Maryse's bookshelf: all en-US Sat, 12 Apr 2025 06:46:05 -0700 60 Maryse's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Stand 228202 1141 Stephen King 0451169530 Maryse 0 4.32 1978 The Stand
author: Stephen King
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1978
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: currently-reading, booksale-finds, books-to-film
review:

]]> Audition 7280651 191 Ryū Murakami 039333841X Maryse 0 3.43 1997 Audition
author: Ryū Murakami
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.43
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves:
review:

]]> The Box: Uncanny Stories 3426164
"Button, Button," Richard Matheson's chilling tale of greed and temptation, is now the basis of The Box , the new film from the director of Donnie Darko . In addition, this outstanding collection also contains many other unforgettable stories by Matheson, the award-winning author of I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come .

"The inventive plots and spare but convincing portraits of ordinary men and women caught up in forces beyond their control demonstrate why Stephen King has called Matheson his most significant influence."
--Publishers Weekly]]> 205 Richard Matheson 0765321718 Maryse 5
That is not to say that the stories included in this volume are not good. That would depend on how you like your "horror" actually. Matheson is one of my quintessential horror writers; his quick prose style is ideal for turning mundane into something else. It's classic twilight zone: short, direct, intially ordinary then a sudden twist. Horror how he writes it is not necessary horrific, rather is more of a jolt, a sudden realization that drastically shifts the character (or the reader's) perspective.

My favorites:
"Button, Button" (or "The Box" as they had retitled the movie based on the short story) is the standout story. A true review of the piece would probably end up being longer than the actual story, so I'll spare you the spoilers and just read it for yourself.

"The Creeping Terror" -- I didn't like it when I first read it but it does grow on you with each rereading. I found it quite funny actually. The image of the farmer's wife in a halter top in the kitchen has been burned into my memory thanks to that.

"Shock Wave" -- The premise is pretty outdated and you can guess the ending coming from a mile away, but I like the way he wrote it. I could feel the struggle between the organ player and the organ -- or was it with himself? In a master's hand, dust can still become gold. ]]> 3.30 1970 The Box: Uncanny Stories
author: Richard Matheson
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.30
book published: 1970
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/02/22
shelves: booksale-finds, short-stories, horror
review:
I adore Matheson so this review is obviously biased. (hence, the 5 stars). I think the stories included in his other book (Nightmare at 20,000 Feet) are more well written and are considered his "classics", which is rightly so because those are truly his best works.

That is not to say that the stories included in this volume are not good. That would depend on how you like your "horror" actually. Matheson is one of my quintessential horror writers; his quick prose style is ideal for turning mundane into something else. It's classic twilight zone: short, direct, intially ordinary then a sudden twist. Horror how he writes it is not necessary horrific, rather is more of a jolt, a sudden realization that drastically shifts the character (or the reader's) perspective.

My favorites:
"Button, Button" (or "The Box" as they had retitled the movie based on the short story) is the standout story. A true review of the piece would probably end up being longer than the actual story, so I'll spare you the spoilers and just read it for yourself.

"The Creeping Terror" -- I didn't like it when I first read it but it does grow on you with each rereading. I found it quite funny actually. The image of the farmer's wife in a halter top in the kitchen has been burned into my memory thanks to that.

"Shock Wave" -- The premise is pretty outdated and you can guess the ending coming from a mile away, but I like the way he wrote it. I could feel the struggle between the organ player and the organ -- or was it with himself? In a master's hand, dust can still become gold.
]]> <![CDATA[Breakfast at Tiffany's: A Short Novel and Three Stories]]> 2282 162 Truman Capote 067960085X Maryse 4 modern, books-to-film 3.87 1958 Breakfast at Tiffany's: A Short Novel and Three Stories
author: Truman Capote
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1958
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: modern, books-to-film
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)]]> 4223
As Langdon and gifted French cryptologist Sophie Neveu sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci—clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Even more startling, the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion—a secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci—and he guarded a breathtaking historical secret. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle—while avoiding the faceless adversary who shadows their every move—the explosive, ancient truth will be lost forever.]]> 752 Dan Brown 0739326740 Maryse 3 3.64 2003 The da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)
author: Dan Brown
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: from-my-mothers-shelf, books-to-film
review:

]]> Absolute Kingdom Come 93335

Set at the dawn of the 21st century in a world spinning inexorably out of control, Waid and Ross weave a tale of youth versus experience, tradition versus change, and what defines a hero. KINGDOM COME is a riveting story pitting the old guard - Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and their peers -- against a new, uncompromising generation of heroes that declare war against each other to determine the future of the planet.



This Absolute Edition is a whopping 340-page slipcased hardcover featuring a new wraparound image by Ross. Also included is an extended character sketch section, a peek into Ross's own sketchbook, text pieces by Waid and Ross, annotations of the entire series, rare art (from magazines, trading cards, T-shirts, the novel and more), promotional images, a gallery of DC Direct Kingdom Come products, the evolution of a story page, and much more!

]]> 264 Mark Waid 1401207685 Maryse 3 comic-books
This is perhaps the most expensive book I've bought -- a testament to how powerful the Internet can be. After searching for a copy for years, I bought the first complete copy I could find. Never mind that it cost way too much (a whopping 4 grand). I wanted it. Badly.

Excited, I ran home to read it. The start was a little weak, but most stories start out wobbly. After that price, I wanted to like it so bad.

But I couldn't

Maybe it was because I was not as familiar with the DC-verse (as compared to Marvel). The hodge pudge of characters without any emotional stake to the reader muddled the story and didn't really make sense.

Maybe it was because I just read watchmen

Maybe it was because it really didn't have a story

The only saving grace in this book are the illustrations.

3 stars for Alex Ross' exceptional panels]]> 4.43 1996 Absolute Kingdom Come
author: Mark Waid
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.43
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at: 2013/03/10
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves: comic-books
review:
Overrated

This is perhaps the most expensive book I've bought -- a testament to how powerful the Internet can be. After searching for a copy for years, I bought the first complete copy I could find. Never mind that it cost way too much (a whopping 4 grand). I wanted it. Badly.

Excited, I ran home to read it. The start was a little weak, but most stories start out wobbly. After that price, I wanted to like it so bad.

But I couldn't

Maybe it was because I was not as familiar with the DC-verse (as compared to Marvel). The hodge pudge of characters without any emotional stake to the reader muddled the story and didn't really make sense.

Maybe it was because I just read watchmen

Maybe it was because it really didn't have a story

The only saving grace in this book are the illustrations.

3 stars for Alex Ross' exceptional panels
]]> The Count of Monte Cristo 522110
Set against the turbulent years of the Napoleonicera, Alexandre Dumas's thrilling adventure storyis one of the most widely read romantic novels ofall time. In it the dashing young hero, EdmondDantès, is betrayed by his enemies and throwninto a secret dungeon in the Chateau d'If -- doomedto spend his life in a dank prison cell. The storyof his long, intolerable years in captivity, hismiraculous escape, and his carefully wroughtrevenge creates a dramatic tale of mystery and intrigueand paints a vision of France -- a dazzling,dueling, exuberant France -- that has become immortal.]]> 531 Alexandre Dumas 0553213504 Maryse 2 4.36 1846 The Count of Monte Cristo
author: Alexandre Dumas
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.36
book published: 1846
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/11/14
shelves: classics-traditional, books-to-film, french
review:

]]> Passing 60758180 158 Nella Larsen 0241573742 Maryse 4 3.96 1929 Passing
author: Nella Larsen
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1929
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/01
date added: 2024/11/01
shelves:
review:

]]> Dimanche and Other Stories 8249146
Dimanche = Sunday --
Les rivages heureux = Those happy shores --
Liens du sang = Flesh and blood --
Fraternité = Brotherhood --
La femme de don Juan = Don Juan's wife --
Le sortilège = The spell --
Le spectateur = The spectator --
Monsieur Rose = Mr. Rose --
La confidente = The confidante --
L'inconnu = The unknown soldier]]> 270 Irène Némirovsky 1903155770 Maryse 0 currently-reading 3.79 1941 Dimanche and Other Stories
author: Irène Némirovsky
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1941
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/01
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Horror Movie 201375558 A chilling twist on the “cursed film� genre from the bestselling author ofThe Pallbearers Club ԻThe Cabin at the End of the World.

In June 1993, a group of young guerilla filmmakers spent four weeks making Horror Movie, a notorious, disturbing, art-house horror flick.

The weird part?Only three of the film’s scenes were ever released to the public, but Horror Movie has nevertheless grown a rabid fanbase. Three decades later, Hollywood is pushing for a big budget reboot.

The man who played “The Thin Kid� is the only surviving cast member. He remembers all too well the secrets buried within the original screenplay, the bizarre events of the filming, and the dangerous crossed lines on set that resulted in tragedy. As memories flood back in, the boundaries between reality and film, past and present start to blur. But he’s going to help remake the film, even if it means navigating a world of cynical producers, egomaniacal directors, and surreal fan conventions � demons of the past be damned.

But at what cost?

Horror Movie is an obsessive, psychologically chilling, and suspenseful twist on the “cursed film� that breathlessly builds to an unforgettable, mind-bending conclusion.]]> 288 Paul Tremblay 0063387190 Maryse 4 3.45 2024 Horror Movie
author: Paul Tremblay
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/01
date added: 2024/11/01
shelves:
review:

]]> True Irish Ghost Stories 6076049 295 St. John D. Seymour 1859580505 Maryse 3 horror 3.05 True Irish Ghost Stories
author: St. John D. Seymour
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.05
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/10/25
shelves: horror
review:
A good collection of true ghosts stories and although not as well known or as sensational as the accounts in other books can still send a chill down my spine. Most of the accounts have been submitted by newspaper readers throughout Ireland (I suppose from the 1920s when the book was first published), and so reading it has a feel of listening to conversations, of small town talks rather than a documented case. As if to counter this chit-chat, intimate feel, the author adopts a formal, old fashioned tone in introducing the stories, which unfortunately distracts from the charm of the collection. Personally, I prefer the no nonsense approach when reading accounts of ghosts stories, but I do like the fact that most of the stories written are unique to this collection and that I've never read most of them before. I was getting sick of reading about the usual Bell Witch stories and Amityville accounts, after all
]]> Scarlett 225473 823 Alexandra Ripley 0446515078 Maryse 3 booksale-finds 3.41 1991 Scarlett
author: Alexandra Ripley
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.41
book published: 1991
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/10/03
shelves: booksale-finds
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Girl and a Soul: Fairytales from the Mountains]]> 32190505 102 Martin Vopěnka 8074410277 Maryse 0 to-read 4.00 2016 A Girl and a Soul: Fairytales from the Mountains
author: Martin Vopěnka
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Collected Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce]]> 210200759 1786 Ambrose Bierce Maryse 0 to-read 5.00 The Collected Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce
author: Ambrose Bierce
name: Maryse
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mammoth Book of New Terror]]> 957171 The Mammoth Book of New Terror is a revised and expanded new edition of the touchstone collection of modern horror fiction, selected by the acknowledged master of the genre—the award-winning godfather of grisly literature, Stephen Jones. Here are over 20 stories and short novels by the masters of gore, including Ramsey Campbell, Dennis Etchison, F. Paul Wilson, Brian Lumley, Tanith Lee and John Kaine. This classic Mammoth title features new and previously uncollected stories from some of the biggest and brightest names on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as classics from acknowledged masters.

The contents include:

Fruiting Bodies by Brian Lumley
Needle Song by Charles L. Grant
Turbo-Satan by Christopher Fowler
Talking In The Dark by Dennis Etchison
The Circus by Sydney J. Bounds
Foet by F. Paul Wilson
The Candle In The Skull by Basil Copper
The Chimney by Ramsey Campbell
Dark Wings by Phyllis Eisenstein
Reflection Of Evil by Graham Masterton
Mirror Of The Night by E.C. Tubb
Maypole by Brian Mooney
Under The Crust by Terry Lamsley
Tir Nan Og by Lisa Tuttle
A Living Legend by R. Chetwynd-Hayes
Wake-Up Call by David J. Schow
The Fourth Seal by Karl Edward Wagner
Unlocked by Tanith Lee & John Kaiine
Closing Time by Neil Gaiman
It Was The Heat by Pat Cadigan
Fodder by Tim Lebbon & Brian Keene
Open Doors by Michael Marshall Smith
Andromeda Among The Stones by Caitlín R. Kiernan
Flowers On Their Bridles, Hooves In The Air by Glen Hirshberg
Amerikanski Dead At The Moscow Morgue Or: Children Of Marx And Coca–Cola by Kim Newman
Among The Wolves by David Case

]]> 496 Stephen Jones 0786714093 Maryse 0 currently-reading 3.60 2004 The Mammoth Book of New Terror
author: Stephen Jones
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/11
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> First Comes Summer 61606724 Winding seamlessly between the psychological and the mythological, the spellbinding story of a young woman's dangerous passion as it plays out over the course of an eerie summer

In their remote Viking settlement, Folkvi and her brother, Aslakr, have always been close--unnaturally close. They've grown more intimate still as Folkvi learns her shaman mother's craft, as men regard her with newly devouring eyes. Then illness carries off their parents, and the nest of home is shattered. Áslakr sets off on his first expedition, abandoning Folkvi to the dark of an endless winter. When he returns, he's done the unthinkable: He's found someone else to love.

