Classics: A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol 
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Ebenezer Scrooge is unimpressed by Christmas. He has no time for festivities or goodwill toward his fellow men and is only interested in money. Then, on the night of Christmas Eve, his life is changed by a series of ghostly visitations that show him some bitter truths about his choices. A Christmas Carol is Dickens' most influential book and a funny, clever and hugely enjoyable story.

I loooveee Vintage classics, I'm slowly collecting the Russian Classics (which are seriously gorgeous, check them out!) and they always do such gorgeous editions and the brand new Dickens Vintage classics are completely wonderful to behold! Bright, colourful covers, and excellent cover illustrations! But not only that...they have sprayed edges too! I'm not sure about the other ones but A Christmas Carol in particular has black sprayed edges! There's also an iconic quote on the back! I seriously can't wait to collect the other Vintage Classics! 

Because A Christmas Carol isn't that long a book, this includes The Chimes and The Haunted Man too! A Christmas Carol is one of my favourite Dickens stories, and it's so Christmas appropriate, what could be more festive than ghosts terrorising an old rich man!? No but seriously, I do really love A Christmas Carol as a Christmas read and if you're looking for something festive to read, this is perfect because it's not too long either! 

I really do love Dickens writing, contrary to what you may already think, it's actually quite easy to read and isn't as heavy or difficult as you'd imagine! I love the imagery and turns of phrase he uses, and it's quite an atmospheric read. The Ghost of Christmas Future is....scarier than in any of the movie depictions! Although I'm talking about Mickey's Christmas Carol and Muppet Christmas Carol, the only two I've seen (I used to work at Disney, the songs/videos where played on a loop...it was hard not to absorb them!). 

A Christmas Carol is well written (obviously), atmospheric and vivid. It really paints a picture and you feel like you've time warped back. Dickens writing is witty, and it really does put you in the Christmas mood! It's also easy to sit and read in one sitting, and it's not a slog like some classics can tend to be. It being a short book, I'd recommend it not only for Christmas reading...but also for if you're after a taste of Dickens writing before diving in to one of the longer novels! 

As for this Vintage edition...what more can I say? It's got a gorgeous cover both inside and outside, an excellent choice of quote on the back, the paper is lovely quality and thick, and the sprayed edges are a nice touch! Another nice touch is the little "Ex Libris" page at the front! This edition is wonderfully laid out too, and the font's a nice size, which might be an odd thing for me to comment on...but I've read plenty of classics that have the font size reaaaallly tiny and it's kind of annoying! 

Review: Tales of Horror

Tales of Horror
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

A murderer is forced to reveal his crime by the sound of a beating heart, a mysterious figure wreaks havoc among a party of noblemen during the time of the plague, a grieving lover awakens to find himself clutching a box of his beloved blood-stained teeth, a man is obsessed with the fear of being buried alive – these are only some of the memorable characters and stories included in this volume, which exemplify Poe’s inventiveness and natural talent as a storyteller. 

I read a brilliant book called The Fall by Bethany Griffin, that's based on The Fall of the House of Usher, and ever since I've been itching to actually read the original House of Usher story, as well as the other stories by Poe! So I jumped at the chance to get to review this! For such a slim volume, there's a lot packed in here! The contents is as follows: 

Metzengerstein

MS Found in a Bottle

Berenice

Morella

Ligeia

The Devil in the Belfry

The Fall of the House of Usher

William Wilson

The Man of the Crowd

The Murders in the Rue Morgue

A Descent into the Maelström

Never Bet the Devil Your Head

Eleonora

The Masque of the Red Death

The Tell-Tale Heart

The Black Cat

The Pit and the Pendulum

A Tale of the Ragged Mountains

The Premature Burial

The Oblong Box

The Purloined Letter

Some Words with a Mummy

The Oval Portrait

The Imp of the Perverse

The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar

The Sphinx

Once again, the notes section in the back of Alma's editions where invaluable in understanding the text and offering tidbits of the time period and how things where then, more so than can be gleaned from the text itself! 

I looooveeee Poe's writing style. You can feel the unease radiating off the page. The shorter stories manage to draw you in with only a page or two, quite a feat in my opinion! They're lastingly creepy too, perhaps not overtly terrifying, but still sinister and creepy and a great read to send a shiver down your spine. These stories are atmospheric and vivid, I could clearly picture each of the settings and considering how short some of these stories are, it's impressive how much detail there is without bogging down the story. I'm not particularly terrified of anything that happens in these stories, but I still found myself in the characters shoes with goosebumps erupting all over my arms, and my skin practically crawling. I find all of the characters to be interesting whether good or bad or you know....really, really twisted. I'm always intrigued by their motivations.  

Out of all of the stories, along with The Fall of the House of Usher and Premature Burial (skin crawling goodness), I really enjoyed Murders in the Rue Morgue as when I started to read it, I recalled that I'd read a book that was based on it a while back! So it was intriguing to see the original! It was one of the longer ones, but it drew me in and while it didn't creep me out all that much, I enjoyed trying to puzzle out who the killer was and how it was done! The detective was very Holme's like! I also really enjoyed Masque of the Red Death and you know...Some Words With a Mummy because....Egypt and I love Egypt! 

Tales of Horror is a great collection of stories with interesting characters and various levels of creepiness. Even if you aren't scared of being buried alive, Premature Burial will freak you out. Words With a Mummy is oddly fascinating and The Murders in the Rue Morgue has a Holmes feel, but that's just me personally! 

Review: Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass
Rating: 3/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Bored on a hot afternoon, Alice, a bright and inquisitive child, follows a white rabbit down a rabbit-hole, and finds herself in Wonderland, a very odd place indeed. This unique story mixes satire and puzzles, comedy and anxiety, Mock Turtles and Gryphos to provide an astute description of the experience of childhood. 

Awkward confession time.....I haven't actually properly read Alice in Wonderland before, and I've never even looked at Through The Looking Glass before! I've read bits of Alice In Wonderland, and then I've read loads of books that are retellings or inspired by and obviously I've watched the animated Disney movie. But seriously. I've never properly read Alice in Wonderland! So I was quite excited to read both books! 

There are some really gorgeous illustrations in this edition, and I really enjoyed them paired with the story! I actually feel like I've read Alice so many times because of various retellings etc, there was something so familiar about the story! I enjoyed the writing style, the silliness to the story and the satirical elements to it. I also enjoyed the world and feeling like I was venturing through Wonderland with Alice. Alice however, I couldn't get along with. I'm not going to lie she kind of bugged me and I spent a lot of my time being annoyed at her, I'm not going to lie! 

I wouldn't say that Alice in Wonderland is a favourite classic of mine, but it was an interesting read and I'm pleased that I've finally read it properly! I also have to say, that the writing and language used in the book was very easy to read! I know some people struggle with classics because of the language  but this one was a breeze! 

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Review: The Little Prince

The Little Prince

Rating: 4/5

Buy or Borrow: Buy 

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

When a pilot crash-lands in the Sahara Desert he meets a stranger - a little prince - who has arrived on Earth from an entirely different planet. By listening to the prince's stories and his questions about the world, it becomes clear to the pilot that truths about life can reveal themselves in the most unlikely of places. 

Somehow I've gone through my entire life without having read this classic...I don't even know how? What an epic fail! I know a lot of you guys love this book, so I was excited to finally read it and I managed to read it in one go and super fast because you know...not many pages! 

I loved this edition, the cover is completely gorgeous, and there are some brilliant illustrations throughout the book that are the originals, I'm fairly sure! I have to say, I really loved the dedication at the front of this book and I hardly ever read those! I enjoyed the storytelling style of the author, and it was a fun little story to read! I love how the author makes all these comments about how adults wouldn't understand because of this or that, and wouldn't understand in the same way a child does! I'm kind of really sad that I never read this as a child! 

The Little Prince is beautiful simple, and it has a fantastic message behind it! 

