Here’s the list. The books I liked the most are at the top. If you click the titles of the paragraphs, you’ll get to the full reviews.

1. Short stories by Daphne du Maurier

They are dark, deep and atmospheric. They brought a lot of beauty and mystery into the colder days. I can definitely recommend all stories from this edition.

2. The Birds by Daphne du Maurier

Right, the second place is taken by du Maurier too. She is like those actors who jump on the stage and take all the prizes. She’s indeed that outstanding, as well as her novelette The Birds. I made a research about this book, looking into the accusations of plagiarism and comparing it to other works of the same name. Follow the link for more information.

3. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

I’m not sure if the shorter days are turning me into a reader of gothic or I just have a natural inclination to this genre, but my third most favourite book of the month is gothic again. The Little Stranger is a story about a noble family, a local doctor and a dilapidating creepy mansion. I had an audiobook version of the story and absolutely loved the narrator’s performance.

4. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

A contrast to all the gothic above, The Rosie Project is light, funny and heartwarming. It’s a modern story about an autistic scientist who’s setting off on a quest to find a perfect wife for himself.

5. Bone Gap by Laura Ruby

Bone Gap is an unusual item on this blog because it’s a young adult novel. This book showed me that young adult genre doesn’t necessarily mean simplistic or primitive. It’s a story about a small town with some magical powers. It’s about human nature, relationships and the ways people see each other. I liked the actual story and the bigger ideas of the book.

6. The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley

The Seven Sisters is the first book in the series about seven sisters (with a book per sister, I guess) who are discovering their true histories after their adoptive parent dies. The first book travels through time and continents and has several love stories in it. It’s well-written and interesting. Even though there’s not too much romance, there’s still too much of it for my personal liking, so I won’t continue with the series, but I’m sure many people will love the book.

7. Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller

This book takes the final position among the books I liked because I can’t say I liked it that much. It was beautifully written, with a very deep exploration of human mind and psychology but I didn’t like the aftertaste of the story and the personality of the characters.

There are two more books that didn’t make it to the list above because I didn’t like them. I’m happy I have read them as a part of my experiment and research.

1. The Birds by Frank Baker

This is the book that Daphne du Maurier was accused of plagiarising. There’s a definite similarity between the two books. Both have birds attacking people and changing the course of human history. Frank Baker’s work has much more philosophy in it. It’s full of deep ideas and contemplations but it’s unbearably boring to read. The style of writing is a torture. I’m glad I had a chance to compare the two works myself but I can’t recommend Frank Baker’s book to anybody.

2. Uprooted by Naomi Novik

It’s a much loved book among fantasy readers but I had to push myself to find things I could like about it. Even though I found some, they were still overshadowed by those I disliked. I’m glad I took this leap into fantasy because next time I will take a more careful step into this genre.

I also listened to a couple of curious programs that are not actually audiobooks but I found them awesome anyway. In order not to overload you with information, I’ll post about them in a separate post, so stay tuned.

Off to the final month of the year! Hopefully I will discover more fantastic books to tell you about.

If you are interested in more book lists, you can read:

1. The books I bought on Black Friday
2. The books I read in October
3. The books I read in September

Have I just read a young adult story and liked it?!  Not only was it a young adult book, it had fairytales and love stories in it! And yet I still enjoyed it! This book made me think I should probably let go of my genre purism and venture to other genres too.

General information about the book

The genre

Bone Gap is described as magical realism but I wouldn’t say that. Unless you also call The Nutcracker magical realism. In this case Bone Gap would qualify too. I’d say this book is a contemporary story about the way we see people, about beauty, and about emotional abuse and getting free from it. All these ideas are presented via a dynamic young adult story with elements of a scary fairytale.

A spoiler-free description

A teenager called Finn lives in a small town which has all the habits and peculiarities of a small town. Everybody knows everybody. Everybody gossips. The quote in the beginning of the book nails it:

The nice part about living in a small town is that when you don’t know what you are doing, someone else does.

People think Finn is weird but in a small town everybody is still a family, even though it means some members of this family occasionally bully others.

