October Classic: The Curious Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

The 2015 Classics Challenge is set up by Stacey over at THE PRETTY BOOKS. The goal is to read one classic a month and to blog about the experience. I've always wanted to read more classics and since I'm in a monthly classics book group, I thought this would be a great way to combine the two! Since we're so close to Halloween (keep an eye on the blog for a special book I'll review on Halloween), I decided to pick a scary book classic: The Curious Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

WHEN I DISCOVERED THIS CLASSIC + WHY I CHOSE TO READ IT

This is one of those classics that I have no recollection of when I exactly discovered it. It's not a book or story that I've always known, neither was it one that I suddenly came into contact with and that left an impression on me. At some point, I was aware that it existed and then it was always kind of in my subconscious, but I was never really aware of what the story was exactly about or why it was written. 
The reason for this classic is, again, my Literary London course at Waterstone's. (I blab about it a lot, but it's almost done so don't worry too much, I will be quiet about it soon) It was a book picked to represent London from the 1890s until early 20th century for the course and since it's a little bit of a horror story, I decided to chose it as this month's classic.

WHAT MAKES IT A CLASSIC

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is probably a classic for the originality of the storyline and how well it represents the time it was created in. First and foremost, it has an amazing plot that leaves you on your edge of your seat nowadays; I can't even imagine what it must have been like for readers who weren't as familiar with concepts like science, mental illnesses and the idea of living a double life. Secondly, it gives the reader insight into the thinking and fears of the late 19th century.

WHAT I THOUGHT OF THIS CLASSIC

Before reading this book, I had no idea whether or not I'd enjoy it. "A story about someone with schizophrenia? At least it's short" is a pretty good summary of my initial thoughts. However, I actually really enjoyed this book though it's nothing like the genres I'm used to reading. 
The plot is clearly build up in a structure that focuses on suspense. The reader is supposed to wonder what exactly is happening throughout the story and the little clues won't all come together until the very end. What surprised me was the fact that, even though I've been exposed to double life narratives, I was still really surprised by the ending of the story. I had it completely wrong and would have never figured it out early on in the book.
The reading feels very contemporary, which makes the story easy to read and feel as though it could be happening in London right now.

WILL IT STAY A CLASSIC

Yes. Like I said, the story feels so contemporary and fresh that there is no way this will ever not be a classic. Even if the story itself will fade, which I doubt it will, the narration of double life which was introduced with this book will never. Just think of The Hulk, or Hawkeye in the latest Avengers film, or google "double life" and read all about cheating husband. (Honestly, I tried it. That's all you find.) This is too ingrained into our society to ever forget the original story that started everything.

WHO I’D RECOMMEND IT TO

This is a good classic to start off with and to give to younger children. Though the story is creepy, it's not scary and I doubt it will give anyone nightmares - I was fine and I get creeped out by everything usually. This is a classic with a contemporary feel that you can read in one night and really enjoy. So if you're a lover of anything fantasy or superhero, this book will give you great insight into how those genres started and it's easy to read, so you have no excuse anymore to not read it this Halloween!

A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara

RATING: ★★★★★

Though I mostly review YA and classic novels on my blog, already an odd combination at best, I want to throw something new into the mix - a book I think can appeal to readers of both Young Adult books and the more classic novels: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.

Even if you know nothing about this book, you probably know that it was expected to win the Man Booker Prize this year, and then didn't. But book prizes, nominations or wins, don't always reflect on the quality of a book; sometimes books win because they're so experimental or special, but does that mean it's a good book? A Little Life truly is a good book with an amazingly strong plot and characters that you can't let go, even after reading over 700 pages about them.

A Little Life is the story of four recent college graduates: Willem, Jude, JB and Malcolm. They roomed together while attending a small New England college and have recently moved to New York at the beginning of the story. The first hundred pages of the book are devoted to explaining who each guy is and how they have become the way they are: Willem comes from Midwest America and doesn't understand his parents at all. He moves to NYC to pursue his dream of becoming an actor. Malcolm comes from a rich family and wants to be an architect while JB is struggling to find ways to express his artistic creativity. And then there is Jude. Jude doesn't talk about his childhood and seems to have come out of nowhere with absolutely no one. He's a lawyer, but also a prodigy at maths. Very early on, the reader realises Jude is the wildcard of the bunch - you just don't realise how much until you're already deep into the story.

