Bookmarked... #25

The return of the (mostly) weekly post letting you all know what I'm reading and have lined up for the week! It's my own version of Sheila at Book Journey's It's Monday What Are You Reading (now hosted by Kathryn at Book Date) and I have her permission to rename it for my own nefarious reasons...

I thought I'd got a lot of reading done this week but looking back on my reading journal tells another story. I still don't know what I did with my spare time over the last week as I don't seem to have achieved much! I did start watching some horror movies in preparation for my R.I.P. & Spooky Sunday posts but apart from that? Nothing much got done...

Read

I absolutely loved In The Woods! I honestly don't know why it's taken me so long to read it. I own a copy of this but it's been so long since I bought it that it's gone AWOL and I had to borrow a copy from the library.

Mixed feelings about Mr. Splitfoot... I loved some of it and hated some of it. That probably explains why it's taken me so long to read it!

Still reading

I'm struggling with this one. I quite enjoyed the first book but this one isn't holding my attention.

I'm savouring this book. I'm such a huge fan of Shirley Jackson so I like to take my time with everything I read or re-read! Let Me Tell You is more than likely going to end up on my top ten books of the year list.

Started

Both of these are for my R.I.P. challenge! Alison Littlewood is fast becoming a favorite author for me. I love Path Of Needles and A Cold Season, I'm really enjoying Unquiet House so far and I just got Hidden People from Netgalley so that may well be next on the reading pile! I picked Fell up on a whim at the library but so far, so good!

What have you been reading recently? Or not?!

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril XI

Better late than never but it's that time of year again, R.I.P. and featuring the spectacular artwork of Abigail Larson! Time to dig out all your spooky, scary, gothic, mysterious & thrilling reads/movies and make sure all the lights are on... Carl from Stainless Steel Droppings has resumed hosting duties again this year so head on over if you want to join in the peril too. The only thing that seems to be missing this year is a group read of something deliciously creepy...

Read at least four books that come under these categories -

Mystery
Suspense
Thriller
Gothic
Horror
Dark Fantasy

Easy! I think that's the majority of the books on my shelves. I have plenty to choose from, including a few review titles which I've been saving for this challenge.

I've got quite a few short story collections lined up so looking forward to this one!

I think this is the only peril in which I vaguely succeeded last year. I watch horror movies on a regular basis, even more so through September and October so Spooky Sunday will be returning!

Spooky Sunday #4 - The Woman In Black: Angel Of Death

Welcome to Spooky Sunday, a new feature on Bookish Outsider that will run until Halloween! This week I had a Woman In Black marathon, the first movie for the third or fourth time and the second for the first time.

I'm a huge fan of The Woman In Black by Susan Hill, I've read the book a dozen or more times and I've seen the fantastically creepy stage show. I was a bit hesitant about the movie, mainly because of Daniel Radcliffe and his Harry Potter baggage, but I have to say I was suitably impressed. I watched it on the big screen, mostly because I thought it would have a better impact that way and although I didn't jump I did have shivers down my back at certain points!

Sadly, this wasn't the case with The Woman In Black: Angel of Death. I read the book, by Martyn Waites, back in January 2014 after hearing that there was going to be a (fully authorized, by Susan Hill, sequel) and was intrigued to see how they were going to do it. Despite an excellent cast including Jeremy Irvine, Phoebe Fox and Helen McCrory, this movie fell flat for me. This time it's 40 years after the original event and England is being heavily bombed. A group of evacuee children and their teachers are moved to Eel Marsh House to get them out of the city and along the way they meet a handsome RAF officer stationed near said house. This is where Angel of Death lost its appeal for me. Aside from throwing in a hint of romance(?) the house loses its terrifying aspect when there's such a large group of people. One of the key points of the original was the isolation that Arthur Kipps felt, in the house by himself and cut off by the tide.

If you loved the first movie don't watch Angel of Death expecting the same level of chills and if you haven't watched the first movie make sure to watch it before this one otherwise you may be severely disappointed.

