haunting books
Jul. 16th, 2007 07:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snugglekittyIn The Forest Of Forgetting is an anthology of short stories by Theodora Goss that ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
7j picked out for me a while back. If you like Neil Gaiman, you'd probably like this too. The quality that I feel these stories seem to capture is that of yearning for the unknown - even the unknowable. My favorite stories in it were "The Rose in Twelve Petals," "Letters from Budapest," "The Wings of Mister Wilhelm," "The Belt," and "Lessons with Miss Gray," but it was hard to pick those, as I enjoyed almost all the stories. Many of them were linked, three in an obvious way, with the character of Miss Gray, but others taking place in the same imagined Southern town, or having different character overlap, or a repeated phrase... it felt intentional, not accidental, and really made me want to keep reading, to see what other connections I'd find. If you like magical realism or gothic fantasy, you'll probably like this too. Four stars.
A Grave Talent by Laurie R. King is the first novel of a talented mystery writer. I had previously read her popular Holmes pastiches, which begin with The Beekeeper's Apprentice. They're fun to read, but fairly light. Not so the Martinelli mysteries - I can tell you that after only reading one - they're very dark. Themes include art, obsession, secrets, madness, hatred, competition, and of course, murder. Truly haunting, but also touching and hopeful. Four stars.
7j picked out for me a while back. If you like Neil Gaiman, you'd probably like this too. The quality that I feel these stories seem to capture is that of yearning for the unknown - even the unknowable. My favorite stories in it were "The Rose in Twelve Petals," "Letters from Budapest," "The Wings of Mister Wilhelm," "The Belt," and "Lessons with Miss Gray," but it was hard to pick those, as I enjoyed almost all the stories. Many of them were linked, three in an obvious way, with the character of Miss Gray, but others taking place in the same imagined Southern town, or having different character overlap, or a repeated phrase... it felt intentional, not accidental, and really made me want to keep reading, to see what other connections I'd find. If you like magical realism or gothic fantasy, you'll probably like this too. Four stars.A Grave Talent by Laurie R. King is the first novel of a talented mystery writer. I had previously read her popular Holmes pastiches, which begin with The Beekeeper's Apprentice. They're fun to read, but fairly light. Not so the Martinelli mysteries - I can tell you that after only reading one - they're very dark. Themes include art, obsession, secrets, madness, hatred, competition, and of course, murder. Truly haunting, but also touching and hopeful. Four stars.