I’ve always wanted to write a book about the ocean. Not the blue sky and sunshine kind, but a gloomy one that evokes that timeless, haunted feel only the sea can conjure – of countless wrecks and lost souls, of buried secrets and quiet, solemn knowledge.
So naturally, when I find a book that ticks all these boxes, I’m one very happy reader.
I read Bram Stoker’s Dracula when I was in grade ten. It was a difficult novel to read, one of those books where you start reading a paragraph and end up daydreaming about something else for ten minutes. It took me a long time to finish. But it was a point of pride. I was on a mission to read all the great works of classic literature I could get my hands on (which were also incidentally free to take out from the library.) To me, Dracula was the classic that defined gothic literature.
The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg will knock you sideways like Harley Quinn wielding her giant mallet.
This year, Hachette Children’s Group launched Bellatrix – a series of feminist retellings of classic literature for young adults. If you’re anything like me, your first reaction would be ‘Where can I get them?’
I’ve been dying to read Mary Watson’s The Wickerlight ever since I saw the cover reveal on Twitter. The novel follows on from The Wren Hunt, which I reviewed last year. If it was anything as dreamy and atmospheric as the first book, I knew I had to read it.
When it comes to my favourite things from childhood, R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps and Fear Street novels are right up there with Monster Munch, Gatti Jelly Jolly and Rainbow Brite.
Continue reading “LEGO book review: Return to Fear Street” →
Sally Partridge