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Schoolhouse Gothic by Sherry R. Truffin
Schoolhouse Gothic, Sherry R. Truffin’s first monograph, is one of the first studies to address the role of the educational system in twentieth-century Gothic fiction. The work reveals Truffin’s in-depth understanding of the Gothic genre, its origins, methodologies and implications, focussing in particular on a branch of Gothic she terms ‘Schoolhouse Gothic’.In Schoolhouse Gothic, Truffin…
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No Name by Wilkie Collins
I love Wilkie Collins’ humour, the quirkiness and mannerisms of his characters, and the intricate plots of his novels. No Name focuses on a rather unconventional heroine, Magdalen Vanstone, who in a short amount of time finds herself orphaned and – due to an idiotic a legality – penniless. Her rightful inheritance lands in the…
1840s, 1850s, 19TH CENTURY, 3rd pov, 4.5 STARS, Adult, adventure, British author, british classics, CLASSICS, drama, england, family, favourite authors, GOTHIC, HISTORICAL FICTION, HUMOR, LONDON, male authors, MYSTERY, No Name, published in 1862, read in 2018, sensation fiction, SISTERS, suffolk, VICTORIAN, WILKIE COLLINS, york -
The House of Stairs by Barbara Vine
“There is no time in our lives when we are so conspicuously without mercy as in adolescence.” I don’t think I would ever picked up this ‘obscure’ and forgotten novel if it hadn’t been for the ‘crime fiction’ module I took during my second year of uni. Thanks to that module, which was in every…
1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1st pov, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, Adult, adulthood, ALIENATION, ART/CREATIVITY, atmospheric, bad love, Barbara Vine, beautiful prose, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, books about books, books about writers, British author, class, CRIME, domestic thriller, england, f/f, favourite authors, female authors, first love, friendships, GOTHIC, GUILT, heartbreak/breakups, HISTORICAL FICTION, House As Character, identity, illness, introspective, it’s about the *yearning*, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, LONDON, loneliness, Longing, manor/big house, MEMORY, modern gothic, MURDER, murder mystery, MYSTERY, obsession, psychological, Psychological thriller, psychopaths, published in 1988, queer, re-reads, read in 2018, read in 2020, read in 2022, rich people, sapphic, SEXUALITY, strong sense of place, SUSPENSE, the female malaise, The House of Stairs, toxic relationships, unrequited love, whydunnit -
Blackwood by Michael Farris Smith — book review
Blackwood is a gritty read. Set in Red Bluff, Mississippi, a rather dismal small-town, the story follows a small cast of miserable characters. There is a family that is new to town, that are referred to as ‘the man’, ‘the woman’, and ‘the boy’, who stir some trouble with the locals, the sheriff, Myer, and…
2 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Blackwood, creepy setting, dark, DEATH, GOTHIC, HORROR, male authors, Michael Farris Smith, Mississippi, modern gothic, MYSTERY, read in 2020, rural setting, SMALL TOWN, Southern America, southern gothic, SUPERNATURAL, unnamed characters, violence -
Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings — book review
While Kathleen Jennings is an undeniably wonderful illustrator, I’m afraid that I wasn’t particularly impressed by her novella. What first struck me as somewhat discordant in Flyaway was the prose itself. At times the writing was clunky and there were passages that seemed as if they were trying to echo someone else’s style. The way…
1st pov, 2 STARS, arc, AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN AUTHOR, Booklr, creepy setting, FAIRY TALES, female authors, Flyaway, FOLKLORE, GOTHIC, Kathleen Jennings, MAGICAL REALISM, missing fathers, missing persons, mothers & daughters, netgalley, NOVELLA/SHORT STORY, read in 2020, SMALL TOWN, toxic relationships, unreliable narrators, YOUNG ADULT -
Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon — book review
Lady Audley’s Secret is a pretty entertaining sensation novel. The story is centred around Lady Audley who, surprise surprise, has a secret. Like most other sensation novels, Lady Audley’s Secret combines melodrama with an investigation of sorts. Robert Audley, the nephew of Sir Michael, is suspicious of his uncle’s new wife, the beautiful and young…
