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Top Ten Tuesday: Places In Books I’d Love To Live

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup of book bloggers hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! This week, we’re talking about places in books that we’d love to live. Not all of these are necessarily places I’d want to live forever, but would enjoy spending at least a long weekend!

 

Hogwarts (Harry Potter): I mean, of course, right? I think everyone who read these books as a teenager dreamed of their own four-poster bed in the castle!

Pemberley (Pride and Prejudice): Austen is full of covetable houses, and the one so beautiful that it overrides the heroine’s reluctance to seriously consider the hero is probably the best one, eh?

Gatsby’s mansion (The Great Gatsby): This place hosts a new totally incredible party constantly, I want in on at least one of them!

Highgarden (A Song of Ice and Fire): There hasn’t actually been a scene set at the seat of House Tyrell in the books yet as I recall, but it is frequently described as a particularly lovely part of the Seven Kingdoms.

The Abhorsen’s House (Sabriel): The Abhorsen’s house is where Sabriel meets Mogget (pretty much my favorite character in the series), and I love the idea of the Charter Magic sendings who are so old they just do what they want.

Darlington Hall (The Remains of the Day): The guests that were in attendance there were not ones I’d like to mix with, but the old English country estate itself sounds beautiful.

Rivendell (The Lord of the Rings): It IS the Last Homely House East of the Sea.

Hampden College (The Secret History): I think Ann Arbor was a lovely place to go to school, but there’s always been a part of me that wishes I’d gone to a college in the northeast!

Brideshead Castle (Brideshead Revisited): For all of Charles’s attachments to the Flyte family, it feels like what he’s in love with as much as anything is their beautiful ancestral home of Brideshead Castle, and it’s described as so lovely that it’s not hard to see why.

Manderley (Rebecca): There’s plenty of darkness within, of course, but Manderly was so beautiful to look at that it was on postcards, so I think it would be worth a visit.

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Titles that Would Make Great Song Titles

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup of book bloggers hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! This week, we’re talking about books with titles that sound like they would make great songs. So here are my ten titles that sound like bops!

“Brave New World”

“Awakenings”

“Rebecca”

“Black Star, Bright Dawn”

“Yes Please”

“About A Boy”

“To Die For”

“Zone One”

“Sing Unburied Sing”

“There There”

Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Could Use Better Titles Than Just A Name

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup of book bloggers hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! While last week we highlighted books with awesome titles, this week we’re considering the opposite: books with titles that could use a little more oomph. For me, I’ve always thought that just naming your book after a person in that book is a little bit of a cop-out (unless, of course, you’ve written a biography). So here are ten books with names as titles that I think could use an upgrade.

Emma: Austen’s most famous works use Ye Olde Ampersand, so how about calling this one Love & Matrimony after the central theme?

Rebecca: It’s symbolic that the book is named after a character who, though never alive during the narrative, dominates its events. But I would sort-of cheat and name it after its main character: The Second Mrs. deWinter, which I think creates intrigue about the first.

Lolita: Despite being the title character, young Delores isn’t actually the main focus of the book (rather, it’s narrator Humbert Humbert). I think No Choice would be a good replacement for this one…Humbert’s desperate obsession makes him feel as though he doesn’t have one, while she actually doesn’t.

Anna Karenina: Anna herself is a fascinating character, but I might call this one instead The Train, paying homage to both the driving passion of the central affair as well as the importance of trains in several scenes.

Jane Eyre: This is a great book about coming of age, with strong gothic overtones and a person locked in an attic. The title coveys none of that. I’d crib an episode title from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and title this Becoming.

Macbeth: Let’s just go with the theater tradition and official re-dub this The Scottish Play.

Tess of the D’urbervilles: The subtitle of this book is “A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented”. That doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, so how about Purity?

Nefertiti: This novel was a little underwhelming for me, but a title like that isn’t going to help it stand out. For all the emphasis the book places on the physical loveliness of the Egyptian queen, For Beauty would make a more intriguing title.

Olive Kitteridge: I’ve actually always liked it when books that are short story collections (which is very much what this is, “novel” or no) are named after one of the stories within. It’s not the strongest entry, but A Little Burst is a story that’s both representative of the whole and that makes a good name.

Mildred Pierce: This is a noir, but the name Mildred has always made me think of mildew, which just makes it sound damp. It would be better served leaning into its potboiler style, so I’d call it From Bad to Worse.

Book 198: Rebecca


“Unconsciously I shivered, as though someone had opened the door behind me, and let a draught into the room. I was sitting in Rebecca’s chair, I was leaning against Rebecca’s cushion, and the dog had come to me and laid his head upon my knee because that had been his custom, and he remembered, in the past, she had given sugar to him there.”

