The Smell of Ink/Lukten av Trykksverte

Earlier this year I was fortunate enough to recieve an ARC of the short story Zenith Man (Inheritance collection #4) by Jennifer Haigh through Netgalley. I read it shortly afterwards and today I'll post my review. Description from Goodreads Whatever had been going on behind the closed doors of the shuttered old house, the couple who lived there kept it to themselves. Among the locals, there’s only chilling speculation. Neighbors are shocked when Harold Pardee reports his wife dead. No one even knew the eccentric TV repairman was married. Within hours, horrible rumors spread about what that poor woman must have endured for thirty years. Until the Pardees’ carefully guarded world is exposed. New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Haigh delivers an endearing short story about our misguided perception of strangers, the nature of love, and the need for secrets. Jennifer Haigh’s Zenith Man is part of Inheritance, a collection of five stories about secrets, unspoken desires, ...

Earlier this year I was fortunate enough to recieve an ARC of the short story Everything My Mother Taught Me (Inheritance collection #1) by Alice Hoffman through Netgalley. I read it shortly afterwards and today I'll post my review. Description from Goodreads In this haunting short story of loyalty and betrayal, a young woman in early 1900s Massachusetts discovers that in navigating her treacherous coming-of-age, she must find her voice first. For fatefully observant Adeline, growing up carries an ominous warning from her adulterous mother: don’t say a word. Adeline vows to never speak again. But that’s not her only secret. After her mother takes a housekeeping job at a lighthouse off the tip of Cape Ann, a local woman vanishes. The key to the mystery lies with Adeline, the silent witness. New York Times bestselling author of The Rules of Magic Alice Hoffman crafts a beautiful, heart-wrenching short story. Alice Hoffman’s Everything My Mother Taught Me is part of Inheritance, ...

A few months ago I was fortunate to recieve a press copy of the short story A Birthday Lunch by Martin Walker through Netgalley. I read it shortly afterwards and today I'll post my review. Description of the Short Story When not solving mysteries in his beloved little town of St. Denis, Bruno, the chief of police, likes to cook and share his meals with local guests and dear friend. For his friend Florence’s birthday, Bruno is preparing a surprise. But, like much else in St. Denis, it’s a communal effort, and one that Bruno pulls off with a little help from the countryside and the town. He finds an ancient hand axe in the ground during his morning run with his dog Balzac—it will make a spectacular gift—picks up newspapers for wrapping by the medical center, and gathers fresh nettles from by his chicken coop and thyme from his garden for soup and garnish. It’ll be the perfect day for Bruno and his guests to celebrate their collective history. A Vintage Shorts original. An eboo...

Several months ago I was fortunate enough to recieve a press copy of the novella The Charm of Lost Chances by Lucia N. Davis from the author herself and today I'll post my review. Description from Goodreads In Dunnhill, a quiet mountain village in the Northern Cascades, unresolved secrets from the past have a way of making themselves heard. In this sequel to The Baby on the Back Porch, Sara Eriksson returns to Dunnhill hoping for a second chance—not only at a scenic getaway, but with David, the landlord of the cabin, whom Sara had only just started getting to know. Sara’s cabin in the woods is just as beautiful as she left it—but so is David’s new client, Taylor. Just as Sara is starting to come to terms with the fact that David may not share her feelings, her dreams return, setting a series of events into motion and leading Sara down a winding path to a new mystery that only she can unravel. As Sara struggles to keep her wits—and her sanity—about her, she must decide whic...

It's time for a new review in relation to Mystery Thriller Week. Today I'll post the review of The Baby on the Back Porch by Lucia N. Davis and I was fortunate enough to recieve this short story as an e-ARC/press copy from the author. Description from Goodreads An old cabin, hidden in the forests of the Northern Cascades, has been a silent witness to mysterious events long forgotten. But sometimes the past has a way of resurfacing… In search of solace after a personal tragedy, Sara Eriksson exchanges vibrant San Francisco for a small mountain village. Initially, everything at the cabin is just as she imagined: Her new surroundings are breathtaking, and her landlord, David, is kind and helpful. As soon as she’s left alone, however, Sara finds her new home is not quite as peaceful as she’d thought. First she has an unwanted visitor. Then, an unsettling dream… Sara pursues the leads presented to her, but she can’t solve the mystery on her own. It takes both Sara and David t...