This has been an R.I.P. X production.

The Death House - Sarah Pinborough

Toby's life was perfectly normal... until it was unravelled by something as simple as a blood test.

Taken from his family, Toby now lives in the Death House: an out-of-time existence far from the modern world, where he, and the others who live there, are studied by Matron and her team of nurses. They're looking for any sign of sickness. Any sign of their wards changing. Any sign that it's time to take them to the sanatorium.

No one returns from the sanatorium.

Withdrawn from his house-mates and living in his memories of the past, Toby spends his days fighting his fear. But then a new arrival in the house shatters the fragile peace, and everything changes.

Because everybody dies. It's how you choose to live that counts.

The Death House is, at its heart, a love story. Unlikely I know for something that reads like a dystopian Gothic but it's the truth. Toby is one of a handful of residents of the Death House, an isolated big house on an island presumably somewhere in the British Isles.Sixteen years old and decidedly unlikeable Toby is waiting to die, like all the other residents of the Death House, from a mysterious illness that can only be picked up in a blood test and once you're found to have it you're whisked away - leaving your life, family and friends behind for good. One day though, something happens and Toby realizes that just maybe he wants to live. Clara, the new resident, turns everyone's lives upside down and suddenly little things that didn't matter? Now they do...

I'm a huge fan of Sarah Pinborough's writing and have been since I picked up a copy of A Matter of Blood way back when. The Death House is one for the favorite's list, it's beautifully written and the children in the house are vividly written as is the house itself. It should be a depressing, downbeat read but is actually quite wonderful in its description and the way that there's a layer of menace over everything, from the children themselves to the matron who is maybe just as dangerous as this disease they are all facing. Clara and Toby are two of the best written teenagers I've come across in a while. In fact it's quite easy to forget they are teenagers at times as they develop a sense of maturity way above those of their peers not on the island. The supporting cast of characters, Will, Louis, Jake, Eleanor and Ashley are all equally as well written and unique in their character too and play pivotal parts in the story of The Death House. It's a slow build to a most unexpected ending, especially when there's an element of hope throughout the latter part of the story that has you hooked to the very last page. I shall say no more but if you're anything like me you'll need a box of tissues handy...

The Death House - Sarah Pinborough

ISBN - 9781473202320

Publisher - Gollancz

Release date - February 26 2015

Find - Goodreads | Book Depository

Many thanks to Gollancz and Netgalley for a review copy!

Spooky Sunday #3 - Stonehearst Asylum

Welcome to Spooky Sunday, a new feature on Bookish Outsider that will run until Halloween!This week I've been watching quite a few 'spooky' movies but my favorite was Stonehearst Asylum, starring Kate Beckinsale, Jim Sturgess and Ben Kingsley.

A recent medical school grad who takes a position at a mental institution soon finds himself taken with one of his colleagues -- though he has no initial idea of a recent, horrifying staffing change.

Having read reviews and talked to other people who have seen Stonehearst Asylum I get the feeling I'm in the minority having liked this movie. Jim Sturgess is fantastic as a doctor who turns up at Stonehearst as a new doctor and discovering that things in the asylum aren't quite as they should be. The entire cast were superb, both the inmates and the doctors, and the setting was suitably eerie for a remote lunatic asylum. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's short story, The System of Doctor Tarr & Professor Fether, Stonehearst Asylum is a great Halloween watch which will have you split over who the real lunatics actually are...

This has been an R.I.P. X production.

Spooky Sunday #2 - Blackwood

Welcome to Spooky Sunday, a new feature on Bookish Outsider that will run until Halloween! This week I've been watching Blackwood, starring Sophia Myles (Doctor Who - The Girl In The Fireplace) and Ed Stoppard (Brideshead Revisited).

Having recovered from a breakdown, college professor Ben Marshall relocates to the countryside with his wife and young son, hoping for a fresh start. He has a teaching job lined up and a new home to move into; things finally look to be going Ben's way. Until, that is, he starts to feel that something isn't quite right in the house. Finding himself plagued by spectral visions, Ben becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth behind a local mystery that appears to be putting the lives of his family in danger.

