I decided that I’ll just show you some of my favourite book pictures that I took for the blog. Looking at pictures is always easier than reading a text, especially on days when you just want to relax.

Here are the photos. If you click the titles you’ll get to my reviews of the books.

1. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

(There are more photos of Usyaka and the book.)

2. The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar

3. Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller

4. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

There’s no review because I haven’t read the book yet. (And taking into account my unfortunate experiment with reading fantasy, I’m not sure how soon I will read this one). There’s still this nice wintery photo

5. The Birds and other stories by Daphne du Maurier

Here’s the review of The Birds.

And here are the reviews of the other stories.

6. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre

7. Melmoth by Sarah Perry

8. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

9. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

10. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

This book will be one of my first reads in 2019, so come back soon to read the review!

The books I really liked

1. Melmoth by Sarah Perry

Melmoth is a huge discovery for me. It’s a gothic story with an element of fantasy that serves to illustrate the nature of human beings. I’m totally in love with Melmoth; with its style and its story. Read my review of Melmoth for more information.

2. The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar

An absolutely gorgeous book with an intricate story about people’s lives in the 18th century London. I haven’t read anything so beautiful in years and there probably will be years till I read something that beautiful again. If you want more information, you can find it in my review of The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock.

3. You Were Made For This by Michelle Sacks

You Were Made For This is an intense psychological thriller about people who are not what you initially think they are. I loved how perfectly the characters were being unveiled. I loved the controversial ending that I felt was natural for these characters. You can read more in my review of You Were Made For This.

4. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

If you want to get lost in a book, get a copy of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Despite the several flaws that I noticed in the book, I generally liked it very much. It was so much fun to be reading a book without getting bored for a single minute. Here’s my review of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

5. The Last by Hanna Jameson

The Last is an apocalyptic story about a small group of people who are trying to survive in the wake of a nuclear war. The Last hasn’t been published yet, but if you are building your reading list, I would definitely recommend adding The Last to that list. My review of the book will appear on the blog later.

Other books I read in October

1. The Salt of the Earth by Jozef Wittlin

The Salt of the Earth could be a very interesting historical novel about ordinary people during the WWI. Unfortunately, because of its writing style, it’s very hard to read. It’s also a first book in a trilogy that never got finished so it also leaves its mark on the whole perception of the book. It was published before, and will be republished in February 2019. My review of The Salt of the Earth will also appear later.

2. The Darkness by Ragnar Jónasson

The Darkness is a thriller that causes very contradicting feelings. I liked most of the book and hated the ending. Some people actually liked the ending too. You can read my review of The Darkness.

3. The Chalk Man by C. J. Tudor

The Chalk Man is a thriller that many raved about. People couldn’t sleep at night, they were scared and found the book very spooky. I didn’t. It is gory, but it is not scary. You can read more about it in my review of The Chalk Man.

4. The Songbird by Richard Parker

The Songbird is actually not a bad thriller. I didn’t find the ending satisfying but the writing and the plot were quite good. The Songbird hasn’t been published yet, and my review of it will appear later.

I feel so lucky to have read so many books that I can actually recommend! Off to November now! My reading list is getting more and more exciting with each day!

General information about The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock

The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock is not a fantasy book. There’s an element of magical realism but it is not the focus of the plot. The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock is first of all about people, their fates and their lives. It’s about emotions, relationships, personalities and society. Although the novel is set in the 18th century England, its topics are not at all foreign to current days. In fact, if you peel away the surface layer of a very entertaining story, you will see that the setting serves as a lush frame for a modern picture.

The book is as beautiful and intricate as its cover. That’s actually how I discovered the book. I was looking for books that would be beautiful both inside and out. The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock is exactly what I was looking for.

I loved the book so much I was initially at a loss for words, which is a challenging situation for a reviewer. I took the book for a photo shoot, collected my thoughts and did eventually write the review. So here it is, together with the photos.

How good is The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock?

Do you remember the time when you were just entering the world of books, when every plot was an unpredictable story and characters were so real you imagined them to be your actual friends? The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock is that good. If you thought some magic of the books has been forever lost to you because you grew up, read The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock and rediscover the feeling. This doesn’t mean, though, that it’s a kid book. Even though there’s a mermaid in the title, the protagonist is a courtesan so it’s definitely not a bedtime fairy tale for kids.

Reading The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock feels like watching underwater life through a snorkelling mask. You dive deep where you can no longer breathe so you have to hold your breath in exchange for the chance to see the beautiful world below. Sooner or later the real life will pull you back in but for the meantime you will be completely immersed into another reality.

The writing in The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock

The writing is an undebatable treasure of this book. It’s hard to really illustrate how beautiful it is as it’s a part of a solid construction. It’s almost impossible to pull out a single feather in order to demonstrate it to you. You have to see the whole creation to really appreciate these details. Still, I managed to find some examples. Here they are:

In the landau, amongst a clutch of young ladies in white muslin, rides Mrs Chappell herself, the abbess of King’s Place. She is built like an armchair, more upholstered than clothed, her bolster of bosom heaving beneath cream taffeta and gold frogging.

All social gatherings have a riptide moving through them – some revellers joining the party as others melt away, some retiring to a quiet room, others emerging refreshed – and it is this unseen, unsought tide that nudges Angelica and the lieutenant closer and closer together without their even trying.

A loss is a presence all its own; a loss takes up space; a loss is born just as any other thing that lives.

Bawds are not, after all, the only mothers to profit by their daughters.

The characters in The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock

First of all, the characters outgrow their sole form of mere characters. They are completely real. They change, grow and develop together with the story. It’s mesmerising to watch them, and to imagine what is going through their minds, what makes them take their decisions and how they react to the situations they find themselves in. On a few occasions I expected them to act differently, exactly because I was expecting them to act like characters in a book, but they had their own plans. They rarely act according to your expectations.

The plot in The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock

The plot is another beautiful construction of the book. Where one part ends, another one starts. There are several storylines. Even if you don’t want to be distracted from one, you are given another one to follow. This way you are never bored and always have something to look forward to. The story is completely unpredictable. As soon as you think you know where it’s going, it takes another turn, which you didn’t imagine existed.

The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock will haunt me

The decisions that characters take will stay with me for some time. They are so human and believable even though their situations are so dramatic and often impossible.

I will not forget one of the final scenes. It shows what happens to one of the characters. It’s deep and horrible even though it doesn’t give you any horrid details. It’s the highest level of skills when an author is able to achieve such an effect without rubbing graphic details into a reader’s face.

I will also keep thinking about one character. It’s perfectly clear what happens to her but I wish I could stay with her longer. I hope she will find her warm milk for breakfast, one day. Even though I know she is trapped within the covers of the book, I keep imagining her getting out of her situation, somewhere else in another dimension.

Would I recommend The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock?

Of course, definitely. I would only warn those who hunt for fantasy plots. This is not a fantasy book. In any other case, I’m sure you will like The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock.