Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Good fun.
Category: gothic novel
Werewolves, meet Jane Eyre…
‘He doesn’t want to play at brother wolves. Romulus and Remus can go take a hike, the romance of their tale is lost on him entirely. (God damn Ree for making him into Scheherezade. For reading him more stories night after night, since drawing him into an intimacy like ropes about his chest and arms. All the fault of Jane Eyre that first day: Ree has woven a whole romance about their reunion, as well as their boyhood amity, and now must replay it constantly. His own Mr Rochester: but Penn remembers, Miss Jane had a few pithy opinions about the man, however infatuated.
But anyway. A three, four mile run? After the night he’s had already?’
-Alex Ankarr, ‘Wolf Runaway’.
Photo credit: Sam Vekemans, Creative Commons licence.
What I’ve been reading – The Wolf of Ash and Fire by Graham McNeill
The Wolf of Ash and Fire by Graham McNeill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I’m not much of a fan of self-consciously sparse, tight writing – no thanks – but this was a bit too elaborate in style for me.
What I’ve been reading – ‘Hollow’ by Patricia Briggs
This is the tenth story in the ‘Shifting Shadows’ collection, and it’s a ghost story – always my fave! It’s also a Mercyverse story featuring Mercy herself, which marks it as a special occasion for any Briggs fan. Here, Mercy takes submissive pack wolf Zack along with her on a ghost-hunt, also a treat because Zack is a complete sweetie.
image – Conejo Conejo https://www.flickr.com/photos/findingalice/ licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/, no changes
The ‘guests’ – i.e. characters new to the Mercyverse – in this story are Lisa, a woman who runs a groundskeeping/housekeeping company, and Rick, one of her rich and reclusive clients. Rick is having trouble with the ghost of his dead wife, and Lisa is having trouble because, SPOILERS – Continue reading “What I’ve been reading – ‘Hollow’ by Patricia Briggs”
What I’ve been reading – Love and Freindship by Jane Austen
Love and Freindship by Jane Austen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I’ve always been under the impression that this was just a fragment of Austen’s juvenilia and of doubtful utility and value. Which is why I left it so long to check it out, but turns out I’ve been missing out. Whatever a modern day Jane would have been up to and gets up to, in modern adaptations of her persona and work – working her own Youtube channel, snapchatting away, book-blogging and fanficcing and whatnot – it’s kind of superfluous, redundant. This is the snarky teenage Jane, and it comes through on every page. Plus, I’d just like to say for anyone who’s read it – the 9th parcel, silver buckles! lol.
me and Pam: a New Year project, Week One, Day One
image – Inga Vitola https://www.flickr.com/photos/360around/ licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
I got Pam Grout’s new book, ‘Art and Soul, Reloaded‘ for Christmas. Lucky me! And since it’s structured in the form of weekly projects, I figure I will make a serious stab at them, and at finishing them by next New Year. Gotta try, right?
The first week’s project, as advised by Ms. Grout, is simply to log amount of time spent on social media for the week. Then to cut it in half, and spend the freed-up time on creative pursuits instead. And in addition, to come up with three new ideas a day. No matter how ridiculous!
Well, we’re already halfway through the week. So I’ll come up with my best estimate of the time I waste daily – say two hours. And, yes, make an effort to cut it down.
And today’s three ideas?
i) write a Gothic novel summary with a clown as the hero
ii) decorate a mug to celebrate a national holiday that doesn’t exist
iii) build a ladybug house.
