violetturtledove's reviews
410 reviews

On Writing: A Memoir by Stephen King

informative lighthearted reflective slow-paced

4.0

So this is one for either completists or fans who are also aspiring writers - writers who either dislike or have not read any King are probably better off looking elsewhere for advice. There, that's the obvious bit out of the way. 

That's not to criticise it; the memoir section is interesting and I feel there's some solid advice here, but as King points out he's not some sort of ultimate authority on the subject. He just knows what works for him. Maybe some of it works for you, maybe some doesn't but gives you a hint on how to find your own method. It's a good look behind the scenes of the creative process, but not by any means a definitive 'how to' or anything. 

There's a lot of advice on what to avoid, and again it comes down to personal taste but I found myself agreeing with a lot of it (and spotting many examples in another book).

Death by Duck by John Wilson

lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

Well maybe this will discourage me from buying books based on funny names or covers. There were a few amusing moments but in general it didn't seem to know what sort of story it was. The murder mystery itself only really bookends the travel/love story, and there's no real uncovering of clues, the main characters are ignorant right up to the end where everything is suddenly explained. 

I had to double check the publication date when reading this, as it's full of stereotypes and observations about Asia which probably wouldn't have surprised anyone in the 80s. It's not hateful, but there aren't really any well rounded characters. The dialogue is clunky and stuffed with exposition. 

The best bits were probably the day to day squabbles of university faculty, but I don't think it would have been enough to carry a book on its own. I believe this is one of a series, but I will not be looking up the others. 

Darkly: Black History and America's Gothic Soul by Leila Taylor

informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

This was a really interesting read, although I found it difficult to follow the train of thought at times, on the whole I liked how topics were connected in ways I'd never considered before. It's a series of essays on a common theme rather than the build up of a single argument or lesson, but they still feel part of a clear whole. 

It's a subject I've not seen written about before, and I'd definitely be interested to read more by this author. 

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

adventurous emotional funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I had a brilliant time reading this one, it felt like point horror for adults. It's cheesy and nostalgic, sweet but also very disturbing. It's darkly funny, full of horror tropes but also has some original twists and unique set pieces.

There's a certain flavour of gaslighting specific to teenage/ high school fiction (or maybe it's not so different, but I remember seeing it in books a lot when I was a teen). It's just so easy for someone who's still legally a child, lacking authority, confidence and experience, to be disregarded, to not be believed, to have their words twisted or not be allowed a voice at all. This book has plenty of that but I didn't find it too distressing to read (maybe I'm old and jaded now) and the frustration and urgency kept the tension in the story really well. With each development I immediately wanted to know what happened next.

If I was going to quibble over anything, the opening and closing segments from 'modern' times don't quite match up, and a lot of the supernatural stuff isn't really explained, it's just taken for granted that you know that these things happen in a possession story/movie. But honestly it was too entertaining for those things to bother me much. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting

The Collected Stories by William Trevor

reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Ok it took me a while to get through this one,  not really surprising considering the number of stories and they're all pretty relaxed reads. What's impressive is the number of characters, each with distinct personal histories but all perfectly ordinary. There's no huge, dramatic events here, but the stories are all clearly about something (I've struggled in the past with slice-of-life tales that don't have a distinct point or end other than 'this happened on this day' and 'this is where I decided to stop writing').

There are recurrent themes - being Irish, being poor, being being awkward at dinner parties, being unfaithful or tricked, being bored or dissatisfied. And for a male writer, writing in the 1960s/70s, there are a lot of stories written sympathetically from a female perspective (although they may not seem particularly progressive today).

I probably wouldn't choose to read these again all in one go, but it's one I'll hang on to and will occasionally dip into to read a story at random. 

The Lore of Scotland: A Guide to Scottish Legends, from the Mermaid of Galloway to the Great Warrior Fingal by Sophia Kingshill, Jennifer Westwood

informative lighthearted slow-paced

4.0

I've been dipping into this one for months now, it's not the sort of thing I can just read pages and pages of in one go, but it is very thorough and would be great for future reference if I'm looking up something specific. There are maps for each area, with a nicely illustrated key (or legend!) showing the different types of stories. 