Sick with grief, Folkvi rages to the gods where they sit at the foot of an ancient tree, contemplating the twisted passions of humans that play out in the face of an ever-approaching end of days. Will none of them save her now? Very well, Folkvi will save herself. The wedding date is set. But first comes a fateful summer. . .

Deeply unsettling and brilliantly imagined, First Comes Summer captures the terror of losing the world you've always known--and the uncanny extremes to which you might go to hold on to it.]]> 224 Maria Hesselager 0593542606 Maryse 0 to-read 3.09 2021 First Comes Summer
author: Maria Hesselager
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.09
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Painter's Daughters 204983029
When the family move to Bath, the sisters are thrown into the whirl of polite society, where the merits of marriage and codes of behaviour are crystal clear, and secrets much harder to keep. As Peggy goes to greater lengths to protect her sister from the threat of an asylum, she finds herself falling in love, and their precarious situation is soon thrown catastrophically off course. The discovery of a betrayal forces Peggy to question all she has done for Molly - and whether any one person can truly change the fate of another.

'Beautifully written . . . I raced through it' HILARY MANTEL

'A wonderfully powerful and haunting novel with a hugely gripping plot. I absolutely loved it' DEBORAH MOGGACH]]> 384 Emily Howes 1399610783 Maryse 0 to-read 3.92 2024 The Painter's Daughters
author: Emily Howes
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Pet Sematary 832795
Can Stephen King scare even himself?

Has the author of Carrie, The Shining, Cujo, and Christine ever conceived a story so horrifying that he was for a time unwilling to finish writing it? Yes. This is it.

Set in a small town in Maine to which a young doctor, Louis Creed, and his family have moved from Chicago, Pet Sematary begins with a visit to a graveyard where generations of children have buried their beloved pets. But behind the "pet sematary," there is another burial ground, one that lures people to it with seductive promises . . . and ungodly temptations.

As the story unfolds, so does a nightmare of the supernatural, one so relentless you won't want . . . at moments . . . to continue reading . . . but will be unable to stop.

You do it because it gets hold of you, says the nice old man with the secret. You make up reasons . . . they seem like good reasons . . . but mostly you do it because once you've been up there, it's your place, and you belong to it . . .up in the Pet Sematary--and beyond.]]> 374 Stephen King 0385182449 Maryse 5 books-to-film, horror 4.15 1983 Pet Sematary
author: Stephen King
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1983
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/02
date added: 2024/09/03
shelves: books-to-film, horror
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Empire of the Sun (Empire of the Sun, #1)]]> 1930434 480 J.G. Ballard 0708982700 Maryse 4 3.86 1984 Empire of the Sun (Empire of the Sun, #1)
author: J.G. Ballard
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1984
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/03
date added: 2024/09/03
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lord of the Dead: The Secret History of Byron]]> 761107 324 Tom Holland 0671534254 Maryse 0 to-read 3.53 1995 Lord of the Dead: The Secret History of Byron
author: Tom Holland
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.53
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rare Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz (1998, Hardcover)]]> 133079015 0 Dean Koontz Maryse 0 to-read 2.33 1997 Rare Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz (1998, Hardcover)
author: Dean Koontz
name: Maryse
average rating: 2.33
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales]]> 644172
Nothing is quite as it seems. Expect the unexpected in this veritable treasure trove of enthralling, witty, dark tales that could only come from the imagination of the greatest storyteller of our time.]]> 459 Stephen King 0743235150 Maryse 4
I adore King. I love how he twists what is completely natural into something unbelievably supernatural. And, of the (few) short stories anthologies I've read, I think I love this volume best. King seems to reached his stride in terms of short story writing with this volume, with "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French" -- a story about deja vu -- being my current favorite (to the point that scenes and voices still echo in my head days after I had read it). Here, King is past the usual things that scare us: ghosts, supernatural, and what not. Instead, he presents horror as something within us, an unexplained darkness, lingering under the surface, waiting for that apt moment for it to surface and claim us. There really is no escape, because how can we escape ourselves?

Now that is scary. ]]> 3.89 2002 Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales
author: Stephen King
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/08/09
shelves: booksale-finds, short-stories, horror, books-to-film
review:
Yeah, finally found a copy at Booksale. WooHooo :)

I adore King. I love how he twists what is completely natural into something unbelievably supernatural. And, of the (few) short stories anthologies I've read, I think I love this volume best. King seems to reached his stride in terms of short story writing with this volume, with "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French" -- a story about deja vu -- being my current favorite (to the point that scenes and voices still echo in my head days after I had read it). Here, King is past the usual things that scare us: ghosts, supernatural, and what not. Instead, he presents horror as something within us, an unexplained darkness, lingering under the surface, waiting for that apt moment for it to surface and claim us. There really is no escape, because how can we escape ourselves?

Now that is scary.
]]> <![CDATA[The mysterious flame of Queen Loana]]> 893601 His wife, who is at his sideas he slowly begins to recover, convinces him to return to his family home in the hills somewhere between Milan and Turin. Yambo promptly retreats to the sprawling attic, cluttered with boxes of newspapers, comics, records, photo albums and adolescent diaries. There, he relives the story of his generation: Mussolini, Catholic education and guilt, Josephine Baker, Flash Gordon, Cyrano de Bergerac. As he recovers his memory, two voids remain shrouded in fog: a terrible event he experienced during the resistance, and the vague image of a girl whom he loved at sixteen, then lost.
But a relapse occurs. Now in a coma, his memories run wild, and life racing before his eyes takes the form of a graphic novel. Yambo struggles through the frames to find at last the face of the girl he loves: she descends the stairs of their high school and morphs into a Dante-esque promise (or threat) of the afterlife, as he struggles harder to capture her simple, innocent, real-life image - the schoolgirl he never forgot.
Copiously illustrated throughout with images from comics, book jackets, record sleeves and other printed ephemera, The mysterious flame of Queen Loana is a fascinating and hugely entertaining new novel from the incomparable Umberto Eco.]]> 458 Umberto Eco 0436205890 Maryse 0 to-read 2.88 2004 The mysterious flame of Queen Loana
author: Umberto Eco
name: Maryse
average rating: 2.88
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Volcano Lover 11343284 Susan Sontag 1125215682 Maryse 0 to-read 4.00 1992 The Volcano Lover
author: Susan Sontag
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Transit 29939363 The stunning second novel of a trilogy that began with Outline, one of The New York Times Book Review’s ten best books of 2015.

In the wake of family collapse, a writer and her two young sons move to London. The process of upheaval is the catalyst for a number of transitions—personal, moral, artistic, practical—as she endeavors to construct a new reality for herself and her children. In the city she is made to confront aspects of living she has, until now, avoided, and to consider questions of vulnerability and power, death and renewal, in what becomes her struggle to reattach herself to, and believe in, life.

Filtered through the impersonal gaze of its keenly intelligent protagonist, Transit sees Rachel Cusk delve deeper into the themes first raised in her critically acclaimed Outline, and offers up a penetrating and moving reflection on childhood and fate, the value of suffering, the moral problems of personal responsibility, and the mystery of change. In this precise, short, and yet epic cycle of novels, Cusk manages to describe the most elemental experiences, the liminal qualities of life, through a narrative near-silence that draws language toward it. She captures with unsettling restraint and honesty the longing to both inhabit and flee one's life and the wrenching ambivalence animating our desire to feel real.]]> 260 Rachel Cusk 0374278628 Maryse 0 to-read 3.98 2016 Transit
author: Rachel Cusk
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Pale Lady (Fantasy and Horror Classics)]]> 25717320 56 Alexandre Dumas 1447480198 Maryse 4 short-stories, horror
Romantic, atmospheric, and very gothic. A good vampire read for those stormy nights.]]> 4.05 1849 The Pale Lady (Fantasy and Horror Classics)
author: Alexandre Dumas
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1849
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/07/22
shelves: short-stories, horror
review:
As I've written in my review of "The Vampire Omnibus", I like to think of this as what Twilight would have been had it been better written.

Romantic, atmospheric, and very gothic. A good vampire read for those stormy nights.
]]> <![CDATA[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Omnibus (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, #1-2)]]> 17137651
In this amazingly imaginative tale, Allan Quatermain, Mina Murray, Captain Nemo, Dr. Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde, and Hawley Griffin, the Invisible Man unite to defeat a deadly menace to London and all Britons!

Then, one month later, the skies over England are filled with flaming rockets as Mars launches the first salvo of an invasion. Only our stalwart adventurers can save mother England and the Earth itself.

Collecting THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN VOL. 1 #1-6 and THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN VOL. 2 #1-6.]]> 416 Alan Moore 1401240836 Maryse 4 3.89 2005 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Omnibus (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, #1-2)
author: Alan Moore
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/21
date added: 2024/07/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay]]> 394426
Spanning continents and eras, this superb book by one of America’s finest writers remains one of the defining novels of our modern American age.]]> 639 Michael Chabon 0679450041 Maryse 0 currently-reading 4.22 2000 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
author: Michael Chabon
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/20
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[My Brilliant Friend (The Neapolitan Novels, #1)]]> 52717097 My Brilliant Friend is also the story of a nation. Through the lives of Elena and Lila, Ferrante gives her readers the story of a city and a country undergoing momentous change.]]> 331 Elena Ferrante Maryse 4 4.11 2011 My Brilliant Friend (The Neapolitan Novels, #1)
author: Elena Ferrante
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/19
date added: 2024/07/19
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories (Penguin Vitae)]]> 123279619
A Penguin Vitae Edition

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa is one of Japan's foremost stylists—a modernist master whose short stories are marked by highly original imagery, cynicism, beauty, and wild humor. "Rashōmon" and "In a Bamboo Grove" inspired Akira Kurosawa's magnificent film and depict a past in which morality is turned upside down, while tales such as "The Nose," "O-Gin" and "Loyalty" paint a rich and imaginative picture of a medieval Japan peopled by Shoguns and priests, vagrants and peasants. And in later works such as "Death Register," "The Life of a Stupid Man," and "Spinning Gears," Akutagawa drew from his own life to devastating effect, revealing his intense melancholy and terror of madness in exquisitely moving impressionistic stories.

Penguin Vitae—loosely translated as “Penguin of one’s life”—is a deluxe hardcover series from Penguin Classics celebrating a dynamic and diverse landscape of classic fiction and nonfiction from seventy-five years of classics publishing. Penguin Vitae provides readers with beautifully designed classics that have shaped the course of their lives, and welcomes new readers to discover these literary gifts of personal inspiration, intellectual engagement, and creative originality.]]> 336 Ryūnosuke Akutagawa 0143137883 Maryse 4 4.04 1927 Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories (Penguin Vitae)
author: Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1927
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World]]> 60301199
The Ruin of All Witches tells the dark, real-life folktale of witch-hunting in a remote Massachusetts plantation. These were the turbulent beginnings of colonial America, when English settlers' dreams of love and liberty, of founding a 'city on a hill', gave way to paranoia and terror, enmity and rage. Drawing on uniquely rich, previously neglected source material, Malcolm Gaskill brings to life a New World existence steeped in the divine and the diabolic, in curses and enchantments, and precariously balanced between life and death.

Through the gripping micro-history of a family tragedy, we glimpse an entire society caught in agonized transition between supernatural obsessions and the age of enlightenment. We see, in short, the birth of the modern world.]]> 229 Malcolm Gaskill 0141991488 Maryse 0 currently-reading 3.76 2021 The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World
author: Malcolm Gaskill
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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]]> The Wandering Earth 56179352


These 11 stories, including five Chinese Galaxy Award-winners, are a blazingly original ode to planet Earth, its pasts, and its futures. Liu's fiction takes the reader to the edge of the universe and the end of time, to meet stranger fates than we could have ever imagined. With a melancholic and keen understanding of human nature, Liu's stories show humanity's attempts to reason, navigate, and above all, survive in a desolate cosmos.]]> 464 Liu Cixin 1250796830 Maryse 5 4.07 2000 The Wandering Earth
author: Liu Cixin
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 2022/04/15
date added: 2024/06/25
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]]> The End of the Affair 11332777 The love affair between Maurice Bendrix and Sarah, flourishing in the turbulent times of the London Blitz, ends when she suddenly and without explanation breaks it off. After a chance meeting rekindles his love and jealousy two years later, Bendrix hires a private detective to follow Sarah, and slowly his love for her turns into an obsession.]]> 196 Graham Greene Maryse 0 to-read 3.80 1951 The End of the Affair
author: Graham Greene
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1951
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[A Study In Scarlet and Other Stories]]> 58598887 488 Arthur Conan Doyle 1849311668 Maryse 0 to-read 4.30 A Study In Scarlet and Other Stories
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.30
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rating: 0
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]]> Mr. Punch 30082500 Written by New York Times best-selling novelist Neil Gaiman, with otherwordly illustrations by artist Dave McKean, this new paperback edition of MR. PUNCH includes bonus material.]]> 112 Neil Gaiman 1401265626 Maryse 0 to-read 3.67 1994 Mr. Punch
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/23
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]]> <![CDATA[Marvel Absolutely Everything You Need To]]> 30242070
Marvel Absolutely Everything You Need to Know is packed with fun facts, bizarre-but-true tales and quirky insights in everyone's favourite Marvel comic characters, including The Avengers, Spider-Man and Daredevil. Discover why the Hulk comes in three different varieties - green, grey and red, and how a frog once gained Thor's powers!

