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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 -
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 -
Bleak House by Charles Dickens — book review
While the first few chapters of Bleak House are rather entertaining, the fifty chapters that follow? Not so much. There is a lot of ‘jumble and jargon’ going on in Bleak House. Having genuinely loved Great Expectations I am rather disappointment by this novel. The humour present in Bleak House consists mostly in the narrative…
1840s, 1850s, 19TH CENTURY, 3 STARS, big books, Bleak House, bombastic style, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, British author, british classics, CHARLES DICKENS, class, CLASSICS, courtroom drama, DEATH, DETECTIVE, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), drama, england, HISTORICAL FICTION, HUMOR, illness, LONDON, male authors, MELODRAMA, orphans, playful style, READ IN 2019, satire, sensation fiction, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, VICTORIAN -
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton — book review
“A person’s fortune always changes in the telling of it.” Turns out that reading The Luminaries was a phenomenal waste of my time. Eleanor Catton writes well, and the concept behind her novel had the potential of being interesting, but on the whole The Luminaries seems to be little more than a dull rehash of…
1860s, 19TH CENTURY, 3 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, astrology, big books, bombastic style, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, BOOKWORM, CRIME, drama, Eleanor Catton, female authors, HISTORICAL FICTION, Hokitika, ISLAND, LITERARY FICTION, man booker winner, murder mystery, MYSTERY, mystery puzzle, new zealand, New Zealand author, prostitution, published in 2013, READ IN 2019, REVIEW, sensation fiction, ship, The Luminaries -
The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón — book review
Last summer I read and loved Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind. It was a fun romp filled with melodrama which owed much to 19th century sensationalism (in that it implemented puzzles, Gothic and Romantic elements, clever twists towards an overarching quest of sorts). Reading that book was a fun experience. Although The Angel’s Game…
1920s, 1st pov, 20th century, 3.25 stars, Adult, Barcelona, books about books, books about writers, BOOKS ON WRITING, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, drama, female authors, feverish, GOTHIC, hallucinations, HISTORICAL FICTION, HUMOR, MAGICAL REALISM, MELODRAMA, modern gothic, MYSTERY, mystery puzzle, PUBLISHED IN 2008, READ IN 2019, sensation fiction, spain, spanish author, The Angel’s Game, The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, tragedy, unreliable narrators -
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
There is something incredibly endearing about this novel. From the very first line, Dickens draws us in, making us Pip’s confidantes, so that we eagerly follow him on his journey. The first section of this novel, revolves around Pip’s childhood, and Dickens manages to reflect the young age of his protagonist onto the narrative itself:…
1850s, 19TH CENTURY, 1st pov, 4 STARS, bildungsroman, British author, british classics, CHARLES DICKENS, CHILDHOOD, class, CLASSICS, coming of age, drama, england, friendships, GREAT EXPECTATIONS, growing up, HISTORICAL FICTION, HUMOR, illness, LONDON, male authors, read in 2017, ROMANCE, sensation fiction, unrequited love, VICTORIAN, victorian madness -
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
“If I had been a man, I would have knocked him down on the threshold of his own door, and have left his house, never on any earthly consideration to enter it again. But I was only a woman – and I loved his wife so dearly!” A thoroughly entertaining novel that is intriguing from…
1840s, 1850s, 19TH CENTURY, 4.5 STARS, aristocracy, British author, CLASSICS, drama, england, epistolary, friendships, GENDER, GOTHIC, HISTORICAL FICTION, HUMOR, illness, Italy, male authors, MYSTERY, mystery puzzle, read in 2017, ROMANCE, sensation fiction, SISTERS, SUSPENSE, THE WOMAN IN WHITE, VICTORIAN, WILKIE COLLINS -
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
A surprisingly entertaining novel that brims with a polite sort of humor that is nevertheless appealing to the modern reader. Various characters give their account in regards of a missing diamond worn by Rachel Verinder on her eighteenth birthday. This yellow diamond, also known as ‘moonstone’, we are told has been stolen from India by…
luce [is reading] 