And that's the biggest strength of Hanya Yanagihara; she unveils layers of plot seamlessly and unexpectedly throughout the book. One of the characters mentions or sees something that appears trivial, but suddenly there is a whole new world opened within the book. Jude's secrets aren't thrown out there for the readers, they are carefully distributed throughout the book and slowly makes the reader understand more and more why Jude is the way he is.

From here on, the review will include some spoilers, so if you don't want to read them, I suggest you stop reading here.

What I loved about this book is that it beautifully combine horrendous actions with a hopeless sort of hope. I didn't know hopeless hope existed, but Hanya Yanagihara introduced it to my life with this book. Jude has gone through the worst of things; he was kidnapped and sexually, physically and mentally abused as a child. He has no parents and every single person he ever trusted has betrayed him. He has an intense self-hatred that seems to be unescapable. At some point in the book, you think Jude will get better and actually find his happy ending, only to be reminded that this is not a fairytale and the worst possible thing happens to Jude, just like it has his whole life.

And though Jude doesn't fight in a typical sense, he does hold on to life for as long as he can and I thought that was beautiful. Jude can't be a super strong character, because strength is build and he never got that chance, but he is strong in his own way and even the ending, which no one would call a happy ending, is somewhat beautiful. Jude finds his own way and his own hope and as a reader, you feel at peace with the story. Jude finds his resolution, the only one possible in his mind, and though it is not hopeful, as a reader you do feel kind of happy that he is finally at peace.

The other three characters, Willem, JB and Malcolm, are less focused on, but still well-rounded in their own right. They interact with Jude, who really claims the story early on in the book, but are never there just to push Jude's story arc forward. The book naturally develops from a focus on all four characters, to a focus on Jude, to a focus on Jude and Willem. You don't even realise it's happening until you're deep in the story.

So no surprise, I adored this book. The writing was beautiful, subtle in its plot developments and extremely raw in emotional scenes. This is not a book for the faint of heart and it might make you question what happiness is and if anyone can ever help you achieve it, but that's the beauty of this story. I've read it in small bits over the course of two weeks and even now, almost two weeks after I finished, I still want to pick it up and return to this world.

Literary Boston

So as I discussed on my youtube channel yesterday, I went to Boston a few weeks ago. On my channel I showed my mini-bookhaul (link here!), but I also saw some literary stuff in Boston. Now, this was mostly a writing/personal trip so I didn't see everything there is, but I just wanted to share some of what I did see!

Now when I got to Boston on Thursday, the first thing I wanted to find was a Barnes & Nobles. I dream about B&N and all the gorgeous books they have and the wide selection and... I needed B&N to fight my jetlag. I found one in the Prudential Centre WHICH ALSO HAD A STARBUCKS IN tHE STORE!!! Absolutely amazing. Added to that, they had an amazing selection of YA books AND Trouble by Non Pratt and One by Sarah Crossan! I love seeing UKYA books out in the wild in the US - with gorgeous new covers too!

Some of my favourite YA books - HELLE WE WERE LIARS!!

While I was on my way back to the hotel from B&N, and had been up for 24 hours, I bumped into a gorgeous building. At the time, I couldn't piece together quite what it was, but the next day I discovered that I found Boston's public library. And it's beautiful. It is honestly one of the biggest and most stunning buildings I've ever seen and I fell in love with Boston the moment I knew that it's a city that values libraries so much. Yes.

Look at this building! Isn't it just so official and gorgeous looking? One of my favourite libraries I've seen so far!

But I didn't want to focus mostly on books - we have books in the UK too and everyone knows I already have too many to still read - but I wanted to see some of the houses where writers I admire have lived. Clearly where you live inspires your writing a great deal and I hoped seeing their environment (although many years later) could give me some of their inspiration.

Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott lived in various places in Boston throughout her life and I decided to visit two; both of them located in the Beacon Hill area, which is in my opinion also the nicest Boston area.

First, I saw her childhood home (20 Pinckney Street), which is commemorated by an official plaque on the front of the house which explains about the family and their role in Boston.

Afterwards, I went to a square where Louisa May Alcott lived when she was older. Unfortunately, they were refurbishing the house so I couldn't really take pictures of it, but here's an impression of the gorgeous Louisburg Square none the less. Louisa May Alcott clearly lived long before Boston was what it is today, but it was still really cool to see her house and to see that it's still reserved, even though so many years have passed since then.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Now I have mixed feelings about The Scarlett Letter, but when I read that Nathaniel Hawthorne lived in the same street as Louisa May Alcott (at different times) I couldn't resist just peeking at his house too - which is by far the most gorgeous house in Boston that I have seen from the outside. Look at that white window! I'm sure there has to be an amazing reading bench right in front of it.

Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes

Right before I went to Boston, I got a little bit obsessed with Sylvia Plath. I started reading her diaries and fell in love with the way she's so relatable and writes so beautifully about the most simple things. So even though Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes only lived on 9 Willow Street for a few years, I still had to go see it for myself - just to feel kind of close to Sylvia Plath for once.

This is the building they lived in, though it looks really modernised so I'm not sure how much of it still reflect the way the building looked during Plath and Hughes' years, but it was on a gorgeous quite street in the middle of Beacon Hill - a great location!

Besides those houses, I saw Cambridge with the Harvard Library and Harvard bookstore, Edgar Allan Poe's statue and a gorgeous bookstore called Trident Bookseller and Café. If you want to see what all of that looks like, I included a slideshow of some pictures I took.

View of Cambridge

Harvard Bookstore

Harvard Bookstore Fiction

Harvard Bookstore YA

SO MUCH RAINBOW ROWELL IN HERE!

Edgar Allan Poe

Trident Bookstore and Café

Tonight The Streets Are Ours - Leila Sales

Rating: ★★★★★

I love Leila Sales. I'm a biased super fan of her books and I was so excited when I bought Tonight The Streets are Ours. Not only is it a Leila Sales book, it is also one of the most beautiful books I've ever seen. Win win.

Plot

Recklessly loyal.

That’s how seventeen-year-old Arden Huntley has always thought of herself. Caring for her loved ones is what gives Arden purpose in her life and makes her feel like she matters. But lately she’s grown resentful of everyone—including her needy best friend and her absent mom—taking her loyalty for granted.

Then Arden stumbles upon a website called Tonight the Streets Are Ours, the musings of a young New York City writer named Peter, who gives voice to feelings that Arden has never known how to express. He seems to get her in a way that no one else does, and he hasn’t even met her.

Review

When I started reading this book, I had no idea what it was about and I think that's probably the best way to approach this story. It is so filled with twists and turns that limited knowledge really helps you get carried away by it, so I deleted half of the Goodreads summary for this post. I feel like this is all you need to know going into the story, however there's plenty to say about the story without giving away the plot (and if you do disagree with me, the full official summary is here so knock yourself out!).

What I adored about this book is the friendship between Arden and Lindsey. Their friendship is complicated; Lindsey always gets into trouble and Arden feels like it's her responsibility to fix things "because that's what you do when you love someone." Not surprisingly, this creates a lot of tension between two 17 year old girls, but I loved the idea of this. In so many YA novels, female friendships are filled with tension because the girls are too selfish, get distracted by boys/school or just grow apart when growing up. While this is realistic for teens, I liked seeing a friendship where one girl is just undeniably loyal to her friend; not to a boyfriend, but to her female friend. It's refreshing and so healthy to see represented in YA books.