From behind-the-scenes revelations to strange and interesting facts, this unique book will surprise and delight new and die-hard Marvel fans alike.

© 2016 MARVEL]]> 0 Adam Bray 0241232627 Maryse 0 to-read 4.12 Marvel Absolutely Everything You Need To
author: Adam Bray
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.12
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/23
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]]> Bel Canto 75531819
The poignant � and at times very funny � novel from the internationally bestselling author of The Dutch House and Commonwealth.
Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honour of the powerful businessman Mr. Hosokawa. Roxane Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerised the international guests with her singing.

It is a perfect evening � until a band of gun-wielding terrorists takes the entire party hostage. But what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, a moment of great beauty, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds and people from different continents become compatriots, intimate friends, and lovers.]]> 336 Ann Patchett 0008610029 Maryse 0 to-read 3.76 2001 Bel Canto
author: Ann Patchett
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2001
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Lair of the White Worm: A Mystery Story]]> 28017128 FLAME TREE 451: From mystery to crime, supernatural to horror and fantasy to science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewolves and mechanical men, blood-lusty vampires, dastardly villains, mad scientists, secret worlds, lost civilizations and escapist fantasies. Discover a storehouse of tales gathered specifically for the reader of the fantastic. Each book features a brand new biography and glossary of Literary, Gothic and Victorian terms.
"]]> 192 Bram Stoker 085775677X Maryse 0 to-read 2.85 1911 The Lair of the White Worm: A Mystery Story
author: Bram Stoker
name: Maryse
average rating: 2.85
book published: 1911
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/23
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]]> <![CDATA[Asylum: A Survivor's Flight from Nazi-Occupied Vienna Through Wartime France]]> 31420722
As arts editor for one of Vienna's principal newspapers, Moriz Scheyer knew many of the city's foremost artists, and was an important literary journalist. With the advent of the Nazis he was forced from both job and home. In 1943, in hiding in France, Scheyer began drafting what was to become this book.

Tracing events from the Anschluss in Vienna, through life in Paris and unoccupied France, including a period in a French concentration camp, contact with the Resistance, and clandestine life in a convent caring for mentally disabled women, he gives an extraordinarily vivid account of the events and experience of persecution.

After Scheyer's death in 1949, his stepson, disliking the book's anti-German rhetoric, destroyed the manuscript. Or thought he did. Recently, a carbon copy was found in the family's attic by P.N. Singer, Scheyer's step-grandson, who has translated and provided an epilogue.]]> 320 Moriz Scheyer 0316272892 Maryse 0 to-read 4.67 Asylum: A Survivor's Flight from Nazi-Occupied Vienna Through Wartime France
author: Moriz Scheyer
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.67
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/23
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]]> <![CDATA[The Great Fire: A Novel (Picador Modern Classics)]]> 42971978 The Transit of Venus, Shirley Hazzard returns to fiction with a novel that in the words of Ann Patchett "is brilliant and dazzling..."

The Great Fire is an extraordinary love story set in the immediate aftermath of the great conflagration of the Second World War. In war-torn Asia and stricken Europe, men and women, still young but veterans of harsh experience, must reinvent their lives and expectations, and learn, from their past, to dream again. Some will fulfill their destinies, others will falter. At the center of the story, a brave and brilliant soldier finds that survival and worldly achievement are not enough. His counterpart, a young girl living in occupied Japan and tending her dying brother, falls in love, and in the process discovers herself.

In the looming shadow of world enmities resumed, and of Asia's coming centrality in world affairs, a man and a woman seek to recover self-reliance, balance, and tenderness, struggling to reclaim their humanity. The Great Fire is a story of love in the aftermath of war by "purely and simply, one of the greatest writers working in English today." (Michael Cunningham)

The Great Fire is the winner of the 2003 National Book Award for Fiction.]]> 528 Shirley Hazzard 1250239427 Maryse 0 to-read 3.65 2003 The Great Fire: A Novel (Picador Modern Classics)
author: Shirley Hazzard
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/23
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]]> The Hellbound Heart: A Novel 175759529 0 Clive Barker Maryse 5 4.23 1986 The Hellbound Heart: A Novel
author: Clive Barker
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1986
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/19
date added: 2024/06/19
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]]> <![CDATA[The Rocketeer (Movie Novelization)]]> 2124075 The World in Turmoil

1938. In Germany, Nazism reaches a fever pitch. Rumors of war spread across the continent of Europe. In the calm before the storm, Hitler searches for a shortcut in his plans for world domination—and looks to Hollywood. He sends his agents across the Atlantic to the celluloid capital of sin and glamour, on the trail of an all-powerful secret weapon.

The Golden Age of Hollywood

Los Angeles. Cliff Secord is a barnstorming air-race pilot. He makes his living by living dangerously, is happiest when he's shattering air-speed records and riding the contrail edge of disaster. After thugs destroy his prized GeeBee race plane during an FBI gun battle, Secord finds himself out of work, out of luck...and hung out to dry. For someone has saddled him with the most dangerous weapon of the war—the Cirrus X-3 rocketpack, a flying device faster and more dangerous than any Secord has ever encountered. Now he and his starlet girlfriend are on the run, one step ahead of gangster mercenaries, federal agents, and Nazi assassins, who prowl the City of Angels looking for America's most reluctant hero.

Men have died for this weapon.

Cliff Secord is next in line.

Based on the screenplay by Danny Bilson & Paul De Meo
From a story by Danny Bilson & Paul De Meo & William Dear
Based upon the comic book series The Rocketeer created by Dave Stevens

]]> 246 Peter David 0553293222 Maryse 0 to-read 3.58 1991 The Rocketeer (Movie Novelization)
author: Peter David
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.58
book published: 1991
rating: 0
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]]> Erebus: The Story of a Ship 36992536 Erebus.

Now Michael Palin � former Monty Python stalwart and much-loved television globetrotter � brings this extraordinary ship back to life, following it from its launch in 1826 to the epic voyages of discovery that led to glory in the Antarctic and to ultimate catastrophe in the Arctic. He explores the intertwined careers of the men who shared its journeys: the dashing James Clark Ross who charted much of the ‘Great Southern Barrier� and oversaw some of the earliest scientific experiments to be conducted there; and the troubled John Franklin, who at the age of sixty and after a chequered career, commanded the ship on its final, disastrous expedition. And he vividly recounts the experiences of the men who first stepped ashore on Antarctica’s Victoria Land, and those who, just a few years later, froze to death one by one in the Arctic wastes as rescue missions desperately tried to reach them.

To help tell the story, he has travelled to various locations across the world � Tasmania, the Falklands, the Canadian Arctic � to search for local information, and to experience at first hand the terrain and the conditions that would have confronted the Erebus and her crew.

Illustrated with maps, paintings and engravings, this is a wonderfully evocative and epic account, written by a master explorer and storyteller.]]> 0 Michael Palin 1473544262 Maryse 4 4.27 2018 Erebus: The Story of a Ship
author: Michael Palin
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/07
date added: 2024/06/07
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Collection of Anne of Green Gables 8 Hardback Deluxe Set ( Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of Ingleside, Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne of the Island)]]> 203536917 Please Note That The Following Individual Books As Per Original ISBN and Cover Image In this Listing shall be Dispatched The Complete Collection of Anne of Green Gables 8 Hardback Deluxe Anne of Green The series commences with "Anne of Green Gables," a heartwarming tale of an orphaned girl with fiery red hair and an even more fiery spirit. Anne of In "Anne of Avonlea," Anne's journey continues as she embarks on her career as a schoolteacher, nurturing the young minds of Avonlea. With her indomitable spirit and endearing quirks. Anne of the In "Anne of the Island," Anne departs for Redmond College, leaving her cherished Avonlea behind. Her experiences at college, the ups and downs of friendship. Anne of Windy "Anne of Windy Poplars" takes readers on a new adventure as Anne accepts a position as the principal of Summerside High School. Through her letters and experiences. Anne's House of In "Anne's House of Dreams," Anne enters the next chapter of her life as a bride. She and Gilbert Blythe begin their married life in their charming. Anne of Follow Anne and Gilbert as they navigate the challenges of parenthood in "Anne of Ingleside." Their home is filled with the laughter. Rainbow "Rainbow Valley" transports readers to the adventures of the Blythe children, who fill their days with imaginative play in the picturesque Rainbow Valley. Rilla of Concluding the series, "Rilla of Ingleside" shifts the focus to Rilla Blythe, the youngest of Anne and Gilbert's children, as she comes of age during World War I.]]> 2322 L.M. Montgomery 9124292354 Maryse 0 to-read 1.00 The Complete Collection of Anne of Green Gables 8 Hardback Deluxe Set ( Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of Ingleside, Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne of the Island)
author: L.M. Montgomery
name: Maryse
average rating: 1.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Mirror & the Light (Thomas Cromwell, #3)]]> 52377583
With The Mirror & the Light, Hilary Mantel brings to a triumphant close the trilogy she began with her peerless, Booker Prize-winning novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. She traces the final years of Thomas Cromwell, the boy from nowhere who climbs to the heights of power, offering a defining portrait of predator and prey, of a ferocious contest between present and past, between royal will and a common man’s vision: of a modern nation making itself through conflict, passion and courage.

The story begins in May 1536: Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith’s son from Putney emerges from the spring’s bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, Jane Seymour.

Cromwell, a man with only his wits to rely on, has no great family to back him, no private army. Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry’s regime to the breaking point, Cromwell’s robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. All of England lies at his feet, ripe for innovation and religious reform. But as fortune’s wheel turns, Cromwell’s enemies are gathering in the shadows. The inevitable question remains: how long can anyone survive under Henry’s cruel and capricious gaze?

Eagerly awaited and eight years in the making, The Mirror & the Light completes Cromwell’s journey from self-made man to one of the most feared, influential figures of his time. Portrayed by Mantel with pathos and terrific energy, Cromwell is as complex as he is unforgettable: a politician and a fixer, a husband and a father, a man who both defied and defined his age.]]> 771 Hilary Mantel 1250773261 Maryse 0 to-read 4.08 2020 The Mirror & the Light (Thomas Cromwell, #3)
author: Hilary Mantel
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/29
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]]> <![CDATA[Siddhartha (PREMIUM PAPERBACK, PENGUIN INDIA)]]> 61665441 Siddhartha ;is the most influential and famous novel of Nobel Prize-winning author Hermann Hesse.
Desiring spiritual fulfillment, Siddhartha, a young Brahmin, leaves his home to become an ascetic-and on his journey meets the wise Gotama, the famous Buddha. But Siddhartha believes no teacher, however great, can discover meaning for an individual-and so continues alone on his quest to find himself.
In his journey Siddhartha experiences life as a pious brahmin, a Samana, a rich merchant, a lover, and a father-shifting between decadence and asceticism as he navigates the material world. Still unhappy, still unfulfilled, Siddhartha is on the verge of giving it all up when he encounters the ferryman. The events that follow change his life forever.
Thought-provoking, inspiring, and utterly profound-this spiritual novel has influenced generations of readers, writers, and thinkers.]]> 144 Hermann Hesse 0143456873 Maryse 0 to-read 4.14 1922 Siddhartha (PREMIUM PAPERBACK, PENGUIN INDIA)
author: Hermann Hesse
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1922
rating: 0
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]]> Gateway 128454764
Their destinations are preprogrammed. They are easy to operate, but impossible to control. Some came back with discoveries which made their intrepid pilots rich; others returned with their remains barely identifiable. It was the ultimate game of Russian roulette, but in this resource-starved future there was no shortage of desperate volunteers.

Winner of the Hugo, Locus, Nebula and John W. Campbell awards, Gateway begins Pohl's space operatic Heechee saga. He was hugely influential in SF as an author but also an agent and editor, and his career spanned decades.

