RIP V Challenge

Stupidly busy again so I haven't had the chance to finish my reviews, but here is my brief round up of Carl's fabulous RIP V Challenge.

I managed to get through more books than I hoped, but didn't get round to reading Dracula...maybe next year.

Books read:
The Hound of the Baskervilles - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Lonely Werewolf Girl - Martin Millar
Curse of the Wolf Girf - Martin Millar
White Crow - Marcus Sedgewick
The Collector - John Fowles

Looking forward to RIP VI!

White Crow - Marcus Sedgwick

Read for: RIP V Challenge, my love for Marcus Sedgwick!

Somehow I didn't even realise this had been published until reading Rhinoa's 5-star review. I ordered it immediately from my local library and was not disappointed. White Crow is a teen gothic fantasy, written by the incomparable Marcus Sedgwick.

Rebecca and her father move to the small countryside village of Winterfold, taking her away from a busy and far more exciting life in London. There, bitter at her father for the move, Rebecca wanders around the village, where she meets the strange, elfin girl, Ferelith. The two girls explore the history of the village and slowly uncover the terrifying secrets about experiments conducted by a mysterious seventeenth century doctor.

White Crow is a slow burn, gently introducing details about our two main characters, and the secrets and lies then uncover. The story slowly edges towards its creepy conclusion, as Rebecca's life unravels and the truth of her presence in Winterfold is revealed. Ferelith is indeed a strange creature. Her mannerisms and attitude to Rebecca is unsettling to say the least. And the unanswered question...what really lies beyond death.

Although aimed at teens, this is certainly more adult material. The atmosphere is deftly crafted, the uncomfortably hot summer against the chilly tale.

Fantastic stuff.

Other blog reviews:
Rhinoa's Ramblings
Books and other thoughts

The Collector - John Fowles

Read for: RIP V Challenge

Far ahead of his time, John Fowles wrote this dark classic in 1963, when I can only imagine it shocked readers as much as it can today. This is the disturbing tale of Frederick, a butterfly collector, who decides to 'collect' the object of his fantasies, a beautiful art student, Miranda.

After winning a large sum of money, Frederick meticulously plans the kidnapping, buying a house deep in the country with an outside basement, building a place to keep the captive Miranda. The plan goes flawlessly, and Frederick spends his days in the hope that Miranda will fall in love with him.

The Frederick we see is not a monster, but a lonely man, hopelessly in love with an otherwise unobtainable woman. Miranda sees this in him, and part of her understands this and even begins to sympathise with him. However, Miranda soon learns that she has underestimated Frederick and what he is capable of, as the story takes an even darker turn.

With the first half of this tale revolving around Frederick and the unfolding of his plan, I found myself enjoying the second half more, as we journey Miranda's experiences in the basement through reading her diary. There is also a thread of Shakespeare's The Tempest running through the novel, with Frederick identifying with Ferdinand and his love for Miranda, however she refers to him as Caliban throughout her diary.

Though perhaps a little overly long, I thoroughly enjoyed (and was creeped out by) this trip into the minds of an obsessive collector, and the object of his desire.

The Hound of the Baskervilles - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Read for: RIP V Challenge, Our Mutual Read Challenge

Despite never being particularly interested in the tales of Sherlock Holmes, I found myself gripped by the latest television adaptation of the famous sleuth's adventures. The BBC dramatisation was modern and inventive and persuaded me to try taste the source.

The Hound of the Baskervilles is perhaps the best known of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective's cases. However, what I did not expect was that despite being Sherlock Holmes' case, this particular novel focuses far more on his loyal assistant and narrator, Dr John Watson.

Based on the legend of a ghost dog from my neck of the woods, the Hound of the Baskervilles is the tale of Sir Charles Baskerville who is found dead of a heartattack in the grounds of his home in the centre of Dartmoor. Fearing for the life of Sir Charles' successor, Henry, a family friend Dr Mortimer contacts Sherlock Holmes about the curse of the Baskervilles and invites him to investigate the mysterious death. While Holmes remains in London, Watson accompanies Henry to Dartmoor and thus the mystery unravels.

The plot is a classic, elements of which will be very familar to readers of more modern mysteries. It is the characters however that make Conan Doyle's work so entertaining. Watson is engaging and likeable, his intelligent everyman the perfect foil for Holmes' astonishing yet somewhat egotistical genius.

