Take a photo of a barcode or cover
spookynorvegan's reviews
588 reviews
The Roald Dahl Omnibus: Perfect Bedtime Stories for Sleepless Nights by Roald Dahl
4.0
Although I have read a considerable amount of Dahl's fiction for young readers, before picking up this tome, I had never experienced his adult fiction. it was not a disappointment. In the entire collection featured here there weren't more than a small handful for stories here I didn't really enjoy. His token dark humor, schadenfreude, and even a few creepy crawley tales. Not to be missed for any fan or admirer.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
3.0
Though the repeated extolling of a piece of popular (nee, Hollywood-ized) fiction by friends and family doesn't typically drive me to pick up a book, I finally relented and gave this a go. I wasn't ultimately disappointed. Reads like pure fiction with characters and events that are truly larger than life. Catered beautifully to the eccentric, voyeur in me.
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King
3.0
A solid collection of short fiction as well as a couple of poems by the ever prolific Mr. King. I especially enjoyed experiencing his poetry for the first time, and more than a few of the stories in this collection warranted palpable reactions.
A Little White Book of Ghost Stories by Rick Hautala
3.0
A quaint little collection of ghost stories by the late Rick Hautala. Nothing mind-blowingly original in nature to be found, but worth the read nonetheless; especially by diehards of the genre.
The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon
5.0
The second book in the Bone Season series did not disappoint...can't wait for the third installment!
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
5.0
An epic, fantastic story. A great example of urban fantasy that is all at once magical, grounded in various points of our history, concluding with a macabre, desolate predicted futurescape. If you can't appreciate a slow-burning sweep of a novel, steer clear. Otherwise, strap in for heavy storyline with overlapping characters and aliases that refuses to resolve until the final 150-odd pages of its' 600+ page body. Though at times slow moving, I really, truly enjoyed this piece.
Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
3.0
An easy read with a few gasp worthy moments. Though it does not boast a multi-linear time line, it still reminded me very much of a Kate Morton novel. The protagonist reads from the beginning as not reliable nor a particularly admirable character. A true anti-hero's hero. Would she have been a stronger, more relatable, trustworthy character for the reader to experience, this book could have very well rated higher. All in all though, a decent nod to a family Flannery O'Connor would have gotten a shudder from...and not just because they're from New England.
All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld
5.0
My only qualm with this novel is the the ending...I definitely wanted more closure to the storyline, and just more in general! This book comes in at just over 200-pages, and I could have read on for much longer than that.
An amazingly reluctant anti-hero protagonist that forces the reader to pry her past events and histories from the pages on their own, with no further explanation offered. A constant, underlying creeping feeling moves through the entirety of the novel; is the main character haunted by paranoia and her own past, or is there really something in the woods?
A truly amazing debut novel. Poe - like in progression. Which is not something I bestow on an author lightly.
An amazingly reluctant anti-hero protagonist that forces the reader to pry her past events and histories from the pages on their own, with no further explanation offered. A constant, underlying creeping feeling moves through the entirety of the novel; is the main character haunted by paranoia and her own past, or is there really something in the woods?
A truly amazing debut novel. Poe - like in progression. Which is not something I bestow on an author lightly.
Drown by Junot Díaz
4.0
A revealing, intimate collection of autobiographical short stories from the prolific Junot Diaz. Honest and horrifying, these are stories carved out of Diaz's own life experience in both the Dominican Republic and the United States. His father, mother, and a masked little boy from his childhood are captivating personalities that resonate through the stories. If you're looking for enchanting pleasantries, keep looking. This collection of short stories is better suited to a reader that can draw out the beauty in prose coming from a grittier place.