RIP X: 6, Beautiful Darkness

I am honestly traumatized after reading Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann & Kerascoët. It pairs cuteness and horror into one really uncomfortable read. I am not usually a big fan of horror but dislike it even more when it involves children or toys or anything similar. This had it all.

I mean, this is the heroine, Aurora -- wearing a bloody mouse skin. You don't even want to know where she came from. And the others who came with her aren't exactly paragons of virtue and kindness. Nope.

I'll leave the rest for you to discover ... if you want to.

Or you could look at this instead ...

Photo by @amivitale #onassignment for @natgeo. Even pandas have Monday mornings! A day at the "office" for a newborn giant panda means being weighed every day at the Bifengxia Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center in Sichuan Province, China. Baby pandas grow fast and their keepers work hard to ensure they are healthy and happy. @ipandacam @natgeo @natgeocreative @thephotosociety @nikonusa #pandas #bifengxia #sichuan #conservation #natureisspeaking #china #animals #wildlife #photooftheday #photography #nature #seetheworld #nikonnofilter #nofilter #nikon #d4s #nikonambassador #photojournalism #amivitale #🐼

A photo posted by Ami Vitale (@amivitale) on Sep 28, 2015 at 3:13pm PDT

Cleansing the palate,
K

RIP X: 5, The Aviary

A middle grade tale of family, history, and magic, The Aviary by Kathleen O'Dell has been on my TBR for a while. I'm glad I finally picked it up because it was strange and unique and I enjoyed almost everything about the story.

Clara and her mother live with old Mrs. Glendoveer in a deteriorating house with locked doors and an aviary of somewhat frightening birds in the yard. The birds belonged to Mrs. Glendoveer's husband, a famous magician. One day, she starts telling Clara her secrets but it will be up to Clara to find out the rest of them -- and what they mean for her life.

That description is a bit vague on purpose because not knowing what was coming made this read better. I was nervous more than once about what would happen. My only small complaint about the book is that it is supposed to be a period story but there were very few clues to that in the story or the writing. I didn't even realize that it was supposed to be set in the past until a little way in when a date was mentioned. Still, though this was a bit annoying, it didn't affect my enjoyment of the story. This is a super creepy read that was perfect for the RIP challenge.

Changing my mind about birds,
K

RIP X: 4, Bryant & May on the Loose

After a series of more depressing than expected books, I needed a comfort read and Christopher Fowler's Peculiar Crimes Unit Mysteries always cheer me up. Bryant & May on the Loose is the seventh book in the series and was one of my favorites so far. The unit has been disbanded and the detectives and their colleagues have been set adrift. Of course, strange murders and creatures don't know this and so the obvious (and satisfying) thing happens.

The mystery in this story was interesting as always (with a nice tie-in to WWII and some character growth) but just as interesting was the discussion of how things changed in London before the 2012 Olympics. I always enjoy Fowler's research and attention to detail. I think I might read the next book this season as well. This really is one of my favorite series of all time.

Stoking my Anglophilia,
K

RIP X: 3, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

Head on over to The Estella Society today to read about my third RIP read, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. This tale of stormy seas, mutiny, and murder was not what I was expecting when I picked up the book. I should have looked more closely and noticed the knife that Charlotte is holding on the cover!

Backing away slowly,
K

RIP X: 2, The Uninvited

My second RIP read of the year was the new release The Uninvited by Cat Winters. I got a review copy before it came out in August but I just couldn't resist saving it until time for the challenge.

Set during WWI and the influenza epidemic of 1918, Winters takes us to Buchanan, Illinois, former welcoming home of European immigrants but now a place of illness and suspicion. Ivy Rowan, a twenty-five year old "spinster" has just recovered from the flu and word has recently arrived that her brother Billy was killed in the war. The reaction of her father and other brother? Murder. This prompts Ivy to leave the home that she had been stuck in for years but what she finds in town might just be as horrible.

There are so many surprises and twists in this story that I don't want to say much more. I was annoyed by Ivy for a good chunk of the book but then, as I got to know her, I forgave more of her foibles. What was more interesting to me though (but also horrifying, especially when reading it in the context of current events) was the treatment of the German, Polish, and even Swedish citizens of this small town. Street and business names were changed, music and language were treated suspiciously, and, eventually, almost everyone who was different was either killed, arrested, or driven out of town. This was brutal to read about and almost as terrifying as the spooks. This was a fantastic historical fiction and a fairly good ghost story.

Trying to learn from the past,
K

New Release: Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights

When you set out to read a Salman Rushdie novel, you can assume you will encounter a few things -- extraordinary characters (and ordinary characters, of course), history, philosophy, and irreverence. Rushdie does not disappoint in Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights, a tale of rivalry -- that of evil versus good, religion versus reason, and fear versus knowledge. Our narrator lives in a world one-thousand years from now, where a War of the Worlds--our world and the supernatural world of the jinn--has happened now, in our time, to bring about an age of enlightenment.

What you will encounter in this book are strangenesses: people who float and others who are crushed, human lie-detectors and human lightning rods. You will also find many normal people--poets, philosophers, landladies, and wives--who are drawn into the fantastic by those around them and are brought to their knees, some at the whims of evil Ifrits, others by the hands of their own fellow men, and finally some by mere chance. And finally, you will find love -- some true and original, some mere shadows or facsimiles of those loves.

If you are familiar at all with Rushdie's views and novels, you will probably guess what event, what change in the hearts and minds of men, could bring about peace and enlightenment for centuries. It will not be a viewpoint popular with all readers but his reasoning and his use of modern-day examples of corruption and failings in humankind are undeniable. This book made me sad about the world we live in and left me wondering if there is an actual way that we could eventually attain a world of peace and brotherly love without the intervention of supernatural forces. I enjoyed this read, however painful it was.

Without much faith,
K

p.s. I received an advance reader's edition of this book from LibraryThing.

RIP X: 1, The Madness Underneath

I kicked off my RIP reading this year with The Madness Underneath, second in the Shades of London series by Maureen Johnson. The third book is already out and this is definitely not a trilogy (according to those who have read it). So, I'm not going to talk much about plot here because this is one of those series that build from book to book. The basics though are these: Aurora, Rory for short, has moved from Louisiana to London and has enrolled at a posh boarding school. Soon after she arrives, she almost dies when she chokes at meal time. This leads to her being able to see ghosts which, as you can probably guess, leads to nothing but trouble.

This second book is comparable to the first though the plot has moved on past the Jack the Ripper plotline. For some reason, Rory bugged me more in this one, making blatantly bad decisions and acting in nobody's best interests. Still, one feels for her and can only imagine what it would be like to be thrown into ridiculously fantastical and perilous situations in an unfamiliar place as a majorly hormonal teenager. I'll keep reading the series but I'm going to get the next book from the library rather than buying it. I think this is a one-time-through kind of series for me.

Avoiding the cracks,
K