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What’s it all about?
With Goth Girl and the Fete Worse Than Death we are back at Ghastly-Gorm Hall with Ada and her father the cycling poet Lord Goth and the wonderful cast of characters that surround them. This time everyone is getting ready for the annual Full-Moon Fete and:
the Great Ghastly-Gorm Bake Off. Celebrity Cooks are arriving at the hall for the big event, and as usual Maltravers is acting suspiciously. On top of all this, Ada’s elusive lady’s maid Marylebone has a surprising secret and everyone seems to have forgotten Ada’s birthday.
Into all of this comes her father’s dashing friend Lord Whimsy who is more than he at first appears.
Why did I want to read it?
I absolutely adored the previous book in the series (you can read my review of it here) and this is just as good. Again, it’s a beautiful physical object full of wonderful illustrations and tucked into the back another little miniature book, Marylebone’s biography. Just lovely to read.
What did I think of it?
It has all of the strengths of Ghost of a Mouse and builds on that earlier story with the same cast of characters bolstered by some strong new additions. Maltravers is still up to no good, Ada and her father’s relationship has developed and she is learning a great deal from her vampire nanny Lucy Borgia. The delight is as always seeing the real-life models for the chefs in particular (Nigellina Sugarspoon and Heston Harboil, anyone?) and the influences on the plot (Paddington obviously but also a mix of Scarlet Pimpernel and a Regency James Bond). But of course it’s all about he illustrations and the wonderful silliness.
The footnotes this time are webbed and written by a well-travelled Muscovy duck. My favourite relates to Abba the Swedish minotaur, who is naturally depressed and who:
likes pickled herring, knitted jumpers and long walks in the rain. He composes annoyingly catchy songs on his Scandinavian lyre.
Wonderful, and a very fun and unplanned end to my RIP IX reading experience.
What’s it all about?
Murder is the sequel to Mayhem and picks up a few years after the events of that book, focussing very much on the Dr Thomas Bond (trying to avoid spoilers here) who is trying to deal with the aftermath of those events, hoping to finally win the love of Juliana, now widowed and the mother of a young son, and the arrival of a handsome American, Edward Kane, a friend of Juliana’s late husband who in trying to put his mind at rest on the past events may stir up some of Bond’s demons. In more ways than one.
Why did I want to read it?
I really enjoy Sarah Pinborough’s work and thought this was going to be the second in a series rather than a direct sequel. Ordered it as soon as it was announced.
What did I think of it?
As I said above I was not expecting this to be a sequel; in my head I had convinced myself that this was going to be a series of nasty (in a good way) serial killer novels with Bond as the hero hunting down the bad guys. All of this based on absolutely no evidence whatsoever, all based on assumptions rather than any hard evidence. even starting to read the book I thought that we were running through the events of Mayhem as the background to something entirely different. However, it quickly became clear that I was in for something entirely different as the events of Mayhem come back to haunt Bond in rather horrible ways with a kind of horrible inevitability in the events that were unfolding. Or so it seemed.
This was an interesting reading experience for me, one in a line of dark books with very human dilemmas underscored by creepy supernatural elements and a fair dose of nastiness. But because it was so dark I actually had to set it aside on a couple of occasions because it was almost overwhelming. This is a credit to Sarah’s writing; the triggers for me were not the obvious nastiness but the realistic portrayal of the impact of unrequited love (I have some experience in this area – don’t ask, best left alone – and just found it painful to read) and the descent of a man into madness.
But I’m glad I persevered because there are a couple of events in particular which push the story into really dark territory and I was desperate to know how this was all going to work out. I had a tiny wee suspicion of what might happen at the end which was mostly right though not delivered in quite the way I expected.
This was my eighth read for RIP IX and I’m definitely going to continue exploring this author’s work.
What’s it all about?
Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse (or GG&GM as it will henceforth be known) tells the story of Ada, who as the blurb says
lives in Ghastly-Gorm Hall with her father, Lord Goth, lots of servants and at least half a dozen ghosts, but she hasn’t got any friends to explore her enormous creepy house with.
But then she meets a ghost mouse called Ishmael and in trying to discover the circumstances around his untimely death (even for a mouse) she discovers that there is a nefarious plot taking place right under their noses.
