I had heard quite a bit about this book before studying it at university for ‘The Gothic’ module. I’d heard that it was the founder of gothic literature and that it was a story full of frightful happenings and tragic characters. …
Ok… So I have literally – about 10 seconds ago – finished this book and honestly? I have no idea what I think about. I’ve got no clue as to how many stars I should give it and I have absolutely no idea if I recommend it or not. But there was something… Something about this book that made me want to read til the very end so that has to be worth something, right? …
Evening’s Land by Pauline West is the kind of book that you have to read closely and with an open mind as there are plot lines that are very far-fetched and moments in the book where something doesn’t quite fit. It was an interesting read due to being mainly after life after death and questioning that, but I felt like there was too much going on at the same time. …
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a book that captured the minds of millions of people when it was first published in 1886. 201 years later, this captivating novella by Robert Louis Stevenson is a book that delves into the question of dual identities and the repression of society.
Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite writers. He’s a brilliant children’s author, he’s an amazing adult author… The man can do it all. The amazing thing about his children’s books however, is that they can also be read by adults and they don’t feel like they’re reading a children’s book. This is what The Graveyard Book is. It’s a children’s book that adults can happily read without feeling like it should be a bedtime story for their two-year-old.
I was lying in bed and it was about 3am and I just fancied re-reading Coraline. I don’t know why, but I felt like a quick, brilliant read and I just thought of Coraline. I first read this book when I was about twelve years old and it freaked me out so much – not nightmares spooked me out, but the concept was really weird to me. Reading it again, 9 years later, it still freaks me out.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a book that I have read over and over again. This was the final novel of Shirley Jackson and in my opinion, it’s her best. It’s like she collected everything that she had learned over her time of writing and put it all into this book.
A couple of years ago, I read one of Shirley Jackson’s more popular books: We Have Always Lived in the Castle. I found it amazing. The writing was beautiful and the storyline instantly captured my attention.
I have been wanting to read more of Jackson’s work ever since but I have just never gotten around to it. My Dad recommended that I read The Haunting of Hill House since it was also quite a creepy book with a brilliant narrative. I decided that I would trust his recommendation so I went to his bookshelves, plucked it off the shelf, sat myself down and immersed myself in it straight away.
When I was given the list of books that I had to read for my English and Media course at university, I let out a groan. Whenever I think of study texts for anything, whether it was at school, college or university, I always think that they’re going to be boring.
I was proved wrong when I studied To Kill a Mockingbird at Secondary School, I was wrong when I also studied An Inspector Calls and The Woman in Black there. I was proved wrong when I studied The Time Machine in college (even though I was proved right when we were also given Hard Times by Charles Dickens!) and now I’m at university. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Great Expectations, I didn’t really enjoy To The Lighthouse and now Affinity by Sarah Waters.
Is this book going to go against the stereotypical texts of studying or not?
An upper-class woman recovering from a suicide attempt, Margaret Prior has begun visiting the women’s ward of Millbank prison, Victorian London’s grimmest jail, as part of her rehabilitative charity work.
Amongst Millbank’s murderers and common thieves, Margaret finds herself increasingly fascinated by on apparently innocent inmate, the enigmatic spiritualist Selina Dawes. Selina was imprisoned after a séance she was conducting went horribly awry, leaving an elderly matron dead and a young woman deeply disturbed.
Although initially skeptical of Selina’s gifts, Margaret is soon drawn into a twilight world of ghosts and shadows, unruly spirits and unseemly passions
When I read the blurb of this book, I had to admit, it sounded rather different than any university book that I was expecting. A feminist, gothic, Victorian-era book. Sounds pretty good right?
It was.
It really was.
Although this book was slow to start off with, I found myself becoming hooked. I have never read about women’s jails (or gaols – as they are written in Affinity) before and I found the subject intriguing.
The whole premise of this book was fascinating: a ‘lady’ that has tried to commit suicide, women’s jails, spirit mediums and an LGBT theme.
Sarah Waters writes her characters with such depth that, when I was reading the parts of Margaret, I felt like I was actually her walking through Millbank jail, I felt like I was her when she would go and talk to Selina Dawes. I was sucked right into her world and couldn’t seem to find myself getting out of it.
That ending though?!!! The last 50 pages were probably one of the best sections of literature that I’ve ever read. (Not THE best, ONE of the best – nothing can ever beat To Kill a Mockingbird). I have no one to talk about this book with as no one that I know has read it. I need to rant and rave about what happened at the end because it was so darn good! When I finished the book, I think I was sat on my bed in disbelief for about an hour, trying to take everything in that I had just read.
Just wow.
I cannot wait to study this book in more depth at university. I can’t wait to read more work by Sarah Waters. This book is a strong five out of five and I definitely recommend this book to everyone. I think this is a must-read book.
There’s a lot right with Gotham, but there’s also a lot wrong with it. A lot of things that don’t work well and a lot of things that work brilliantly. It’s normal for a first season to be a bit shaky, to take time to figure out what kind of tv show it wants to be (just look at Marvel’s Agents of Shield) but Gotham seems to be inconsistent sometimes. …