1850s, 19TH CENTURY, 3 STARS, big books, BOOK REVIEW, British author, british classics, CLASSICS, drama, england, female authors, GOTHIC, HISTORICAL FICTION, Lady Audley’s Secret, MARRIAGE, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, MELODRAMA, MURDER, MYSTERY, published in 1862, read in 2020, sensation fiction, VICTORIAN -
The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafón — book review
From the blatant sexism pouring through each page to its bloated plot, The Labyrinth of the Spirits offers an inadequate conclusion to what I considered to be an entertaining series. If anything this disastrous farewell has made me reevaluate the whole Cemetery of Forgotten Books series. I vaguely remember finding the female representation in these…
1950s, 2 STARS, 20th century, 3rd pov, Adult, Barcelona, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, books about books, books about writers, books i hate, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, confusing for the sake of being confusing, DETECTIVE, drama, GOTHIC, HISTORICAL FICTION, Madrid, MAGICAL REALISM, male authors, MELODRAMA, men who do not seem to know how to write women, modern gothic, MYSTERY, published in 2016, rape, read in 2020, sensation fiction, sexual assault/abuse/rape, spain, spanish author, story within a story, The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, The Labyrinth of the Spirits, TRANSLATED FICTION -
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken — book review
“IT WAS DUSK – winter dusk. Snow lay white and shining over the pleated hills, and icicles hung from the forest trees. Snow lay piled on the dark road across Willoughby Wold, but from dawn men had been clearing it with brooms and shovels. There were hundreds of them at work, wrapped in sacking because…
1800s, 19TH CENTURY, 4 STARS, adventure, alternate history, books with wolves, British author, CHILDHOOD, childhood reads, childrens classics, england, female authors, friendships, GOTHIC, HISTORICAL FICTION, Joan Aiken, manor, MYSTERY, orphans, published in 1962, re-reads, read in 2020, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase -
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë — book review
“Who blames me? Many, no doubt; and I shall be called discontented. I could not help it: the restlessness was in my nature; it agitated me to pain sometimes.” Jane Eyre is not only considered a classic (if not the classic) in feminist literature, but an exemplary piece of Romantic Gothic literature. Personally, I view…
1830s, 1840s, 1st pov, 3.75 stars, age gap, beautiful prose, bildungsroman, boarding/private school, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, British author, british classics, CHARLOTTE BRONTË, CHILDHOOD, class, CLASSICS, england, favourite authors, female authors, friendships, GOTHIC, growing up, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, illness, introspective, jane eyre, madness, manor/big house, Mr. Rochester, orphans, psychological, published in 1847, READ IN 2019, Religion, sitter/au pair/governess, St. John Eyre Rivers, Thornfield, VICTORIAN, victorian madness -
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier — book review
Rebecca is a work of Gothic suspense that is told in a mesmerising prose and makes for an enthralling and evocative read. “Colour and scent and sound, rain and the lapping of water, even the mists of autumn and the smell of the flood tide, these are memories of Manderley that will not be denied.”…
1930S, 1st pov, 20th century, 4 STARS, Adult, age gap, beautiful prose, bluebeard, British author, british classics, CLASSICS, Cornwall, Daphne du Maurier, domestic thriller, england, female authors, first love, GOTHIC, HISTORICAL FICTION, House As Character, introspective, jane eyre, madness, manor/big house, MARRIAGE, Monte Carlo, MURDER, MYSTERY, psychological, published in 1938, READ IN 2019, Rebecca, ROMANCE, SUSPENSE, THRILLER, unnamed narrator
Tag: GOTHIC
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Schoolhouse Gothic by Sherry R. Truffin
Schoolhouse Gothic, Sherry R. Truffin’s first monograph, is one of the first studies to address the role of the educational system in twentieth-century Gothic fiction. The work reveals Truffin’s in-depth understanding of the Gothic genre, its origins, methodologies and implications, focussing in particular on a branch of Gothic she terms ‘Schoolhouse Gothic’.In Schoolhouse Gothic, Truffin…
luce [is reading] 