Why did I want to read it?
I love Chris Riddell’s work. The physical book (which I’m lucky to have, bought it as a birthday present for myself) is a thing of beauty in its own right, not just because of the copious illustrations but the binding and endpapers and tiny book “Memoirs of a Mouse” tucked inside the back cover. And as a children’s book, even one with a Gothic sensibility, it was going to be way way lighter than most of my other October reads.
What did I think of it?
GG&GM was just totally delightful. I picked it up for some light relief then found I couldn’t put it down because it was just such fun. Ada is a wonderful creation, a girl who looks so much like her mother (Parthenope, a tightrope walker from Thessalonika who had died one night while practising on the roof) that her father needs her to wear huge clumpy boots so he can hear her coming and avoid her (only through his overwhelming sadness, which has led him to the view that children should be heard but not seen).
There’s a wonderful cast of supporting characters – vampire governess, indoor gamekeeper, the Cabbage children (Emily, a talented artist, and William, who has chameleon syndrome and can blend in with his surroundings), various servants and of course Ishmael who is sad and sweet and gets the whole plot rolling. Everyone has wonderful pseudo-Dickensian names and a range of interesting skills.
It’s really good story, and is also very funny in a silly way with lots of puns and nonsense names for things and invented creatures. There are footnotes with useful information, provided by
the severed foot of a famous writer who lost the aforementioned foot at the Battle of Baden-Baden-Wurttemberg-Baden
My favourite footnote (and they’re all very amusing) gives some context to Hamish, the Shetland Centaur:
Shetland centaurs are just one of a number of mythical creatures living in Scotland. The Glasgow cyclops and the Edinburgh gorgon are well known, but the Arbroath smokie, a fire-breathing mermaid, is more elusive.
That made me giggle a great deal, and if it made you smile too then you will love this book as much as I did. A real treat, and I already have my hands on the sequel.
This was my seventh read for RIP IX (and possibly my favourite so far but shh, don’t tell the others)
So way back at the end of August I posted my proposed reading list for Carl’s annual RIP challenge. I’m a wee bit hesitant about challenges these days as I’ve committed so many times in the past and then, because of reading slumps or pressures of work or domestic stuff, singularly failed to meet my own goals. But I’ve been on a real reading high this year and so was more optimistic than usual and that optimism was well-founded because I managed to read nine books and watch two scary movies!
The final tally is (in order read):
- The Island of Dr Moreau by HG Wells
- Let the Old Dreams Die by John Ajvide Lindqvist
- Savage Magic by Lloyd Shepherd
- The Cold Calling by Phil Rickman
- The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross
- The Book of Whispering Spirits by Jeff Ferrell
- Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse by Chris Riddell
- Murder by Sarah Pinborough
- Goth Girl and the Fete Worse Than Death by Chris Riddell (the only one not on my original list)
I’m very pleased with that as I had only committed to four. This success is mostly because I was on holiday with lots of reading time, clearly the best way to approach this sort of thing 🙂
For Peril on the Screen I managed to watch Triangle and Event Horizon.
Links to reviews are provided where they’ve been published; not all are on the blog(s) yet, but they will be added over the next couple of days and I’ll update.
How did you guys all do?
What’s it all about?
Savage Magic is the third in Lloyd Shepherd’s series about London’s River Police which started with The English Monster (which I reviewed here) and continued with The Poisoned Island which was my first read of this year, and to (for?) which this novel is something of a sequel, as the starting point for several of the characters is a direct result of the events of the previous novel. So although you don’t need to have read that first, it will all make a bit more sense if you have.
Unofficial plug over.
But what of the plot? Well….
It’s 1814 and London’s Covent Garden is at the centre of a dark trade, enticing rich and poor alike with a cocktail of gin and beer and sex. In the surrounding parishes a group of aristocratic young men are found murdered, all of them wearing the mask of a satyr, all of them behind locked doors with no sign of entry.
And if that wasn’t enough, there are also accusations of witchcraft in the countryside outside London which need to be looked into ….
Why did I want to read it?
