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Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy
Sweet Days of Discipline is a slim dagger of a novel. Written in a prose so sharp it will cut you, Sweet Days of Discipline is a work of startling and enigmatic beauty, a study in contradictions: order and chaos, sublimity and abjection, clarity and obfuscation, illusion and reality. Fleur Jaeggy is in absolute command…
1950s, 1st pov, 20th century, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, academia, Adult, all girls school, ambiguous protagonist, atmospheric, beauty, bildungsroman, boarding/private school, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, CLASSICS, cold tone, dark academia, Dreams, existentialism, favourite authors, female authors, first love, Fleur Jaeggy, girlhood, HISTORICAL FICTION, Italian classics, Italy, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, melancholy, modern classics, My reviews, nostalgic reads, NOVELLA/SHORT STORY, obsession, psychological, published in 1989, queer, re-reads, read in 2018, read in 2021, reading, sapphic, SEXUALITY, Sweet Days of Discipline, swiss italian author, Switzerland, terrific prose, unnamed narrator, unreliable narrators, unrequited love -
Sula by Toni Morrison
They were solitary little girls whose loneliness was so profound it intoxicated them and sent them stumbling into Technicolored visions that always included a presence, a someone, who, quite like the dreamer, shared the delight of the dream. Toni Morrison’s Sula revolves around the eponymous and fraught character of Sula Peace. Within the novel, Morrison…
1910s, 1920s, 1930S, 1940s, 1960s, 20th century, 4 STARS, addiction, affairs, ALIENATION, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, american classics, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cheating, CLASSICS, DEATH, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), distressing reads, family, female authors, female doubles, female friendships, feminism, forgiveness, friendships, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, illness, LITERARY FICTION, madness, modern classics, motherhood, mothers & daughters, My reviews, ohio, published in 1973, RACE, re-reads, read in 2018, read in 2021, reading, self-destructive, SEXUALITY, SMALL TOWN, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, suicide, Sula, terrific prose, TONI MORRISON, tragedy, trauma -
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
Written in Lahiri’s characteristically understated prose Unaccustomed Earth is a bittersweet and minutely observed collection of short stories. Set in America, India, and even Thailand, these stories focus on relationships between siblings, parents and their children, grandparents and their grandchildren, married couples, and friends. They are also characterized by a strong sense of nostalgia, partly…
1970s, 1990s, 2000s, 20th century, 3.75 stars, addiction, ageing, beautiful prose, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cambridge (us), cheating, cold tone, collection of short stories, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), family, favourite authors, female authors, HISTORICAL FICTION, India, indian american author, intergenerational, introspective, Jhumpa Lahiri, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, MARRIAGE, My reviews, parenting, PUBLISHED IN 2008, re-reads, read in 2018, read in 2021, reading, restrained prose, seattle, short stories, siblings, thailand, Unaccustomed Earth, unrequited love, washington -
Vicious by V.E. Schwab
Schwab’s aesthetics dominate this novel. There is a focus on how words and phrases sound, which does pay off, in fact, Schwab’s prose is one of the most likeable things of this novel. At times certain turn of phrases or repetitions may come across as pretentious or flowery but I think that for the most…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, academia, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, campus, dark, dark academia, DEATH, existentialism, FANTASY, female authors, friendships, great storytelling, it’s about the *aesthetics*, KIDS WITH POWERS, MAGIC, male friendships, MYSTERY, PARANORMAL, published in 2013, read in 2018, science, SPECULATIVE FICTION, superheroes, toxic relationships, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, URBAN FANTASY, V.E. Schwab, Vicious, YOUNG ADULT -
The Dark Days Deceit by Alison Goodman
To say that I am incredibly disappointed by this final instalment would be pretty accurate.I enjoyed The Dark Days Club and I thought The Dark Days Pact was the perfect sequel. Goodman’s writing painstakingly depicted the Georgian era, its customs and language. Lady Helen, our main character, was both sensible and diplomatic, and…
1810s, 19TH CENTURY, 2.5 STARS, 3rd pov, ALISON GOODMAN, AUSTRALIAN AUTHOR, bath, DEMONS, england, FANTASY, FANTASY OF MANNERS, female authors, gay side characters, HISTORICAL FICTION, LADY HELEN, lgbtq+ side, MAGIC, PARANORMAL, published in 2018, read in 2018, Regency era, ROMANCE, series that went downhill, STEAMPUNK, The Dark Days Deceit, YOUNG ADULT -
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 -
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
“Ayoola lives in a world where things must always go her way. It’s a law as certain as the law of gravity.” Having read this novel twice I can safely say that I find it to be an exceptionally riveting read: once I start it, I just want to keep reading.My Sister, the Serial Killer…
1st pov, 4 STARS, abuse, Adult, Black & Black heritage authors, Contemporary, dark humor, DEATH, HOSPITAL, jealousy, millennial, MURDER, My Sister The Serial Killer, Nigeria, Nigerian author, Oyinkan Braithwaite, re-reads, read in 2018, read in 2020, read in 2021, serial killers, SISTERS, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social media, SUSPENSE, terrific prose -
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 -
The Charioteer by Mary Renault — book review
“He was filled with a vast sense of the momentous, of unknown mysteries. He did not know what he should demand of himself, nor did it seem to matter, for he had not chosen this music he moved to, it had chosen him.” This is the fifth time I’ve read The Charioteer and once again I’ve been…
1930S, 1940s, 20th century, 3rd pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, academia, beautiful prose, bildungsroman, boarding/private school, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, British author, british classics, CLASSICS, coming of age, england, existentialism, family, favourite authors, female authors, first love, friendships, gay, greek myths, HISTORICAL FICTION, HOSPITAL, identity, introspective, it’s about the *yearning*, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, lgbtq+ classics, LITERARY FICTION, Longing, love triangle, m/m, male friendships, Mary Renault, masculinity, modern classics, morality, mothers & sons, My reviews, philosophical, psychological, published in 1953, queer, re-reads, read in 2016, read in 2017, read in 2018, read in 2020, read in 2021, ROMANCE, SEXUALITY, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, The Charioteer, unrequited love, WWII
Tag: read in 2018
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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] 