Tuesday, November 12, 2024

The Secrets We Keep

 Book 87 of my 2024 Reading Challenge
read from November 6 - 9

The Secrets We Keep
by Brian Castlemaigne

My Opinion
3 stars

I bought this book at a used book store in Ireland and had already read it by the time we came home.  There was a fairy tale aspect that made me question her grip on reality but it all came together nicely and I was relieved her interactions were real.

The line about overcooking the eggs "until [they] were pale yellow and crumbly, just the way neither of them liked it" made me laugh.  I also err on the side of overcooking, especially chicken, to avoid getting sick.

The Peripatetic Coffin

 Book 86 of my 2024 Reading Challenge
read on November 8

The Peripatetic Coffin and Other Stories
by Ethan Rutherford

My Opinion
3 stars

I read this in a day during a long bus ride.  My initial reaction was that I didn't really connect with most of the stories but then I realized I did read it all in a day so I must've liked it more than I thought.

My favorite story was "john, for christmas"

I intentionally left this book behind in a hotel in London so it can hopefully find a new reader.  I don't re-read books so it would've been donated when I got back home anyway.

Tiny Hot Dogs

 Book 85 of my 2024 Reading Challenge
read from November 4 - 6

Tiny Hot Dogs: A Memoir in Small Bites
by Mary Giuliani

My Opinion
3 stars

As the note above the copyright states, "all of these stories are true-ish, except for the parts that are not".

It was mildly entertaining but I tire quickly of "oh oops I fell into success" stories in general.  The way she tells it, her success happened in spite of her seemingly best efforts to sabotage them which means either a) she's diminishing her abilities for some reason or b) she's severely downplaying the boost her family's career and access helped her.

I read this on vacation and I left it behind intentionally in a hotel in London so another person can read it and hopefully love it more than I did.

Now that I've written it, the review seems negative for a 3 star rating but I'm catching up after vacation and I gave it 3 stars immediately after finishing it so that's what I'm sticking with.

Maureen

 Book 84 of my 2024 Reading Challenge
read from November 3 - 4

Maureen
by Rachel Joyce

My Opinion
4 stars

This could've very easily been read in one sitting if I'd had time.  I liked the concept of jumping ahead in time to give some next context as well as a new perspective.

As a coincidence, I was in Edinburgh when I read this and there was a road sign for Berwick-upon-Tweed just across the hotel so that was fun.

The Love Song of Queenie Hennessy

 Book 83 of my 2024 Reading Challenge
read from October 26 - November 2

The Love Song of Queenie Hennessy
by Rachel Joyce

My Opinion
4 stars

I read this on vacation and it was the perfect way to pass the time.  It was quickly readable and engaging but I also could have little distractions/interruptions occur that didn't impact the flow.  I wish I'd read it a little sooner after The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry or that I had a better memory because I wasted time trying to figure out if things were Easter eggs or genuinely new information.

The ending was jaw-dropping.

Unrelated to the story, I found an item in the book.  It was an appointment card for a salon in Connecticut.  I looked up the date (Sunday, July 16) and it could've been from either 2017 or 2023.  My husband bought it used online and gave it to me for Christmas in 2023.  So at some point it was in Connecticut, it was given to me in Iowa, and I read it in Ireland.

Thursday, October 24, 2024

Weird Horror

 Book 82 of my 2024 Reading Challenge
read from October 4 - 24

Weird Horror

My Opinion
2 stars

I love the look of the books from Flame Tree Publishing and they're the only ones I buy for appearance over content and will keep on my shelf whether I liked them or not.

There were 44 stories ranging from new to the oldest first published in 1868.  I felt like the stories were overall shorter than in other collections. 

Horror stories appear to be more timeless than other genres; without style clues it was much harder to tell whether a story was old or new based on content.

I rated it 2 stars because there did seem to be more "mehs" or misses than hits.

My favorite was The Brightest Lights of Heaven and I'll include a small recap of each story below.

Lost in a Pyramid
I didn't know Louisa May Alcott wrote horror stories and this was a good one.  It had a good arc and wrapped up neatly.
Unrelated to the horror aspect, I would've known this was an older story even without the author recognition because "lover", "bride", and "cousin" were all used interchangeably to describe the same person.

The Striding Place
Very short but also very wordy.  Didn't have much impact because everything happened in the last paragraph and then ended abruptly.

Negotium Perambulans
The bones of the story were good but it felt long for the eventual outcome.  Tightening it up could've given a bigger jolt.

The Willows
I'm torn because on one hand it felt longer and wordier than it needed to be but on the other hand the length and wordiness added to the story because it was falling into layers.
The end was a copout though which made the story feel pointless.

The Secret in the Tomb
It was too short to have such an anticlimactic answer.  This guy survived when so many others before him died just because he looked a different direction?

The Place of Revelation
I didn't really connect with this story.  The method of telling it like a "bedtime" story created a layer between the characters and the reader that took the emotional creepy feeling out of it.  I'm not sure how to rectify that in a short story but that's my assessment of it.

Flotsam
This was the right kind of story for a horror book.  It was creepy and mysterious.

The Things from the Woods
The small intro and how Kelly found the journal felt natural, not contrived.  I like that it ended immediately after the birth without a revisit to/from the woods.

The Mask
It was wordy in the way older stories are but still short.  I don't see the horror in it but it did have a surprise ending that felt uplifting in a way.