I am a great fan of this series and had pre-ordered this as soon as I knew it was coming out. It’s a period of London history that I don’t know very much about and I have become fond of the main characters, particularly Abigail Horton, the wife of our main protagonist, so picking this up was a no-brainer for me.
What did I think of it?
As I’ve already said I enjoy this series very much but I think this is the best so far, which is interesting given that at least one of the main characters from previous volumes (Harrington) is offstage through illness for most of the narrative and the others (Abigail, her husband Charles and Aaron Graham) are apart for most of the novel for very good and important-to-the-plot reasons. In fact I became very anxious indeed about Abigail’s situation…..
The other interesting thing is that very little of the story has anything to do with the Thames at all, though convict transport to Australia and return to England do feature. What we do have is a thoroughly absorbing story which touches on the treatment of the insane (hint – it isn’t good, especially for female patients), the sex trade and in particular the debauchery of the wealthy (which seems in this case to have very few if any limits) and witchcraft and superstition, alive and well in rural parts even post-Enlightenment. I do enjoy a good-locked room mystery, and I also like to see how the various plot strands come together as they inevitably do. Very ingeniously done in this case, with a whiff of the not entirely natural which has been a theme of the series.
It’s also great fun to read about an area that I know pretty well given that when I’m working in London I’m based on Kingsway, just round the corner from Graham’s home in Great Queen Street and a stone’s throw away from Covent Garden.
The reading experience was an unusual one for me in that I started the novel some time ago and then a combination of increased workload before holiday (never a good time to read anything that requires attention in my experience) and the previously mentioned anxiety about what the author was going to put Abigail through meant that it languished on the TBR pile until I found myself in a hotel in the south-west of Scotland where I could give it the attention it deserved, and I read the last third in a single sitting late into the night. And very satisfying it was too.
If you haven’t given this series a try then you really should, whether it’s for the historical setting, the supernatural stuff or a good novel of detection. I’m really looking forward to seeing what comes next.
This was my third read for RIP IX. It is also the book that got me to my target of 52 books in 52 weeks, so everything I read after that is a bonus!
A monthly event hosted by The Book Vixen
By the end of this weekend and before I return to work after a three week break, I aim to have written and published or scheduled the following:
- Savage Magic
- The Cold Calling
- The Jennifer Morgue
- The Book of the Spirits
If I finish it this weekend I may also write and schedule a post on
- Murder
I’m planning to see The Book of Life at the cinema on Sunday afternoon but it may be too much to expect to write a review the same evening (though I have done that before so not totally beyond the realms of possibility) and may try to fit in something horror-cinema-related on Saturday afternoon.
I also want to scope out my reading list for November where I want to focus on books about WWI as mentioned here.
Let the Old Dreams Die is a book of horror short stories by the Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist, first published in 2006 but only relatively recently available in an English language translation. I was very keen to read some of his shorter work having been very impressed by the three of his four novels that I’ve read so far:
- Let the Right One In – Swedish vampires, spawned two films (only one of which I’ve seen (hint – it was brilliant) though I have the other one in my possession
- Handling the Undead – Swedish zombies
- Harbour – Swedish watery strangeness
I really enjoyed this collection which I read over several days while on holiday, staying in a former stately home in Cumbria. I like Lindqvist’s take on horror, which doesn’t ignore gory unpleasantness (as anyone who knows what happens at the end of Let the Right One In will confirm) but is overwhelmingly, to my mind at any rate, one of creepiness tinged with melancholy, which means they aren’t the sort of stories you can binge on. As an aside, I once heard an author being interviewed on the radio (I think it was Anne Enright but I’m not sure) who said something along the lines that people tend to approach anthologies the way they do a box of chocolates – they either eat them singly over time and savour each one, or they devour the lot in one go – I have done both in my time. This is definitely a one sweetie at a time thing.
I’m not going to pick out any individual stories to mention (except perhaps Village on the Hill which led me to consider drains more carefully than I had before) but will say that for many readers the two titles of most interest will be the title story which is sort of but not quite a sequel to Let the Right One In (Lindqvist himself says in his afterword that it deals with a problem of interpretation that he hadn’t identified until he saw the movie version) and The Final Processing, the longest story in the collection, which is basically a sequel to Handling the Undead. There is also Eternal/Love where I think you can see Lindqvist exploring some of the themes that pop up in Harbour.
