Hannah Morgan-Lewis
Fine for the BDSM elements (altho this is from a vanilla with an interest in erotic novels), I think where it falls down badly is the assumption that the characters want to settle down and get married as soon as they look at each other. I think I just prefer a slower build.
An engaging accessible account of the War of the Roses. Seemed well researched and a good book to read as a start to getting to know the period. I would have liked to see a family tree & perhaps a list of historical figures as it got a bit difficult keeping track of the many people called George or Edward!
Nelly Dean by Alison Case
Billed as a return to Wuthering Heights, Nelly Dean is the story of WH from the point of view of the servant who partially narrated the story. In it, Nelly has written her story down addressed to Mr Lockwood without sending it.
I think the most important thing about this is whether it adds to the story of WH, and out of the #backstairs books I've read, I think this one adds the most to the story. Nelly is a fully imagined character who sheds a great deal of light on Mr Earnshaw and particularly on Hareton who she has a really close, motherly relationship with. She also has a relationship with Hindley and sheds light on the way that he degenerates due to alcohol. The book doesn't go into a great detail about Heathcliffe and Cathy's relationship, but I don't think it needs to. However, it brings in all the themes of the moors, doomed love and the supernatural in anyway.
Aside from the WH characters, the author also brings Bodkin, the son of the family doctor who is a friend and advisor to Nelly. He brings in a welcome outside perspective to a story that can seem insular with its settings of the home and the Moor. The story can be heartbreaking at times, especially when Nelly is seperated from Hareton but her relationship with Bodkin often lightens the book without taking away the tragedy of the situation.
I first read this when I was a teenager and loved it, it made me want to become an English lit lecturer and marry a farmer. I haven't read it for years (and I never took up lecturing or marrying farmers) but it popped up when I was looking for a little comfort reading. Okay, so it can be a bit too cosy and twee at times, however, it still made me smile and I think it's aged well considering it was written in the mid 90s. No comment about its feminist credentials, it's chick lit, so I'll take it as that.
The author did well with the source material, some good descriptions in here and it seemed pretty faithful to the film. I think I would have been much more enthusiastic about both had I been quite a bit younger, but I don't think I was ever the target audience.
Number 3 in the series, this moves to the UK for the tale of Gabe, a straight football star obsessed with Jared, his gay physiotherapist. Although Gabe had a girlfriend, he can't be separated from Jared and treats him like an extension of himself, which inevitably messes with Jared's head. Gabe is a bit of a spoilt brat who must have his own way, to the point that he strings Jared along promising a physical relationship without the sex, just kissing and cuddling. I thought this was a slightly weaker story in terms of the erotic content because Gabe spends a long time convincing himself of a physical relationship. And whilst the intense co-dependency is explored, Gabe ultimately doesn't seem to grow as a person, just admits he's gay. I suppose I wanted him to become a little more independent.
An interesting premise - Sherlock Holmes and Henry James investigate the murder of Clover Adams, a figure in American literary circles. I enjoyed most of this book. The writing flowed well and it was quite exciting in parts. However, I think the second half went off the rails a little bit and I found it a bit of a slog. The main two mysteries were if Sherlock Holmes was real and who killed Clover Adams, but these two mysteries got derailed somewhat by the potential assassination which I found a bit muddled. Not keen on the magic Native American explanation for Sherlock either. Overall, it was a bit gimmicky at times; I think it needed a bit of editing and just a bit more restraint as it felt as if the author had thrown the kitchen sink at it and the solutions to the mysteries were a little bit of a let down. 3 stars is a bit harsh, however, it was more of a 3 and half stars book.
Cleverly written and funny in places, I thought this book had some important points to make but I got frustrated by the bloated middle part. I think it needed a bit of editing and a little more left to the reader rather than obviously pointed out, but this does have probably one of the densest narrators in modern fiction, it makes you wonder how Claude got his job in the first place, although his friends are hardly any more intelligent or observant. Also, Paul and Igor get a bit annoying, particularly Igor. Otherwise, I enjoyed most of this book.
Look, I kind of get what Dave was trying to do here, and it's very clever but this book just TRIES SO HARD. I don't think it helped that the humour totally went over my head, I think as someone who suffers from anxiety the scenes where Mae is frantically trying to get her ratings up just didn't resonate.l and I just despaired at the deliberately awful sex scenes. The characters veer from Mae being impossibly naive and totally gaslit by the company to her former boyfriend who is annoyingly preachy. I think because we see things so much from Mae's point of view, the other characters are not really developed, and it can be quite easy to become wearied of her constant navel gazing and selfishness, which is hammered home at every opportunity. Instead of allowing the reader to come to their own conclusions, the author puts huge red lights around everything, signs pointing to where to laugh, where to feel shocked and where to marvel at his brilliance. It didn't have to be written in such a simplistic way, give the reader some credit. Honestly, though Infinite Jest is a complex behemoth and DFW is ‘problematic' to put it mildly, it's far more memorable in comparison.