Nollaig
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Posts posted by Nollaig
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I finished Rawblood and it unfortunately went so far downhill in the last quarter that it almost jumped from 4 stars to 2, but I'm giving it 3 based on the quality of the writing and how good it started out.
Now reading the next book I grabbed from the Gollancz sale - The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone. So far, nearly a quarter in, it's surprisingly well written and enjoyable! I may also start Black Eyed Susans by Julia Something. I'm really bad at remembering author names.
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Cool and crisp, but a little greyer than I'd like. Come on, sun!
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I haven't read any Agatha Christie but those stamps are gorgeous!
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The Kate Bush song is awesome haha. When I was a kid I thought the book was called 'Withering Heights', I've no idea why, and the song made me read the book. It's been a regularly re-read favourite of mine since I was 14. It is bleak, but due to Ralph Fiennes in that movie it's hard not to like book-Heathcliff.
There's a lot of pretty quotes, too. -
Dracula is great, glad you enjoyed it!
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Sorry to hear that Claire, that's a shame
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#92 Naomi's Room - Joanthan Aycliffe
Genre: Horror
Synopsis: On Christmas Eve, four-year-old Naomi Hillenbrand disappears from her father's side in a crowded toy store; on Christmas Day, her mutilated body is discovered in a field. But a part of Naomi remains, unwilling or unable to leave this world. Ghostly photographs capture her playing with two other little girls dressed in Victorian garb while a sinister man in black watches...watches them all. Charles Hillenbrand is tormented by grief. When sinister whispers in the night begin to taunt him, he tries to uncover the evil truth behind Naomi's death. But long-buried secrets await him and threaten to take him beyond the brink of sanity, to a place where he could lose his very soul.
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Review: This... is a very dark book. Usually when I see reviews saying 'this is a dark/scary/disturbing book' I come away thinking 'ah yeah, I spose'. This is dark. In a lot of ways it is a classic haunted house story, featuring a lone person reminiscing the tragic, fateful events leading to his current situation, and featuring creepy figures in photos, and a big old house with a history and freaky night-time happenings, apparently driven by the death of his daughter. While I didn't find this book particularly scary, I felt a little suffocated for my entire reading of it by the gloomy, depressing atmosphere that pervades throughout it. The whole thing feels like a lament. Which is exactly what you want from a book like this, it's the kind of book you close and think 'well thank the baby Jesus that is neither real, nor happening to me'. The film version of that feeling, for me, is The Hole. *Shudder*
This book isn't without flaws - there is quite a lot of exposition and quite a complicated backstory behind the hauntings, even though it's quite a short book, with a weird fact thrown in towards the end that really served no purpose at all and jarred my experience of the explanation a little. For some people, the ending was a massive flaw and it seems to have knocked a lot of reader's ratings down quite a lot. While I see where they're coming from, I'm not easily affected by even very cruel or graphic violence in novels (I'm not normal, I know, but hey, how many Saw films got made?) and I really, really was not expecting the novel to go that way. At all. I actually thought it was kind of great. Not necessarily the specific actions, but, the general concept.
All in all, an exceptionally dark and graphic book I probably wouldn't recommend to most people, but I enjoyed it.
Rating: ★★★★✰ (I loved it) -
#91 After Me Comes the Flood - Sarah Perry
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis: One hot summer's day, John Cole decides to leave his life behind. He shuts up the bookshop no one ever comes to and drives out of London. When his car breaks down and he becomes lost on an isolated road, he goes looking for help, and stumbles into the grounds of a grand but dilapidated house. Its residents welcome him with open arms - but there's more to this strange community than meets the eye. They all know him by name, they've prepared a room for him, and claim to have been waiting for him all along. As nights and days pass John finds himself drawn into a baffling menagerie. And what do they intend for John?