'A masterpiece of the genre' - Tordotcom
'Gateway deserves its reputation as a classic' - Gareth L. Powell
'One of the best Hugo winners I have read' - Guardian


Welcome to The Best Of The Masterworks: a selection of the finest in science fiction]]> 288 Frederik Pohl 1399607804 Maryse 0 to-read 3.89 1977 Gateway
author: Frederik Pohl
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1977
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Harbinger of the Storm (Obsidian and Blood, #2)]]> 8488164 416 Aliette de Bodard 0857660764 Maryse 0 to-read 3.86 2011 Harbinger of the Storm (Obsidian and Blood, #2)
author: Aliette de Bodard
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/29
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]]> The Night Circus 199135836 A beautiful hardback edition of a magical and special novel - enter the fantastical world of the Night Circus.

The circus arrives without warning. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Against the grey sky the towering tents are striped black and white. A sign hanging upon an iron gates reads:

Opens at Nightfall
Closes at Dawn

Full of breath-taking amazements and open only at night, Le Cirque des Rêves seems to cast a spell over all who wander its circular paths. But behind the glittering acrobats, fortune-tellers and contortionists a fierce competition is underway.

Celia and Marco are two young magicians who have been trained since childhood for a deadly duel. With the lives of everyone at the Circus of Dreams at stake, they must test the very limits of the imagination, and of their love.]]> 512 Erin Morgenstern 1784879665 Maryse 0 currently-reading 4.24 2011 The Night Circus
author: Erin Morgenstern
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Sea of Tranquility 58446227 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER - The award-winning, best-selling author of Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel returns with a novel of art, time travel, love, and plague that takes the reader from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon five hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and space.

One of the Best Books of the Year: The New York Times, NPR, GoodReads

"One of [Mandel's] finest novels and one of her most satisfying forays into the arena of speculative fiction yet." --The New York Times

Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal--an experience that shocks him to his core.

Two centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She's traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony, a place of white stone, spired towers, and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive's best-selling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him.

When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended: The exiled son of an earl driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe.

A virtuoso performance that is as human and tender as it is intellectually playful, Sea of Tranquility is a novel of time travel and metaphysics that precisely captures the reality of our current moment.]]> 259 Emily St. John Mandel 0593321448 Maryse 3
Sea of Tranquility opens in 1912 with exiled viscount son, Edwin, who after saying the wrong thing during dinner now has to travel in Canada instead of lingering in aimless life in London. His story interconnects with traveling author Olive from 2203, hotel detective Gaspery from 2401, and Mirella and Vincent from 2020. This is my first ESJM book so I was not quite sure what to expect. I enjoyed her writing style � the intimacy her writing reels the reader in easily and I was hooked, so much so that I read this in one sitting (a rare feat for me who constantly finds it hard to sit still). What annoyed me, however, was that as a science fiction/ time travel novel, this seemed full of questions. (i.e if their being in 1 space caused the anomaly why didn’t it continue throughout the interview? Did Zoey, who works at the Time Institute, not already know what her brother was going to do considering there would be evidence of him arrested in the past? And would not Ephrem already know? And why would they not know that he would escape knowing there would be records in the past? Why are they not discovered in the future by a company that can find the most obscure crimes in other timelines? Etc). Plus, the “I met my future self� trope has been done quite well by other science fiction writers before. “All You Zombies�, in particular, explores more about time paradoxes and predestination in a much more entertaining storyline.

However, when one sets aside the sci-fi questions, Sea of Tranquility is a wonderful paradox. It’s about wanting to stand still in a world thats constantly moving; about longing for the past as the world faces an uncertain future; about questioning the reality of life but not asking why. It’s a book that’s saying something but doesn’t. The character of Olive Llewellyn feels incredibly meta, as though St John Mandel is there attempting to explain her own book.

“I was just trying to write an interesting book. There’s no message”]]> 4.04 2022 Sea of Tranquility
author: Emily St. John Mandel
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/07
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves:
review:
Maybe I have read too many time travel stories but this feels like something I’ve already read before

Sea of Tranquility opens in 1912 with exiled viscount son, Edwin, who after saying the wrong thing during dinner now has to travel in Canada instead of lingering in aimless life in London. His story interconnects with traveling author Olive from 2203, hotel detective Gaspery from 2401, and Mirella and Vincent from 2020. This is my first ESJM book so I was not quite sure what to expect. I enjoyed her writing style � the intimacy her writing reels the reader in easily and I was hooked, so much so that I read this in one sitting (a rare feat for me who constantly finds it hard to sit still). What annoyed me, however, was that as a science fiction/ time travel novel, this seemed full of questions. (i.e if their being in 1 space caused the anomaly why didn’t it continue throughout the interview? Did Zoey, who works at the Time Institute, not already know what her brother was going to do considering there would be evidence of him arrested in the past? And would not Ephrem already know? And why would they not know that he would escape knowing there would be records in the past? Why are they not discovered in the future by a company that can find the most obscure crimes in other timelines? Etc). Plus, the “I met my future self� trope has been done quite well by other science fiction writers before. “All You Zombies�, in particular, explores more about time paradoxes and predestination in a much more entertaining storyline.

However, when one sets aside the sci-fi questions, Sea of Tranquility is a wonderful paradox. It’s about wanting to stand still in a world thats constantly moving; about longing for the past as the world faces an uncertain future; about questioning the reality of life but not asking why. It’s a book that’s saying something but doesn’t. The character of Olive Llewellyn feels incredibly meta, as though St John Mandel is there attempting to explain her own book.

“I was just trying to write an interesting book. There’s no message�
]]> Poor Things 23835831 WINNER OF FIVE BAFTAS, TWO GOLDEN GLOBES, and NOMINATED FOR ELEVEN ACADEMY AWARDS. STARRING EMMA STONE, FROM THE DIRECTOR OF THE FAVOURITE Winner of the Whitbread Novel Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize A life without freedom to choose is not worth having. Godwin Baxter's scientific ambition to create the perfect companion is realised when he finds the drowned body of the beautiful Bella, who he brings back to life in a Frankenstein-esque feat. But his dream is thwarted by Dr. Archibald McCandless's jealous love for his creation . . . But what does Bella think? This story of true love and scientific daring whirls the reader from the private operating-theatres of late-Victorian Glasgow through aristocratic casinos, low-life Alexandria and a Parisian bordello, reaching an interrupted climax in a Scottish church. ________________________ 'A magnificently brisk, funny, dirty, brainy book' London Review of Books 'Visionary, ornate and outrageous' The Independent 'Witty and delightfully written' New York Times 'A brilliant marriage of technique, intelligence, and art.' Kirkus Reviews 'The greatest Scottish novelist since Sir Walter Scott' Anthony Burgess 'Those who, like me, are unsure if they are Alasdair Gray fans or not, ought to fall on Poor Things with delight, and not just because of the almost excessive beauty of its appearance' Philip Hensher, Spectator]]> 339 Alasdair Gray Maryse 4
Emulating the Victorian tradition of a gothic novel, Poor Things (or Episodes of an Early Life of a Scottish Public Officer) tells the story of Bella Baxter, an allegedly corpse fished out of the river and brought back to life by fat, sad, lonely doctor Baxter Godwin. The manuscript (written by Dr Archibald McCandless, Dr Baxter's good friend) follows how Godwin ressurects Bella by putting her unborn daughter's brain into her own body and how Bella's brain matures from that of a newborn child to a woman. And through her growth, both mentally and sexually, she is surrounded by all sorts of men who teach her about the world.

I was half-way through this tome when I realized I hated it. While the story was strangely billed as feminist, all I kept hearing were men's voices: McCandless who wrote the manuscript, Godwin, Bella's husbands Wedder and the General, her father, her old doctor, Astley. Throughout her travels, Bella meets well educated men, whilst the women she meets are prostitutes and maids. I get it -- the old times were misogynistic. And yet, even then great women have managed to rise out of that muck and carve something of their own. I mean, Mary Shelley, who was probably an inspiration for this novel, had written one of the profound books in literature ever, and its much more feminist than this supposedly feminist book. Where are these women?

But I'm ranting

Still, I gave this book a second chance and pushed through. There's some socialist spiel in middle that I don't bother with, and more on Bella's sexual cravings. The book ends. Finally. Then, another chapter: Dr. Victoria McCandless correcting the errors in her husband's manuscript. Here, dear reader, is the real story. Less fantastical than one written by her husband, but the true tale.

This was not a story about Bella's mental and sexual growth as guided by the men in her life, this was a story of how history hides women's stories. Tucked at the near end of this tiring novel is Victoria (not Bella) in her own voice, a small chapter that I would have skipped altogether. Clear, concise and rational -- truly the best part of this novel.]]> 4.03 1992 Poor Things
author: Alasdair Gray
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/16
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves:
review:
Whew. This took a while

Emulating the Victorian tradition of a gothic novel, Poor Things (or Episodes of an Early Life of a Scottish Public Officer) tells the story of Bella Baxter, an allegedly corpse fished out of the river and brought back to life by fat, sad, lonely doctor Baxter Godwin. The manuscript (written by Dr Archibald McCandless, Dr Baxter's good friend) follows how Godwin ressurects Bella by putting her unborn daughter's brain into her own body and how Bella's brain matures from that of a newborn child to a woman. And through her growth, both mentally and sexually, she is surrounded by all sorts of men who teach her about the world.

I was half-way through this tome when I realized I hated it. While the story was strangely billed as feminist, all I kept hearing were men's voices: McCandless who wrote the manuscript, Godwin, Bella's husbands Wedder and the General, her father, her old doctor, Astley. Throughout her travels, Bella meets well educated men, whilst the women she meets are prostitutes and maids. I get it -- the old times were misogynistic. And yet, even then great women have managed to rise out of that muck and carve something of their own. I mean, Mary Shelley, who was probably an inspiration for this novel, had written one of the profound books in literature ever, and its much more feminist than this supposedly feminist book. Where are these women?

But I'm ranting

Still, I gave this book a second chance and pushed through. There's some socialist spiel in middle that I don't bother with, and more on Bella's sexual cravings. The book ends. Finally. Then, another chapter: Dr. Victoria McCandless correcting the errors in her husband's manuscript. Here, dear reader, is the real story. Less fantastical than one written by her husband, but the true tale.

This was not a story about Bella's mental and sexual growth as guided by the men in her life, this was a story of how history hides women's stories. Tucked at the near end of this tiring novel is Victoria (not Bella) in her own voice, a small chapter that I would have skipped altogether. Clear, concise and rational -- truly the best part of this novel.
]]> Me Talk Pretty One Day 45418656 272 David Sedaris 0316776963 Maryse 0 to-read 3.86 2000 Me Talk Pretty One Day
author: David Sedaris
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Time Traveller's Almanac: 100 Stories Brought to You From the Future (Anthos)]]> 60667750 960 Ann VanderMeer 1800249705 Maryse 0 to-read 3.60 2013 The Time Traveller's Almanac: 100 Stories Brought to You From the Future (Anthos)
author: Ann VanderMeer
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ghost: 100 Stories to Read with the Lights On (Anthos)]]> 67351843 A special edition of an anthology of the 100 best ghost stories ever written, selected by award-winning author Louise Welsh.

A special reissue from Head of Zeus's bestselling anthology collection of 100 scary stories to read with the lights on, selected and introduced by award-winning author Louise Welsh.
Haunted houses, mysterious counts, weeping widows and restless souls, here is the definitive anthology of all that goes bump in the night. Hand-picked by award-winning author Louise Welsh, this beautiful collection of 100 ghost stories will delight, unnerve, and entertain any fiction lover brave enough...
Here are gothic classics, modern masters, Booker Prize-winners, ancient folk tales and stylish noirs, proving that every writer has a skeleton or two in their closet.
The all-star cast of authors Hilary Mantel, William Faulkner, Kate Atkinson, Henry James, Kazuo Ishiguro, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Franz Kafka, Ruth Rendell, Edgar Allan Poe, William Trevor, Helen Simpson, Haruki Murakami, Dylan Thomas, Bram Stoker, H.P. Lovecraft, Lydia Davis, Sir Walter Scott, Annie Proulx, Bram Stoker, Angela Carter and Stephen King.]]> 816 Louise Welsh 1800249675 Maryse 0 to-read 4.33 2015 Ghost: 100 Stories to Read with the Lights On (Anthos)
author: Louise Welsh
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War]]> 5738277 221 Stephen Crane 0140390219 Maryse 0 3.51 1895 The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War
author: Stephen Crane
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.51
book published: 1895
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/07
shelves: to-read, classics-traditional, war
review:

]]> The Portrait of a Lady 815350 here and here and here
and here.

Introduction and Notes by Lionel Kelly, Senior Lecturer in English, University of Reading Transplanted to Europe from her native America, Isabel Archer has candour, beauty, intelligence, an independent spirit and a marked enthusiasm for life. An unexpected inheritance apparently gives her freedom, but despite all her natural advantages she makes one disastrous error of judgement and the result is genuinely tragic.]]> 504 Henry James 1853261777 Maryse 4
Anybody attempting to read Henry James should be warned about his love of details. I was originally introduced to his work by reading his novellas and that was hard enough. I won't lie, it took me around 3 years, give or take, to finish this.