Siden vi har temaet "galskap i litteraturen" i det emnet jeg tar på universitetet nå i høst, vil jeg tro at det er noe vanskelig å komme unna Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde av R. L. Stevenson. I tillegg passet den inn under kategorien "A 19th Century Classic" i Back to the Classics-utfordringa. Dr. Jekyll har lenge hatt kunnskap om sitt indre selv, og at han kanskje ikke er som alle skulle tro. På kveldene og nettene eksperimenterer han med å lage et serum som omdanner han til Mr. Hyde, hans andre personlighet. som mildt sagt er en noe ubehagelig fyr. Jeg liker skrekk og thrillere, men av en eller annen sær grunn slet jeg med å like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Historien er rotete fortalt med flere fortellerstemmer, og i bunn og grunn "skjer" det ikke så mye som en skulle tro. Hvis en er på jakt etter noe som skremmer vannet av deg, er det kanskje best å finne en annen bok.

For en liten stund siden vant jeg en konkurranse fra Font Forlag på Instagram hvor prisen var en bokpakke, og En hjelpende hånd av Gillian Flynn var en av de tre bøkene jeg fikk i posten kort tid etter. En ung og noe utspekulert kvinne brødfør seg selv med småsvindel, yte seksuelle tjenester og utgi seg for å være spåkone. En morgen oppsøkes hun av en kvinne med navnet Susan Burke som føler livet hennes er i ferd med å rakne. Kvinnen finner fort ut at Susan er rik, men ulykkelig; det perfekte "offeret". Under det første besøket i herskapshuset til Susan får kvinnen bange anelser om at ting kanskje ikke som hun trodde første gangen hun møtte på Susan. De første to tredjedelene av novella var fullt brukbare, men den løse slutten gjorde meg mildt sagt noe frustrert, og jeg endte opp med å lure på "hva pokker var det som egentlig skjedde?".

I sin levetid var Gilman mest kjent for å være feminist og en som kjempet for sosial-reformer. Idag er hun mest kjent for sine litterære tekster. Da "The Yellow Wall-Paper" kom ut i 1892 ble den sett på som en gotisk novelle, og den har sine gotiske elementer, men hvis man ser vekk fra det perspektivet, kan en høre den feministiske undertonen i teksten. Novella omhandler en kvinnelig hovedperson som sliter psykisk, hun og mannen flytter til et hus hvor i ett av rommene er det gult tapet som mildt sagt fremkaller følelser hos hovedpersonen. "One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns commiting every artistic sin. It is dull enough to confuse the eye in the following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide - plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradicions. The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclea...

Blant alt vi skulle lese i amerikansk litteratur på universitetet, var novellen "Lullaby" av Leslie Marmon Silko en av dem. Den er hentet fra samlinga "Storyteller" utgitt i 1981. Selve novella er fortalt fra øynene av en gammel indianer-kvinne, som reflekterer tilbake på flere av de tragiske episodene i livet hennes. Novella illustrerer også til en viss grad hvordan indianere har blitt undertrykt. "She hated Chato, not because he let the policeman and the doctors put the screaming children in the government car, but because he had taught her to sign her name. Because it was like the old ones always told her about learning their language or any of their ways: it engangered you." Enkelte plasser kan en også høre om håndverk laget av indianerne. "Her mother worked at the loom with yarns dyed bright yellow and red and gold. She watched them dye the yarn in boiling black pots full of bee-weed petals, juniper berries, and sage. The blankets her m...

Jeg har lenge vært fan av Edgar Allan Poe, både diktene og novellene hans. Da jeg innså at Poe var på pensum-lista i amerikansk litteratur emnet, kunne en se ett smil om munnen min og jeg så faktisk frem til forelesingene om Poe. Lite visste jeg da at foreleseren var minst like stor fan som meg; han hadde Edgar Allan Poe action-figur. Jepp, velkommen til nerde-verdenen. Ok, forhåpentligvis nok babbel om universitets-livet og over til novellen "The Fall of the House of Usher". Den begynner med at fortelleren har fått et brev av Roderick Usher og er på vei hjem til ham. Selv om fortelleren og Usher har kjent hverandre siden barndommen, er det lite han har kjenskap til Roderick. I deler av novellen er det flere ting som kommer frem i lyset, enkelte ting bare hentydes, mens andre ting er åpenbare. Hele novellen er mørk og dyster, noe som får frem sinnsstemningen til Roderick Usher. Det finnes grunner til hvorfor E. A. Poe er kjent som en gotisk forfatter, noe som blir illus...