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Current reading: The Haunted Trail
Mar. 13th, 2025 03:41 pmMy next short story collection read is The Haunted Trail: Classic Tales of the Rambling Weird. Another in the British Library "Tales of the Weird" series. This one is edited by Weird Walk.
Still struggling not to type 2024 at the top of these posts!
I've written reviews of Captive Queen, the Midsomer Murders gamebook and Eerie East Anglia.
Of the others, the Tolkien paintings book was nice, though there were some curious choices, especially re the hobbits. The Shakespeare book was great in parts, but had an almost total blind spot on detailed coverage of the many plays, which felt like a huge omission. Our Mutual Friend was a delight for me, as always. And The Principle of Moments, the first in a planned trilogy, was a heady mix of fantasy, space opera and time travelling shenanigans. Probably more ambitious in its goals than it ultimately achieved. But still a riveting read, and I will read the other books.
- ( earlier books )
- Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots by Jade Scott
- A Middle-earth Album: Paintings by Joan Wyatt Inspired by Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings by Joan Wyatt
- Could You Survive Midsomer? – A Winter's Murder: An Official Midsomer Murders Interactive Novel by Simon Brew
- Eerie East Anglia: Fearful Tales of Field and Fen by Edward Parnell
- Introducing Shakespeare: A Graphic Guide by Nick Groom
- Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
- The Principle of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson
I've written reviews of Captive Queen, the Midsomer Murders gamebook and Eerie East Anglia.
Of the others, the Tolkien paintings book was nice, though there were some curious choices, especially re the hobbits. The Shakespeare book was great in parts, but had an almost total blind spot on detailed coverage of the many plays, which felt like a huge omission. Our Mutual Friend was a delight for me, as always. And The Principle of Moments, the first in a planned trilogy, was a heady mix of fantasy, space opera and time travelling shenanigans. Probably more ambitious in its goals than it ultimately achieved. But still a riveting read, and I will read the other books.
Just finished this today, another in the British Library's "Tales of the Weird" series of short story collections, gathering together generally older tales, as well as sometimes more recent ones. This collection was edited by Edward Parnell, and focuses on East Anglia, such a rich setting for spooky and weird fiction.
There are 17 short stories in this collection, including a couple by MR James (such as "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come To You, My Lad"). But also stories by many others, including E.F. Benson, Marjorie Bowen, and even Robert Aickman.
Stories range from medieval through to the present day, though many are in the Victorian or early twentieth century era. Many are written in the MR Jamesian style, of old manuscripts and strange places. Others take a different approach.
Overall most of the stories are strong, but three were absolute standouts for me. Firstly "The Dust-Cloud" by E.F. Benson, the atmospheric tale of a ghostly car crash. This left me unnerved for some time after, as did "The Seventeenth Hole at Duncaster" by H.R. Wakefield, the story of a haunted golf hole. Which started almost PG Wodehouse like, but soon became something darker. The third story that wowed me was John Gordon's "If She Bends, She Breaks", a tale of winter in the fens, that I very much regretted reading just as I was about to go to sleep, because it spooked me so extremely much! But in a good way.
A couple of the stories felt workmanlike. There was only one story that I disliked, indeed viscerally so: "Possum" by Matthew Holness. This was one of a few more modern stories in the book, and felt tonally completely out of place, and phenomenally unpleasant to read. But otherwise it was a strong collection.
Recommended. 4/5 stars.
There are 17 short stories in this collection, including a couple by MR James (such as "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come To You, My Lad"). But also stories by many others, including E.F. Benson, Marjorie Bowen, and even Robert Aickman.
Stories range from medieval through to the present day, though many are in the Victorian or early twentieth century era. Many are written in the MR Jamesian style, of old manuscripts and strange places. Others take a different approach.
Overall most of the stories are strong, but three were absolute standouts for me. Firstly "The Dust-Cloud" by E.F. Benson, the atmospheric tale of a ghostly car crash. This left me unnerved for some time after, as did "The Seventeenth Hole at Duncaster" by H.R. Wakefield, the story of a haunted golf hole. Which started almost PG Wodehouse like, but soon became something darker. The third story that wowed me was John Gordon's "If She Bends, She Breaks", a tale of winter in the fens, that I very much regretted reading just as I was about to go to sleep, because it spooked me so extremely much! But in a good way.