At the end of it, I think blundering through his thick prose was worth it. Reaching the end pays off. As I've mentioned in several other reviews, I love tragic stories, and thanks to James' rich details, he succeeded in creating a thoroughly fleshed out character, a real portrait. Isabel Archer is beautiful, naive and all too human. And it's that humanity in her character that makes her mistakes and her tragedy even more poignant.]]> 3.64 1881 The Portrait of a Lady
author: Henry James
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1881
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/02/19
shelves: classics-traditional, books-to-film
review:
Ahh, James...

Anybody attempting to read Henry James should be warned about his love of details. I was originally introduced to his work by reading his novellas and that was hard enough. I won't lie, it took me around 3 years, give or take, to finish this.

At the end of it, I think blundering through his thick prose was worth it. Reaching the end pays off. As I've mentioned in several other reviews, I love tragic stories, and thanks to James' rich details, he succeeded in creating a thoroughly fleshed out character, a real portrait. Isabel Archer is beautiful, naive and all too human. And it's that humanity in her character that makes her mistakes and her tragedy even more poignant.
]]> Frankenstein 39810297
Junji Ito meets Mary Shelley! The master of horror manga bends all his skill into bringing the anguished and solitary monster—and the fouler beast who created him—to life with the brilliantly detailed chiaroscuro he is known for.

Also included are six tales of Oshikiri—a high school student who lives in a decaying mansion connected to a haunted parallel world. Uncanny doppelgangers, unfortunately murdered friends, and a whole lot more are in store for him.

Bonus: The Ito family dog! Thrill to the adventures of Non-non Ito, an adorable Maltese!]]> 408 Junji Ito 1974703762 Maryse 4 comic-books, horror
This also includes a 6 story series about a kid called Oshikiri which I thought was more interesting than the Frankenstein adaptation. Ito’s art lends itself more to modern asian stories than to gothic literature.]]> 4.02 1999 Frankenstein
author: Junji Ito
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2020/01/13
date added: 2024/01/20
shelves: comic-books, horror
review:
First time to pick up anything by Junji Ito. I mainly read this because I liked Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. That said, his adaptation is pretty loyal to the original source, with some minor differences I suppose to add drama to the tale. The manga is okay, more visceral but less ambient than I would have liked. I was not a manga fan nor a Junji Ito fan however when I bought this so I actually do not like the art accompanying it. I would have preferred something more gothic and stylized, closer to the likes of the classic illustrators like Kay Nielsen or Harry Clarke. Nevertheless this is a faithful adaptation.

This also includes a 6 story series about a kid called Oshikiri which I thought was more interesting than the Frankenstein adaptation. Ito’s art lends itself more to modern asian stories than to gothic literature.
]]> <![CDATA[A Little Princess (Ladybird Children's Classics)]]> 1084769 51 Joan Collins 072140863X Maryse 2 classics-juvenile 4.15 1994 A Little Princess (Ladybird Children's Classics)
author: Joan Collins
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1994
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/01/14
shelves: classics-juvenile
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories (Volume 35) (Knickerbocker Classics, 35)]]> 28964103 Discover the mesmerizing tale of two personalities in a war over the soul of one man.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a tale of Victorian horror. The personalities of the pleasant Dr. Jekyll and the violent Mr. Hyde vie for control over a single body. This gothic horror novel is presented alongside five short stories by author Robert Louis Stevenson, including "A Lodging for the Night" and "The Isle of Voices." This elegantly designed clothbound edition features an elastic closure and a new introduction by Allen Grove.

The Knickerbocker Classics bring together the works of classic authors from around the world in stunning gift editions to be collected and enjoyed. Complete and unabridged, these elegantly designed cloth-bound hardcovers feature a slipcase and ribbon marker, as well as a comprehensive introduction providing the reader with enlightening information on the author's life and works.]]> 242 Robert Louis Stevenson 1631062425 Maryse 0 to-read 4.00 1886 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories (Volume 35) (Knickerbocker Classics, 35)
author: Robert Louis Stevenson
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1886
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Flowers for Algernon 54872718 Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, the powerful, classic story about a man who receives an operation that turns him into a genius...and introduces him to heartache.

Charlie Gordon is about to embark upon an unprecedented journey. Born with an unusually low IQ, he has been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that researchers hope will increase his intelligence-a procedure that has already been highly successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon.

As the treatment takes effect, Charlie's intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment appears to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance, until Algernon suddenly deteriorates. Will the same happen to Charlie?]]> 311 Daniel Keyes Maryse 0 to-read 4.27 1966 Flowers for Algernon
author: Daniel Keyes
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1966
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[East of the Sun and West of the Moon (Wordsworth Children's Classics)]]> 633673 256 Peter Christen Asbjørnsen 1853261645 Maryse 5 classics-juvenile 4.00 1845 East of the Sun and West of the Moon (Wordsworth Children's Classics)
author: Peter Christen Asbjørnsen
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1845
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/07/01
shelves: classics-juvenile
review:
A collection of scandinavian folklore. I enjoyed "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" best amongst its long list of stories. As a fairy tale collection, there's definitely a magical feel to it. A nice alternative to Grimms or Andersen
]]> <![CDATA[Meet Me in St. Louis (A Play) by Christopher Sergel (1978) Paperback]]> 371141 Christopher Sergel 69 Christopher Sergel 0871292467 Maryse 4 3.88 1941 Meet Me in St. Louis (A Play) by Christopher Sergel (1978) Paperback
author: Christopher Sergel
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1941
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/05/08
shelves: booksale-finds, modern, books-to-film
review:
One of the most battered-dog-eared volumes in my library because I read it so often. I loved the movie and that compelled me to buy the book. Naturally, the book differs from the movie in some areas. For instance, the younger children (Tootie, especially) are a lot meaner in the book than on film and Rose and Esther are more giddy and boy-crazy than their sweet, sensible Judy Garland incarnate. Still, I loved the book. Reading it feels nostalgic. Like the movie, it exudes a sense of freshness and optimism of a world standing at the threshold of change. This is very much a turn-of-the-century story, starting with the old ways and ending with the St. Louis World Fair and what to them was the height of modernity. The world seemed so warm and innocent then.
]]> <![CDATA[The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Novels]]> 1004755 The Altar of the Dead
An International Episode
The Beast in the Jungle]]> Henry James 0451524721 Maryse 4 3.58 1903 The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Novels
author: Henry James
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.58
book published: 1903
rating: 4
read at: 2020/10/26
date added: 2023/04/29
shelves: classics-traditional, books-to-film, horror
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress]]> 875068 172 Dai Sijie 0701169826 Maryse 0 currently-reading 3.69 2000 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
author: Dai Sijie
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/21
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (Little Clothbound Classics)]]> 61335030
A Penguin Classic Hardcover

Emerging from their smoke-filled rooms at 21B Baker Street, Holmes and Watson grapple with the forces of crime that stalk the streets of London. From the first story, "A Scandal in Bohemia" where Holmes is foiled by the quick thinking of '"the woman," Irene Adler, to what was presumed to be the last, "The Final Problem'" where Holmes at last comes face to face with the diabolical Professor Moriarty, this selection presents the very best of Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic detective.]]> 192 Arthur Conan Doyle 0241597005 Maryse 4 4.01 1892 The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (Little Clothbound Classics)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1892
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/28
date added: 2023/03/11
shelves:
review:
A great “entry book� to Sherlock Holmes. This contains the detectives� 5 most famous cases: “A Scandal in Bohemia�, “The Adventures of the Blue Carbuncle�, “The Adventure of the Speckled Band�, “The Silver Blaze�, and “The Final Problem�, so its perfect for someone who wants to dip their toes into the Sherlock Holmes lore. Plus, the cover is gorgeous
]]> <![CDATA[Stories of Southern Italy (Everyman's Library Pocket Classics Series)]]> 59900691
Southern Italy has long inspired one of the most vigorous literary traditions in Europe. Visitors since antiquity have sought to capture the extraordinary natural beauty and cultural riches of the region, and in this wide-ranging collection such notable foreign visitors as Goethe and Somerset Maugham sit alongside many of Italy’s finest writers, including Luigi Pirandello, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Elio Vittorini, and Anna Maria Ortese.

The stories here range across the regions of Sicily, Calabria, Campania, Apulia, and Basilicata. Theocritus, Virgil, and Ovid describe a Sicily populated by Cyclopes and sea monsters. In an excerpt from The Smile of the Unknown Mariner, Vincenzo Consolo depicts an island on the frontier of Italian unification. The South’s legendary legacy of organised crime enlivens the stories of Leonardo Sciascia and Joseph Conrad. Curzio Malaparte and Norman Lewis immortalize the wreckage of Naples and the indomitable spirit of its people during World War II, and Elena Ferrante gives us a spectacular portrait of a poor but vibrant Neapolitan neighborhood in an excerpt from the best-selling My Brilliant Friend. Collectively, these entertaining tales provide a portal into a fascinating place in all its drama and beauty.

Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free cream-colored paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a full-color illustrated jacket.]]> 448 Ella Carr 0593535510 Maryse 0 to-read 3.65 Stories of Southern Italy (Everyman's Library Pocket Classics Series)
author: Ella Carr
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.65
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders]]> 1552812
Helter Skelter won an Edgar Allan Poe Award for best true-crime book of the year.]]> 676 Vincent Bugliosi 0553022229 Maryse 3
Maybe Truman Capote spoiled me, I don’t know. ]]> 4.08 1974 Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders
author: Vincent Bugliosi
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1974
rating: 3
read at: 2023/01/28
date added: 2023/01/28
shelves:
review:
I love true crime, and to be honest “Helter Skelter� is definitely one of the best true crime books ever published. And, yes, this was one of the scariest books I have ever read. What the Manson family did to Sharon Tate and her friends was beyond horrible, and the reader is given a front seat to that show. Nothing is spared, you are given all the information, all the grisly details, all evidence, that it feels like you are reading the case book (which makes sense since its was co-written by the DA). Yet I only gave it 3 stars because it did feel like a case book. There was no nuance, no real storytelling essentially; everything about the case was just laid out in front of you, almost to the point of sensationalism.

Maybe Truman Capote spoiled me, I don’t know.
]]> Seven Gothic Tales 29431759
Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) is best known for her autobiographical bestseller Out of Africa, but it was with these seven captivating stories that, as Margaret Atwood writes in her introduction, she first ‘took America by storm�. Each combines shrewd psychological insights with the elegant prose and supernatural themes of the 19th-century gothic tale. Their settings, ranging from Pisa to Elsinore, echo the darkly alluring realms evoked by writers such as Mary Shelley. In each, the line between reality and fantasy is eerily indistinct. In ‘The Monkey�, a Virgin Prioress’s attempts to unite her nephew with an unwilling bride become increasingly ruthless, until, at the story’s gripping conclusion, a bizarre metamorphosis is revealed. 'The Old Chevalier' tells a young man of a brief but haunting love affair with a girl who disappeared into the rainy streets of Paris as suddenly as she appeared to him. Her fate is unknown, but for a fantaisie macabre he has 15 years later �
Blixen was born in Denmark in 1885, moving to Kenya in 1914 to establish a coffee plantation with her husband, Baron Bror Blixen of Sweden. Her experiences there, including the breakdown of her marriage and her relationship with Denys Finch Hatton, a big-game hunter who died in a plane crash, inspired her famous memoir. She left Kenya in 1931, when the plantation failed. Written in the light of her changed fortunes and the First World War, these enigmatic tales express nostalgia for a time of innocence, while embracing the existence of tragedy and brutality. Kate Baylay’s superb illustrations reflect their ghoulish beauty.]]> 392 Isak Dinesen Maryse 4 short-stories 3.67 1934 Seven Gothic Tales
author: Isak Dinesen
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1934
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/28
date added: 2023/01/28
shelves: short-stories
review:

]]> Walk the Blue Fields 5633953 183 Claire Keegan 0571233074 Maryse 3 4.02 2007 Walk the Blue Fields
author: Claire Keegan
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2023/01/28
date added: 2023/01/28
shelves:
review:

]]> Spare 62296528
For Harry, this is that story at last.

Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.

At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love.

Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .

For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.]]> 410 Prince Harry 0593593804 Maryse 1
The amount of entitlement in this book is so vile that I could not stomach to finish it. Barf ]]> 3.78 2023 Spare
author: Prince Harry
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2023
rating: 1
read at: 2023/01/12
date added: 2023/01/12
shelves:
review:
If this had been fiction, I might have given it 4 stars. It’s actually very well written, and it reads almost like a villain’s origin story, which is always interesting. But since this is a memoir, I got annoyed by how bratty Harry is throughout it. He complains about everything and uses his oh-so-tragic upbringing as excuse to be horrid. He keeps using “the spare� as a crutch, as though being “the spare� should entitle him to something because life had handed him such a bad fate. At one point he even complains that he’s only 3rd to the throne. If I didn’t hate him before, I would now.