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Review: Wow, I did not like this book. Before I get into it, let me say I loved The Essex Serpent, I thought it was beautifully written (though, unlike others, I did think some of the writing was decorative), and while I didn't think the plot lived up to its full potential, or that the connection between the two main characters was particularly moving or even well-founded, I did thoroughly, thoroughly enjoy reading the book. After Me Comes the Flood came before TES, and while Perry must be credited for the serious advance in quality between the two novels - every criticism I have of TES is present in AMCTF, and everything I liked is missing.
In other words, AMCTF subsists in dull, flat characters doing basically nothing, described in somewhat decorative writing which simply adds to the tedium of trying to get through this mindnumbing borefest. I saw a lot of reviews on Goodreads which described it as rubbish, or readable but pointless, and I was misled by my enjoyment of TES into thinking maybe they were wrong. They weren't. Don't waste your time. It's not badly written, it's just nice writing about absolutely nothing. Spoiler: The menagerie intend nothing for John. Literally, nothing.
It's possible there's some big allegory I'm missing - there are some biblical/religious references, and I've seen it mentioned that the author had a religious upbringing, but I honestly doubt even that could make this book worthwhile.
Rating: ★✰✰✰✰ (I didn't like it) -
Great review for Monsters Noll. I agree with it all (so will just link
) but I didn't knock a star off .. I thought it was definitely among the best I've read this year. Could not put it down. Woofed it up .. which is sadly rare these days. Made me feel terribly uncomfortable but not so much that I couldn't bear to go on with it. Ruth pointed out to me that Emerald is an actress in Call the Midwife .. I didn't know (well .. I've hardly ever seen it so no surprise there ) .. she has written some children's books but sadly my library doesn't stock them and can't get them in I'll be looking out for her for sure though 
I did love it but the ending was definitely underwhelming for me, so I couldn't give it five stars. Yeah I'd seen and dismissed Shiverton Hall as something that might be okay but probably not worth rushing to pick up - but now I may read it
Shame All Fall Down fell down
. I enjoyed reading your review though.Hehe
Oh drat, I missed it too.
Monsters sounds interesting. I added to my wishlist, but apparently it was already on there!
it's very very good, definitely worth a read! That happens to me too - and when it does, I usually bump it up the wishlist so it gets bought sooner - if a book can convince me twice I want to read it, it deserves that
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Wasn't too bad this morning but now tis lashing.
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Why not read both?
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Almost halfway through Rawblood and I am absolutely loving it so far - I just hope it stays this good right to the end!
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I apparently haven't posted here. Ooooh. I could easily name five terrible thrillers off the top of my head, but where's the fun in that? For now, one in particular that I just finished springs to mind - After Me Comes The Flood - by Sarah Perry. It's got some pretty bad reviews on Goodreads, many of which correctly declare it readable but mindnumbingly boring and pointless, but having loved The Essex Serpent I decided to give it a go. Nope. Do not. I cannot recommend strongly enough that you avoid Flood like the plague.
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I didn't work up too much of a sweat walking from the parking garage to the college like I normally do so, yeah, that was pretty good.
That's how I'm measuring whether it's cool enough or not, whether or not I can walk to work without sweating
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The mornings and evenings are so much cooler, it's wonderful! I'm still too warm at night though, need it to cool a few more degrees and the afternoons sometimes still hit 20 or thereabouts.
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Struggling with my mood today. Trying to make myself go to the shop and it's a serious struggle. Napped this evening, which I shouldn't have done, and ordered food yesterday and today, which I also shouldn't have done. Keep putting off chores, too. Not sure if these poor behaviors are causing the poor mood or vice versa. Gonna make myself do a few bits this eve and see how I feel. Have had a feeling of indifference for a while now and half feeling like all the stuff I seem to be 'coping' with I'm actually repressing and something is gonna make me snap. Particularly feels that way when I feel like this. Sorry for rambling about this here, also feeling a bit isolated at the moment.
Right, shop. Shop shop shop.
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Jude, in A Little Life, would be high on the list. But other than that, anyone who suffers or is evil, and since I read thrillers and horrors, there are a lot of those!
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I loved The Godfather when I read it years ago. So much so that I thought the film was rubbish when I saw it, and that Brando didn't even remotely capture the man! Enjoy
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I have this on my Kindle but haven't got around to reading it yet.
