vivdunstan

Squeezing in another of these before my end of year final post.

Got through another 8 books since the last update.

( earlier books )
1. Katabasis by RF Kuang
2. Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
3. Mr Villain's Day Off volume 1 (manga) by Yuu Morikawa
4. Born With Teeth (play script) by Liz Duffy Adams
5. A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
6. A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
7. Doctor Who Tales of Terror (short story anthology)
8. Crossroads of Twilight (Wheel of Time book 10) by Robert Jordan

Of the newly finished books, Katabasis was a lot of fun, with a dark journey into the Underworld, but not as good as RF Kuang's superb Babel or even Yellowface for me. Carmilla was a book club read, and frankly disappointing, and a struggle to read. Though Hammer made a good stab at filming a better version in the early 1970s. Mr Villain's Day Off was a chance find in Angus libraries catalogue, so borrowed that way. Fun manga, but I wasn't inspired to read other volumes. Born With Teeth, the Marlowe/Shakespeare play performed recently on stage by Ncuti Gatwa and Edward Bluemel, was a brilliant read, though it would be better to see it performed in person. Yes, I did my usual Roger Zelazny pre-Halloween reread of A Night in the Lonesome October. Still love it. T. Kingfisher's A Wizard's Guide to Contemporary Baking was fun, but a bit unevenly paced, and younger than I'd usually read. It also took too long to get to dangerous fighting gingerbread men. Doctor Who Tales of Terror is a fun spooky anthology collection, with short stories by multiple authors for each of Doctors 1-12. A bit uneven, but overall fun. Wheel of Time book 10 was the slog that I expected, though still fun in many parts. But I needed a very specific approach to reading to get through it successfully. But things should be better again in the remaining books. Book 10 is generally regarded by readers of the whole series as the worst by a long way.

Here's the screenshot from my Kindle, showing the main books I will be reading on there this month, with utterly gargantuan font etc. Some are already under way. Others like Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu are lined up for my book club later. My main novel read at the moment is Katabasis by RF Kuang, a dark academia book about a journey into Hell to rescue an academic advisor. Am really enjoying it. Last night I started my annual pre-Halloween reread of Roger Zelazny's A Night in the Lonesome October, which is a gothic horror delight. And I am going to try to read just a chapter a day this time! Liza Picard's Restoration London is a reread. Though she wasn't a formally trained historian I am in awe of her approach to the historical sources and questions. The Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design was a birthday present from Martin. Just getting into it now. And I continue my reread of the original Sherlock Holmes short stories, now well into the Return collection.

Just binge watched - at a bit of speed in places! - the last 3 episodes of Wednesday season 1. Martin is also now watching it, though a bit behind me. It's been odd for him seeing snippets that he'd already seen me watching, and learning where they fit into the story! Anyway yes, I'm all watched up. He should be soon. A second season has already been filmed.

It's very much a teen drama, but I liked an awful lot about it. Especially the gothic feel. Jenna Ortega did a great job. I was also surprised just how dark the last few episodes were in terms of content. But yes, very much enjoyed, and looking forward to the second season.

I just read this for my book club, and really enjoyed it. Surprisingly I'd never read it before, though I know the 1940 Hitchcock film well, which won the Best Picture Oscar back in its day.

Rebecca is a gripping gothic thriller combined with psychological study. It has a rather leisurely pacing, which took me a while to adjust to. But then it felt more of a natural fit, and I was happy for it to have room to breathe. The story is that of a young woman, newly married and returning with her husband to his Cornish grand mansion home, only to uncover secrets from the past. I don't want to go into the plot too much, but I found it a real page turner. And even though I knew the core plot (there are very few differences between the 1938 novel and 1940 movie), it still kept me glued, through to the very end.

I have seen other movies based on Daphne du Maurier stories - Hitchcock's The Birds, and Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now. But I haven't read any more of her writings. And I need to fix that.

Rating 5/5 stars. Easily.