Modern Classics

This was the first horror novel I remember reading and it will forever hold a special place in my heart. What struck me first was the style of writing - Stoker was a very technologically advanced man, in step with the advancements of his generation, because the novel takes the somewhat splintered form of diary entries; journals and even phonographs! In this way we are given multiple points of view, none of which seem obtrusive or ill-conceived. In fact, in many ways these add to the uniqueness of the story and give us far more detail then a straight forward linear narrative. ..read more

Reading this was a breath of fresh air for me - especially as, at the time, I was writing my own versions of classic fairy tales (See "To Pick A Blossom" for my take on Little Red Riding Hood). For those of you who have seen the film "Company of Wolves" you're already familiar with Angela Carter's work as she wrote the screenplay with Neil Jordan. (in fact, Company of Wolves is included in this collection of short stories.)

I was compelled to read The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone after watching the 2003 film adaptation starring Helen Mirren which left me wanting to know more about the main character, Mrs Stone.

Mrs Stone, an American, seeks some kind of purpose in her life after the death of her husband. She is painfully aware of her fading youth and looks and is desperate to fill the void left by her retirement from the stage.

Tennessee William's playwright background is evident in his vivid descriptions and attention to detail. He sets the scene in Rome some time after the 2nd World War.

This book is about a railway pioneer, in the small town of Sweet Water. Marion Forrester brings delight to her elderly husband, and it is based in the small town of Sweet Water where they live: Neil Herbert who is the young narrator of her story. Neil falls in love with her as a boy and later becomes the person who he confides in. He watches this woman in all facets of her life, through faithless and yet steadfast; dazzling and yet pathetic; invincible and yet she becomes dangerously vulnerable to the men she seems to charm. ..read more

This story is so fantastic in that you need to read to the end to learn of what the people went through and how Antonia decides to buy up land and then succeeds where others have failed.

I loved this book and just had to read some more of her books - you can see my other reviews on the website.

TARKA THE OTTER was one of the books I did as part of my English Literature Teaching Course at University. Mum has recently given me special copy of this book a comemerative edition by the Folio Society in 2005. This edition was reprinted with a new forward by Paul Schofield - The text of this edition follows that of the 1964 Nonesuch Cygnet edition, which includes the author's final revisions.

Have you ever wondered what it was like to go to war and experience the horrors of battle, hand to hand combat, with the deadening and deafening sounds of constant shelling. All Quiet on the Western Front graphically tells us how it was - but interestingly it wasn't the cries and screams of the injured men that got to the soldiers but the agonising screams of the horses who had to wait for a lull in the fighting to be shot.