Review: A Hero Of Our Time

A Hero Of Our Time
Rating: 3/5
Buy or Borrow: Borrow
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

On his travels through the wild mountainous terrain of the Caucasus, the narrator of A Hero of Our Time chances upon the veteran soldier and storyteller Maxim Maximych, who relates to him the dubious exploits of his former comrade Pechorin. Engaging in various acts of duelling, contraband, abduction and seduction, Pechorin, an archetypal Byronic anti-hero, combines cynicism and arrogance with melancholy and sensitivity.

Causing an uproar in Russia when it was first published in 1840, Lermontov’s brilliant, seminal study of contemporary society and the nihilistic aspect of Romanticism – accompanied here by the unfinished novel Princess Ligovskaya – remains compelling to this day. 

I've been meaning to read this one for a while, as I've heard from several people that it's very good. As I started to read this, I was starting to think that this would be another classic that I didn't love as much as everyone else. But then I hit a certain part of the book. That part would be Pechorin's journal. A Hero Of Our Time is like a lot of little stories within the main story. They're all linked and most of them show our main character from the outside, as it where. 

I was a bit eh, about the beginning of the book, I didn't truly get interested in this book until we reached the part that was told from Pechorin's journal. I was utterly fascinated with the character and this glimpse in to his mind. I found it intriguing to see how he operated, what he was thinking and feeling. What his motivations where. I mean, he's not the nicest person. I think it's supposed to be ironic or poking fun. But it was interesting to see how he ticked. Also, this part had a dodgy duel, which spiced things up a bit, and there was the whole thing with Mary which ya know...it was cruel of him and everything, but it was by far the part that was the most interesting. 

Strangely enough for the time period, it was actually quite easy to read prose/language wise, so the translation was very good. As well as having a stunning cover, this edition has the usual notes which made understanding the novel all the easier! It also had another story in the back and I'm not sure if it was originally published with Hero Of Our Time or if it was separate or added after or what, but it added some more background and linked really well to the main book! 

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Classics: The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby
Rating: 3/5 
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Invited to an extravagantly lavish party in a Long Island mansion, Nick Carraway, a young bachelor who has just settled in the neighbouring cottage, is intrigued by the mysterious host, Jay Gatsby, a flamboyant but reserved self-made man with murky business interests and a shadowy past. As the two men strike up an unlikely friendship, details of Gatsby’s impossible love for a married woman emerge, until events spiral into tragedy. 

Okay....so...I've heard mixed things about this classic, but I wanted to read it myself to form my own opinion, and upon finishing it...I'm just not sure how I feel. I enjoyed aspects of it, but there where other parts I didn't really like so much. 

I liked the look in to the time period that GG provided, The Diviners is one of my favourite books so I'm always intrigued to learn more about the period, and I enjoyed getting this view of it. I liked that the language and writing style made it easy to read. I liked Nick as our narrator, he provided an interesting view point of the whole Daisy/Gatsby thing that was going on, and I felt for him when he was trying to sort things at the end for Gatsby. I felt for Gatsby himself and I was gutted at what happens to him. I enjoyed the writing, the setting, and most of the characters, really I did. 

But...and there is a but, while I did get drawn in here and there, there where parts that didn't keep my attention. I'm sure I'm not the only person who didn't like Tom as a character, but I might be in a minority when I say I didn't like Daisy that much. I just didn't like her. She was so blah. And I don't get why everyone is so obsessed with Gatsby and Daisy and why they ship them so much. From my understanding of the novel, she married someone else because he was rich and Gatsby was not. Then she had her thing with Gatsby. Then she hit someone with a car in a kind of confusing scene, and then went back off with her husband leaving Gatsby to be set up by Tom for the blame. She didn't choose him nor did she even come to his funeral. Like I'm sure there's some huge in depth meaning to it all that I just didn't get, because sometimes I'm really thick when it comes to classics. But yeah. 

The edition itself was lovely, there weren't many notes needed as this is a short book, but I found the information on Gatsby and his wife fascinating! And also incredibly depressing/tragic at points. I love learning about the authors and the context to their novels from the time period they where writing in! 

Classics: A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Ebenezer Scrooge is a lonely, miserly old man who hates Christmas, which he dismisses as "humbug". One Christmas Eve, however, he is visited by a series of ghosts who reveal to him the innocence he has lost, the wretchedness of his future and the poverty of the present, which he has so far ignored. This experience teaches Scrooge the true meaning of the holiday and leaves him a transformed man.With its memorable cast of characters such as Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol is the most heart-warming of seasonal tales, a timeless classic that continues to enchant readers around the world and a lesson in charity and hopefulness that is as powerful today as when it was first written in 1843.

It's no secret that I love the Alma classics, the covers are always gorgeous, and the notes and additional information on the authors and their works paint a nice picture and add tonnes of context. I know I'm early reading this, but I got sent it to review and there's ghosts, so it kinda fits with Halloween but now that it's not Halloween I'm all excited for Christmas already, it probably doesn't help that I was working on a Christmas related project! 

First things first, this isn't just A Christmas Carol, there's The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life and The Haunted Man and the Ghosts Bargain in here too! Now I  liked the other stories don't get me wrong, but I think A Christmas Carol was definitely my favourite of the bunch! I love Dickens writing, the language he uses, the phrases, the imagery. I actually find him surprisingly easy to read, so I enjoyed his storytelling in all of the stories within this volume. I hadn't actually heard of the other stories except for The Chimes, I'm not going to lie to you, and I think I'm going to have to re-read Christmas Carol at least, at Christmas! I'm thinking I should make it a tradition to read it every year, I'm kind of surprised that it's taken me this long to read it! 

I've watched many, many adaptions of A Christmas Carol, starting with the Disney Mickey Mouse one back when I was a kid, and ending with the Muppet Christmas Carol that I watch every single year, partly because when I worked at Disney, one of the songs was played on a loop at Christmas and it was damn catchy! So as I started to read Dickens original story....my brain conjured up Michael Caine, and the Muppets, and Mickey and then the people from that BBC show about Dickens characters that's name escapes me! I was trying to remember what the film adaptions of the ghosts looked like, because I don't remember the Ghost of Christmas Future being quite so scary! 

I loved reading Dickens writing, it's atmospheric, it paints a picture, it's witty and it really put me in a Christmas mood, I'm not going to lie! A Christmas Carol really is a brilliant Christmas read you guys, and it's not that long so it's great if you want a taster of Dickens writing style, before diving in to one of his novels! I haven't been brave enough to pick up any of his novels yet, but I might one day! 

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Review: Incomplete Shakespeare

Okay guys, I LOVE the Incomplete Shakespeare books, I genuinely do! Don't get me wrong, I love Shakespeare, but a lot of the time I read it and I'm 99% sure that pretty much all of it is going over my head and half the time it makes me feel kinda stupid because I know I'm probably not getting something. But Incomplete Shakespeare not only brings the humour, but it brings a great understanding of the plays, both in language and context! Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth are already out, and today I'm going to be talking about Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing! 

Hamlet, oh Hamlet. I struggled with you when I was in school. We actually went to see the Royal Shakespeare Company perform Hamlet when I was in my GCSE year I think it was, it was a drama class outing. It was very long. It was kinda interesting but mostly really boring because I had no idea what anyone was on about. Like I said...I'm well aware most of it flies right over my head. Reading this...it was like it had been translated for me, same for Much Ado About Nothing, and the humour made me laugh out loud or snort when it was amusing. Incomplete Shakespeare makes Shakespeare relatable and understandable and gives you a huge amount of context about the time the play was written, why it was written with that character or that setting, why it was staged that way and so on, and it was actually really fascinating. Some of the footnotes are just downright hilarious though! "Marcellus can always be relied on for a stupid remark" 

The Incomplete Shakespeare are perfect for anyone who, like me, really struggles to understand Shakespeare and really wants to understand the plays, whether you're doing exams on Shakespeare or just ya know....fancy reading it! Brilliantly set out, and like I keep on saying...hilarious and informative, they really bring Shakespeare to life! 

Spooktober Recommends: Classics to YA

Here it is guys...the final recommends post for Spooktober! 

This was actually supposed to go up on Halloween but I've had a jam packed week and haven't had time to finish my last review book for the month so I'm switching blog posts around! 

So, I came across a couple of books when I was doing my recommends posts that I thought sounded like a YA version of certain classics, or that went with some of the classics or was similar in some way and I thought I'd do a blog post about them! I could only find four, I'm sure there are more although for the life of me I can't find a YA Dracula! 

SO. Here we go! 

1. Phantom of the Opera

In this modern day spin on Leroux’s gothic tale of unrequited love turned to madness, seventeen-year-old Rune Germain has a mysterious affliction linked to her operatic talent, and a horrifying mistake she’s trying to hide. Hoping creative direction will help her, Rune’s mother sends her to a French arts conservatory for her senior year, located in an opera house rumored to have ties to The Phantom of the Opera.

At RoseBlood, Rune secretly befriends the masked Thorn—an elusive violinist who not only guides her musical transformation through dreams that seem more real than reality itself, but somehow knows who she is behind her own masks. As the two discover an otherworldly connection and a soul-deep romance blossoms, Thorn’s dark agenda comes to light and he’s forced to make a deadly choice: lead Rune to her destruction, or face the wrath of the phantom who has haunted the opera house for a century, and is the only father he’s ever known. 

Roseblood is, as the synopsis says, a modern day spin on Phantom of the Opera! Whether you've read the classic itself or seen the movie or the stage show...then this is for you! I feel like I need to read Phantom of the Opera before I read this, it's on my shelf, but I've not had the guts to dive in yet! 

2. Jekyll and Hyde

In 1897 England, sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne has no one... except the "thing" inside her.

When a young lord tries to take advantage of Finley, she fights back. And wins. But no normal Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch...

Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says she's special, says she's one of them. The orphaned duke takes her in from the gaslit streets against the wishes of his band of misfits: Emily, who has her own special abilities and an unrequited love for Sam, who is part robot; and Jasper, an American cowboy with a shadowy secret.

Griffin's investigating a criminal called The Machinist, the mastermind behind several recent crimes by automatons. Finley thinks she can help and finally be a part of something, finally fit in.

But The Machinist wants to tear Griff's little company of strays apart, and it isn't long before trust is tested on all sides. At least Finley knows whose side she's on even if it seems no one believes her.

The Girl in the Steel Corset is one of my favourite books, I'm not going to lie to you guys! I've included it because Finley reminds me a lot of Jekyll and Hyde, or rather a version of them, soooooo YA Jekyll and Hyde right there but with lots more going on! 

3. Frankenstein

Victor and Konrad are the twin brothers Frankenstein and inseparable until Konrad falls gravely ill. In the forbidden Dark Library, Victor finds an ancient formula, and seeks an alchemist to recreate the Elixir of Life. With friends Elizabeth and Henry, he scales highest trees in the Strumwald, dives deepest lake caves, and each sacrifices a body part.

This Dark Endeavour isn't so much a YA version of Frankenstein but it is a YA prequel to Frankenstein and I actually thought it was pretty damn good! If you're kind of intimidated about starting Frankenstein, then this prequel might be a good way to get yourself psyched up for it! 

4. The Fall of the House of Usher

Madeline Usher is doomed.

She has spent her life fighting fate, and she thought she was succeeding. Until she woke up in a coffin.

Ushers die young. Ushers are cursed. Ushers can never leave their house, a house that haunts and is haunted, a house that almost seems to have a mind of its own. Madeline’s life—revealed through short bursts of memory—has hinged around her desperate plan to escape, to save herself and her brother. Her only chance lies in destroying the house.

In the end, can Madeline keep her own sanity and bring the house down? The Fall is a literary psychological thriller, reimagining Edgar Allan Poe’s classic The Fall of the House of Usher. 

The Fall is a YA version of The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe and it was SO good when I read it you guys! Perfectly creepy and Halloween-y! I haven't read much Poe to be honest, I was slowly working my way through one of those collected works books but this is one of the few I had read, and I loved this reimagining! 

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Spooktober Discussions: Jekyll and Hyde

Hey guuys, happy Saturday! 

I know you're all probably really confused right now because I NEVER post on Saturdays. Ever. But I had to this week because SO many blog posts to squeeze in to Spooktober and so little time. So here we are! 

Today I wanted to talk with you guys about Jekyll and Hyde! I just read it for the first time, if you haven't read it....it's 74 pages. It took me under an hour to read it. You can read it pretty fast, so if you want to read a classic for Halloween but you're not up for a load of pages of...well...classic, then The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is definitely the one for you! 

Because this book is so freaking short, this discussion post isn't going to be the complete monster that Frankenstein was! I actually found myself quite pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to read the book, at times Frankenstein was a bit of a mission, but Jekyll and Hyde was a breeze and it was fast paced. Although I was really surprised in the beginning because I was like...wait....where's Jekyll? I was expecting it to be narrated by him, to add a creep factor when he transforms and either doesn't remember or does or whatever I thought was going to happen! But no, we have Jekyll's lawyer and friend telling us all about what happened and Jekyll at the end for one chapter. One. 

I loved the London of the book, it had a foggy atmosphere that fit with the story, and the story is definitely a psychological one and I don't know about you guys, but it made me think a little bit. I knew the basics of the story about him wanting to split off the "bad" half of him (it's explained way better in the book okay, I'm just paraphrasing and mind blanking at the same time) and that's pretty much all I knew. I've seen the stage show (that was totally a thing, in case anyone else remembers or saw it, I totally have the soundtrack and I have no idea why) and obviously Hyde has come out to play in Once Upon a Time and they gave it a nice little twist. 

I have to be honest. When I watched OUAT and I saw Jekyll and Hyde I was like the dude that looks like Lurch is totally Hyde because he looked like what I pictured Hyde to look like. I've always pictured like a pale, Victorian version of the hulk but like..without the green. Now I've read the book I see how wrong I am. He looks nothing like Hyde and OUAT's twist is kind of less surprising now. I've not actually watched any of the movie versions but I think I might have to, just out of curiosity because I've heard tell that the movies took that "hairy hand" bit and ran with it and went full werewolf. So that should be interesting. 

I loved the writing, like I said it was easy to understand it was straight to the point with it's message and no slogging was necessary. There where some brilliant sentences in the book, and I'll put some of them down in the quotes section! The strange thing was, I can imagine reading this at the time when it just came out, and not knowing what was going on with Jekyll and it being a huge surprise and I imagine that added more of a scare factor to the book, but reading it now, in this day and age, when everyone and their dog knows what the deal is with Jekyll and Hyde it kind of took the shock reveal away from it. So it wasn't as scary and gruesome as I thought it was going to be, but it had a nice dark atmosphere to it. Plus the whole "the monsters taking over" kinda thing. But as I was reading I was like "Wow, okay. So if you don't already know what happens Stevenson's done a good job of keeping you guessing" I kinda wanted to do the Men in Black mind wipe thing to get the full "OMG" factor. 

I really enjoyed this book...or should I call it a novella? Either way, I enjoyed reading it despite the fact that it's a book that's pretty much been spoiled for everyone, ever. It's fun to see how Stevenson wrote the story to hide what was going on, so you don't lose too much enjoyment of it. The last thing I have to say is that I loved the ending. I don't know what it is about the ending and the final sentence but I just loved how Stevenson finished it off! There's something about that final sentence and if it wasn't kinda late at night and I wasn't so tired, I'd probably be able to be semi-intelligent about it! 

So what did you guys think of Jekyll and Hyde? 

Favourite Quotes: 

"O my poor old Harry Jekyll, if ever I read Satan's signature upon a face, it is on that of your new friend" 

"In the gloom of his spirits, he seemed to read a menace in the flickering of the firelight on the polished cabinets and the uneasy starting of the shadow on the roof."

"Here then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end." 

"If I am the chief of sinners, I am the chief of sufferers also."

“With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to the truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two.”