Dates read: December 24-29, 2017

Rating: 8/10

Lists/awards: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2012)

We’ve all felt like an imposter at some point, right? Like, I don’t think “imposter syndrome” is even a thing, I think it’s so commonplace as to be just a part of the human experience. It’s an ugly, scary feeling, to be so full of doubt about yourself. It feels especially endemic in that late teens-early 20s time of life, when everyone even five years older seems impossibly glamorous and adult and you still feel like a kid. You just were a kid, after all, and now you’re expected to set your own alarm and remember to take your vitamins and schedule your own haircuts. “Adult” feels so far away even though you’re already there.

I’ve never read a book that feels as steeped in that feeling of being an imposter as Daphne DuMarier’s Rebecca. Our heroine is a never-named middle-class young English woman, in her early 20s, who’s earning her living as a traveling companion to an crude older woman. On a stop in Monaco, she meets Maxim deWinter, who her employer is all too happy to repeat gossip about and try to kiss up to: he’s the owner of the famous and magnificent country estate of Manderly, and his beautiful, stylish wife Rebecca recently died tragically. The young lady and Maxim have a whirlwind courtship, and before she knows it, she’s married and honeymooned and off to her new home and new life as the mistress of a great house.

But when they get to Manderly, things go quickly south. Being middle-class, she’s barely been in a place like this, and hasn’t the slightest idea how to make it her own. Her husband is suddenly distant and moody. Her only real friend is the spaniel dog that she takes her walks with. The head housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, all but openly sneers at her and constantly reminds her that she’s not anything like the charming and passionate Rebecca. And it’s not just Mrs. Danvers…even the locals she goes to visit tell her over and over again how exciting things were when Rebecca was around, how beautiful she was, how delightful. The shy, quiet second Mrs. deWinter begins to despair of ever being good enough for the role she’s been handed, and is talked into putting on a costume ball (like the ones Rebecca used to have!) that changes everything.

If you’ve ever heard about super fast marriages Back In The Day and wondered if people even really knew each other when they go married, Rebecca answers that question with a resounding no. A major part of the drama comes from the fact that the young wife can’t understand why Maxim married her and is afraid to share her fears and feelings of inadequacy because, well, she barely knows him. She tortures herself by imagining that he’s constantly comparing her to Rebecca, and she’s sure she comes up short. She can’t even hide from the imposter syndrome that’s consuming her…the very place she lives reminds her of the ways in which she feels inadequate. This book is often billed as a gothic romance, and while the former is accurate, the latter isn’t really, in my opinion: there’s a marriage at the center of it, but not really a romance per se.

Instead, I’d call this a psychological suspense novel. We know from the beginning that the deWinters no longer live at Manderly, that something bad happened there. How exactly this happens unwinds over the course of the book, with the inner lives of the characters and their relationships with each other being driving the action. And the story is well-told and well-paced, but it’s still a classic rather than a modern-day thriller, so while it’s certainly gripping it’s not really a page-turner that’ll keep you up all night. And for me, that’s preferable anyways. I really enjoyed reading it and plan to add more duMaurier to my list of books to read. I’d recommend Rebecca to just about anybody, it’s a tightly crafted and engaging story that’ll appeal to anyone who’s ever felt like they were playacting at being a grown-up.

One year ago, I was reading: The Silence of the Girls (review to come)

Two years ago, I was reading: Valley of the Dolls

Three years ago, I was reading: Smoke

Top Ten Tuesday: Places Mentioned In Books That I’d Like to Visit

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup of book bloggers hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! This week, we’re talking about places in books that we’d like to visit. We live in a wide world and there’s always more to see of it, so here’s where books have me intrigued to go to!

Hawaii (The Descendants): This novel about a family dealing with loss as the father is also dealing with a court case about land ownership is deeply rooted in its Hawaiian setting and made it sound just incredibly lovely.

The Tuscan countryside (Under the Tuscan Sun): I’ve been to Florence, and it’s gorgeous, but this book really made me want to visit the rural areas in Tuscany!

Athens (Outline): Cusk doesn’t make the city sound all that fantastic in the summer heat, but she does make the ocean sound amazing.

Morocco (Less): Less’ trip through the country may be ill-starred, but the beauty of the desert at night is vivid in Greer’s rendering.

Puget Sound (The Highest Tide): I didn’t love this book, but it did make the Puget Sound tidewaters sound just magical beautiful.

Northern Beaches (Big Little Lies): The contrast of the idyllic-sounding setting against the domestic turbulence of its residents is kind of the point, but also the beachy parts sound gorgeous.

Cambridgeshire (Rebecca): Manderly the house isn’t real, but the area of England where it’s supposed to be is and I want to see it (and the homes that inspired Manderly) for myself.

