Luna's Book Log 2025

[lunababymoonchild]

1    Oor Wullie Annual - completed (paperback)

2   Corrag, Susan Fletcher - completed (e-book)

3   The Time Machine, H G Wells (Paperback)

4   The Loving Cup (Poldark 10), Winston Graham - completed (paperback)

5   The Broons Annual - completed (paperback)

6   If On A Winter’s Night, Italo Calvino - completed (paperback)

7   The Awakening, Kate Chopin - completed (e-book)

8   Notre Coeur or A Woman's Pastime, Guy de Maupassant - completed (e-book)

9   The Key, Sarah Sheridan - completed (e-book)

10 The Snow Was Dirty, Georges Simenon - completed (e-book)

11 The House on the Strand, Daphne Du Maurier - completed (e-book)

12 The Ministry of Fear, Graham Greene - completed (e-book)

13 The Glimpses of the Moon, Edith Wharton - completed (e-book)

14 Snow Country, Yasunari Kawabata - completed (e-book)

15 The Dark Wives (Vera Stanhope 11) Ann Cleeves - completed (e-book)

16 The Painted Veil, Somerset Maugham - completed (e-book)

17 The Winter List, S G MacLean - completed (e-book)

18 Windswept and Interesting, Billy Connolly - completed (paper-back)

19 Ollala, Robert Louis Stevenson - completed (e-book, short story)

20 Master Humphrey's Clock, Charles Dickens - completed (e-book)

21 The City of Mirrors, Justin Cronin - completed (e-book)

22 A Hunger Artist, Franz Kafka - completed (e-book, short story)

23 The Spectral Hand, Jean Lorrain - completed (e-book, short story)

24 The Godfather, Mario Puzo - completed (e-book)

25 The Peepshow, The Murders at 10 Rillington  Place, Kate Summerscale - completed (e-book)

26 The Nervous Breakdown, Anton Chekhov -completed(short story, e-book)

27 Claude’s Confession, Émile Zola - completed (e-book)

28 Cycle of the Werewolf, Stephen King - completed (paper)

29 Monkey, Stephen King- completed (e-book, short story)

30 The Mayfly, L A Birchon - completed (e-book, short story)

31 The Blackbird Oracle, Deborah Harkness - completed (paperback)

32 The Rules of Time Travel, L A Birchon - completed (e-book)

33 Amerika, Franz Kafka - completed (paper)

34 Raven Black, Shetland 1, Ann Cleeves - completed (paper)

35 Kaikeyi, Vaishnavi Patel - completed (paper)

36 Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime, Oscar Wilde - completed (e-book, short story)

37 Julius, Daphne du Maurier - completed (paper)

38 Hell House, Richard Matheson - completed (e-book)

39 Maurice, E M Forster - completed (e-book)

40 The Door in the Wall, H G Wells - completed (e-book, short story)

41 Shadows in the Moonlight, Santa Montefiore - completed (e-book)

42 The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield - completed (paper)

43 The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, Emilie Autumn - completed (e-book)

44 The Diary of a Madman, Nickolay Gogol - completed (paper)

45 A Poisoner’s Tale, Cathryn Kemp - completed (e-book)

46 The Spectral Hand, Jean Lorrain - completed (e-book, short story

47 Extinction, Thomas Bernhardt - completed (paper)

48 Magic, Sarah Pinborough - completed (e-book)

49 White Nights, Ann Cleeves (Shetland 2) - completed (paper)

50 Story of a Murder, Hallie Rubenhold - completed (paper)

51  Mysterious and Unexplained Scottish Urban Legends, 50 Myths and True Stories by Aaron Mullins - completed (e-book)

52 The Moon is Down, John Steinbeck - completed (paper, novella)

53 The Farthest Shore (Earthsea 3), Ursula Le Guin - completed (paper)

54 Fyodor Dostoevsky, A Gentle Spirit  - completed (e-book)

55 Albert Camus, The Stranger - completed (e-book)

56 Henry James, Sir Edmund Orme - completed (e-book, short story)

57 Shauna Lawless, Dreams of Chaos - completed (e-book)

[lunababymoonchild]

The Snow Was Dirty, Georges Simenon

 

This was weird and difficult to describe what happened. It is nothing like Maigret and felt very much like a totally different author, what a talent!

 

Frank is a teenage thug, petty criminal and son of a brothel owner (who was once a prostitute) - eerily reminiscent of Charles Manson,  published when Manson was 14.

 

It's a pyschological novel about the thoughts, actions and attitudes of Frank during what is clearly the military occupation of his home town. Descriptions of the snow being dirty and having black patches figures significantly in comparison to Frank's life.

 

Highly recommended.

Edited February 7 by lunababymoonchild

[lunababymoonchild]

The Painted Veil, W. Somerset Maugham.

 

Starts with a quote: “Lift not the painted veil which those who live call life”

 

From the sonnet Lift Not The Painted Veil Which Those Who Live by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Which is very beautiful and pretty much the story that Maugham wrote. 

 

Maugham states that his story was inspired by the lines that Dante wrote and then quotes and translates them but doesn’t say from which work.

 

This, as I expected, is very well written. It’s also extremely compelling. It’s the life story of the central character, a woman, who makes three life changing mistakes early on in her life, while she’s still very young and how she copes with them, learning as she goes. The book does not end at the end of her life but the reader gets the impression that she will fare well as she goes forward.

 

Maugham’s insights into her character and thought processes are stunning. It doesn’t give a time in history when it’s written but it does describe debutantes and the position of women (who are expected to make a ‘good marriage’ and have children and nothing more, amongst the wealthy). At the end, the main character realises what her parent’s marriage was like from their point of view and the constraints that they were under at the time, despite their wealth.