A couple of the stories felt workmanlike. There was only one story that I disliked, indeed viscerally so: "Possum" by Matthew Holness. This was one of a few more modern stories in the book, and felt tonally completely out of place, and phenomenally unpleasant to read. But otherwise it was a strong collection.
Recommended. 4/5 stars.
Current reading: mid February 2025
Feb. 15th, 2025 10:44 pmHere are my three main reads at the moment: "Our Mutual Friend" by Charles Dickens (an umpteenth time reread), "Eerie East Anglia" collection of weird/spooky short stories from the British Library, and Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson's fantasy / timey wimey / space epic "The Principle of Moments".
Current reading: mid January 2025 edition
Jan. 15th, 2025 05:30 pmCurrent main Kindle reading for me. The top 6 books in the picture below are the main books I'm currently reading. A mix of fiction and non fiction.
Tales of the Weird: An Autumnal Festival
Sep. 25th, 2024 09:08 pmJust booked myself an online ticket for the British Library's "Tales of the Weird: An Autumnal Festival" on 2nd November. In person tickets have sold out, but online streaming tickets are still available. It's an all day (Saturday) event, and you can view live, or on catchup over the following 48 hours. I've used their catchup streaming for other recent events, and it works well. Looking forward to it! A celebration of weird fiction, in its many forms.
I have just DNF'd My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix. It should have appealed a lot, with lots of 80s pop culture references. But I didn't find the writing style worked for me, nor were the voices of the young girls convincing. I see it was made into a movie a couple of years ago. Happy to pass on both.
Alongside other non fiction books on the go I've now started a short story fiction collection, gathering together classic spooky stories about Cornwall. Cornish Horrors is another in the British Library Tales of the Weird series. And should fill a nice slot for me.
I am leaving my fiction reading slate free after that for the middle of July, when another in Deborah Harkness's A Discovery of Witches fantasy series is published. I particularly enjoyed the original trilogy, and am keen to read this upcoming 5th book, The Black Bird Oracle. I have it preordered on Kindle, and intend to read it right away on publication. And I also have a signed hardback copy on preorder.
Alongside other non fiction books on the go I've now started a short story fiction collection, gathering together classic spooky stories about Cornwall. Cornish Horrors is another in the British Library Tales of the Weird series. And should fill a nice slot for me.
I am leaving my fiction reading slate free after that for the middle of July, when another in Deborah Harkness's A Discovery of Witches fantasy series is published. I particularly enjoyed the original trilogy, and am keen to read this upcoming 5th book, The Black Bird Oracle. I have it preordered on Kindle, and intend to read it right away on publication. And I also have a signed hardback copy on preorder.
I've picked up a bunch of the British Library's Tales of the Weird series of books over the years for my Kindle. All short story collections. But I still have to read most of them. So tonight I'm starting on the first of their four (so far) Christmas themed collections. Hoping for suitably festive spooky stories!
Tales of the Weird
Nov. 15th, 2023 12:48 pmI bought online tickets for a number of talks and panels accompanying the British Library's current Fantasy exhibition. Luckily I bought these tickets before the British Library suffered a ransomware cyber attack, which they are still reeling from. I don't think online tickets can be bought at the moment (but may be wrong), but the streaming is working for people who were lucky to buy tickets in time. We can watch an event live, or on catchup within 48 hours of it starting.
Today I was watching a 90 minute chat last night about the Tales of the Weird series of books published by the British Library. This was a lot of fun. Chaired by Matthew Sweet, who was excellent as to be expected. And with 6 other people on the stage. 2 were extremely rabbit in headlights for much of it sadly, though they relaxed later. But the other 4 panelists were great value. And the chair worked well to pull out discussion even from the rabbits in headlights folk.
I have bought a lot of these books to read on my Kindle over the years. They are typically £2.99 for the Kindle versions. But I still have many to read. Including the 3 so far Christmas anthologies. I am now enthusiastically lining some up for the festive season. If I'm awake enough.
