Weekly Reading Wrap-up [20th May- 26th May]

Weekly Reading Wrap-up

20th May- 26th May

*

Finished:

We Have Always Lived in the Castle – Shirley Jackson

I Really enjoyed this short story. It had a fantastic atmosphere, and I just devoured it! I didn’t actually like any of the characters, but that somehow added into the overall feel of the book. I’m glad I picked this up, and I am definitely inspired to read more of Shirley Jackson’s work. 5/5 Rating!

       

The Ersatz Elevator – Lemony Snicket

Vile Village – Lemony snicket

I started re-reading a favourite childhood series of books a while ago – A Series of Unfortunate Events- and whilst feeling a little under the weather this week, I decided to carry on and pick up books 6 and 7. I am enjoying this series a lot. It has been a long time since I read it and I almost feel that I rediscovering the series. 5/5 Rating.

Into the Darkest Corner – Elizabeth Haynes

Wow – What can I possibly say about this book?! It was fantastic! I think this is probably one of the best thrillers I have ever read, and it is definitely one of my favourite reads of 2013 so far. I flew through this book (and its not a short one either!). I loved the shift between past and present, and the way this allowed the plot to be built up. I felt the suspense, and the anxiety of the main character Cathy, and I’m not scared to admit that I found myself looking over my shoulder more than once while reading. This book deals with extreme domestic violence, and is possibly not for the faint hearted! If you like Gillian Flynn, I would definitely recommend this book. 5/5 Rating.

Currently Reading:

Rot and Ruin – Jonathan Maberry

I started reading this book a few months ago, but just couldn’t get past the first 40 pages. I decided to give it a second chance, and I’m glad I did. I’m another hundred or so pages through and am really starting to get into the story.

*

Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens [Discussion and My Thoughts]

Oliver Twist

Charles Dickens

Discussion and My Thoughts

Oliver Twist is the second novel of Charles Dickens, and was first published as a series between 1837 and 1839. It is the story of orphan Oliver Twist. After a miserable existence in a workhouse and a less than pleasant placement with an undertaker, he decides to run away to London. In London, Oliver becomes naively tangled up in the sordid underworld of London’s criminals.

The main themes running through the book are poverty and social class. Dickens revealed, to his educated middle class audience, the extent of poverty and disease in London. The conditions and treatment that Oliver, and other children, are subjected to is quite shocking to read about. This links closely in to the suggestion of “charity failure” that is prominent within the book. At the time of the book, the Poor Law of 1834 was in place, which stipulated that people would only receive government aid if they moved into workhouses. The workhouses were ruled with the belief that poverty was a consequence of laziness, and were therefore dreadful places. Dickens emphasised this lesser opinion of poverty stricken people, and the laziness, greed and arrogance of the supposed charitable figures of these institutions.

Criminality and prostitution are prevalent in Dicken’s portrayal of poverty stricken London. The criminal gangs work is clearly written for us to see, even though the word “prostitution” is not explicitly stated . It is not unfair to make assumptions that Nancy’s profession is prostitution, and also not to assume that the boys of Fagin’s gang probably had more duties than just pickpocketing!

The character, Oliver Twist, was developed to be a hero that would appeal to people’s sentiments. He remains above corruption throughout the novel, maintaining his pure and honest heart. It is hard to believe that the experiences and people he is exposed to have not had a more detrimental effect on his character. But I can say that Oliver is strong and resilient, despite suffering horrid mistreatment by so many people. I liked Oliver, I generally prefer gutsy characters and I found myself rather admiring how he coped with everything. My “sentiments” were definitely appealed to – I was 100% emotionally invested in Oliver, and a part of me really wanted to reach into the book and rescue him from all of the horrible things in his life.

The main villain of the story is Fagin. He is a despicable villain, referred to as a “loathsome reptile” and “a popular nickname for the devil”. In the 21st century, his characterisation seems a little harsh – he is frequently referred to simply as “the jew”, with many of his negative traits being very much connected with his jewish identity – despite the fact that we do not see him practising his religion in the novel. Obviously, I didn’t like the character of Fagin, I thought he was cowardly, only interested in his personal profit and gain. In fact, I was rather pleased when he had to face up to his wrong-doings at the end of the book and face up to his own worst fear.

Oliver Twist is the first Charles Dickens’s book I have read, and I’m happy to say I really loved it! I had feared that the language and writing would be difficult to understand, but that really wasn’t the case. I had no problem with reading and understanding the plot, and I was completely engaged in the story the whole way though. I’m glad I chose Oliver Twist as my first Charles Dickens book :), it has made me really excited to read his other books (in fact, I have already ordered a couple more to read).

I highly, highly recommend this book!

Under-known and Under-rated books.

Under-known and Under-rated books.

Hi guys, this is a written blog response to mistybookrat’s discussion video the subject of under-known and under-rated books. You can see her original video here. Below are books that I have very much enjoyed reading, and that don’t seem to get the mention that they deserve (in my opinion). Enjoy!

1) Warm Bodies – Isaac Marian

This is a hilarious, original contribution to the zombie genre. This book is written from the perspective of the zombie ‘R’ and I found that the edge this gave the book was awesome. It was very witty and had a fresh feel to it that made the book stand out against the many other zombie novels out there. I believe that this will soon be made into a film, so perhaps the book will get more recognition after that.

2) Jill – Philip Larkin

I read this book quite recently and thought it was a wonderful piece of british literature! It is written in a unique way which allowed me to really understand the experiences of student John Kemp. I loved reading about university during the second world war, and the influence of money and class had on John Kemp in comparison to his fellow university students. The story was engaging and interesting and I couldn’t stop reading it once I had started. I know Larkin is well known for his poetry; but I think this novel should receive more recognition because it is wonderful 🙂

3) Aurora Teagarden mysteries – Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris is best known for her Sookie Stackhouse series, but before that she wrote mystery novels. I picked up the first omnibus edition of the first four books in this series and fell in love with it completely. I love the style of Charlaine Harris’s writing, and thought she wrote the mysteries exceptionally well. They kept me guessing and I didn’t get fed up after the first four – I can’t wait to read the last ones in the series! I also loved the lead character of Aurora – A kick-ass, independent librarian who loves to solve a crime!

4) Lily Bard series – Charlaine Harris

This is another mystery series by Charlaine Harris. Again, I felt that the stories were well written, gripping and that each story was an interesting addition to the overall story. The thing I most enjoyed about this series was Lily Bard. I loved having such an independent, strong female protagonist. Lily’s history unfolds as you are reading the book and when I started to figure out her past, I had huge admiration for her! I highly reccommend them – especially if you enjoy Charlaine Harris’s other works.

5) The Glass trilogy 

Although Maria Snyder’s ‘Study trilogy’ is reasonably well recognised, I rarely hear anyone mention the follow-up ‘ Glass trilogy’. I enjoyed this just as much as the first. Changing the narrating character from Yelena to Opal Cowen allowed for fresh story lines to be explored while still keeping the reader in touch with much loved characters and places from ‘Study trilogy’. I do reccommend reading this after reading the first trilogy as many story lines eventually link back to events from the first trilogy. All in all, I thought this was an excellent continuation of adventures in Ixia and Sitia, with a lot more action, and a fantastic, believable fantasy world. 🙂

***

Thanks for reading 🙂