Title: The Last Séance: Tales of the Supernatural Writer: Agatha Christie Publishing House: William Morrow Paperbacks Date of Publication: September 24th 2019 Rating: 5 stars ”As we entered the grove of trees a curious oppression came over me. I think it was the silence. No birds seemed to nest in these trees. There was a feeling about it of desolation…
Month: September 2019
Winter Sleep: A Hibernation Story
Title: Winter Sleep: A Hibernation Story Writer: Sean Taylor & Alex Morss, illustrated by Cinyee Chiu Publishing House: Quarto Publishing Group Date of Publication: September 17th 2019 Rating: 5 stars When I was a child, I had the fortune to witness the changing of the seasons in my grandmother’s house. The garden was enormous, full of flowers and trees,…
The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat & Other Stories from the North
Title: The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat & Other Stories from the North Writer: Various edited by Sjón Publishing House: Pushkin Press Date of Publication: October 9th 2018 Rating: 3 stars ”The wind buffeted me, blowing warm, dry air into my face. He’s here, it said. The one you love is waiting for you. You’ve arrived now. You must find…
Salt Slow
Title: Salt Slow Writer: Julia Armfield Publishing House: Picador Date of Publication: May 30th 2019 Rating: 5 stars ‘’At night, I fall asleep in shreddings and tatterings, my dreams shot through with shouts of violence, bitter notches like bad beads on a rosary. In the still-dark of early morning, I wake to wonder at my face in the wardrobe…
Transcription
Title: Transcription Writer: Kate Atkinson Publishing House: Black Swan Date of Publication: March 21st 2019 (first published September 6th 2018) Rating: 5 stars ”In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” Winston Churchill 1950. Juliet is a BBC producer, responsible for the children’s zone. Intelligent, energetic and a talented writer,…
Gingerbread
Title: Gingerbread Writer: Helen Oyeyemi Publishing House: Picador Date of Publication: March 5th 2019 Rating: 2 stars ‘’The colour of my heart is black.’’ A mother tries to persuade everyone to try her gingerbread. A daughter tries to survive the harsh school environment and a reality that doesn’t seem to be ‘’real’’ at all. Fairy tales and magic…
Swimming Lessons
Title: Swimming Lessons Writer: Claire Fuller Publishing House: Penguin Date of Publication: February 1st 2018 (first published February 7th 2017) Rating: 5 stars ”Black waves would lift the boat up and roll it with the swell, like mountains rising where there had been no mountains before.” Flora has an awful burden on her shoulders. Trying to pursue her studies, coping…
The Country Will Bring Us No Peace
Title: The Country Will Bring Us No Peace (originaI title Ici, ailleurs) Writer: Matthieu Simard (translated by Pablo Strauss) Publishing House: Coach House Books Date of Publication: September 17th 2019 Rating: 5 stars ‘’The silence came down on us like rain one Thursday, and we spent years submerged in it. The birds fell silent and rusty hinges stopped squeaking…
Irish Tales From The Otherworld: Ghosts, Fairies & Evil Spirits
Title: Irish Tales From The Other World: Ghosts, Fairies & Evil Spirits Writer: Bob Curran Publishing House: Poolbeg Press Date of Publication: October 21st 2015 Rating: 5 stars ”In Ireland, the supernatural is usually never all that far away. It lies sleeping beneath a seemingly peaceful and beautiful landscape, just beyond our vision but ready to emerge when we least…
The Apple: New Crimson Petal Stories
Title: The Apple: New Crimson Petal Stories Writer: Michel Faber Publishing House: Canongate Books Ltd Date of Publication: September 7th 2006 (first published 2004) Rating: 5 stars ”Snow continues to whirl through the sky, the windowpanes rattle and creak, but still those damned partridges and turtledoves proliferate. Passerby must be tossing coins to this bawling nuisance; better they should throw…
Redemption
Title:Redemption (original title: Искупление) Writer: Friedrich Gorenstein (translated by Andrew Bromfield) Publishing House: Columbia University Press Date of Publication: October 23rd 2018 (first published January 1st 1979) Rating: 5 stars ‘’There are ten thousand lying in the porcelain factory quarries…They were killed by fascism and totalitarianism but my dear ones were killed by my neighbour with a…
The Ten Thousand Doors of January
Title: The Ten Thousand Doors of January Writer: Alix E.Harrow Publishing House: Orbit Date of Publication:September 10th 2019 Rating: 4 stars ”Maybe you’ve even seen one for yourself, standing half-ajar and rotted in an old church, or oiled and shining in a brick wall. Maybe, if you’re one of those fanciful persons who find their feet running toward unexpected…
#Fairytale Friday: Serbia
Title: Serbian Fairy Tales (Σερβικά παραμύθια) Writer: edited and translated into Greek by Momčilo Radić Publishing House: Απόπειρα Date of Publication: 2004 Rating: 5 stars Today we aren’t going to talk about a specific tale. Instead, we’re going on a trip to Serbia, guided by the most characteristic features of the Serbian fairy tale. The fairy tales of…
Faery Tales
Title: Faery Tales Writer: Carol Ann Duffy (illustrated by Tomislav Tomić Publishing House: Faber Date of Publication: November 4th 2014 Rating: 5 stars ”Ungrateful man!”, thundered the creature. ”I have saved your life by letting you into my castle and to thank me you steal one of my roses, which I prize over everything!” My introduction to the world…
A World Full of Spooky Stories
Title: A World Full of Spooky Stories Writer: Angela McAllister (illustrated by Madalina Andronic) Publishing House: Frances Lincoln Children’s Books Date of Publication: September 3rd 2019 Rating: 5 stars Confession time. Once August knocks on our door and long before my summer holidays are completed, I begin to think of Halloween reads, Halloween decorations, Halloween films and pretty much Halloween…
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