Really?! Didn't know you were an anxious person... or if I did, I forgot, I'm so sorry :/
I FINALLY FINISHED AFTER ME COMES THE FLOOD BY sARAH pERRY!
My god it was tedious. The woman can write but how she did not die of boredom writing that utterly mindnumbing non-event of a book I will never know!
I also finished Naomi's Room - surprisingly good, though odd and quite violent/graphic.
I've started reading The Call of Cthulu and other Weird Tales by Lovecraft, which is a mixed bag, and Rawblood by Catriona Ward, which I'm adoring so far.
Also planning on knocking off Danse Macabre this evening, as it's only 56 pages. With that, I'll be back up to 4 books ahead of schedule, and a good chunk into the ones I'm reading! Delighted I'm getting back on track.
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Its so pretty - the only issue I have now is getting the other two covers to match as I've got a bit of a thing about my book covers matching
I know what you mean - I once spent about fifty euro getting a trilogy with my favourite set of covers sent from America because they weren't available here. I'm mad, I know!
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I love that cover of Divergent
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I haven't posted in here yet because I haven't read/known any of the books mentioned, though I've been dipping in and out. Always nice to see new logs though
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Yesterday I went for dinner with a friend, and we ordered a cocktail each while waiting for our food. The food ended up being lost, so they offered us a free second drink, or our current drinks on the house. We went with current drinks on the house, so free 9 euro cocktail!
Also bought myself a few books, and a really nice black velvet top.
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I've almost finished Naomi's Room. I want to make a serious effort today and tomorrow and get a couple of books finished.
Yesterday at a stall in a shopping centre I bought four books for €2.99 each - two were books I've read in e-form and loved enough to want in hardcopy: I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh and The Man From Primrose Lane by James Renner.
I also picked up 13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough and The Tales of Beedle the Bard because I've never read those. Taking a chance on the Pinborough, she can be hit-or-miss.
Also bought Managing Anxiety with CBT for Dummies on my tablet - to read alongside the online course I'm doing.
Anddddd today I bought two books in the Gollancz e-book sale - Rawblood by Catriona Ward and The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone.
What's Up in September 2016?
in General Chat
Posted
Oh dear! Once when our (sadly departed) Holly was a teeny tiny pup, we gave her this ratty old pink jumper which she would completely wrap herself up in (it was three times the size of her). One evening I was going into the kitchen and the jumper was spread in a pile across the threshold - I stepped on it on my way past and suddenly there was this almighty ROO ROO ROO ROO ROO ROO from the jumper. Puppy of course wrapped up inside it and I hadn't seen her.
She was alright, I didn't do any damage, just hurt her a bit/gave her a fright. I'll never forget it though. Still remember mum thundering out of the living room going WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THE DOG?! 
That sounds delicious! Om nom!
I took a day off work yesterday (using time up before I start the internship contract Monday week). Spent a good portion of the day cleaning the house and preparing for a job application (yes, I'm applying for another job before the internship even starts - it's the job I've been waiting over a year for, full time, indefinite/long-term contract). I feel a little bad, but it's not my fault they finally advertised this job right after I got an internship.
This morning my landlord messaged at 8am (on a Saturday! She knows I work Mon-Fri!) asking if it'd be okay for her to come over around 10/11 to pick up some stuff from 'her' room. 'Her' room used to be my housemate's room, but I'm guessing now that she actually means the little spare room which is packed with a bunch of the landlord's stuff, including books and files from her work as a speech therapist. Now, in the almost year she's been gone, I've stuffed some junk in that room too, and my housemate actually took the bookcase full of books and files for her own room, leaving said stuff on a large unit from her bedroom which she put in the spare room instead. The room is entirely inacessible without pulling out that unit. That housemate is also away this weekend. I've taken all my stuff out of the room, so at least hopefully i won't get in trouble for filling it with my stuff, but I have no idea how the landlord will react to her stuff being moved and the giant unit being in there!