I really enjoyed this selection; it was a perfect autumn holiday read and it has made me want to pick up the most recent novel, Little Star. Recommended.
This was my second read for RIP IX.
So I may have mentioned that I’ve been on holiday for a few weeks and have done quite bit of reading, mostly for Carl’s RIP IX challenge (my proposed book list for that is here and so far I’ve read six and have started on a seventh of the books mentioned with a week to go). One of the things that often happen after my annual break is I start thinking about what I might want to read over the next few months. I also usually buy some new books as I can’t resist popping into every bookshop I can see, and this year has been no exception on either count.
New books
A modest pile for me:
- The Flowers of the Forest: Scotland and the First World War by Trevor Royle
- We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
- Adventures in Stationery by James Ward
- Thomas Cromwell by Tracy Borman
- The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman
but there have also been various Kindle downloads too numerous to mention which would crank the number up if I could make the effort to list them all.
Reading lists
My reading has been very genre heavy this year, which isn’t a bad thing but I feel the need to stretch my wings a little bit.
There are five or six novels which my friend Silvery Dude has been pushing me to read, so that’s a list in itself (including Game of Thrones which I mentioned here, as well as Tigerman, Little Star and Norwegian Wood, which might lead me to a Japanese focussed list as I also have some unread Mishima which has been gathering dust in the stacks for donkey’s years).
I would also like to finish working my way through The Big Re-Read, a personal challenge which I talk about here and which has been chuntering on for ages.
I am also very keen to focus on a couple of my favourite authors, including a re-read of Virginia Woolf and attacking my backlog of Joyce Carol Oates’ books (she is so prolific, I can’t keep up).
But first I would like to do some reading in November around World War I. I probably won’t re-read A Testament of Youth which had a huge impact on me when I was in my late teens, but though the Royle book mentioned above plus a couple of novels (Helen Zenna Smith is somewhere on my shelves) but I haven’t thought it through as yet.
I always find it difficult to strike a balance between planning my reading and keeping some spontaneity so we’ll see how it works this time round!
How did it get to be September already?
So, I love the autumn, always have done, but the onset of mellow fruitfulness and longer nights and all that stuff is made even more pleasurable by the advent of Carl’s annual RIP challenge now in its ninth year where we all come together to read dark stuff with ghosts and horror and mystery and danger. It starts on 1 September and runs to 31 October.
I have a list that’s far too long even for someone who’s playing a blinder in her reading plans (already only four volumes away from my target for the year) out of which I will attempt to read four so I can take part in Peril the First.
Before I go on I must say that I love the Abigail Larson art that Carl has chosen, partly because she has designed the cover for the first book on my list but mostly because I am lucky enough to have a framed print of her Masque of the Red Death.
But enough of that; to the list:
- The Book of Whispering Spirits by Jeff Ferrell
- Carpathia by Matt Forbeck
- Murder by Sarah Pinborough
- The Cold Calling by Phil Rickman
- The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross
- Savage Magic by Lloyd Shepherd
- Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse by Chris Riddell
- The Island of Dr Moreau by HG Wells which will lead to
- The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd
- Let the Old Dreams Die by John Ajvide Lindqvist
- The Abominable by Dan Simmons (because it wouldn’t be RIP without DS even though I suspect there are no yetis in this novel)
That looks like a pretty fine haul.
I will also try to take part in Peril on the Screen by finding stuff that is suitably creepy. At the very least I hope to watch Triangle which I’ve had for ages and still not seen. And maybe some revisits to old favourites, Theatre of Blood springing to mind.
Looking forward to seeing everyone else’s lists!
I have done this before a couple of times but not for a few years and I just have a hankering to read lots of crime function during August when it (theoretically) gets a bit quieter as friends and workmates go off on holiday.
This is a sort of personal challenge but one that doesn’t have any real goals and until yesterday afternoon was going to have a suggested reading list but frankly when I looked at the crime section of my TBR mountain I quailed at the enormity of the the task and I’m basically just going to wing it.
Although I will almost certainly start with the new Lauren Beukes which appeared as if by magic on my Kindle app yesterday morning 🙂
Bride of the Book God 