Book Shame #5

Book Shame is a monthly post here on A Book So Fathomless where I pick out four books from my TBR jar, talk about them and then challenge myself to read them before the next post.

I know this is a little early in the month, but I’ve already finished my four books from last month so I figured there was no point waiting.

I liked Who Could That Be At This Hour by Lemony Snicket, and you can see my review here. Unfortunately, I didn’t love Charlotte Gray or Castle Dor as much as I’d hoped. I didn’t techanically read The White Queen but I was doing research on the series and everyone recommends starting with The Lady of the Rivers (which I already own) so I’m going to start that this weekend.

I picked out four really great books for April. I really love that I don’t tend to pick YA novels out of my TBR jar, which means I pick up things that I might not otherwise read for months.

The Mirror Crack’d Side to Side by Agatha Christie

I’m trying to read 12 Agatha books this year and so far I’ve only read one, so I’m happy to have picked this one out. This is one of her books that I know literally nothing about.

The Keys to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson

I love me some Maureen Johnson. Seriously, I adore everything I’ve read by her. Again, no idea what this is about.

Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell

It’s been a while since I’ve read any Orwell, but this is probably the book of his that I am most excited for. Also, I’ll be visiting Paris and London in a few months so this should be a really interesting read.

The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene

I’m not even going to try and pretend that this isn’t the book I’m most excited for. This a re-read for me as I went through a massive Nancy Drew stage when I was younger. I’m so excited to return to one of my favourite characters.

I’m genuinely excited for all of these. They are all reasonably short books so hopefully I can get through them quite quickly.

REVIEW: Who Could That Be At This Hour? by Lemony Snicket

Title: Who Could That Be At This Hour? (All the Wrong Questions #1)
Author: Lemony Snicket
Genre: Middle Grade, Mystery, Humour.
Publication Date: October 2012
Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont
Format: Hardback
Pages: 258
Rating: 4/5

Before you consider reading "Who Could That Be at This Hour?" Ask yourself these questions:

1. Are you curious about what is happening in a seaside town that is no longer by the sea?

2. Do you want to know more about a stolen item that wasn't stolen at all?

3. Do you really think that's any of your business? Why? What kind of person are you? Really?

4. Who is standing behind you?

Lemony Snicket is kind of my life. I’m sure you’re pretty much all aware of the love I have for A Series of Unfortunate Events and the Baudelaire children, so this probably doesn’t surprise you. It’s so hard not to break into a rant about how much I love Snicket and those books, but let’s just focus on this one. (Would anyone be interested in a post in which I actually try and explain why I love this series so much?)

Firstly, this is a kind of prequel to the original series. I didn’t know that going into it, which is kind of sad because I would have read this a long time ago if I’d known that. It could be read as a standalone series too, I think, if you don’t want to go through 13 books of pain and distrust of everything and everyone. (But you totally should.)

Anyway, this was sort of a strange book for me. I loved it because it’s Lemony Snicket and it’s a prequel to my absolute favourite book series ever (sorry HP!), but at the same time, I didn’t care about the story as much. The characters weren’t as interesting as the Baudelaires (Violet beats everyone), and the plot was even more confusing than the original, which is seriously saying something. I know quite a few people who were disappointed in this so I didn’t really go in with high hopes, but I don’t think that I was disappointed but I expected more. I’m really interested to see where this is going to go and I’m hoping to re-read the original series again once I’ve finished this to see how it all clicks together.

 

If I wasn’t so in love with ASoUE, I don’t know that I’d continue this series. That being said, I do adore Snicket’s writing because its sort of ridiculous, and serious and witty, and dark, and intelligent all in one. I’m so excited to be back in his world, though I'm not entirely sure that I ever really left.

BOOK SHAME #4

Book Shame is a monthly post here on A Book So Fathomless where I pick out four books from my TBR jar, talk about them and then challenge myself to read them before the next post.

Let’s talk about how I went last month first!

I managed to finish both The Man in the Brown Suit and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – I liked them both. I also started Annette Vallon but I only got 106 pages in – I will be continuing it next month. Finally, Rags and Bones – I picked this up early this month then realized I hadn’t read most of the original tales that these were retelling so I decided to leave it for another time.

As for the ones I picked out for March…

1. All the Wrong Questions by Lemony Snicket

I’m sure you’re all aware of my love for the Series of Unfortunate Events books, so I’m happy that I can finally get around to this new series.

2. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory

I’ve owned this one for years now – I think about seven years or so and I still haven’t read it. I know there was a TV series adapted from this that looks amazing, so hopefully I can read this and then watch that.

3. Castle Dor by Daphne Du Maurier

I’ve been meaning to pick up another Daphne Du Maurier book since I finished Jamaica Inn in May (or something) last year but I didn’t know which to pick. To say I’m excited for this would be an understatement.

4. Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks

I absolutely adore the movie adaptation of this book so I’m both super excited and a little terrified to finally read this.

So I think I’ve got a pretty good selection here for March. These are all books that I’ve genuinely been wanting to pick up for ages but just haven’t yet. Hopefully I can actually get to them all this month!