Today I was watching a 90 minute chat last night about the Tales of the Weird series of books published by the British Library. This was a lot of fun. Chaired by Matthew Sweet, who was excellent as to be expected. And with 6 other people on the stage. 2 were extremely rabbit in headlights for much of it sadly, though they relaxed later. But the other 4 panelists were great value. And the chair worked well to pull out discussion even from the rabbits in headlights folk.
I have bought a lot of these books to read on my Kindle over the years. They are typically £2.99 for the Kindle versions. But I still have many to read. Including the 3 so far Christmas anthologies. I am now enthusiastically lining some up for the festive season. If I'm awake enough.
Just finished The Stranger Times by C.K. McDonnell, the first in a series of novels where the staff of a fictionalised version of the Fortean Times newspaper investigate weird things in Manchester.
I liked a lot about it. The mix of the staff is both effective from a storytelling point of view and often humour inducing. The weird stories that they publish about and then discover some of which may be true are also consistently entertaining.
On the downside the author chose to use multiple points of view (POV) far too much, especially early on. You'd be constantly switching at a new chapter, including to the viewpoint of numerous ancillary characters, and it jarred, and broke the flow and immersion. I hope that he might tone that down later in the series.
However the core mystery was a page turner, and I will definitely be reading more in the series. There are some very interesting back stories of the main characters still to be revealed. So recommended, 4/5 stars, but beware the POV issue.
I liked a lot about it. The mix of the staff is both effective from a storytelling point of view and often humour inducing. The weird stories that they publish about and then discover some of which may be true are also consistently entertaining.
On the downside the author chose to use multiple points of view (POV) far too much, especially early on. You'd be constantly switching at a new chapter, including to the viewpoint of numerous ancillary characters, and it jarred, and broke the flow and immersion. I hope that he might tone that down later in the series.
However the core mystery was a page turner, and I will definitely be reading more in the series. There are some very interesting back stories of the main characters still to be revealed. So recommended, 4/5 stars, but beware the POV issue.
Current reading August 2023 edition
Aug. 1st, 2023 08:23 amA new month, a new bunch of reading books currently on the go. Still reading Wheel of Time book 7 but making excellent progress with it.
Current and next reading
Jul. 25th, 2023 05:48 amBefore my book club read for August I'm squeezing in another novel. This is alongside Wheel of Time book 7 and spread out Little Dorrit reading. Plus loads of non fiction.
The Stranger Times by C.K. McDonnell has the following publisher blurb:
The Stranger Times by C.K. McDonnell has the following publisher blurb:
There are dark forces at work in our world (and in Manchester in particular), so thank God The Stranger Times is on hand to report them . . .And for my book club in August The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean has the following blurb:
A weekly newspaper dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but mostly the weird), it is the go-to publication for the unexplained and inexplicable.
At least that's their pitch. The reality is rather less auspicious. Their editor is a drunken, foul-tempered and foul-mouthed husk of a man who thinks little of the publication he edits. His staff are a ragtag group of misfits. And as for the assistant editor . . . well, that job is a revolving door - and it has just revolved to reveal Hannah Willis, who's got problems of her own.
When tragedy strikes in her first week on the job The Stranger Times is forced to do some serious investigating. What they discover leads to a shocking realisation: some of the stories they'd previously dismissed as nonsense are in fact terrifyingly real. Soon they come face-to-face with darker forces than they could ever have imagined.
Out on the Yorkshire Moors lives a secret line of people for whom books are food, and who retain all of a book's content after eating it. To them, spy novels are a peppery snack; romance novels are sweet and delicious. Eating a map can help them remember destinations, and children, when they misbehave, are forced to eat dry, musty pages from dictionaries.Here are the covers of the two books:
Devon is part of The Family, an old and reclusive clan of book eaters. Her brothers grow up feasting on stories of valor and adventure, and Devon—like all other book eater women—is raised on a carefully curated diet of fairy tales and cautionary stories.
But real life doesn't always come with happy endings, as Devon learns when her son is born with a rare and darker kind of hunger—not for books, but for human minds.
Next watching: Gormenghast (2000)
Jun. 11th, 2023 10:51 pmLining up our next weekend rewatch, with an episode a week. Next is the BBC’s version of Gormenghast from 2000. I wonder how much of this Martin will remember? He says a reasonable amount 😜
