbes scene, and a small enough blue tit which has loads of shades of blues and yellows - I'd happily frame both of those.

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I bet that's going to look great when it's all done :D. I wouldn't mind having such a cross-stitch hanging in my living room. Good luck :)!

 

Hopefully it will look good! It's gonna be massive, so it'll be a nice centrepiece on a wall.

 

That looks lovely, do you find it very therapeutic?

 

At times yes and at other times no - it's great for chilling out, as it gives you a fairly repetitive simple task to focus on, and there's the reward of seeing the work gradually complete the picture. At other times, I'll stitch for three hours and be frustrated by how little I've gotten done in that time, as it really is quite slow work. But overall, it is very rewarding. :D

 

That's really cool. :) I like The Legend of Zelda :)

 

Thank you! :D

 

I'm gonna do a bit more work on it this evening and then post a picture of its 1-month progress. :lol:

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  • 1 month later...

Wow, it's so long since I posted here that not only is my 1 month progress picture of my cross-stitch overdue, but I'm nearly a week past the 2-month progress picture, which is below :smile:

 

20170412_192614.jpg

 

Getting there!

 

I haven't been reading at all lately - I have two books on the go, nearly finished, and I'm five books behind so I need to get my act together. I've just been distracted by two things:

1. A boy

2. A 3DS console I purchased from said boy :lol:

 

Literally just spent the last five days in his house, so no stitching or reading got done. Really need to start making time for both, even when I'm at his house.

 

Off home to Kerry tomorrow for Easter, so will try get a bit of both done there!

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What a lovely cross-stitch! It looks so good :smile:.

 

I'm happy for you that you've been having fun doing other things. What kind of game(s) have you been playing on the 3DS?

I hope you'll be able to do some nice reading and cross-stitching over Easter :smile:.

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@Athena I've been playing Ace Attorney mostly, on the 4th of 5 cases in the first game! The original trilogy was available for €15 from the Nintendo eShop, so I grabbed them. Also being playing Ocarina of Time, and a few demos including Bravely Default and Yo-Kai Watch. :smile:

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45 minutes ago, Nollaig said:

@Athena I've been playing Ace Attorney mostly, on the 4th of 5 cases in the first game! The original trilogy was available for €15 from the Nintendo eShop, so I grabbed them. Also being playing Ocarina of Time, and a few demos including Bravely Default and Yo-Kai Watch. :smile:

 

Oooh nice :smile:!! I've been interested in the Ace Attorney games but I haven't played them. I'm glad you've been having fun :smile:. My boyfriend has played Ocarina of Time (both on the N64 and the 3DS).

 

31 minutes ago, Michelle said:

Never mind the cross stitch and 3DS - tell us more about the boy! :yes: :giggle:

 

Haha. I wasn't sure if Noll was comfortable with sharing much, so I didn't ask. Of course, I'm happy to hear any details :biggrin:.

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33 minutes ago, Michelle said:

Never mind the cross stitch and 3DS - tell us more about the boy! :yes: :giggle:

 

2 minutes ago, Athena said:

 

Haha. I wasn't sure if Noll was comfortable with sharing much, so I didn't ask. Of course, I'm happy to hear any details :biggrin:.

 

Hehe, nope, I don't mind sharing. Actually currently have a mild panic attack because I just spent five days at his house and am afraid of him suddenly having an empty house and realising he prefers it empty. Haven't heard from him today, which is unusual. Have an awful gut feeling at the moment something is not quite right.

 

But aside from that, he's a really awesome guy. Been seeing each other for about 2 months now, bit more. Spent about three days a week with him, and I already have a key to his house. So. Hopefully I am being paranoid with my above comments. It's really great, and so far we've both been hoping it ends up being something serious.

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