protean depravity

Is insanity something that can be shared? Does bad karma exist and won’t it leave involved persons alone until it is cleared, spoken of? And is the baby-crazy childless woman trope still a thing? These are but some questions of many which occupy my mind having finished Polly Hall’s extremely enthralling latest novel Myrrh .

A place changes you – a city, a neighborhood, a hotel. A story. You arrived to each with your own fear, your own hunger, and you found yourself taking on the cast and the appetite of where you were. You couldn’t help it. About one third into Extended Stay I was confused and not sure what Martinez was trying to do here. The half-hypnotic, half-psychedelic narration. The dream-like atmosphere. Confusion. A main character as detached from his reality as he was from his readers. Helpless, directionless, sometimes mean, sometimes aggressive, sometimes opportunistic, sometimes indifferent. An environment teeming with, literally leaking hostility. It really felt like reading a dream, or rather a nightmare-diary. And I didn't like how it affected me, it didn't feel like a kind of fiction I enjoy reading.

Catriona Ward has the rare and a little eerie skill of rummaging around your soul and pulling out emotions you didn't know you had in that intensity in you. She then plays with that - like a cat with a mouse; misdirecting, leaving red herrings or genuine tracks for you to stumble upon in your quest to find out if and which character of hers is worthy of those strong emotions she just evoked. A kind of mindfuck, if you like. And I love it! I was burning to read Sundial after last year's ridiculously successful The Last House on Needless Street , which had me completely head over heels. I don't remember the last time I had so much joy (but also pain) reading a book and I couldn't wait to go again through a similar experience. This was my mindset.

With all the hits the women's human rights had to take the last couple of years worldwide it wouldn't be too far-fetched to say life is indeed imitating art in that we're about to embrace Margaret Atwood's handmaid dystopia in our everyday lives. In a most recent development, the restriction of one of these rights, the reproductive autonomy and control over one's own body, has justly caused a wild debate, fights and protests after the overturning of Roe v Wade by the SCOTUS.

The spring books are here! Here's the wrap-up of my April reads which were actually a lot because I joined lots of group reads. The most spectacular one was the Easter Bunny horror read and it was a blast - you'd be surprised by how many Easter bunny themed horror books there are! After my disappointment with the latest mystery and crime books I have read, I decided to go back to the roots and read from the pen of the Queens of the genre; Agatha Christie and Patricia Highsmith. Nothing close to disappointed this time. So I hope you enjoy the short reviews and find some reads that may interest you!

One of the best and most exciting reads I had this year was Catriona Ward's The Last House on Needless Street , that's for sure. But it is super hard to review because the phrase "the less you know about it before reading, the better" has never held more weight than for this book. So, I'm aware that I'm moving on dangerous ground here and will try to review accordingly. I also have to say that I personally did know nothing about this book when I started reading it and that was something that truly paid off. I had it on my e-reader because it probably was on some "year's most anticipated horror" list and I noted it and then found a good deal somewhere and purchased it, adding yet another title to my ever growing and never ending TBR-pile. When a few months later a book friend of mine on goodreads posted that she started reading this but feels uncomfortable about reading it alone and I took this spontaneous opportunity to do a buddy read - because...