The house they move into formerly belonged to an artist, now a resident of a nursing home and virtually catatonic, who has left behind most of her belongings including a suitably creepy painting in the room Ben sets up as his study. Throw in a peculiar fox mask, a supposedly disturbed ex-soldier (excellently played by Russell Tovey), a weird priest (Paul Kaye) and a broken clock chiming in the middle of the night and you have a spine-chilling movie, guaranteed to spook you if you watch by yourself late at night. Solid performances from Kaye, Tovey, Stoppard and Greg Wise as a philandering scientist make Blackwood appear better than maybe it is along with a sense that just around the corner is something truly scary. It never quite lives up to its promise though. Watching Ben unravel, wondering if Blackwood is really haunted or if indeed he is slowly losing his mind, is mesmerizing but not enough.

A good movie, worth a watch, but never quite gets there in terms of scaring you!

This has been an R.I.P. X production.

Spooky Sunday #1 - When The Lights Went Out

Welcome to the first edition of Spooky Sunday! This week I'm talking about a British horror movie called When The Lights Went Out starring Kate Ashfield from Shaun of the Dead.

Inspired by a true story now known as The Black Monk of Pontefract the movie is set in 1970's North of England when the power strikes were happening and it wasn't unheard of for the power to turn off without any notice. Moving into their dream house Len, Jenny and their daughter Sally soon discover that things are not quite as they seem. Poltergeist activity starts up and seems to be centered around Sally but Len especially tries to brush it off as Sally misbehaving, being mad at them for moving. He and his wife both find out that this is not the case and things obviously escalate until lives are threatened.


The movie is nothing new, there's no groundbreaking new development in film or outstanding special effects, but it is disquieting and watched under the right circumstances will definitely unnerve you. It's worth a watch if you're a fan of horror movies without blood, guts and gore but don't expect too much! At 85 minutes long it's over before it has chance to get started but it is wrapped up by the end, with a neat bow... Or is it?

Directed by Pat Holden (Moon)
Starring Kate Ashfield as Jenny, Steven Waddington as Len and newcomer Tasha Connor as Sally.

An R.I.P. Peril of the Screen review!

R(eaders) I(mbibing) P(eril) X: Time To Scare Yourself Silly...

 

Hosted by the lovely ladies over at The Estella Society, the tenth year of R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril runs from September 1 to October 31 and encourages readers to dive in to the spookier side of reading. Got a thriller, mystery, short horror story, or Gothic novel you've been wanting to read? Definitely counts towards R.I.P. The rules are relaxed, as are the expectations (namely, read and have fun). There are a variety of R.I.P. challenges to suit different readers (and/or watchers), and you can read more about all of them at the link above. 

 

I've been a fan of R.I.P. since it started but I signed up for this last year for the first time (I've always remembered too late before) and failed miserably. This year I'm going for it though, especially as it's been too long since I've read any great horror or indeed watched any great horror movies! The group read this year is also one that's been sitting on my TBR  pile since the day it was published. Definitely time to dust off my copy...

Peril of the Group Read: This is something Carl allowed us to do in partnership with RIP beginning a few years ago. We’re back at it this year with Amanda from Fig and Thistle to read Lauren Owen’s The Quick. The group read officially begins on September 18 (during the Dog Days of Summer Readathon) and ends on October 18 (during the Dewey’s Readathon!). There's a mid-point check-in on October 12. Feel free to use our questions or post on your own! We’ll provide the linky!

 Peril On the Screen: This is for those of us that like to watch suitably scary, eerie, mysterious gothic fare during this time of year. It may be something on the small screen or large. It might be a television show, like Dark Shadows or Midsomer Murders, or your favorite film.

 

Peril the First: Read four books, any length, that you feel fit (the very broad definitions) of R.I.P. literature. It could be King or Conan Doyle, Penny or Poe, Chandler or Collins, Lovecraft or Leroux…or anyone in between.