"Laura Purcell has many chills to run along your spine, and many secrets to drip-feed from her story."

Four Star review of The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell

https://alternativemrmen.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-silent-companions-by-laura-pur...

"Laura Purcell has many chills to run along your spine, and many secrets to drip-feed from her story."

Four Star review of The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell

https://alternativemrmen.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-silent-companions-by-laura-pur...

‪There‘s usually a point in horror when the reader is frustrated the characters don‘t just destroy the Spooky Thing, but half way through The Silent Companion & they‘re hacking the spooky thing with an axe. The protagonist is even wishing she weren‘t a pregnant Victorian lady so she could “hack that gypsy boy‘s face to bits”. It won‘t do shit, there‘s still half a book left, but I approve!

“Not much of a nightmare, you‘d say. Wait till you try it. I woke up desolate.

“Why does the mind do such things? Turn on us, tend us, dig the claws in.”

Nice to know I‘m not the only one whose creative brain turns against her!

I know I haven‘t read at all over the weekend, but picked this up for an hour this evening and it‘s such slow going! I mean, it‘s Atwood, the writing is gorgeous (if sometimes confusing) but there are so many pages left and nothing seems to be happening!

When I saw Margaret Atwood at Hay Festival, she said she gets her best ideas from adverts on public transport, just like this one. Adverts for soap, which were a trend at one point, she said means they‘re telling the public they smell wrong. It‘s still about controlling bodies...

Anyone else massively excited for this?

https://youtu.be/ASR04zW4K8w

A tense horror that gave me nightmares. A book to whizz through and bask in the creeping, claustrophobic horror.

https://alternativemrmen.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-bird-box-by-josh-malerman.html...

#bookblog #bookblogger #horror #suspense #thriller

Bird Box is a book about unknowable horrors forcing people to blindfold themselves or risk instant self-destructive insanity. Reading it outside in the sunshine feels somehow wrong!

No *you‘re* twitching whenever the wind blows!

#amreading #suspense

More bemusing annotations from my late Dad

Think I‘m going to have to bail on this one. I‘d give a content warning but don‘t want to give stuff away. Let‘s just say things got very squicky and miserable and it‘s ground down my will to read.

“I wished to be intelligible even to women while providing matter for thought for the finest minds”

Cheers Descartes.

#amreading #amwriting #postgradlife

So this morning my dissertation research proposal was accepted without amendment, which is pretty freaking awesome. My tutor recommended I really get to grips with Descartes and not just use him as a name drop, so I looked out my Dad‘s Britannica edition on Descartes. Like a little message from the After Life, my dad‘s caps lock YES greets me from the front page. Managed not to cry.

This is the story of a young man charged with a gang-related murder, who chooses to give his own closing statement disclosing what 'really happened‘.

Mahmood has done brilliant things. This book certainly has pacing imperfections, but makes me very much look forward to whatever else Mahmood might produce.

Full review: https://alternativemrmen.blogspot.com/2018/06/you-dont-know-me-by-imran-mahmood....

#crime #thriller #london #amreading

Finished You Don‘t Know Me on the exercise bike (I am such a hero!) so laying back and starting Laurus in the sunshine :) #amreading

#Review of #horror classic The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson: https://alternativemrmen.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-haunting-of-hill-house-by-shir...

“A great deal of pleasure can be got from Jackson‘s style of writing, her unique narration of a weak woman‘s descent into madness”

#bookblog #bookreview

Wow, ok. As someone with bipolar I‘m pretty disappointed McCarten thinks the ‘modern‘ treatment is ‘gulping‘ lithium. There are a lot of different treatments, & lithium has to be carefully monitored with monthly blood tests. No one in these ‘modern‘ times is gobbling lithium! Also Churchill would most likely be diagnosed BPII (like me!) So would get a mood stabiliser and antipsychotic to gobble. #breakthetaboo #timetotalk #mentalhealth #bipolar

So yesterday I got to meet Margaret Atwood. Look at my little excited face! Atwood is an absolute hero of mine, and hearing her speak was just an amazing experience. I‘ve done a feature on my blog about her talk here: https://alternativemrmen.blogspot.com/2018/05/margaret-atwood-at-hay-festival.ht... #margaretatwood #bookblog #hayfestival

The investigators at Hill House are learning to never split the party!

Winning at life!

“Beautifully written and thoughtfully imagined, it ends leaving you satisfied but wanting just a little more.”
5 star review - https://alternativemrmen.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/life-after-life-by-kate-atkinson... #bookreview #bookblog #bookblogger #speculativefiction #historicalfiction #5starreview

...slowly working on Woolfie‘s strength and increasing the book size #booksoncats #catsonbooks #catsoflitsy

There‘s something rather poetic about having your career trashed by the thing you study. Do you get that in any other field? #academia #EvenTheBooksThinkImPointless

My other half is away for the weekend. We are very rarely away from each other. He left me a present. It‘s a graphic novel about a serial killer! Believe it or not, this is very romantic. I‘ve never read a graphic novel but he said this could be my first - and flicking through the prologue I think he‘s right

This month‘s picks, fresh from the book store! #amreading #bookbloggers #newbooks

This month‘s picks, fresh from the book store! #amreading #bookbloggers #newbooks

This month‘s picks, fresh from the book store! #amreading #bookbloggers #newbooks

This month‘s picks, fresh from the book store! #amreading #bookbloggers #newbooks

This month‘s picks, fresh from the book store! #amreading #bookbloggers #newbooks

Although it might look like a nice little novella, The Courage Consort is definitely a short story. On repeat reads I think it could be very rewarding, and there were enough interesting points to warrant going back to explore. Also it is light enough to balance on a cat! Full review here: https://alternativemrmen.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/the-courage-consort-by-michel-fa... #booksoncats #catsonbooks #kitty #shortstories #novella

The first time in years I‘ve finished a book in one sitting! #amreading #oneshot

Oh dear oh dear. Normally I give a book 50 pages before giving up, but only got to p33. So dull! So tell and no show. Oh well, on to the next one! #bail

A book that tries to do a lot rather than focusing on doing one thing well - full review here: https://alternativemrmen.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/fellside-by-m-r-carey.html?m=1 #ghoststory #prisondrama #amnesia #readinginthesun

“Teresa thinks the English countryside looks dark and rain sodden. She doesn‘t know what she had been expecting, but the reality depresses her” - that‘s my country! #britishandproud #notinaracistway #itsrainingbooks #shetland

The carnage!
My first experience with #blinddatewithabook has brought me an item to tick off my to read list! #classic #horror TBR

Frauline Schnitzel Von Strudel Belly has decided that is enough reading for tonight! #catsandbooks #catsoflitsy #kitty #cats #nomorereadingforyou #nope

Under the Skin is a book with many layers, and passages to delight many interests. I won't claim it's a fluffy read -- it isn't -- but it does deliver a good story beautifully and graphically. Isserley is a vital and tragic protagonist; one that the reader can't help but ache for, despite the things she has done. Full review here: https://alternativemrmen.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/under-skin-by-michel-faber.html?... #scifi #horror

170 pages in and still not really sure where this book is going. I like it, though!