A big theme in this book is social media, and a lot of Goodreads reviewers seem to take offence to the negative way social media is portrayed. I disagree with this completely. Tonight The Street Are Ours shows that we make everything we see and read on social media personal to ourselves. Arden reads Peter's blog and completely projects her own experiences, fears and ambitions on it and isn't that what we all do? We read about other people's lives and relate it back to ourselves and what it says about our life by contrast. Leila Sales shows the dangers in doing this, but also how healing this can be during certain periods in our life - we need escapism and social media is just another form of it.

This is no surprise, but I adored this book. The writing was amazing, the characters were so relatable (though I'm not at all like Arden and would never give so much to a friend without getting anything back), the plot was full of tension and executed so well. I don't know what else to say, besides that this is one of my favourite reads of 2015 and that five stars doesn't do it justice.

The Heir - Kiera Cass

I was late on The Selection train. I made a post with reason to read/not read the books, but I never really reviewed them, because everyone had seem to done that already. And then The Heir came out and suddenly I have the opportunity to get down all my thoughts about it. Yes.

Plot

Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon—and they lived happily ever after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she'd put off marriage for as long as possible.

But a princess's life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can't escape her very own Selection—no matter how fervently she protests.

Eadlyn doesn't expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn's heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her . . . and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought.

Review

The Selection books were always compared to "the bachelor meets the Hunger Games" and clearly this holds up for The Heir too. Instead of following a girl entering the selection, we follow the girl at the head of the game. Is this original? Not really. Does it make things predictable? Yes. Does this mean it is a wonderful book? Yes. 

I really didn't like Eadlyn - I thought she was condescending, rude and extremely cocky. She does make some progress throughout the book, but it all felt rather forced. However, when comparing her to America, it was a breath of fresh air (she isn't likeable, but not as annoying as America). I also didn't like how much America and Maxon seemed to have changed. It is 20 years later, but that's no reason for them to have lots all the characteristics they had as teenagers.

The guys who enter the selection are all flat characters that portray just the right characteristics Eadlyn needs to push forward her own character development. I really didn't bond with any one of them and though I can make a pretty good guess about who will win, I don't really care about it. They all seem boring and uninteresting.

However, and this might sound surprising after everything I just said, I really enjoyed The Heir. Just like you sometimes want to watch the bachelor, you also sometimes want to read books like this. From the very first pages, you can already make a pretty good guess who will win the games and that makes the book so wonderful - it's like a hot cup of tea on a rainy day. It just makes you feel warm and fuzzy to be able to predict what will happen and to know that you won't be taken on an emotional rollercoaster. Kiera Cass' writing didn't stick with me, but it does a great job portraying the story in a way that works. Every chapter has a mini cliffhanger at the end so you will keep reading. And reading. I guess guilty-pleasures aren't just limited to movies.

September Classic: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

The 2015 Classics Challenge is set up by Stacey over at THE PRETTY BOOKS. The goal is to read one classic a month and to blog about the experience. I've always wanted to read more classics and since I'm in a monthly classics book group, I thought this would be a great way to combine the two!

WHEN I DISCOVERED THIS CLASSIC + WHY I CHOSE TO READ IT

Mrs. Dalloway is one of those classics that has always been around in my house, but no one actually seemed to have read. My parents say they've started it, but never finished it because it was too boring. I've heard about it from other people and the general consensus is always that it is pretty boring and "just a woman walking around all day buying flowers." So obviously, this isn't a book that I would have chosen, except for the fact that I started a course called Literary London at Waterstone's Piccadilly and this book was on the reading list. So slightly forced, I jumped into this classic.

WHAT MAKES IT A CLASSIC

I think with this book it is really more the writing style than the story itself. It is hard to even explain what the story is about without discussing Woolf's writing. Her modernist narration seems to randomly jump from the head of one character to another throughout the story until you get to the end and realise it's not random at all and Woolf really took you on a journey where she connected all these different people together. This was new at the time and even now I can say I've never read a book with such seemingly random narration, yet she is more in control of her story than any other author I know. For this reason, and for the obsession so many people have with Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group, I can't see this book ever not being a classic. 