The amount of entitlement in this book is so vile that I could not stomach to finish it. Barf
]]> Of Ghosts and Goblins 60764312 Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.

Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil.

In this haunting collection, the phantoms and ghouls of Japanese folklore stalk the page. Lafcadio Hearn, a master storyteller, drew on traditional Japanese folklore, infused with memories of his own haunted childhood in Ireland, to create these chilling tales. They are today regarded in Japan as classics in their own right.


'The stories occupy the reverie world our mind projects onto the backs of our eyelids, where the ordinary mingles with the supernatural' - Wall Street Journal]]> 224 Lafcadio Hearn 0241573726 Maryse 0 currently-reading 3.82 1904 Of Ghosts and Goblins
author: Lafcadio Hearn
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1904
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/09
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Cold Enough for Snow 58730649 Cold Enough for Snow questions whether any of us speak a common language, which dimensions can contain love, and what claim we have to truly know another's inner world.

Selected from more than 1,500 entries, Cold Enough for Snow won the Novel Prize, a new, biennial award offered by Fitzcarraldo Editions, New Directions (US) and Giramondo (Australia), for any novel written in English that explores and expands the possibilities of the form.]]> 99 Jessica Au 1913097765 Maryse 0 to-read 3.79 2022 Cold Enough for Snow
author: Jessica Au
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Night Flight 3027904 0 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 0451503090 Maryse 0 currently-reading 3.62 1931 Night Flight
author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.62
book published: 1931
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/12/31
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Fall of Gondolin 43383994
Central to this enmity of the gods is the city of Gondolin, beautiful but undiscoverable. It was built and peopled by Noldorin Elves who, when they dwelt in Valinor, the land of the gods, rebelled against their rule and fled to Middle-earth. Turgon King of Gondolin is hated and feared above all his enemies by Morgoth, who seeks in vain to discover the marvellously hidden city, while the gods in Valinor in heated debate largely refuse to intervene in support of Ulmo's desires and designs.

Into this world comes Tuor, cousin of Túrin, the instrument of Ulmo's designs. Guided unseen by him Tuor sets out from the land of his birth on the fearful journey to Gondolin, and in one of the most arresting moments in the history of Middle-earth the sea-god himself appears to him, rising out of the ocean in the midst of a storm. In Gondolin he becomes great; he is wedded to Idril, Turgon's daughter, and their son is Eärendel, whose birth and profound importance in days to come is foreseen by Ulmo.

At last comes the terrible ending. Morgoth learns through an act of supreme treachery all that he needs to mount a devastating attack on the city, with Balrogs and dragons and numberless Orcs. After a minutely observed account of the fall of Gondolin, the tale ends with the escape of Tuor and Idril, with the child Eärendel, looking back from a cleft in the mountains as they flee southward, at the blazing wreckage of their city. They were journeying into a new story, the Tale of Eärendel, which Tolkien never wrote, but which is sketched out in this book from other sources.

Following his presentation of Beren and Lúthien Christopher Tolkien has used the same 'history in sequence' mode in the writing of this edition of The Fall of Gondolin. In the words of J.R.R. Tolkien, it was ‘the first real story of this imaginary world� and, together with Beren and Lúthien and The Children of Húrin, he regarded it as one of the three 'Great Tales' of the Elder Days.]]> 304 J.R.R. Tolkien 0008302758 Maryse 4 4.10 2018 The Fall of Gondolin
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/31
date added: 2022/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> The Virgin Suicides 24019191 355 Jeffrey Eugenides 1250074819 Maryse 4 3.88 1993 The Virgin Suicides
author: Jeffrey Eugenides
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/31
date added: 2022/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Growing Things and Other Stories]]> 44671592
A masterful anthology featuring nineteen pieces of short fiction, Growing Things is an exciting glimpse into Paul Tremblay’s fantastically fertile imagination. In “The Teacher,� a Bram Stoker Award nominee for best short story, a student is forced to watch a disturbing video that will haunt and torment her and her classmates� lives. Four men rob a pawn shop at gunpoint only to vanish, one-by-one, as they speed away from the crime scene in “The Getaway.� In “Swim Wants to Know If It’s as Bad as Swim Thinks,� a meth addict kidnaps her daughter from her estranged mother as their town is terrorized by a giant monster . . . or not. Joining these haunting works are stories linked to Tremblay’s previous novels. The tour de force metafictional novella “Notes from the Dog Walkers� deconstructs horror and publishing, possibly bringing in a character from A Head Full of Ghosts , all while serving as a prequel to Disappearance at Devil’s Rock . “The Thirteenth Temple� follows another character from A Head Full of Ghosts —Merry, who has published a tell-all memoir written years after the events of the novel. And the title story, “Growing Things,� a shivery tale loosely shared between the sisters in A Head Full of Ghosts , is told here in full. From global catastrophe to the demons inside our heads, Tremblay illuminates our primal fears and darkest dreams in startlingly original fiction that leaves us unmoored. As he lowers the sky and yanks the ground from beneath our feet, we are compelled to contemplate the darkness inside our own hearts and minds.]]> 338 Paul Tremblay 0062906682 Maryse 3 3.57 2019 Growing Things and Other Stories
author: Paul Tremblay
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2022/11/01
date added: 2022/11/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Woman in Black and Other Ghost Stories]]> 26193147
'No one chills the blood like Susan Hill' Daily Telegraph

From the horrifying secret of Eel Marsh House in The Woman in Black to the supernatural terror unleashed by spiteful Leonora van Vorst in Dolly and the deadly danger posed by Professor Parmitter's painting of Venice in The Man in the Picture, Susan Hill's ghost stories never fail to raise the hairs on the back of your neck and keep you turning the pages long past midnight.

Here, collected together for the first time - and also including the bestselling Printers Devil Court and The Small Hand - are all of Susan Hill's spinechilling stories of murder, magic and mayhem.

Read on if you dare.]]> 416 Susan Hill 1781255520 Maryse 4 3.96 2015 The Woman in Black and Other Ghost Stories
author: Susan Hill
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/11/01
shelves:
review:

]]> The Vet's Daughter 1073750 The Vet’s Daughter combines shocking realism with a visionary edge. The vet lives with his bedridden wife and shy daughter Alice in a sinister London suburb. He works constantly, captive to a strange private fury, and treats his family with brutality and contempt. After his wife’s death, the vet takes up with a crass, needling woman who tries to refashion Alice in her own image. And yet as Alice retreats ever deeper into a dream world, she discovers an extraordinary secret power of her own.
Harrowing and haunting, like an unexpected cross between Flannery O’Connor and Stephen King, The Vet’s Daughter is a story of outraged innocence that culminates in a scene of appalling triumph.]]> 152 Barbara Comyns 1590170296 Maryse 5 3.94 1959 The Vet's Daughter
author: Barbara Comyns
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1959
rating: 5
read at: 2022/11/01
date added: 2022/11/01
shelves:
review:

]]> xo Orpheus: Fifty New Myths 17707758 Fifty leading writers retell myths from around the world in this dazzling follow-up to the bestselling My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me.

Icarus flies once more. Aztec jaguar gods again stalk the earth. An American soldier designs a new kind of Trojan horse—his cremains in a bullet. Here, in beguiling guise, are your favorite mythological figures alongside characters from Indian, Punjabi, Inuit, and other traditions.

Aimee Bender retells the myth of the Titans.

Madeline Miller retells the myth of Galatea.

Kevin Wilson retells the myth of Phaeton, from Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Emma Straub and Peter Straub retell the myth of Persephone.

Heidi Julavits retells the myth of Orpheus and Euridice.

Ron Currie, Jr. retells the myth of Dedalus.

Maile Meloy retells the myth of Demeter.

Zachary Mason retells the myth of Narcissus.

Joy Williams retells the myth of Argos, Odysseus� dog.

If “xo� signals a goodbye, then xo Orpheus is a goodbye to an old way of mythmaking. Featuring talkative goats, a cat lady, a bird woman, a beer-drinking ogre, a squid who falls in love with the sun, and a girl who gives birth to cubs, here are extravagantly imagined, bracingly contemporary stories, heralding a new beginning for one of the world’s oldest literary traditions.]]> 531 Kate Bernheimer 0143122428 Maryse 0 3.43 2013 xo Orpheus: Fifty New Myths
author: Kate Bernheimer
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/31
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]]> Classic Ghost Stories 36224258 Classic Ghost Stories is a treasure trove of tales of ghosts and hauntings with 36 stories published in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The book's distinguished lineup of writers includes Edgar Allan Poe, Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Machen, M. R. James, William Hope Hodgson, Vernon Lee, Ambrose Bierce, Edith Wharton, H. G. Wells, and others. Its selections include some of the finest ghost stories ever published, among them the short novels "The Haunted Baronet" by J. Sheridan Le Fanu, "The Lost Stradivarius" by J. Meade Falkner, and "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James.]]> 806 Algernon Blackwood 1435165071 Maryse 0 4.02 Classic Ghost Stories
author: Algernon Blackwood
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.02
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/04
shelves: currently-reading, short-stories, horror
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Afghan Napoleon: The Life of Ahmad Shah Massoud]]> 57332128 The first biography in a decade of Afghan resistance leader Ahad Shah Massoud.

When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the forces of resistance were disparate. Many groups were caught up in fighting each other and competing for Western arms. The exception were those commanded by Ahmad Shah Massoud, the military strategist and political operator who solidified the resistance and undermined the Russian occupation, leading resistance members to a series of defensive victories.

Sandy Gall followed Massoud during Soviet incursions and reported on the war in Afghanistan, and he draws on this first-hand experience in his biography of this charismatic guerrilla commander. Afghan Napoleon includes excerpts from the surviving volumes of Massoud’s prolific diaries—many translated into English for the first time—which detail crucial moments in his personal life and during his time in the resistance. Born into a liberalizing Afghanistan in the 1960s, Massoud ardently opposed communism, and he rose to prominence by coordinating the defense of the Panjshir Valley against Soviet offensives. Despite being under-equipped and outnumbered, he orchestrated a series of victories over the Russians. Massoud’s assassination in 2001, just two days before the attack on the Twin Towers, is believed to have been ordered by Osama bin Laden. Despite the ultimate frustration of Massoud’s attempts to build political consensus, he is recognized today as a national hero.]]> 368 Sandy Gall 191336822X Maryse 0 currently-reading 4.46 2021 Afghan Napoleon: The Life of Ahmad Shah Massoud
author: Sandy Gall
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/30
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales]]> 7945295 The fairy tale lives again in this book of forty new stories by some of the biggest names in contemporary fiction.

Neil Gaiman, “Orange�

Aimee Bender, “The Color Master�

Joyce Carol Oates, “Blue-bearded Lover�

Michael Cunningham, “The Wild Swans�

These and more than thirty other stories by Francine Prose, Kelly Link, Jim Shepard, Lydia Millet, and many other extraordinary writers make up this thrilling celebration of fairy tales—the ultimate literary costume party.

Spinning houses and talking birds. Whispered secrets and borrowed hope. Here are new stories sewn from old skins, gathered by visionary editor Kate Bernheimer and inspired by everything from Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen� and “The Little Match Girl� to Charles Perrault’s “Bluebeard� and “Cinderella� to the Brothers Grimm’s “Hansel and Gretel� and “Rumpelstiltskin� to fairy tales by Goethe and Calvino and from China, Japan, Vietnam, Russia, Norway, and Mexico.

Fairy tales are our oldest literary tradition, and yet they chart the imaginative frontiers of the twenty-first century as powerfully as they evoke our earliest encounters with literature. This exhilarating collection restores their place in the literary canon.]]> 576 Kate Bernheimer 014311784X Maryse 0 to-read 3.60 2010 My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales
author: Kate Bernheimer
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> We (Penguin Vitae) 57246162
A Penguin Vitae Edition

In a glass-enclosed city of absolute straight lines, ruled over by the all-powerful “Benefactor,� the citizens of the totalitarian society of OneState live out lives devoid of passion and creativity—until D-503, a mathematician who dreams in numbers, makes a discovery: He has an individual soul. Set in the twenty-sixth century AD, Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We is the archetype of the modern dystopia and the forerunner of works such as George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World . Suppressed for many years in Russia, it details the fate that might befall us all if we surrender to some collective dream of technology, and remains a resounding cry for individual freedom. Clarence Brown's brilliant translation is based on the corrected text of the novel, first published in Russia in 1988 after more than sixty years' suppression.