 

This isn’t a long book - 107 pages, my copy - but Maugham makes his point eloquently without being too brief. His insights into all of the characters at the time period they occupy are acute and, seem to me, to be accurate. 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommended it.

[lunababymoonchild]

Windswept and Interesting, My Autobiography, Billy Connolly.

 

I grew up listening and watching Billy Connolly and I thought that I knew everything. Clearly not. I did not know, for example, that he didn't write things down before he went on. I knew he rambled a bit but I was too busy laughing to think about it.

He dictated this book into his phone and his daughters transcribed it for publication so it's Billy's voice that I heard as I read.

What a life he's had!

Recommended.

[lunababymoonchild]

Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King

 

I’ve been thinking about buying this book for a while but was put off because it was short (127 pages, my copy) and at more than £10 it didn’t represent value for money, for me. I didn’t realise that it came with illustrations. I then found out that it was originally a limited edition and then I understood why it was difficult to find. It was when it was delivered that I realised that it had illustrations in it. I decided to buy it because it was written by Stephen King and was, as far as I know, his only werewolf story.

 

The book is physically taller than I expected and I was pleasantly surprised by finding the illustrations, more so since they are hand drawn. The paper is good quality and there are a lot of very good illustrations, some of which are in colour. I prefer to use my own imagination but these illustrations did enhance the story. I bought it for the story and a cracker it is. In today’s day and age I’d hesitate to call it horror and I’ve always liked the fact that Stephen King doesn’t go into detailed blood thirsty descriptions (i.e. gore) when somebody is killed. 

 

The book is divided into chapters, despite being so short, and these comprise the months of the year. There are as many illustrations at the beginning as there is story and I have to admit to feeling a little conned. But the story eventually takes over and the revelation of who the werewolf actually is and how he is discovered came as a complete surprise to me - the story has a great ending! - and King’s writing is as good as he gets.

 

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and would recommend it, even although I read it in one sitting.

[lunababymoonchild]

Julius, Daphne du Maurier.

 

The life story of the titular character, who can only be described as a psychopath. Chilling at all times.

 

As expected, very well written, very well plotted, the characters are very realistic - especially Julius - so much so that it could be the biography of a real person.

 

Utterly compelling, I was stuck in the classic reader’s dilemma of being desperate to find out what happened next and not wanting it to end. I did manage to pace myself just correctly and thoroughly enjoyed this. 
 

Highly recommended.

[lunababymoonchild]

Hell House Richard Matheson

 

This is a great book! Very atmospheric and good old fashioned horror. 

 

I believed the characters and even the supernatural elements that went into the story. I was also caught by surprise a couple of times, which is unusual. I was a little disappointed in the ending though but don’t have any suggestions as to how to make that better. 
 

I will be seeking out other books by this author, having read I Am Legend too.

 

Recommended

[lunababymoonchild]

Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale.

 

This is a book about two women in whose lives books are more important than anything. One is a woman who grows up in a bookshop and learns the trade and who personally reads a great deal and authors some obscure papers and the other woman is a successful and famous author. What we read about is the life of the first one until she meets the second one and then we get both their lives. The second woman wants the first to write her biography.

 

It's a fantastic tale, about two sets of twins and the thirteenth tale, supposed to be in an already published book, which is never written down but becomes available.

 

It suited my Gothic preferences and was utterly compelling. I only wish I'd read it earlier.

 

Well plotted, well written and all of the answers given at the end.

 

Recommended.

 

 

[lunababymoonchild]

The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, Emilie Autumn

 

I read this as an e-book and this is significant because it contains links to Emilie Autumn's website. It also contains clues to a real-life treasure hunt for "The Quest for the Spoon of the Royals." should you wish to follow them. I didn't so can't say anything about that. I did, however, download a free Diary on PDF and free printable papers (also on PDF) that goes with the book.

 

Everything takes place in an Asylum/psychiatric ward. In the present Emilie Autumn is admitted to a psychiatric ward because she attempts suicide by overdosing on the anti-psychotic drugs prescribed for her Bipolar disorder. This is how the book starts. She describes the conditions in said psych ward, some of which are harrowing, in a secret diary. She is only allowed the notebook at certain times of the day and, of course, it's being read by the staff. Virtually right away Emilie finds a letter in her notebook from a girl with her name and description who was admitted to an insane asylum in England in the Victorian era, for attempting to kill herself (or did she?). These letters continue and life in said asylum is described by the Victorian Emilie, which is also harrowing. However, are the letters real or is present-day Emilie making this up/hallucinating? Are the conditions in the psychiatric ward real or is present-day Emilie making them up/hallucinating? The answer is in the book. And, unfortunately not much has changed in the treatment of women and girls admitted to psychiatric care (asylum) since the Victorian era. Emilie has much to say on that subject and she's probably right, having been so admitted herself.

 

The Victorian aspect is portrayed in the reasons for incarcerating women and girls in that era and their treatment thereof. There is a story here and it's compelling. It also comes to an end. As for the present timeline, the reader is left with a series of journal entries that are titled Typed Out and of Interest. 

 

I enjoyed the book for what it was. I found it well written and believable and Emilie Autumn does make valid points through out without making it a platform on which to stand or distracting from the entertaining read. And I haven't read an Asylum novel for ages. Worth the time, in my opinion.

 

Oh and there are also illustrations.

[lunababymoonchild]

The Diary of a Madman, Nikolay Gogol

 

Not the best choice after The Asylum, perhaps, but this short story did give me a taste of Gogol before I launch into a novel of his. I'm glad I did as it was excellent!

 

Diary excerpts from a minor clerk who is clearly going insane, talking dogs and the same dogs writing letters to each other for example,  ending with where he ends up. 
 

Excellent writing. Only 23 pages long but conveyed so very much about Russian society of the day in addition to the poor man's descent into insanity. 
 

Recommended.