WHAT I THOUGHT OF THIS CLASSIC

It's hard to describe how I feel about this book. When I started it, I really didn't understand why so many people loved it - it's about a woman, Clarissa Dalloway, walking around London and buying flowers. Big deal.
And then you read some more and realise that it's not just Mrs. Dalloway, but a host of other characters. You read the stream of consciousness of every single one of them and though it often switches without your knowledge, they are all distinctively different in their voices. To juggle that with a good ten characters is an amazing feat on Woolf's part and as a writer, I really started to enjoy that side of the story.
The main struggle I had is that I didn't really enjoy Clarissa as a character. She's so far removed from what I'm like as a person that it was hard to relate to her worries - I know parties were important at the time, but she's so obsessed with hers that it gets a little bit tedious after a while. She also seemed rather unkind to most people and I can say that I enjoyed every single character more than her.
I still loved the story, because I loved the storyline, that runs kind of parallel to the one of Mrs. Dalloway, of Septimus Warren Smith, a traumatised war veteran, and his wife Rezia. Septimus is a troubled man, and unlike with Clarissa, I could totally understand why. He has seen some awful things during his service and now back in London, no one seems to be able to help him deal with it. Septimus broke my heart and I couldn't help but get emotionally invested in his story and root for him and his wife. Though the books is called Mrs. Dalloway, this really was the main storyline for me.

WILL IT STAY A CLASSIC

As I said before, I definitely think it will. After reading this, I can't imagine ever forgetting about this book and I think that makes it a classic. What also helps is that it doesn't run the risk of being overtaken by a film edition (like with Breakfast at Tiffany's). This story really only works as a novel and the sheer creativity and complexity could never be truly transported to another medium. So Mrs. Dalloway will always be a classic - if only because it shows the broad scope of what can be done with a story and its readers.

WHO I’D RECOMMEND IT TO

I think this classic is a little bit more difficult than the other ones I've read this year - I doubt I would have been able to read this a year ago. So I think I'd recommend this to people who have some experience with classics and who are okay with a slow start and a really focused reading. The book jumps from perspectives so much that you really need to pay attention to every word so that you can keep up with it. So if you're in a studious or ambitious mood, this is the book for you!

The Dogs - Allan Stratton

Rating: ★★★★★

Plot

Cameron and his mom have been on the run for five years. His father is hunting them. At least, that’s what Cameron’s been told.
When they settle in an isolated farmhouse, Cameron starts to see and hear things that aren’t possible. Soon he’s questioning everything he thought he knew and even his sanity.

Review

I'm actually not sure why I wanted to read The Dogs. I think I liked the cover, but I also think I had no idea how creepy it would be, which is another time I've learned that reading the summary of a book would actually be a good thing. However, in this case, I'm kinda glad I didn't. Based on that summary, I would have never picked The Dogs, but I am so happy that I did. Even thought The Dogs is a scary story, it's not horror - it's more about what tricks your mind can play and how reliable our gut instinct usually is.

Cameron is an amazing unreliable narrator. At the beginning of the book, Cameron starts seeing the ghost of a boy who lived in his new house before him. Throughout the story, this presence becomes more and more strong and as a reader, you doubt whether or not Cameron is actually seeing this ghost or is imagining him. At times, the ghosts teaches us right information, but at the other moments, he seems nothing more than a fragment of Cameron's imagination. The great thing is that he also doubts whether the ghost is real, which makes it so much easier for the reader to relate to him - who wouldn't doubt something like that? (answer: a ton of YA characters)

The other thing I liked was the intertwining of several different plots. I can't say too much without spoiling the book, but the story of Cameron's family and the family that lived in the house before him seamlessly merge together towards the end of the story. This is done by Allan Stratton in an effortless way that makes you only realise the similarities at the end of the story.

Overall, The Dogs is an original take on the suspense and paranormal YA genre. Cameron is a great main character that guides you through the story as a reader and gives just enough information to keep you going. This book is a must-read for anyone who likes history, ghosts and finding out if you ever can be too curious.