Books:Monster Blood Tattoo and others....

Oh books! I don't know how to get through everything I've been reading without spending yonkers on this thing. I'll spare you the nauseating detail of the other boring things I have to do, but they're many, and difficult to arrange around my procrastinating. Anyway, to the books:

 

 

 I'd been meaning to read Monster Blood Tattoo for yonkers now. Having been brought up reading Goosebumps- I owned books 1-100 (except for Say cheese and die!), I found the title appealing. Obviously it's YA, but that doesn't really mean much at all. The writing is better and more nuanced than most Top 10 "adult" books. Though it's got to be said the main character Rossamund (there's an umlaut in there somewhere) lives up to his poncy name. What can I say, I just prefer snotty children coming good, rather than meek dweebs standing up to bullies. It get's a little boring, and is one of the reasons I found Harry Potter to be a bit dull, since Harry was, well, let's face it, a bit of a dullard. Aside from that Monster Blood is juicy; there's violence (including head-shots), vinegar seas that burn and a really cracking female lead.

I'll open by saying that I didn't read this by choice. It was forced on me by my lit class. It's about a woman losing her child who set's about getting her revenge. Being modern lit, this doesn't eventuate. She learns, we learn, some friends become enemies and some enemies become friends. Fairly blah. Especially the lead. If she had a FB profile it would read "My husband and kids ARE MY LIFE" with nothing but baby photos and updates on vomiting. The lady was OBSESSED. Living in a bleak English coastal town didn't help. I just kept wanting a sassy black friend to appear and whisk her away onto a cruise or something, because girl was a wack job.

I'm partway through this one now. I'm a big fan of Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty is one of my favorite books. This one is set in England over differing periods in the 20th century. At least that's what I've read about it. So far I'm in the 1920's Aristocracy of England, where it seems everyone is gay. I mean everyone. Men are dashing off into the thickets or re-appearing disheveled on every page. Even the girls are starting to get in on it now. It's a bit of a stretch really. I'm a bit worried reading is going to be like chatting to one of those knowing people (usually those studying gender at uni) who try to convince you everyone is gay. They pull out those dull statistics about bisexuality blah blah blah. Or maybe I'm just cranky because he doesn't write any of the sex scenes.....

To finish classily, I've also been dipping into poetry. Even my most culchered friend raised her eyebrows and whinnied "really?" at that one. But it's true. But not in a gay way. More of that to follow.