According to all-knowing Wikipedia, there have been 24 film adaptations of Hound of the Baskervilles prior to 2006, which goes to show the durability of Conan Doyle's work. I thoroughly enjoyed my first Sherlock novel and will seriously consider another!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

The internationally acclaimed Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is not a book that I would generally pick up; crime fiction is not really my thing. But just as with the Da Vinci Code, this was recommended to me by several people, and I was intrigued by the trailer for the Swedish film, so decided to give it a shot.

Unlike the Da Vinci code, I found this to be stimulating, enjoyable and very readable novel...despite some of the more graphic scenes that I could probably have done without.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is Lisbeth Salander, a slightly unusual but highly gifted private investigator working in Stockholm. The titular girl is not the main protagonist in this first instalment. That falls to Mikail Blomkvist, the charming magazine publisher who at the start of the novel loses a libel case and exiles himself fom the business world to recover. He is soon approached to write a biography of the renowned Henrik Vanger, CEO of Vanger Enterprises, and his family. Part of his commission is also to investigate the disappearance of Vanger's great-niece decades earlier.

Yes this is a mainstream crime novel. But it is also primarily about sexual violence against women. Some of the descriptions are quite graphic and unpleasant and even shocked this steely blogger. But none of the references are overly gratuitous and are designed to be abhorrent to the reader rather than a form of entertainment. I have since read that the author, Larssen, had been emotionally affected by sexual violence against women after witnessing rape, and part of me finds it surprising that he would writew about such things with this amount of detail. Then again, with any type of trauma, confronting the issue is often the best way of dealing with it, so perhaps this was his way.

Violence aside, this is a highly readable book. The main character is a charming and likeable man, and there is something altogether appealing about Salander. The crime itself was intricate enough to keep the reader guessing up until the last, and left the characters wide open for further stories. An entertaining enough read, though perhaps not enough to sway me to other crime fiction novels.

Other blog reviews:
Gemini Moon
You Can Never Have Too Many Books

Gentlemen of the Road - Michael Chabon

Read for: A Tournament of Reading

Described as a 'swashbuckling adventure', this was hands down unlike anything I have ever read. Bought on a whim in a second hand bookshop purely because I loved the film adaptation of Michael Chabon's Wonder Boys. And because the blurb on the back of this book was unusual enough to pique my curiosity.

Although a very short novel, it took me a while to read. Most likely because the plot was something so very different from what I am used to, and also because of the language.

The titular Gentlemen are Amran and Zelikman, a mismatched duo of comrades travelling the road, living day to day, seemingly lacking any greater plan. That is until they meet the young Filaq, a displaced Khazar prince, and they join the rebellion to return him to the throne.

The language was quite frankly luscious. To begin with I almost felt as if I needed a dictionary and history book in order to understand the plot. But letting this book simply wash over me became the best option, and it was a truly enjoyable romp, whilst managing to also be an intelligent book with interesting characters.

I have now managed to get my hands on a copy of Wonder Boys and am thoroughly looking forward to reading it.

Other reviews:
A Fraternity of Dreamers

Shiver - Maggie Stiefvater

Grace has a fascination with wolves. Not just any wolves, but those that live in the woods behind her house. And one wolf in particular, a wolf with yellow eyes, who watches her just as she watches him. There is more to these wolves than meets the eye. Sam, a young yellow-eyed man, is torn between his two lives, but cannot bear to be separated from the girl who watches him.

This is a supernatural love story, a la Twilight, the love between a girl and a supernatural creature. A forbidden love. Nothing new there then.

While not a particularly original story however, there was a certain charm to this book. Stiefvater's descriptions of the wolves, cold winter and the woodlands were beautiful rather than overly romantic, and her portrayal of a strong heroine was worlds away from the passive Bella of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight. The reasoning, or perhaps even science, behind the werewolves' change was also a nice touch, but overall I found it hard to become emotionally involved in this story.

Definitely a book for fans of supernatural romance, though perhaps not as thrilling as I had hoped. I probably won't be reading the sequel.

Other blog reviews:
Book Gazing
Becky's Book Reviews
Gemini Moon
Fluttering Butterflies
Melody's Reading Corner
Medieval Bookworm