The New Mother
Meh.  A long and fairly uninteresting way to weave a lesson about respecting your parents.

The Terror of Blue John Gap
I guessed it was an older story by the style (I missed that the author was Arthur Conan Doyle which would've confirmed it) as I was reading but when it referenced "advancing years" at the age of thirty-five, I knew it for sure.
This story didn't hold my interest because it was all told after the fact through dry journal entries.

The Next Heir
It's not a good sign that I stopped reading a 20 page short story at least 3 times because I was spacing off.
The stories appear to be in alphabetical order by author so it's an unfortunate coincidence the last few stories have all been duds.

The Distortion out of Space
I'm surprised it was written in 1934.  Apparently our theories/images of alien life haven't changed much.  Since the narrator was retelling the story I knew he survived which took some of the tension out of it.

White Noise
Very creepy ending.

Dark Skies
The premise of writing a letter to a family member was a good way to convey the information after the fact while still keeping emotion involved (since she was trying to convince him she was telling the truth).
It's a small detail but jumped out at me - saying they were often together because their last names are so close when their last names were Gutierrez and Raskova was an unnecessary oversight.

The Crimson Weaver
It was too short to stir many emotions but the ending was a surprise.

The Animal King
This story had a good "the end???" cliffhanger ending.  It was plausible in that annoying way that the kids would bring it into the house; you want to yell through the pages that it's not going to end well.

Isle of the Dead
It was on the short side of a short story.  I really liked it but the ending also felt abrupt; adding a night or two could've added to the anticipation and absorption.

The Brightest Lights of Heaven
That was wonderful!  Definitely my favorite so far.

Rappaccini's Daughter
I admit it, I skimmed.  So no opinion other than to say it I wasn't even tempted to do more than glance through it.

The Hog
Both long and uninteresting, a deadly combo.
I could picture this as a radio program because it had the cadence of a old-time production.

Mive
Strange name, strange setting, strange story.

The Diary of Mr. Poynter
I didn't get it but also didn't care enough to reread it and try again.

He Led
There was a beauty that was unusual to read in a horror story.  

The Call of El Tunche
Not whistling back sounds so simple but the compulsion to do was written so well and the story painted a full picture.

The Hill and the Hole
A sparse setting but with 4 different characters the author was able to convey the story while keeping the characters themselves in the dark since they each had small pieces of the full puzzle.

The Whisperer in Darkness
I skimmed.  When a short story has chapter breaks I know a) it's an older one and b) it's going to push the limits of how long something can be and still be a "short" story.

Novel of the White Powder
I didn't really understand it.  There were germs of a horror story in there but they were dampened by all the extra scientific stuff and dragging out of the story.  Was this all one big lesson against the use of cocaine?

Lola
It seemed very similar to the plot of Little Shop of Horrors.

The Black Ship
What a great line of "A fart of my arse for your Old Ones!" as he walked away.

The Moon-Slave
It was the creepy in the way she lost control a little more each time she went.

Agon
For some reason, the small amount of time he spent sinking in mud made me feel way more uncomfortable than all the time he spent in the water.

The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
It was so wordy that any creepiness was diluted by having to wade through every sentence.  One sentence, for example: "Through the desire for all parties concerned, to keep the affair from the public, endeavors to effect this - a garbled or exaggerated account made its way into society, and became the source of many unpleasant misrepresentations, and, very naturally, of a great deal of disbelief."

The Stones Move at Night
That had a good arc.  

The Blessed Affliction
That fully kept my interest.  It was a nice change to have the necessity be something out of love, not destruction.

Stray
Wow, that was visceral.  I also would've been tempted to help an animal but luckily I will never find myself in that position because I don't run or go into nature if I can avoid it.

The House of Sounds
Less than 20 pages but felt like I was reading 100 (not in a good way).

The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis
" 'By Jove! this is a real find!' ejaculated Octave, as he thrust his torch into the mummified face..." is not a sentence I'm mature enough to read without giggling even though there was absolutely no innuendo implied.
As for the story, it was fine.

While the Black Stars Burn
Unexpected.  While it was short and to the point it evoked emotion and painted quite a picture.

The Moonstone Mass
Floating away on a broken piece of ice would be a horrible way to go.

From Within
I think the bleakness was the scariest part.  I had to stop and visualize them measuring the height, width, and depth of the boys...how do you measure the depth of a human?

The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham
A surprising twist at the end.  Feeling trapped inside a body and nobody believing you is a horrible way to live.

Eternal Visions
I liked the progression of the story through time via different communication methods.  I would've liked a firmer grasp on what the vision was but the little glimpses I got were creepy.

Exogenous Cephalus Syndrome: A Case Report and Review of the Literature
Having the story in the form of a medical case report was unique and conveyed info in a concise fashion but it also detached me from the horror of the mass.






Sunday, October 20, 2024

Coming Up for Air

 Book 81 of my 2024 Reading Challenge
read from October 18 - 20

Coming Up for Air
by Tom Daley

My Opinion
4 stars

Tom Daley's knitting is one of my favorite unexpected Olympic stories.  I've also seen a little of their social media, enough to know I like the dynamics between him, Lance, and their little family.

As an inspirational type book, this would be good for a young athlete to read but since it's categorized as a memoir, I think it skimmed the surface and I would've loved to see him dive deeper (haha, I've got jokes) into some of the stories he referenced.  It was still an enjoyable read though.