As well as the stories themselves you get a good idea of the nature of folklore: how the tales are passed down and change through the centuries, and how they have come to us today through the work of folklorists and antiquaries.

Gallows Hill by Darcy Coates

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I'm in two minds about this one because on one hand I enjoyed reading it and it kept me wanting to read on (and isn't that the important thing?) But there were also lots of bits that I found a bit silly and I can see how they would be off-putting to some readers. 

There's a bit of a mess of horror tropes - mysterious bells, spooky reflections, spiders - things that would be jump-scares in a horror film, so in a way it's like a cheesy horror film in book form. And as I'm a huge wuss when it comes to films, I did feel quite spooked, especially in the first half of the book. After that it got a bit less scary and focused more on solving the mystery.

The protagonist is also a bit of a horror movie type, easily spooked one moment and then shockingly brave the next (I think there's a thing where you're reading/ watching horror and because you know it's a horror you can't believe they don't just run at the first opportunity- of course in real life you probably would try to rationalise it more as Margot does here).

It was a lot more original than it seemed to be at first (there's some bits that sort of subvert some horror tropes, even if they're also very convenient for covering any plot hole), and while some of the final chapters made me groan, the ending was quite satisfying. It's at least one where everything is wrapped up neatly.

If you need to take your horror seriously this won't be for you, but it might suit you if you like a bit of silliness with your spookiness.

The Autists: women on the spectrum by Alice E. Olsson, Clara Törnvall

informative reflective slow-paced

3.25

This was a fairly interesting one, although as it skips between the authors experiences and those of other female autists I found it a little hard to follow at times. Maybe this is part of the point though; the authors mind and thought processes work a bit differently to mine and that's ok. 

It's left me with a lot of think about, and plenty of further reading to do (although, as it's translated from Swedish, some of the other books mentioned don't have English translations available).

The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn

emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I spent a lot of this book not sure where it was going but thoroughly enjoying the journey and I think that's the best way to look at it. Some of the details and plot points may seem to not lead anywhere, but they all add up to the emotional core of the story.

It's the story of a family, with all it's social dysfunction and messy history. Characters go from unlikeable to sympathetic, from loveable to infuriating and back again. They are large characters but their flaws make them feel real. 

A big portion of the book is told from a child's perspective and even when these characters grow up and things get more serious, there's still a sense of childish wonder underpinning everything. There's still humour even in the dark moments and I was not prepared for how emotional I would ultimately find it. 

We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Now I don't necessarily mean this as a bad thing, but you can see how this book started off on reddit. There are little 'breadcrumbs' of clues scattered throughout the book, and you could easily fall into a mess of red string and conspiracy theories trying to work it all out (at various points in the book I was looking up morse code and translating Norwegian). So it definitely draws you in if you like mysteries, but don't expect anything to make sense at the end. 

While the mysterious aspects and the clues (in the form of found documents scattered through the book) make this all feel very real and intricate (if unresolved), the characters seem to have come from a slasher film. They spilt up in the dark, they fall asleep immediately after horrifying incidents. 

The main character has an exposition-laden inner monologue; analysing everything that's happening and may be about to happen, focusing on very specific details and going over possible explanations for the mysterious happenings. She's also fooled by her partners fake 'hello...?' voicemail message (despite it being stated that she's had that message for the entire relationship) but then next time she calls she 'won't be fooled twice'. Oh and there's a link to a jolly chimp toy which feels quite forced. Now I do appreciate horror film parodies and references, so maybe this is intentional but it's hard to tell. 

Taking all this into account, I can't even decide if I like the book or not. It DID draw me in, I was intrigued and will be mulling over bits of it for some time. And some of the bad bits were sort of enjoyable in a 'trashy movie' way. But I didn't really care for the characters and the ending didn't explain enough. It had it's spooky moments but I suspect that's because I was reading in the dark and it reminded me of certain horror films/shows. It's definitely not a typical haunted house story, but I'm not sure it's successful at whatever it is either. That said, I'd probably read something else by this author (it is a first novel after all), and will probably check out the Netflix adaptation because I am curious to see what they do with it.