Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

I had no idea that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was a novella. My book is a normal sized book, so I was expecting a normal sized novel! However, the actual story is only 82 pages long, and the rest is filled with little penny dreadfuls. Interesting!

My habit is to read a short story every afternoon, so I’ll save those for later. That way I can move on to other books and reviews and such.

Speaking of reviews, this was another gothic that was just ok for me. The writing was very simple compared to Le Fanu’s, but after hearing about this story all my life, I was expecting way more out of it. It was mostly lawyering and letters. Sure, there was one murder…but we heard about it second hand, and we hardly even saw the monster.

Some stories are best left to the theatrical versions, I suppose.

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Uncle Silas

I feel like I haven’t posted much lately, but I have been neck deep in Uncle Silas by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. This is one of those All Attention Required books. And unfortunately…I didn’t do a very good job of giving it my full focus. I know that I rushed through it, and even still, it seemed to drag on forever.

The first 25% of the book was decent. While the author was male, the narrator is a female from the 1800s, so it felt very Brontesque at first. And then…it started to twist and turn into a very dark gothic, almost ghost story. It is going to take a second read for me to understand all of the mysterious plots that are afoot in this tale, but something is so very awry here.

You start by thinking it’s a girl and her dear old father, and they are alone in their rich old manor. Eventually, she’s going to have suitors right? That’s what happens in these types of stories. There’s a spooky, estranged uncle, and a crazy, dear aunt-figure (a cousin, really, but she’s way older than Maud). Oh, and don’t forget the drunk governess.

I’m putting this on my Try Again list. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either. Mostly, I just didn’t understand everything that happened. I liked the writing, at least once I got used to some of the accents used. And the characters are sufficiently complicated. Worthy read, just needs another run through.

WWW Wednesday 10/8/2014

 

 

What are you currently reading?

Uncle Silas by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

 

 

What did you just finish reading?

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

 

 

What do you think you’ll read next?

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling

Rump by Liesel Shurtliff

Teaser Tuesday 10/7/2014

 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 

“Why is it that this form of ambition–curiosity-which entered into the temptation of our first parent, is so specially hart to resist? Knowledge is power–and power of one sort or another is the secret lust of human souls; and here is, beside the sense of exploration, the undefinable interest of a story, and above all, something forbidden, to stimulate the contumacious appetite.”

–Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Uncle Silas

 

This is a long and slow going book…I’m about halfway through it, so be patient with my blogging this week. Hopefully I can make it through in the next few days and can commence more active posts!

WWW Wednesday 10/1/2014

 

Welcome to the first day of October! For those of you that missed it on Tumblr, I completely revamped my TBR list and filled it with all things thriller, fantasy or fall-themed (with the exception of a few books I that have a deadline). We’ll see how many I can get through before the clock strikes midnight on Halloween!

What are you currently reading?

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling

 

 

What did you just finish reading?

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

 

 

What do you think you’ll read next?

Dorothy Must Die  by Danielle Paige

Uncle Silas by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson