The Bookish Outsider

Sunday, 18 October 2015

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.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1596365/?ref_=tt_rec_tt

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.

Wednesday, 14 October 2015

Spooktacular 2015 Giveaway!

Welcome to the Spooktacular Giveaway Hop hosted by I Am a Reader Not A Writer! The hop runs from now through to midnight on October 31 2015. The spooktacular prize up for grabs is a spooky, creepy book of your choice (either YA or Adult), up to the value of $15, from the Book Depository as long as they deliver to your country - find the list of countries here.

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There are lots of blogs taking part in the Spooktacular hop so check out the list below for more chances to win, thanks for entering and good luck!

Waiting On Wednesday #138 - Down Station

Waiting On Wednesday, where we put the spotlight on upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating, is hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

This week's choice is -

Down Station - Simon Morden

ISBN - 9781473211452

Publisher - Gollancz

Release date - February 18 2016

Find - Goodreads | Book Depository

A small group of commuters and tube workers witness a fiery apocalypse overtaking London. They make their escape through a service tunnel. Reaching a door they step through...and find themselves on a wild shore backed by cliffs and rolling grassland. The way back is blocked. Making their way inland they meet a man dressed in a wolf's cloak and with wolves by his side. He speaks English and has heard of a place called London - other people have arrived here down the ages - all escaping from a London that is burning. None of them have returned. Except one - who travels between the two worlds at will. The group begin a quest to find this one survivor; the one who holds the key to their return and to the safety of London.

And as they travel this world, meeting mythical and legendary creatures,split between North and South by a mighty river and bordered by The White City and The Crystal Palace they realize they are in a world defined by all the London's there have ever been.

Reminiscent of Michael Moorcock and Julian May this is a grand and sweeping science fantasy built on the ideas, the legends, the memories of every London there has ever been.

Well, this sounds a bit different and I'm intrigued by the comparison to both Michael Moorcock and Julian May! I love books about alternate cities, especially London, so will definitely be keeping an eye out for this one.

Tuesday, 13 October 2015

October New Release Giveaway!

Welcome to the October New Release Giveaway Hop, hosted by It Starts At Midnight and Librarian Lavender! The hop runs from today through to midnight on October 31 2015. Up for grabs is any new release this month up to the value of $22 from the Book Depository as long as they deliver to your country - find the list of countries here.

All you have to do is choose any new release published in October and fill out the rafflecopter!

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Check out the linky below for all more blogs taking part, thanks for entering and good luck!

Monday, 12 October 2015

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!

Sunday, 11 October 2015

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.

Friday, 9 October 2015

Guest Post & Giveaway: Return To The Secret Garden - Holly Webb

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Return To The Secret Garden by Holly Webb!

When I was little The Secret Garden was one of my favorite books. I longed to be Mary, so I could discover the hidden garden as I was convinced magical things would happen if I did! Return To The Secret Garden is is the story of another little girl, this time in the 1930's and her discovery of a diary written by a girl called Mary...

Why the Secret Garden? by Holly Webb

I chose to write a sequel to The Secret Garden because it’s always been one of my favourite books. I hadn’t considered writing a sequel at all, until a conversation about five years ago with one of my editors, where we were discussing our childhood favourites. The sequel was her idea, and I wasn’t sure at all – how odd to take someone else’s characters. But I kept coming back to the idea, as I loved the original book so much. Mary’s character was what I’d really remembered, but when I came back to the book, it was Misselthwaite Manor and its gardens that drew me in. I decided that I’d set my sequel later, since I was worried by writing a direct continuation of the original, and I wanted to introduce a different child to the garden.

I chose the wartime setting as I knew that the original three children would have been young adults just at the outbreak of the First World War – I hated the thought of Colin and Dickon going from such a sheltered, beautiful place into a war, and I wanted to write about the effect that it would have had on them. I’ve always thought that to be their age was particularly cruel – it’s so hard to imagine how it would feel to go through “The War to End All Wars” and then see the world creeping back towards another one. It was then I realised that if Emmie was an evacuee, I had the perfect way to bring her to Misselthwaite.

Even then, the plot took a while to come together. I knew what I wanted to happen, but perhaps it was because I had the constraints of the original, I wasn’t sure how to make it all work. In the end, I finally worked out what would happen on a train – I love train journeys for working! It was an evening journey to Edinburgh, so it was too dark to look out of the window after a while, and I was stuck in one place for hours with my plot (and some chocolate, I think). It wasn’t by any means the final story – I always plot my books out, but I don’t then necessarily stick to what I’ve planned. It wouldn’t be as exciting if whole new characters didn’t turn up in the middle…

About the Author

Holly Webb was one of the World Book Day authors for 2012 and has received high praise for her previous standalone fiction Looking For Bear, A Cat Called Penguin, The Chocolate Dog and A Tiger Tale. She published her 100th book, The Truffle Mouse, in August.

Holly worked for five years as a children's fiction editor before deciding that she would rather write. Holly now lives in Reading with her husband, three sons and just one cat.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

About Return To The Secret Garden

It's 1939 and a group of children have been evacuated to Misselthwaite Hall. Emmie is far from happy to have been separated from her cat and sent to a huge old mansion. But soon she starts discovering the secrets of the house - a boy crying at night, a diary written by a girl named Mary and a garden. A very secret garden...

Return To The Secret Garden - Holly Webb

Release date - October 1 2015

Publisher - Scholastic

Format - Hardcover | E-book

Find - Goodreads | Amazon UK | Book Depository

Giveaway - UK & Ireland Only

Scholastic are giving away a copy of The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett and a copy of Return to the Secret Garden by Holly Webb to one lucky blog tour follower!

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