pickMoody, gothic, and beautifully written. It‘s an unhappy book, but it was really great.
18 likes
pickMoody, gothic, and beautifully written. It‘s an unhappy book, but it was really great.
pickLatest Karen Pirie was good fun. Set in lockdown a librarian at the national archives links a crime writers manuscript to the disappearance of a young woman. With lots of nods and winks to the Scottish crime writing community, I think val macdermid enjoyed making the villains fellow crime writers. I enjoy the characters in the series, + it also still feels strange remembering lockdown. Hopefully, a new one soon + maybe a further TV adaptation
#12booksof2024 @Andrew65
March saw me finishing the very good Laidlaw trilogy. Laidlaw is a curious detective who makes few friends within the Glasgow police force where he works. I am curious to read the Ian Rankin book in which he reimagines Laidlaws early days.
#12booksof2024 @andrew65 February and I picked up a book I had left unread in my huge tbr pie in anticipation of seeing the film adaptation. I'm still not sure why I didn't read it sooner as it was a brilliant piece of gothic comic writing that far surpassed the movie, albeit they made a good attempt. I then bought Lanark, so I plan to get to it in 2025
pickA fairly standard police procedural but set in 2051: near future yet not disappearing into dystopia. Very readable, the near future element entirely realistic and scary, the “figuring out the crime/scare vibes” just what I wanted.
Just sitting back and starting this one. The MC ( or what I think might be the main c ) is a serious over-thinker… interesting psychological profile 🤞🏻set in France , Saint-Louis. Someone is going to disappear from mc‘s local restaurant .. I think I could love this.
Combination of 2 Little Free Library scores the last Thursday of the school holidays when I treated myself to a Stockton op shop. I caught the ferry over and had a lovely morning to myself.
pickI haven‘t seen the movie (& don‘t plan on it tbh) but this was fun— unreliable, framed, epistolary narratives make me happy, as do the illustrations. Recommended for general weirdness & ✨vibes✨
📸featuring my fave new creepy snow globe— is it tiny bats w/ a normal-sized crow or normal-sized bats w/ a giant crow boy? You decide 🪦💀💗
pickI felt clever when I realized that O Caledonia is like a twisted & tragic “I Capture the Castle,” as seen through a funhouse mirror, with Wednesday Addams as the protagonist. Then, I read Maggie O‘Farrell‘s introduction, which I saved for last to avoid spoilers, and saw that she made the same literary comparison. Despite its short length, I didn‘t find this a fast read. It is, however, witty & darkly atmospheric with a keen attention to language.
“The wonderful words were almost enough to make Janet believe in God. At Christmas, too, the starry sky and the beauty of language and music caused a great surge of mystic yearning in her; then Mr. McConochie would harangue them, remind them of their unworthiness and guilt, the innocent babe born to die on their behalf. “Sighing, crying, / Bleeding, dying”…they sang, and the glory faded to heartbreak and desolation, the bleak light of afternoon.”