The town is called Bone Gap and this place is also strange. People, animals and things mysteriously appear and disappear in the town. Thus, nobody finds it strange when Roza disappears too. But there’s a spooky, complicated story behind her disappearance. The book tells you about her disappearance, what caused it and if anybody is going to do anything about it.

Why I liked the book

The ideas

I see the main villain in the book as a metaphor for all toxic people who objectify others and feel entitled to their lives. The treasure of this book is that it gives a form to such evil and demonstrates it in action.

I also liked how the book focuses on people’s perception of each other.

Animals!

There are so many cute animals in the book! Unlike in many other stories, these animals are not there to be simply culled for the sake of the plot. They are there to be admired and adored.

Normal romance

There are love stories in the book, but they are not overly romanticised. Nobody speaks in a silly language or faints at unexpected moments. Everything is very realistic, but sweet.

Dialogues

They are dynamic and sharp. Here’s an example:

“What have you got against Chicago?”
“Too big.”
“Since when?”
“Too many people.”
“What have you got against people?” <…>
“Too many opinions.”

Writing

The book is written with some humour. Had I read this book when I was a teenager I would have probably laughed even more. Here are some examples:

Finn froze up like a monument to cowards everywhere.

The Rude boys walked as if they were permanently saddle sore.

It’s a very fast read

My edition looks quite big but the font is large too. Although I didn’t hurry, I managed to read this book in one day.

What I disliked about the book

Misplaced linguistics

Roza is a Polish student who has spent a year in the US. She’s clever, witty, independent and strong, and yet her language skills are so primitive, she talks as if she had learned about the existence of English language only yesterday. She cannot form even basic sentences! I found it quite disrespectful to Roza herself. It also makes her rather mute when she’s interacting with main characters which wastes a lot of potential for the scenes. I understand that it might have been planned as a touch to show her origins but it is definitely overplayed. Her use of random Polish words also feels redundant and out of place. There are a few untranslated Polish phrases. They are not decisive for the plot but I think it would be good not to leave readers guessing what the phrases mean. I managed to understand them but I don’t think people who never studied Slavic languages would.

Camouflaged clichés

There’s a trick to cover up a cliché when you are writing a book. You point at the cliché yourself. For example: you spook people by corn stalks and then you reference Stephen King. You create a bearded character who looks like an old magician and mention Gandalf. I personally always notice the trick and it inhibits my immersion into the book.

Final thoughts

I can definitely recommend this book. It’s a fast-paced and entertaining story but there’s also a deeper meaning to it.

1. Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller

Bitter Orange is supposed to be really good. I heard only praise for it. Strangely enough, every time I try to read it I can’t follow the narration. I probably overdosed on sophisticated stories, and now I need to read something light first. In order not to spoil this book for myself I haven’t read any descriptions. I can only share its photos with you.

(An update: you can now read my review of Bitter Orange.)

2. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Spinning Silver is a big step for me. It’s meant to be my return to reading fantasy! The writing is so nice and intriguing, I’m finding it hard to stick to my original plan, which is to read this book somewhere where there’s snow and a fireplace.

The story is about a young woman who helps her family out of debt. That attracts the attention of various people and causes her some problems. I refrained from reading more of the blurb in order to escape spoilers. If you want to learn more, you’ll have to either google or wait till I read it.

3. Bone Gap by Laura Ruby

Bone Gap wasn’t in my original order of the books with beautiful covers. I was attracted to the cover first, obviously. When I saw “magical realism” in the description, I knew I had to get this book.

Here’s a summary of the description:

Everyone knows Bone Gap is full of gaps—gaps to trip you up, gaps to slide through so you can disappear forever. So when young, beautiful Roza went missing, the people of Bone Gap weren’t surprised. Finn knows Roza was kidnapped, ripped from the cornfields by a dangerous man whose face he cannot remember.

Intrigued yet? I am!

(An update: I read the book. Here’s my review of Bone Gap.)

I’ll be telling you more about all these books soon. I first need to finish the awesome short stories by Daphne du Maurier.

Here’s a spoiler about my review – I will be raving about the book!

(An update: here are my reviews of The Birds, and the short stories.)

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