Penguin Vitae—loosely translated as "Penguin of one's life"—is a deluxe hardcover series from Penguin Classics celebrating a dynamic and diverse landscape of classic fiction and nonfiction from seventy-five years of classics publishing. Penguin Vitae provides readers with beautifully designed classics that have shaped the course of their lives, and welcomes new readers to discover these literary gifts of personal inspiration, intellectual engagement, and creative originality.]]> 240 Yevgeny Zamyatin 0143136291 Maryse 0 to-read 3.55 1924 We (Penguin Vitae)
author: Yevgeny Zamyatin
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.55
book published: 1924
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[James Herriot's Dog Stories (G K Hall Large Print Book Series)]]> 4608920
With an introduction and notes from James Herriot himself, this tribute to man's best friend will move you to laughter and tears. This is a book that will be treasured for years to come.]]> 640 James Herriot 0816142122 Maryse 0 to-read 4.80 1986 James Herriot's Dog Stories (G K Hall Large Print Book Series)
author: James Herriot
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.80
book published: 1986
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[America Is in the Heart (Penguin Vitae)]]> 58677587 A 1946 Filipino American social classic about the United States in the 1930s from the perspective of a Filipino migrant laborer who endures racial violence and struggles with the paradox of the American dream, with a foreword by novelist Elaine Castillo

Poet, essayist, novelist, fiction writer and labor organizer, Carlos Bulosan (1911-1956) wrote one of the most influential working class literary classics about the U.S. pre-World War II, a period and setting similar to that of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and Cannery Row. Bulosan's semi-autobiographical novel America is in the Heart begins with the narrator's rural childhood in the Philippines and the struggles of land-poor peasant families affected by US imperialism after the Spanish American War of the late 1890s. Carlos's experiences with other Filipino migrant laborers, who endured intense racial abuse in the fields, orchards, towns, cities and canneries of California and the Pacific Northwest in the 1930s, reexamine the ideals of the American dream. Bulosan was one of the most important 20th century social critics with his deeply moving account of what it was like to be criminalized in the U.S. as a Filipino migrant drawn to the ideals of what America symbolized and committed to social justice for all marginalized groups.

Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month with these three Penguin Classics:

America Is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan (9780143134039)
East Goes West by Younghill Kang (9780143134305)
The Hanging on Union Square by H. T. Tsiang (9780143134022)]]> 384 Carlos Bulosan 0143137239 Maryse 0 to-read 3.77 1946 America Is in the Heart (Penguin Vitae)
author: Carlos Bulosan
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1946
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Little Stranger 6550482 501 Sarah Waters 1844086062 Maryse 0 currently-reading 3.68 2009 The Little Stranger
author: Sarah Waters
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/07
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Twilight World 59576066 The great filmmaker Werner Herzog, in his first novel, tells the incredible story of Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier who defended a small island in the Philippines for twenty-nine years after the end of World War II

In 1997, Werner Herzog was in Tokyo to direct an opera. His hosts asked him, Whom would you like to meet? He replied instantly: Hiroo Onoda. Onoda was a former solider famous for having quixotically defended an island in the Philippines for decades after World War II, unaware the fighting was over. Herzog and Onoda developed an instant rapport and would meet many times, talking for hours and together unraveling the story of Onoda's long war.

At the end of 1944, on Lubang Island in the Philippines, with Japanese troops about to withdraw, Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda was given orders by his superior officer: Hold the island until the Imperial army's return. You are to defend its territory by guerrilla tactics, at all costs. . . . There is only one rule. You are forbidden to die by your own hand. In the event of your capture by the enemy, you are to give them all the misleading information you can. So began Onoda's long campaign, during which he became fluent in the hidden language of the jungle. Soon weeks turned into months, months into years, and years into decades--until eventually time itself seemed to melt away. All the while Onoda continued to fight his fictitious war, at once surreal and tragic, at first with other soldiers, and then, finally, alone, a character in a novel of his own making.

In The Twilight World, Herzog immortalizes and imagines Onoda's years of absurd yet epic struggle in an inimitable, hypnotic style--part documentary, part poem, and part dream--that will be instantly recognizable to fans of his films. The result is a novel completely unto itself, a sort of modern-day Robinson Crusoe tale: a glowing, dancing meditation on the purpose and meaning we give our lives.]]> 144 Werner Herzog 0593490266 Maryse 4
In 1944, as the Japanese army withdraws from the arriving American forces in the Philippines, Hiroo Onoda is given his last orders: hold the jungle at all costs in preparation of the army’s return. It is an order he takes to heart. Twenty-nine years later, Onoda is still in the Philippines, fighting “the enemy� despite many attempts to persuade him and his troop that the war has ended.

Werner Herzog mixes fiction with non-fiction as he weaves Onoda’s jungle life in “The Twilight World�. “The night coils in fever dreams,� he begins, and one does feel as though trapped in a strange dream. Onoda and his small band of soldiers take to the jungle, clinging to his last orders. Despite the hardships, the long years, and even plain reason, he remains steadfast on his mission, refusing to believe the leaflets that say the war has ended (believing instead that they are propaganda). At one point he wonders if he was merely dreaming this whole existence, but, being alone in the jungle, there’s really no way to tell.

The surreal quality of the story dampens the reality of the subject. In truth, during his 29-year war, Onoda continues to kill many Filipinos and steal their food. Similarly, the Filipinos kill his companions. Yet these deaths, futile and tragic as it were in the grand scheme of things, have no real impact in this dream-like world.

But one does come to expect that from Herzog. Fans of his movies know that he is more interested in the truth than facts, and this book feels very much like any of his other documentaries: existential to the point of melancholia. This is less about the real Onoda and more about Herzog’s Onoda. As a fan of his works, though, I don’t mind that. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this � I could even hear his voice as the narrator. My only caveat is it felt too short. I wish he’ll do a movie version of this and explore it more, but with Onoda long dead, that will remain a dream.]]> 3.85 2021 The Twilight World
author: Werner Herzog
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/09/07
date added: 2022/09/07
shelves:
review:
“What marks the beginning of something palpable, and where is the memory of it?�

In 1944, as the Japanese army withdraws from the arriving American forces in the Philippines, Hiroo Onoda is given his last orders: hold the jungle at all costs in preparation of the army’s return. It is an order he takes to heart. Twenty-nine years later, Onoda is still in the Philippines, fighting “the enemy� despite many attempts to persuade him and his troop that the war has ended.

Werner Herzog mixes fiction with non-fiction as he weaves Onoda’s jungle life in “The Twilight World�. “The night coils in fever dreams,� he begins, and one does feel as though trapped in a strange dream. Onoda and his small band of soldiers take to the jungle, clinging to his last orders. Despite the hardships, the long years, and even plain reason, he remains steadfast on his mission, refusing to believe the leaflets that say the war has ended (believing instead that they are propaganda). At one point he wonders if he was merely dreaming this whole existence, but, being alone in the jungle, there’s really no way to tell.

The surreal quality of the story dampens the reality of the subject. In truth, during his 29-year war, Onoda continues to kill many Filipinos and steal their food. Similarly, the Filipinos kill his companions. Yet these deaths, futile and tragic as it were in the grand scheme of things, have no real impact in this dream-like world.

But one does come to expect that from Herzog. Fans of his movies know that he is more interested in the truth than facts, and this book feels very much like any of his other documentaries: existential to the point of melancholia. This is less about the real Onoda and more about Herzog’s Onoda. As a fan of his works, though, I don’t mind that. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this � I could even hear his voice as the narrator. My only caveat is it felt too short. I wish he’ll do a movie version of this and explore it more, but with Onoda long dead, that will remain a dream.
]]> A Young Doctor's Notebook 15956705
Using a sharply realistic and humorous style, Bulgakov reveals his doubts about his own competence and the immense burden of responsibility, as he deals with a superstitious and poorly educated people struggling to enter the modern age. This acclaimed collection contains some of Bulgakov's most personal and insightful observations on youth, isolation and progress.

THIS EDITION INCLUDES THE PIECE 'MORPHINE']]> 161 Mikhail Bulgakov 184749286X Maryse 4
Now imagine being a young doctor, fresh out of med school and taking a job as the only doctor in a rural hospital. Mikhail Bulgakov, celebrated author of “The Master and Margarita�, relied heavily on his experiences as a new MD while penning the short stories in “A Young Doctor’s Notebook�. His nameless protagonist is welcomed to the backward village of Muryovo with reverence and respect as the only doctor in town, yet they are quick to note that he looks young enough to be a student, as well as compares him to his predecessor, the older Leopold Leopoldovich, who operated on patients from dawn to dusk while also handling fifty inpatients (while the young doctor has only assisted in one operation).

The first story is his baptism by fire. A girl is brought in, in the middle of the night, her legs mangled, and she tethers precariously between life and death. The doctor’s mind races, trying to remember everything between his books and the lectures, as well as fighting his own fears about his competence. It is also the best story. In the same humorous style that made “The Master and Margarita� a riot, Bulgakov succinctly shows the unique contrast of being a young doctor, highs of a new experience and lows of being inexperienced, the ability to save someone’s life and the responsibility of saving someone’s life.

Bulgakov does not shy away from showing both success and failure. His doctor saves lives but also makes rookie mistakes (like pulling out the root with the tooth during extraction) and laughs at in on hindsight. It’s a peek behind the curtain, a humanization of revered doctor image.

As a doctor, the protagonist’s fears of incompetence reflected my own doubts as a young trainee. But every MD had to pass through the same gates of doubt. In truth being a doctor means trusting in oneself and in whatever experience and education one has had, to do what is best for the patient, no matter how frightening it is.]]> 4.26 1925 A Young Doctor's Notebook
author: Mikhail Bulgakov
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1925
rating: 4
read at: 2022/08/25
date added: 2022/09/02
shelves:
review:
Doctor. Say it before your name and watch the room change. Being a physician usually conveys a certain prestige, automatic respect, and sometimes unsolicited candor, but in exchange, you are expected to experienced, compassionate, and often older.

Now imagine being a young doctor, fresh out of med school and taking a job as the only doctor in a rural hospital. Mikhail Bulgakov, celebrated author of “The Master and Margarita�, relied heavily on his experiences as a new MD while penning the short stories in “A Young Doctor’s Notebook�. His nameless protagonist is welcomed to the backward village of Muryovo with reverence and respect as the only doctor in town, yet they are quick to note that he looks young enough to be a student, as well as compares him to his predecessor, the older Leopold Leopoldovich, who operated on patients from dawn to dusk while also handling fifty inpatients (while the young doctor has only assisted in one operation).

The first story is his baptism by fire. A girl is brought in, in the middle of the night, her legs mangled, and she tethers precariously between life and death. The doctor’s mind races, trying to remember everything between his books and the lectures, as well as fighting his own fears about his competence. It is also the best story. In the same humorous style that made “The Master and Margarita� a riot, Bulgakov succinctly shows the unique contrast of being a young doctor, highs of a new experience and lows of being inexperienced, the ability to save someone’s life and the responsibility of saving someone’s life.

Bulgakov does not shy away from showing both success and failure. His doctor saves lives but also makes rookie mistakes (like pulling out the root with the tooth during extraction) and laughs at in on hindsight. It’s a peek behind the curtain, a humanization of revered doctor image.

As a doctor, the protagonist’s fears of incompetence reflected my own doubts as a young trainee. But every MD had to pass through the same gates of doubt. In truth being a doctor means trusting in oneself and in whatever experience and education one has had, to do what is best for the patient, no matter how frightening it is.
]]> <![CDATA[The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany]]> 767171 No other powerful empire ever bequeathed such mountains of evidence about its birth and destruction as the Third Reich. When the bitter war was over, and before the Nazis could destroy their files, the Allied demand for unconditional surrender produced an almost hour-by-hour record of the nightmare empire built by Adolph Hitler. This record included the testimony of Nazi leaders and of concentration camp inmates, the diaries of officials, transcripts of secret conferences, army orders, private letters—all the vast paperwork behind Hitler's drive to conquer the world.

The famed foreign correspondent and historian William L. Shirer, who had watched and reported on the Nazis since 1925, spent five and a half years sifting through this massive documentation. The result is a monumental study that has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of one of the most frightening chapters in the history of mankind.

This worldwide bestseller has been acclaimed as the definitive book on Nazi Germany; it is a classic work.

The accounts of how the United States got involved and how Hitler used Mussolini and Japan are astonishing, and the coverage of the war-from Germany's early successes to her eventual defeat-is must reading

]]> 1147 William L. Shirer 0671728687 Maryse 0 to-read 4.20 1960 The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany
author: William L. Shirer
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1960
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/08/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> At Night All Blood Is Black 56268795 "Astonishingly good." —Lily Meyer, NPR
"So incantatory and visceral I don’t think I’ll ever forget it." �Ali Smith, The Guardian | Best Books of 2020

One of the Wall Street Journal's 11 best books of the fall | One of The A.V. Club's fifteen best books of 2020 |A Sunday Times best book of the year

Named a most anticipated book by Literary Hub | Electric Literature| The Millions | Refinery29

Selected by students across France to win the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, David Diop’s English-language, historical fiction debut At Night All Blood is Black is a “powerful, hypnotic, and dark novel� (Livres Hebdo) of terror and transformation in the trenches of the First World War.

