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

Some of you might know that I’ve recently become a huge fan of Daphne du Maurier. She is now my second most favourite female author (the place of the first one is kept by Margaret Atwood. No, she took it long before the TV show).

My love to du Maurier is conditional. I admire her craft. What she does in her stories is not a product of a divine uncontrollable genius (although this, of course, played its part too). Daphne du Maurier knows what she’s doing in every single sentence. She chooses the rhythm, the words, the style. She knows where you’ll gasp, she knows how to scare you, she knows how to make you think. She is a true craftsperson and an artist.

Another curious thing about these stories is that most of her protagonists are male, and they are created perfectly. All of them are different. All of them feel real. They have their mannerisms, their ways of thinking, their accents. I’ve never seen a woman create a man’s voice so convincingly.

About the stories

I already talked about her novelette The Birds, the work for which she was accused of plagiarism and which, at least according to the official story, was the inspiration for Hitchcock’s movie. Now I want to focus on the short stories from this edition.

There are five of them. I loved them all. The only thing they share is du Maurier’s beautiful writing. Otherwise, they are all very different from each other. I’m not sure if this was achieved by a careful selection of the stories for the edition, or du Maurier just never repeats herself.

My most favourite ones are Monte Verità, because of how well Daphne conveys the atmosphere of the mountains, and The Old Man because of how loudly I yelled in the end.

Here’s more information about the stories.

1. Monte Verità

…what is a miracle to one becomes black magic to another.

This is a story about two friends who love mountains and understand each other very well. One of them falls in love with a very special girl. The mountains in the story are described so well that now I think either du Maurier was a climber herself or she very carefully listened to someone who was. The story is mystic and dramatic. It’s also written in such a way that you will want to read the beginning one more time, after finishing the whole story.

2. The Apple Tree

…the undercurrent of reproach, mingled with suffering nobly borne, spoilt the atmosphere of his home and drove him to a sense of furtiveness and guilt.

This story is about a man who recently lost his wife. Through his memories and his perception of the world you can start to imagine what their family life was like and what kind of person he is. I loved that it’s not possible to interpret the events in one way only. I will see one thing, you will see the other. If you ever read it, let me know what you thought.

3. The Little Photographer

This, then, was all that déjeuner on the terrace would bring her, day after day, the ripple of admiration, respect, and then oblivion.

It’s probably a very simplified description but I see this story as an illustration to the phrase “Karma will find you”. The story is about a bored rich housewife who finds a way to entertain herself, and who then has to face the consequences of her priorities and choices.

4. Kiss Me Again, Stranger

She turned those blue eyes in my direction, still fed-up they were, not interested, but there was something in them <…>, a kind of laziness like someone waking from a long dream and glad to find you there.

This story is about a young man who meets a very unusual girl. I liked how well her character was created, and I also liked the character herself. She’s so charming and strong. I also loved how spooky and suspicious everything seems almost from the start, and how it is all explained in the end.

5. The Old Man

I could see it rattled the old man to have such an oaf of a son. Irritated him, too, because Boy was so big. It probably didn’t make sense to his intolerant mind. Strength and stupidity didn’t go together.

This story is told by a person who suspects that something really bad happened in a family he’s been watching. This is a good read for anybody who wants to yell in the end.

Final thoughts on du Maurier’s stories

I can compare du Maurier’s work to some strong but beautiful perfume. You wouldn’t want to overuse it but it’s so nice to feel the scent from time to time. It’s not possible to read a lot of du Maurier at once because the atmosphere in her stories is really intense, but it feels so good to admire truly good writing. That’s why I would definitely recommend to read her stories.

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