The Secret History

By Donna Tartt

[Truly deserving of the accolade Modern Classic,
Donna Tartt's novel is a remarkable achievement - both
compelling and elegant, dramatic and playful.

Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a
group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college
discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from
the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they
go beyond the boundaries of normal morality their lives are
changed profoundly and for ever.]

Apologies for the lack of posts last week, I decided to take an unexpected break. 

I went home for a few days on Wednesday night until Saturday, saw some family and packed up my room (it's getting new carpet put in there) and then Sunday I literally watched the majority of season 4 of The Walking Dead!

Fun times.

Anyway, I've been doing grand on my reading goal so far this year but this one was one of the last I read at the tail end of last year.

I found myself wanting to read something different for a change as I always tend to stray towards fantasy or YA. My dad suggested this to me one time when we were in Foyles.

I was hesitant at first because - obviously - this was out of my usual comfort-zone-genre, but I quickly grew to love it.

There's no beating about the bush, the murder victim and the murderer(s) are stated in the first few pages which begs to differ, how the hell was this over 600 pages long? But it gripped me more than I thought it would.

To start with, Richard as a protagonist was a fantastic character. I empathised with him when everything started to fall apart and really felt like I could relate with him even though I've never had to deal with anything he had to go through. He wanted so bad to join this illustrious group of students studying the classics, yet when he finally got in, he had no idea what he was letting himself in for.

The other five main characters were quirky and strange but they grew on you as their characters developed. I particularly liked the twins - Charles and Camilla. I even liked Bunny for the most part, even if he was quite a detestable character in the end.

The plot was refreshing, clearly told from a future Richard looking back on his time at school, recounting his tales. There are obviously the odd little bits left out as he was also left out of them at the time. But I have to say, the ending caught me completely off guard. I don't know how I thought it would end but it certainly wasn't what I expected.

A surprisingly great read and one I would definitely re-read time and time again.



☽

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Six Other Stories/The Alchemist

Two book reviews for the price of one, ha.

In all honesty, they're both just really short so the reviews themselves aren't very long.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Six Other Stories

By F. Scott Fitzgerald

[Full grown with a long, smoke-coloured

beard, requiring the services of a cane

and fonder of cigars than warm milk,

Benjamin Button is a very curious baby

indeed. And, as Benjamin becomes

increasingly youthful with the passing

years, his family wonders why he persists

in the embarrassing folly of living in reverse.

In this imaginative fable of ageing and 

the other tales collected here - including

'The Cut-Glass Bowl', in which an ill-meant

gift haunts a family's misfortunes, 'The

Four Fists', where a man's life is shaped by

a series of punches to his face, and the

revelry, mobs and anguish of 'May Day' -

F. Scott Fitzgerald displays his unmatched

gift as a writer of short stories.]

I really really really like F. Scott Fitzgerald as a writer but, with that said, I didn't enjoy the plot lines of these short stories as much as I thought I could have.

I don't know if it was because of the style or of the era he wrote them in, but I found the storylines to be jumpy in parts and in others I had absolutely no idea what was going on.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was the most memorable of course, but I'd heard a lot about it and had already previously seen the film which, by the way, is just as weird.

I enjoyed the settings these were written in; Fitzgerald didn't even have to state it for me to know it was all based between the twenties and forties.

There's not really much to comment on the characters as the stories weren't long enough to allow them any development.

Tender is the Night is still my favourite Fitzgerald novel, but this was an interesting read.

✥

The Alchemist

By Paulo Coelho

['To realise

one's destiny

is a person's only

obligation.']

I thought this was a cute little book (physically) and I suppose internally as well.

The cover itself is probably what attracted me to it in the first place to be honest.

I liked the idea of omens and destiny and travelling to the desert to the pyramids but overall it didn't really engage me.

It was just the sort of book trying to send a positive message.

I have heard a lot of good things about Paulo Coelho though so I'm going to try picking up a few of his other books and see what they're like.

Dracula And Other Horror Classics

By Bram Stoker.

[Dracula and Other Horror Classics collects the most memorable
tales of horror by Bram Stoker. In addition to Dracula -- the
landmark vampire novel that set the pattern for virtually all
vampire fiction written after its publication in 1897 -- this
omnibus collects the novels The Jewel of Seven Stars and The 
Lair of the White Worm. It also includes a dozen of Stoker's
short tales of the macabre, including "Dracula's Guest", a
sidebar to his famous novel.

For more than a century, Bram Stoker's fiction has inspired
countless writers of horror and fantasy fiction. This volume
allows readers a unique opportunity to appreciate the full range
of his dark imagination.]

Dracula
I was worried initially that the writing style would be too difficult to grasp, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was rather easy. From what I can remember (I did begin it in April after all) Dracula started off reasonably well-paced. I found I enjoyed the story line with Lucy and her antics better than the subsequent manhunt for Dracula himself, meaning I didn't enjoy the ending as much as I could have. There was quite a bit of waffling as well that really wasn't needed which made the pace a bit slower right before the climax. I also found that the characters came to trust too easily and fell in love awfully quick, but maybe that was just part of the times.

The Jewel of Seven Stars
This one drew me in straight away with the Egyptian theme throughout (I find the whole mummies and curses ordeal fascinating). Again, I found that the protagonists fell in love way too quick for my tastes but I went along with it anyway. This, like Dracula, started off well then declined in a lot of unnecessary waffle followed by ending with a bang. I'm still in shock now at how this one ended so I would have to say this one might be my favourite out of the three longer tales as it was so unexpected.

The Lair of the White Worm
From reading the title to the end of this one, I was terribly confused. First of all, a worm? That's the big threat? And second of all, the plot was kind of all over the place. The love between the main characters seemed to happen instantly and then the death of a character had an absurd reasoning behind it. The only bit I really enjoyed was the climax-type scene towards the end because the imagery was really strong and this tiny bit made sense to me. I didn't understand half of what was going on though.

Dracula's Guest and Other Stories
The majority of these shorter tales, funnily enough, I rather enjoyed. They were quick and to the point, drawing me in and then abruptly ending in all sorts of weird ways. The Squaw, The Judge's House and The Burial of the Rats were my favourites out of the bunch with intriguing plots, a strong role for the familiars and beautiful imagery.

Overall, even though the writing was quite easy to navigate, it was still obvious that they were all written some time ago as the women were expected to stay out of the way and let all the men do the work and the racism in The Lair of the White Worm was absolutely horrendous!