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A Carnivore’s Inquiry by Sabina Murray
“This is what exploration had opened up the door to. Not only widespread slaughter, but the necessary accompaniment of gorging.” Unapologetically solipsistic and deeply manipulative, Katherine, the central character of A Carnivore’s Inquiry, makes for an awful human being and a deeply entertaining narrator. A predecessor to Ottessa Moshfegh and Mona Awad’s protagonists, and many…
1st pov, 2000s, 4 STARS, A Carnivore's Inquiry, A Carnivore's Inquiry by Sabina Murray, Adult, affairs, age gap, ALIENATION, ambiguous protagonist, ambivalent mood, America, ART/CREATIVITY, books about writers, cannibalism, cheating, class, cold tone, colonialism, Contemporary, dark, dark humor, desire, ennui, female authors, feverish, filipino american author, GOTHIC, history, HORROR, introspective, Italy, LITERARY FICTION, literary references, madness, maine, Mexico, modern gothic, MURDER, MYSTERY, navel gazing, NEW YORK, no plot just vibes, otherness, PRIVILEGE, psychological, Psychological thriller, psychopaths, published in 2004, read in 2023, rich people, road trip, Sabina Murray, satire, self-destructive, serial killers, she is dangerous, she is not feeling good at all, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, the female malaise, travel, unreliable narrators, violence, womanhood/femininity -
Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas
“I used to believe the house was haunted. Really, it was the other way around; the house haunted me.” 3 re-read: I once again loved this. The novel’s gothic ambience is truly hypnotic and Thomas really manages to suffuse Ines’ experiences at Catherine House with a dreamlike quality. There is a vagueness, a haze, one…
1990s, 1st pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, academia, Adult, ALIENATION, ambiguous protagonist, ambivalent mood, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, atmospheric, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, campus, Catherine House, cliques, cold tone, Contemporary, creepy setting, dark, dark academia, dreamlike quality, Elisabeth Thomas, existentialism, FANTASY, female authors, feverish, gay side characters, GOTHIC, GRIEF, GUILT, haunted house, hauntings, HORROR, it’s about the *aesthetics*, it’s about the *yearning*, lgbtq+, loneliness, Longing, modern gothic, morality, My reviews, MYSTERY, NEW ADULT, no plot just vibes, obsession, otherness, Pennsylvania, published in 2020, re-reads, read in 2021, read in 2022, reading, secretiveness, strong sense of place, surreal, terrific prose, the female malaise, trauma -
Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
Readers, I am disappointed. Plain Bad Heroines was one of my most anticipated 2020 releases…maybe I should have ‘hyped’ it so much. This is certainly an ambitious novel, one that is a few hundred pages too long. There were elements that I liked, but these were ultimately outweighed by my frustration toward the tone of…
1920s, 2.5 STARS, all girls school, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, big books, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, boarding/private school, books about books, books about writers, Contemporary, creepy setting, curses, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), Emily M. Danforth, f/f, f/f/f, film industry, films, GOTHIC, haunted house, HISTORICAL FICTION, HORROR, influencers, jealousy, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, Mary MacLane, metafiction, modern gothic, MYSTERY, PARANORMAL, Plain Bad Heroines, playful style, published in 2020, queer, read in 2020, sapphic, SUSPENSE, teachers, YOUNG ADULT -
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 -
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 Sundial by Shirley Jackson — book review
“I mean, why should I figure I’m so special, the world is going to end while I’m around?” In The Sundial, perhaps Shirley Jackson’s most comical novel, twelve rather disagreeable individuals are cooped together in a mansion waiting for the end of the world. “The house would be guarded during the night of destruction and…
1950s, 20th century, 4 STARS, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, american classics, apocalyptic, CLASSICS, creepy setting, dark humor, family, favourite authors, female authors, House As Character, Kafkaesque, madness, manor/big house, modern classics, modern gothic, paranoia, psychological, published in 1958, re-reads, READ IN 2019, read in 2020, SHIRLEY JACKSON, SMALL TOWN, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, surreal, SUSPENSE, The Sundial -
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova — book review
What could have been the perfect historical mystery for bibliophiles ended up being an unnecessarily long-winded and frequently dull novel. “Looking up from my work, I suddenly realized that someone had left a book whose spine I had never seen before among my own textbooks, which sat on a shelf above my desk. The spine…
15th century, 1950s, 1970s, 20th century, 3 STARS, Adult, adventure, AMERICAN AUTHOR, big books, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, books about books, bram stoker, bulgaria, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), dracula, drama, Elizabeth Kostova, epistolary, female authors, FOLKLORE, FRANCE, GOTHIC, historians, HISTORICAL FICTION, history, istanbul, librarians, libraries/bookshops, LITERARY FICTION, modern gothic, MYSTERY, Netherlands, philosophical, psychological, published in 2005, READ IN 2019, Religion, Romania, slow pacing, story within a story, SUPERNATURAL, SUSPENSE, the historian, travel, Turkey, unnamed narrator, VAMPIRES -
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson – book review
“Bow all your heads to our adored Mary Katherine.” In recent years Shirley Jackson has experienced a kind of renascence. Perhaps because of Netflix’s adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House or possibly thanks to contemporary authors (such as Donna Tartt, Neil Gaiman, and Stephen King) who have credited Jackson as their inspiration, enhancing her…
1950s, 1st pov, 20th century, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, ALIENATION, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, atmospheric, blackwood manor, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, class, constance blackwood, creepy setting, fairytalesque prose, favourite authors, female authors, GOTHIC, House As Character, Kafkaesque, manor/big house, merricat blackwood, modern gothic, MYSTERY, occult, psychological, psychopaths, published in 1962, re-reads, read in 2016, read in 2017, read in 2018, READ IN 2019, read in 2020, read in 2021, SHIRLEY JACKSON, SISTERS, surreal, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, unreliable narrators, village, WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE, witchcraft -
The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafón — book review
After finishing The Angel’s Game I was eager to start The Prisoner of Heaven as I was hoping that we could see how unreliable a narrator David was. Tonally The Prisoner of Heaven is closer to the first book in this series, yet its short length and fast plot-line seemed more in a line with…
1950s, 20th century, 3.25 stars, Adult, Barcelona, BOOK REVIEWS, books about books, BOOKS ON WRITING, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), drama, GOTHIC, HUMOR, male authors, MELODRAMA, modern gothic, MYSTERY, mystery puzzle, READ IN 2019, ROMANCE, spain, spanish author, The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, The Prisoner of Heaven
luce [is reading] 