I have been reading...

So, after finishing the two YA novels in my last post, I did what I'd been promising myself I'd do for several years - a reread of The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. 

The first thing I'll do is post a link to my review of 2007. It's HERE. That's an OK description of the book, I think, so I won't go into describing it all over again. I didn't reread that before I did my reread as I wanted to go into it having forgotten most of the detail, which I had. Thus, the gorgeousness of The Historian took me by surprise all over again. I knew of course that it was long and rambly, 650 pages long and rambly in fact, and that's a bit of a committment. And it did take me 10 days to read. But that fine, I don't mind that when I know what I'm getting into. Several things I had forgotten about this book. Firstly the sense of menace from Vlad Dracula, and those in league with him, that runs right through the book. I'd forgotten how wrapped up I got in the mystery of what has happened to various people like Elena's mother, Professor Rossi and then later, her father. I'd also forgotten how rich this book is in history and travel and how much Elizabeth Kostova clearly loves Eastern Europe. This book is quite the love letter to it and we visit Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, plus Balkan countries such as Croatia and Greece. Other cities such as Paris and Instanbul also play a big part. I'm going to be controversial now and say that I like The Historian better than I like Bram Stoker's Dracula. That's purely because the whole book suits my reading tastes slightly more than Stoker's classic. Ryan from Wordsmithonia commented on my last post that he didn't find The Historian too long and actually wanted more. Me too. And the author must be aware of how many people feel like that, because there's a kind of sequel coming out in October 2026, Mystery Play. I believe this will be set in Boston, or at least starts out there, knowing this author, heaven only knows where the book will end up. I can't wait and wish it wasn't a whole year before it's published. 

Next up is, The World Beneath by Rebecca Cantrell.

This is book one in the author's 'Joe Tesla' series and was recommended to me by a lovely visitor a few weeks ago. Joe Tesla used to work for a tech company (possibly owned it, I can't quite remember) but had to retire unexpectedly when he became afflicted with agoraphobia. It's dibilitating of course and he ends up living in a house that was built in the New York subway, with his service dog, Edison. Joe becomes suspect number one in a murder case when he comes across a frantic young man dismantling a bricked up entrance to something in the subway. Feeling threatened, Joe leaves the scene, only to come back later and find an abandoned railway carriage behind the wall and the young man beaten to death. There are also three very old skeletons. Joe, unable to face being taken outside by the police goes on the run and with the help of a female security guard tries to prove his innocence. So, I'm not really a massive reader of thrillers and elements of this were outside my comfort zone, I can't say what as it would involve spoilers. Suffice it to say, it was scary in a militaristic manner. (To be honest it's fairly obvious from the beginning the kind of thing that's going on.) I was attracted to this because of the underground aspect, tunnels and hidden worlds and secrets and all that. And the book delivered. I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was fast paced, exciting and I loved the dog. It wasn't perfect... Joe sees numbers as colours and while I suppose that's interesting I found it a bit intrusive to read. Luckily, there wasn't heaps of it. I will definitely read on in this four part series. For a start there's the mystery of what happened to Joe to cause his agoraphobia, it's clear from the book that it didn't just happen randomly. I had already read one other book by Rebecca Cantrell, Blood Gospel, a rather good vampire yarn: she might become a new favourite author. Who knows? And that's the joy of reading. 

So my two current reads are:

 

This is basically what it says on the tin, a book about British weather... mainly wild and woolly weather I notice. The writing is 'so' beautiful but then I knew it would be as I've read Matt Gaw's delightful book about rivers. 

And this: 

 

Fabulous cover on this edition of Bleak House by Dickens. It's a painting by John Atkinson Grimshaw and entitled Waterloo Lake, Leeds. (The lake was built by soldiers returning from the Napoleonic wars.) This is a Dickens novel I've not read but I have seen the BBC adaptation from 2005, so the storyline is quite familiar. Author, Katie Lumsden, is hosting a 2 month readalong of the novel on Youtube so I thought I would join in. I'm only 70 pages in but am already hooked. One thing I had definitely not expected... it's funny, the tone is humorous. Well, well. Nice that I can still be taken by surprise. 

I hope you're all keeping well. The clocks go back tonight in the UK and BST disappears. Time to get out all the wintery, spooky, atmosperic books you can find, sit in your favourite chair and hibernate. Happy autumn reading.