Crimea (The Romanov Empress): It’s supposed to be a lovely area, and the way it’s depicted in this book as a place for rest and relaxation makes it seem even more appealing.

Delft (Girl With A Pearl Earring): The Netherlands seem like a cool place to visit, and the way this city is described in this book intrigued me!

Swedish islands (The Fly Trap): This memoir of a man who studies flies on a remote Swedish island makes that setting sound actually pretty interesting, even though it’s not someplace I’d ever really thought about before.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books Featuring Ghosts

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup of book bloggers hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! With Halloween tomorrow, this week is a holiday freebie! I did witches last year, so this year I’m going with books that have ghosts!



Beloved: This book is a masterpiece and the way Morrison uses the ghost character is incredible and if you haven’t read it already you should immediately.

Sing, Unburied, Sing: This felt very much like it was positioning itself as “in the tradition of” Beloved, for me, but without quite the skill or level of success. It’s a good book, and goes into some different places, but a comparison to Morrison’s masterpiece is unlikely to be flattering to anyone. 

The Inferno: They’re not quite “ghosts” per se, but Virgil as Dante’s guide and the shades the two encounter in hell are a huge part of this amazing work.

Lincoln in the Bardo: I felt definitely echoes of Dante in this deeply weird but very good book, especially in the contrapasso-esque disfigurements the spirits were saddled with.

The Shining: I’m not big into horror as a genre usually because I am easily frightened and have a vivid imagination but this book managed to keep the scares relatively low-impact (even the very malevolent ghosts) and told a compelling story about addiction to boot. 

The Lovely Bones: Susie isn’t really a ghost, but she’s a disembodied spirit and at one point possesses someone so I think that’s close enough.

Stardust: The growing collection of ghostly princes of Stormhold are kind of a side plot in this fantasy adventure, but the way the brothers come up with to murder each other are honestly kind of delightful.

Rebecca: The titular first wife of Maxim deWinter does not literally appear during the story, but the way her influence continues to haunt her widower, his home of Manderly, and his new wife is so pervasive as to be effectively present. 

Harry Potter: For something a little more lighthearted, the house ghosts and Peeves the poltergeist and Moaning Myrtle are a vital part of this beloved series.

Spook: And a nonfiction take on ghosties! I love Mary Roach and this exploration of whether there’s any scientific evidence for communication with the afterlife has her trademark curiosity and humor.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Take Place In Other Countries

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup of book bloggers hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! While I read mostly books set in the country in which I was born and live (which I imagine many of us do), my reading goes all over the world! And that’s something I love about reading, how I can travel anywhere I want from my chair/bed/reading locale of the moment. Here are ten mostly recent-ish reads that take place outside of the US that I really enjoyed!

The Bear and the Nightingale (Russia): I’ve written about this Slavic folklored-based young adult book before to tell you how much I loved it but I LOVED it! The first two books in this series are both great, honestly, and I can’t wait for the third to come this summer!

Stay With Me (Nigeria): You think you know where this book might be headed when a couple’s interfering, traditional in-laws get the husband a second wife because his first one hasn’t gotten pregnant yet…but you have no idea. And the plot continues to twist on and on in ways that are completely unexpected.

Rebecca (England): This Gothic suspense novel has lots of repression, largely takes place on a countryside estate, and features a head housekeeper as the main antagonist, so it’s very English indeed.

The Blind Assassin (Canada): Margaret Atwood is Canadian after all, so it’s only reasonable that she sets this incredible, rich story in her homeland.

The Book Thief (Germany): Bring all the tissues for this World War 2 story about a young orphaned girl who loves to read.

Big Little Lies (Australia): I still haven’t managed to sit down and watch the TV show (which was set in California), but the book was super entertaining and it just goes to show that rich lady competitive mommy-ing is not a uniquely American phenomenon.

The Queen of the Night (France): There’s a little bit at the beginning that’s in America, and another bit in Germany, but this is mostly in Napoleonic France and it has the best kind of truly insane plot and I love it so much.

The God of Small Things (India): This is one of my two “cheats”, because I first read this book quite some time ago, but it’s so good and basically anything I know about Kerala at all comes from this book.

In The Woods (Ireland): I don’t read a lot of mystery, because I find it gets formulaic and often is plot-over-character when I prefer the other way around. But this book has inspired me to collect the rest of the Dublin Murder Squad series because it was so well-told and I want to read mooooore.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Sweden): My second cheat, because I read these books during the summer of my first year in law school, but I did really love this trilogy, the first book especially. I’ve got no interest in the continuing series with a new author, though.

A Month In The Life: December 2017

Tomorrow is 2018! And not a moment too soon. This year has had some wonderful parts for me personally, like completing my third session and taking real strides forward professionally, and my trip with my husband to Michigan to see my family and take him to the Upper Peninsula, but it’s been exhausting on a lot of other levels. Here’s hoping that I can take the lessons from these past 12 months forward and leave the rest of it behind for a fresh beginning in the new year! And, of course, that I read wonderful books 🙂 But before we call it quits on 2017, here is a look back at the last month.

In Books…

  • The Lady Elizabeth: I’ve loved every one of Alison Weir’s histories that I’ve read, but this is the second of her fiction works to leave me cold. Despite the fact that she’s a much better historian, the fiction is just as trashy as Philippa Gregory’s, but not as compelling. 
  • The Games: I’m one of those weirdos that likes the Winter Olympics better (mostly because of figure skating), so before Pyeongchang kicks off, I figured I’d read this book about the history of the Games. It’s good, but very information-dense…I tend to prefer my non-fiction a little more narrative. 
  • The Girl In The Tower: The first book in this series just made my best books of the year list, so I had high hopes for the second one and they were not disappointed! Vasya’s adventures continue, taking her both on the hunts for bandits and into the dangerous world of Moscow high society. The final book is due out next year but I need it NOW!
  • The Lady of the Rivers: Philippa Gregory’s books tend to be guilty pleasures for me…I know they’re historically dubious and often sensationalistic, but they’re easy to read and kind of fun for brain candy. This one is neither especially good or especially bad from her, so it was entertaining enough and not especially memorable. 
  • The Power: This examination of what might happen to our world if women developed abilities that made them the physically dominant (and therefore, more powerful) gender had interesting ideas, but never really developed narrative cohesion.
  • Rebecca: This book inspired a fantastic Hitchcock movie, and might be the best example of imposter syndrome I’ve ever read. Very good and something I’ll definitely read again!




In Life…

  • The holidays continued: I managed to get my presents off and out on time and had a lovely Christmas with my husband and his parents and the dogs. I am very glad that the season of official overeating is over. 
  • The Broke and the Bookish Secret Santa: I did this for the first time last year, and had such fun with it that I was really looking forward to it this year! It’s so fun to try to find fun things for your new internet friend…and get your own presents in return! Many thanks to Lois at You, Me, and A Cup of Tea for the books and pug goodies! 

One Thing:

Thankfully my own experience with this kind of thing in Carson City has been minimal, but this piece from the New York Times on the rampant sexual harassment of female lobbyists, usually by male lawmakers, in state legislatures rings true to a lot of things I’ve heard through the grapevine. I’m glad that the national climate is turning towards actual consequences for men who exploit their positions of power to prey on women.

Gratuitous Pug Picture:

Top Ten Tuesday: Books On My Winter TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup of book bloggers hosted by The Broke and The Bookish! This week, we’re looking the books we’ll be reading over the next couple months. Winter tends to be my power-reading season (brrrr-y outside means it’s best to stay in snuggled up with a book!), so hopefully I get beyond these books even, but here are the next ten on my list (not counting the yet-to-be-decided book club picks).

The Lady Elizabeth: I didn’t love Alison Weir’s debut novel about the life of Lady Jane Grey, but I’m giving her another shot since I love her nonfiction so much…this novel is about the youth of Queen Elizabeth I.

The Games: With the Winter Olympics (my favorite ones!) coming up a few months, I’m going to read this nonfiction about the history of the Games.

The Girl in the Tower: I LOVED The Bear and the Nightingale, so I am pumped to read my advance copy of the sequel!

The Lady of the Rivers: Back to English royalty historical fiction, this is yet another in Philippa Gregory’s series on The Wars of the Roses, focusing on Jaquetta Rivers, the mother of Elizabeth Woodville.

The Power: I’ve heard some mixed reviews about this book, which posits a world in which women are suddenly given lethal power, prompting new gender relationships, but I’m intrigued anyways.

Rebecca: I’ve seen the (excellent) movie version of this gothic tale, but it’s very popular in its original novel format as well.

Fourth of July Creek: This was a whim Kindle deal purchase (like, three years ago) that has gotten pretty good reviews.

Ghost Wars: I actually was originally recommended this book about American covert influence in Afghanistan in the 80s by my college boyfriend, and even though it’s been a LONG time since we dated, I’ve always remembered and been curious and I’m finally going to read it.

An Untamed State: As much as I love her Twitter presence, I’ve never actually read any of Roxane Gay’s books…time to fix that.

An American Marriage: I won a copy of this book, about what happens to a woman when her husband is unjustly convicted and she turns to a good friend for comfort, through LibraryThing’s giveaways and I’m really excited to read it.

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