Alfa Ndiaye is a Senegalese man who, never before having left his village, finds himself fighting as a so-called “CdzDZ� soldier with the French army during World War I. When his friend Mademba Diop, in the same regiment, is seriously injured in battle, Diop begs Alfa to kill him and spare him the pain of a long and agonizing death in No Man’s Land.

Unable to commit this mercy killing, madness creeps into Alfa’s mind as he comes to see this refusal as a cruel moment of cowardice. Anxious to avenge the death of his friend and find forgiveness for himself, he begins a macabre ritual: every night he sneaks across enemy lines to find and murder a blue-eyed German soldier, and every night he returns to base, unharmed, with the German’s severed hand. At first his comrades look at Alfa’s deeds with admiration, but soon rumors begin to circulate that this super soldier isn’t a hero, but a sorcerer, a soul-eater. Plans are hatched to get Alfa away from the front, and to separate him from his growing collection of hands, but how does one reason with a demon, and how far will Alfa go to make amends to his dead friend?

Peppered with bullets and black magic, this remarkable novel fills in a forgotten chapter in the history of World War I. Blending oral storytelling traditions with the gritty, day-to-day, journalistic horror of life in the trenches, David Diop's At Night All Blood is Black is a dazzling tale of a man’s descent into madness.]]> 145 David Diop 125080020X Maryse 5 When Mademba Diop is brutally wounded in No-Man’s Land during the brutal trench fighting of WWI, he begs Alfa, his more-than-brother, to end his suffering. But Alfa is unable to do so, a decision that will haunt him forever.

David Diop’s “At Night All Blood is Black� takes the best elements of such classics as “All Quiet in the Western Front� and “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde� to create a fable-like story that is wholly unique and horrifying. Alfa and Mademba are Senegalese soldiers in the French Army. After seeing his friend die, Alfa goes on a murder spree, killing enemy German soldiers and cutting off their hands as souvenirs, and while his initial bravado his lauded by his company, they soon realize he might no longer be right in the head.

War changes people irrevocably, but Diop takes shell-shocked Alfa’s descent into madness to whole new level. Fueled by guilt, he tries to make sense of the brutal world that had killed his friend. Like Jekyll and Hyde, Alfa is initially both gentleman and savage, but while Jekyll fight Hyde for control, Alfa embraces his demons. War is the catalyst that makes him realize that the savage is the real him, the one who thinks, the one who is sees what reality is: a world as monstrous and mad as him. He embraces his mad self, spiraling deep into his guilt-ridden subconscious, into repetitive memories, to the point where he looses his identity and the only way he could continue to live is if he dies.

This is a book that keeps on giving, where every reread opens up a new story. The almost folklore-ish conclusion adds more questions than answers, and forces the reader to take that journey again, but this time with more understanding. And then the whole mad journey suddenly does not feel so mad after all. ]]> 3.95 2018 At Night All Blood Is Black
author: David Diop
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2022/08/21
date added: 2022/08/21
shelves:
review:

When Mademba Diop is brutally wounded in No-Man’s Land during the brutal trench fighting of WWI, he begs Alfa, his more-than-brother, to end his suffering. But Alfa is unable to do so, a decision that will haunt him forever.

David Diop’s “At Night All Blood is Black� takes the best elements of such classics as “All Quiet in the Western Front� and “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde� to create a fable-like story that is wholly unique and horrifying. Alfa and Mademba are Senegalese soldiers in the French Army. After seeing his friend die, Alfa goes on a murder spree, killing enemy German soldiers and cutting off their hands as souvenirs, and while his initial bravado his lauded by his company, they soon realize he might no longer be right in the head.

War changes people irrevocably, but Diop takes shell-shocked Alfa’s descent into madness to whole new level. Fueled by guilt, he tries to make sense of the brutal world that had killed his friend. Like Jekyll and Hyde, Alfa is initially both gentleman and savage, but while Jekyll fight Hyde for control, Alfa embraces his demons. War is the catalyst that makes him realize that the savage is the real him, the one who thinks, the one who is sees what reality is: a world as monstrous and mad as him. He embraces his mad self, spiraling deep into his guilt-ridden subconscious, into repetitive memories, to the point where he looses his identity and the only way he could continue to live is if he dies.

This is a book that keeps on giving, where every reread opens up a new story. The almost folklore-ish conclusion adds more questions than answers, and forces the reader to take that journey again, but this time with more understanding. And then the whole mad journey suddenly does not feel so mad after all.
]]> Edge of Tomorrow 22352742 201 Hiroshi Sakurazaka 1421576945 Maryse 4 4.10 2004 Edge of Tomorrow
author: Hiroshi Sakurazaka
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2022/08/10
date added: 2022/08/10
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Life After Death (Marvels & Mysteries)]]> 30123442 What will happen after we die? Will we live again?
What can we learn from people who "come back from the dead"?
Is it possible to speak to those on the "other side"?
Can mediums help the death to help the living?

This book examines the evidence of people who believe they have proof of life after death -- and leaves you, the reader, to draw your own conclusions.

Part of the "Marvels and Mysteries" collection. Other volumes in the collection: Aliens, Ghosts, Marvels of the Mind, Mystics and Prophets, Ritual and Magic, Strange Talents, UFOs]]> 0 Unknown 0752512129 Maryse 2 horror 3.00 1997 Life After Death (Marvels & Mysteries)
author: Unknown
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.00
book published: 1997
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2022/06/11
shelves: horror
review:

]]> Smaller and Smaller Circles 1431558 Smaller and Smaller Circles is unique in the Philippine literary scene - a Pinoy detective novel, both fast-paced and intelligent, with a Jesuit priest who also happens to be a forensic anthropologist as the sleuth. When it won the Carlos Palanca Grand Prize for the English Novel in 1999, it proved that fiction can be both popular and literary.

F.H. Batacan has a degree in Broadcast Communication and a master's degree in Art Studies, both from the University of the Philippines in Diliman. She has worked as a policy researcher, broadcast journalist, web designer, and musician, and is currently a journalist based in Singapore. She previously won a prize for her short story "Door 59" in the 1997 Palanca awards, and her work has appeared in local magazines, as well as in the online literary magazine Web del Sol.]]> 155 F.H. Batacan 9715423647 Maryse 0 to-read 4.13 2002 Smaller and Smaller Circles
author: F.H. Batacan
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/03/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Book Thief 25739188 The 10th-anniversary edition of the #1 New York Times bestseller and modern classic beloved by millions of readers.

One of the most enduring stories of our time, The Book Thief is just a small story really, about, among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist fighter, and quite a lot of thievery.

The 10th-anniversary editionfeatures pages of bonus content, including marked-up manuscript pages, original sketches, and pages from the author's writing notebook.]]> 592 Markus Zusak 1101934182 Maryse 0 to-read 4.61 2005 The Book Thief
author: Markus Zusak
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/03/10
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]]> <![CDATA[Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization]]> 13030621 The Economist )
Drawing on a wealth of new research, archaeologist, historian, and master storyteller Richard Miles resurrects the civilization that ancient Rome struggled so mightily to expunge. This monumental work charts the entirety of Carthage's history, from its origins among the Phoenician settlements of Lebanon to its apotheosis as a Mediterranean empire whose epic land-and-sea clash with Rome made a legend of Hannibal and shaped the course of Western history. Carthage Must Be Destroyed reintroduces readers to the ancient glory of a lost people and their generations-long struggle against an implacable enemy.]]> 560 Richard Miles 0143121294 Maryse 0 currently-reading 4.02 2011 Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization
author: Richard Miles
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/03/01
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]]> <![CDATA[The Cat Who Saved Books (The Cat Who..., #1)]]> 56755560 The Cat Who Saved Books is a heart-warming story about finding courage, caring for others � and the tremendous power of books.

Grandpa used to say it all the time: 'books have tremendous power'. But what is that power really?

Natsuki Books was a tiny second-hand bookshop on the edge of town. Inside, towering shelves reached the ceiling, every one crammed full of wonderful books. Rintaro Natsuki loved this space that his grandfather had created. He spent many happy hours there, reading whatever he liked. It was the perfect refuge for a boy who tended to be something of a recluse.

After the death of his grandfather, Rintaro is devastated and alone. It seems he will have to close the shop. Then, a talking tabby cat called Tiger appears and asks Rintaro for help. The cat needs a book lover to join him on a mission. This odd couple will go on three magical adventures to save books from people who have imprisoned, mistreated and betrayed them. Finally, there is one last rescue that Rintaro must attempt alone . . .

Sosuke Natsukawa's international bestseller, translated from Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai, is a story for those for whom books are so much more than words on paper.]]> 198 Sōsuke Natsukawa 0063095726 Maryse 0 to-read 3.74 2017 The Cat Who Saved Books (The Cat Who..., #1)
author: Sōsuke Natsukawa
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/02/24
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]]> Six Four: A Novel 34930854
Winner of the Best Japanese Crime Fiction of the Year Award

An Award-Winning Phenomenon in Its Native Japan and Already a Critically Celebrated Top-Ten Bestseller in the United Kingdom, Hideo Yokoyama’s Six Four is an Unforgettable Novel by a Literary Master at the Top of His Form.

For five days, the parents of a seven-year-old Japanese schoolgirl sat and listened to the demands of their daughter’s kidnapper. They would never learn his identity. And they would never see their daughter alive again.

Fourteen years later, the mystery remains unsolved. The police department’s press officer―Yoshinobu Mikami, a former detective who was involved in the original case and who is now himself the father of a missing daughter―is forced to revisit the botched investigation. The stigma of the case known as “Six Four� has never faded; the police’s failure remains a profound source of shame and an unending collective responsibility.

Mikami does not aspire to solve the crime. He has worked in the department for his entire career, and while he has his own ambitions and loyalties, he is hoping simply to reach out to the victim’s family and to help finally put the notorious case to rest. But when he spots an anomaly in the files, he uncovers secrets he never could have imagined. He would never have even looked if he’d known what he would find.

“Already a bestseller in Japan and the United Kingdom, this cinematic crime novel suffused with fascinating cultural details follows a police department reinvestigating a chilling kidnapping that stumped them fourteen years earlier.� � Entertainment Weekly 's The Must List]]> 576 Hideo Yokoyama 1250160006 Maryse 0 to-read 3.70 2012 Six Four: A Novel
author: Hideo Yokoyama
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/02/24
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]]> <![CDATA[The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories]]> 519112 Tim Burton has become known for his unique visual brilliance � witty and macabre at once. Now he gives birth to a cast of gruesomely sympathetic children � misunderstood outcasts who struggle to find love and belonging in their cruel, cruel worlds. His lovingly lurid illustrations evoke both the sweetness and the tragedy of these dark yet simple beings � hopeful, hapless heroes who appeal to the ugly outsider in all of us, and let us laugh at a world we have long left behind (mostly anyway).

Stick boy and match girl in love --
Robot boy --
Staring girl --
The boy with nails in his eyes --
The girl with many eyes --
Stain boy --
The melancholy death of oyster boy --
Voodoo girl --
Stain boy's special Christmas --
The girl who turned into a bed --
Roy, the toxic boy --
James --
Stick boy's festive season --
Brie boy --
Mummy boy --
Junk girl --
The pin cushion queen --
Melonhead --
Sue --
Jimmy, the hideous penguin boy --
Char boy --
Anchor baby --
Oyster boy steps out]]> 115 Tim Burton 0688156819 Maryse 0 to-read 4.16 1997 The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories
author: Tim Burton
name: Maryse
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/02/24
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]]> Crash 12018447
"I knew that Vaughan could never really die in a car-crash, but would in some way be re-born through those twisted radiator grilles and cascading windshield glass."

A former TV scientist turned nightmare angel of the expressway, Robert Vaughan gathers around him a collection of alienated crash victims. Among them is James Ballard, our narrator, who is drawn into a series of erotic atrocities, each more sinister than the last. Vaughan craves the ultimate crash � a head on collision of blood, semen, engine coolant and iconic celebrity.

Alongside Ballard’s cult postmodern novel, this special edition, edited by Chris Beckett, includes never-before-seen reproductions of Ballard’s annotated manuscript pages, essays, stories and material that shine a new light on this modern masterpiece.]]> 400 J.G. Ballard 0007378343 Maryse 0 to-read 3.81 1973 Crash
author: J.G. Ballard
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1973
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Hook's Tale: Being the Account of an Unjustly Villainized Pirate Written by Himself]]> 32620311
Long defamed as a vicious pirate, Captain James Cook (a.k.a Hook) was in fact a dazzling wordsmith who left behind a vibrant, wildly entertaining, and entirely truthful memoir.]]> 288 John Leonard Pielmeier 1501161059 Maryse 0 to-read 3.94 2017 Hook's Tale: Being the Account of an Unjustly Villainized Pirate Written by Himself
author: John Leonard Pielmeier
name: Maryse
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/02/24
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