Review of 'The Documents in the Case by Dorothy L Sayers (2016-08-25)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
An interesting epistolary mystery novel, where Mrs. Sayers displays all her skills to write believable characters through their psychology. Although at the beginning and all through the middle it can be slow and a little tedious (Mrs. Hamilton's letters are positively boring, darling! Didn't you find them so?), the ending is worth it. A very interesting portrait of the late 1920's British society.
In The Grief of Stones, Katherine Addison returns to the world of The Goblin …
Review of 'The Grief of Stones' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Simple nice story. A little bit obvious and a little bit forced in some parts, but "the journey" is what counts, not the destination, I suppose. I liked it.
Kai-Enna is the Witch King, though he hasn’t always been, and he hasn’t even always …
Review of 'Witch King' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I know it has some issues, and it feels a little rushed towards the end, but I really liked it. Maybe it's because it made me see more clearly some issues with my family, and this was the perfect book for the perfect moment.
I loved this book! It's so full of insights about women and how men see us. I don't usually highlight my books, but this time I had to mark phrases and paragraphs that resonated with me. I didn't like the ending though, but I can't see another way for this book to end.
Is Rebecca really dead? Her insidious influence seems to extend beyond the grave!
Review of 'Rebecca' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I was finally able to read this book. It's been on my "books to read" list since the 1990s... You see, I loved the 1940's film directed by Hitchcock, which I had seen in my teens I think, so I didn't know it was an actual book until my twenties. By then, getting the book and reading it was not part of my top priorities. But when online libraries made it possible to read almost any book (as long as it's in English), I got 'Rebecca'. And I'm done today. The book is a highly detailed journey into the mind of a 21-year-old English girl from the early 20th century. It's all there, the shyness, the clumsiness, the anxiety, the bruised and devalued self-esteem, the 'goodness' that society pommelled into its youth, her incomprehension of the fact that she can ask for more out of life because she's the kind …
I was finally able to read this book. It's been on my "books to read" list since the 1990s... You see, I loved the 1940's film directed by Hitchcock, which I had seen in my teens I think, so I didn't know it was an actual book until my twenties. By then, getting the book and reading it was not part of my top priorities. But when online libraries made it possible to read almost any book (as long as it's in English), I got 'Rebecca'. And I'm done today. The book is a highly detailed journey into the mind of a 21-year-old English girl from the early 20th century. It's all there, the shyness, the clumsiness, the anxiety, the bruised and devalued self-esteem, the 'goodness' that society pommelled into its youth, her incomprehension of the fact that she can ask for more out of life because she's the kind of girl that just simply can't be happy because that is above her station. In short, she's the living mirror of awkward youth. And in a way, of the English society between wars, as Mrs. Du Maurier aptly states later in the book when the new Mrs. de Winter wonders how would life be if everyone could forget their petty selfishness and really see what's happening around. This is a very insightful book, and if I hadn't seen the movie, I would have loved it. So why the 3 stars? Because it's TOO MUCH. The book is written in first person from the perspective of the new Mrs. de Winter, and there were times where I just wanted her to shut up and stop been so self-centred. She's always expecting the worse to happen, always foreseeing how everything will go wrong, visualizing the entire scene with dialogues and all... At one time, even Mr. de Winter notices and asks her to stop! And this brings me to Mr. de Winter and his grooming of a naive 21 year old girl. I know it wasn't seen as grooming in the 1930's, but Mr. de Winter is a selfish bastard that treats the poor girl like a dog, and she fells for it. Mr. de Winter's psychological portrait is also masterly done, but is too much. By the end of the book I was just skipping entire paragraphs, and it didn't seem to matter. Until the abrupt ending that is. Then I had to retrace my steps, just to be entirely sure that the book really ended like that!
So, Mrs. Du Maurier did a wonderful job with her characters and her portrait of English society, its just that she did too much of a good job.
Review of 'Reckoning at the Riviera Royale' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
In a series of idiosyncratic books, I think this is the most peculiar of them, at least until now. Mr. Fitzsimmons goes to extremes to make a locked room murder out of a whole island. The book is not bad, it's just too "Boisjoly". Everything is too tailored to fit in the story. But Mr. Fitzsimmons certainly shows no lack of imagination. Although I don't care for another wilted romance. More mystery and less 'amore', please. But I suppose that Chaddy Quillfeather will be Anty's Vera Rossakoff, or his Irene Adler.
Review of 'Book Cover Design Formula : Create Book Covers That Captivate Readers' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
If you don't know anything about graphic design, this is the book for you!
This is not only a very good book to help you 'create' the cover of your next novel, it is a crash course on graphic design that can be applied to anything from flyers to webpages. Now you just need to learn how to work with Gimp and Inkscape. But you've got the theory covered!
73 stories:
Unparalleled adventure of one Hans Pfaall --
Balloon-hoax --
Mesmeric Revelation
Ms. found …
Review of 'The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe: Works include: The Murders in the Rue Morgue; The Fall of the House of Usher; The Tell-Tale Heart; The ... The Pit and the Pendulum (Chartwell Classics)' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Four stars to the story, two stars to the Project Gutenberg edition.
If you can read this story from any other publisher, please do! The formatting is horrible!
