jessisreadingblog-blog

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Currently Reading

Yesterday I started reading “The Humans” by Matt Haig. I love it so far! 

I’m also reading the Complete Deluxe Edition of the manga series “Tomie” by Junji Ito.

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The Shape of Water - Book Review

“It’s not even human,” he insists. (...) Before he can angle the portfolio case out of his own way and escape via the fire escape, just as he’s turning away, he catches her signed reply and it feels as if those signs brand themselves into his back, right through his jacket, his sweater, his shirt, his muscle, his bone, deep enough that the words ache like a fresh wound, all the way to Klein & Saunders, where they begin their itchy conversion into scars that he’ll be forced to read for the rest of his life:  “NEITHER ARE WE.”

“The Shape of Water” by Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus is an amazing read. It begins rather brutal and picks that tone back up again and again throughout the whole story, but at the same time it’s gentle, sweet, poetic. The writing blew me away; if I had known that del Toro writes like that, I would have read one of his books much earlier. 

The story is told in short chapters, each chapter is told from third person point of view of one of the important characters: Elisa, Giles, Zelda, Hoffstetler, Strickland, Elaine and even the creature. The reader gets to know , grows to love or hate them and still even the worst character is not without layers.

The book tackles many big topics, like racism, homophobia, feminism, the question of good and evil, finding yourself, but most of all love, friendship and loyalty.

Except for a few scenes there’s very little action, but I was never bored. Some might find the violence disturbing, the book can be very intense at times, and although I’m everything but squeamish, there were one or two scenes that almost made me a little sick. I’m not going to spoil anything here, but I think it’s safe to say that I’m talking about the fingers.

Other than most people who didn’t like the movie or the book I didn’t mind the idea of a woman being in love with a non-human creature, but this could easily have become ridiculous and I was a little worried about that. It’s not ridiculous or weird at all. Elisa’s relationship to the creature is so tender and sweet that I really just wanted them to have a happy end.

I’m not going to tell you whether the ending was happy or not; the only thing I will tell you is that it was as beautiful as the rest of the book (and no - this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s happy, I may also find a sad or bittersweet ending beautiful). 

Anyway, I loved the book and I can’t wait to watch the movie, which I’m planing to do this week. Afterwards there will be a movie review and a comparison to the book. As the movie is not based on the book but the other way around, I’m not expecting too many changes. I’m looking forward to see how the story is told on the screen. 

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Reading Challenge 2019 - Update

1. A Book With More Than 500 Pages 2. Book You Haven’t Read by Author You Love 3. Goodreads winner in 2018 4. You Can Read in a Day 5. Book About a Difficult Topic 6. Recommended by a Friend 7. Book That Will Make You Cry 8. Book Published in 2009 9. Book Becoming Movie in 2019 10. A Genre You Don’t Usually Read 11. Children’s Classic 12. Cover With Your Favorite Color The Shade of Water 13. Bought at a Thrift Store 13.  A book by an author who uses a pen name 14. Young Adult Fiction 15. First Book in a Trilogy 16. Second Book in a Trilogy 17. Third Book in a Trilogy 18. Dystopian Novel Scythe 19. Award-Winning Book 20. A Book from the Rory Gilmore Challenge 21. Published the Decade Before You Were Born 22. Historical Fiction From A Favorite Time Period 23. Classic You’ve Never Read 24. A Book That Will Keep You Up All Night 25. 2018 bestseller 26. Nonfiction Book about Science (I know I won’t read that) 26. A book of short stories 27. Listen to an Audiobook City of Ghosts 28. Set in Your Home State 29. You Once Started But Never Finished 30. With a One Word Title 31. A Fairy Tale Retelling 32. Celebrity Book Club Pick 32.  A book by an author who uses a pen name 33. A Book You Read in High School 34. Business or Personal Finance Book (I won’t read anything like that) 34.  A book recommended by an author 35. Autobiography, Biography or Memoir (also fictional) 36. Book Set in Another Country The Remains of the Day 37. Reread a Favorite Book Pet Sematary 38. Book by a Local Author (no way I can find a good one) 38. A book that is over 1000 pages Anna Karenina 39. Banned Book 40. Narrative Nonfiction 40. A book of mythology or folklore Circe 41. On Your To-Read List the Longest 42. A Book About Travel The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue 43. Popular Book You’ve Never Read Gone Girl 44. True Crime   (I usually don’t read nonfiction and I’m not interested) 44. A book with a LGBT character 45. Nonfiction Bestseller (I usually don’t read nonfiction and I’m not interested) 45.  A collection of poetry 46. Science Fiction Novel 47. A Book You Own But Haven’t Read 48. Recommended by a Local Librarian (I don’t go to the library) 48. A book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character 49. 2019 New Release Winter of the Witch 50. The First Book in a Series Das Schwert in der Stille (Otori 1) 51. Prettiest cover 52. An Inspirational Story The Travelling Cat Chronicles

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Anna Karina - Review

So I finished the audio book “Anna Karenina” a few days ago and here’s what I think:

Firstly, the title is misleading.  About half of the novel is not about Anna or Vronsky or even Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin, the guy who was unlucky enough to marry Anna (I guess you can already tell that I'm not a big fan of hers). A huge part of the book is also about Konstantin Dmitrievich Lëvin and his love for Kitty (Princess Ekaterina Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya), the Oblonskys, Stiva (Stepan "Stiva" Arkadyevich Oblonsky) and his wife Dolly (Darya Alexandrovna Oblonskaya, Kitty's older sister), the families of these characters ... and farming, religion and politics.

You have to know that before you read that book. You will have to deal with seemingly endless monologues about the aforementioned three topics. Are there any characters to root for? Personally, I only really liked Stiva.

And Laska, Lëvin's dog, who actually gets two or three POV chapters.

I couldn't have cared less if the others had joined Anna on her way to the train station. Except for Anna's children, I actually felt sorry for them.

But let's start from the beginning.

The writing style is beautiful and vivid and the only thing that kept me going through some parts of the book. I liked the symbolism Tolstoy works with (the race horse Frou-Frou for example) and the various point of views.

The story is actually interesting and would be even more so if it wasn't constantly interrupted by page-long discussions, inner monologues and descriptions about agriculture and other topics that have nothing to do with the story. Call me ignorant, but I didn't care about most of it.

The characters are very vivid, you get to know them through and through, which is good, unfortunately it doesn't make most of them very likeable.

Anna is extremely obnoxious to me. She's spiteful, doesn't know what she wants, she has every possibility offered to her on a silver plate but is never brave enough to take it. People could have made it much harder for her, especially her husband (at least before he met Countess Lidia Ivanovna, until that he was actually quite understanding, especially after Anna almost dying), but they didn't. She's jealous, extremely selfish, can't find anything good in anybody, not even her own daughter, she's very quick to blame all her "misery" on others and she's so full of self-pity that it's hard to stand. Towards the end, all I wanted was for her to finally go to the train station and end everybody's misery (including my own).

Vronsky is far more sympathetic than Anna and I really felt sorry for him in the end. He might have been a little immature, especially in the beginning, but compared to Anna or Lëvin he wasn't all too bad.

Konstantin Dmitrievich Lëvin is another character I can't stand. Sorry, I know he's everybody's favourite and the character Tolstoy himself identifies with, but every time I started to like him even a little he was sure to ruin it very quickly. His self-pity matches Anna's, he doesn't know what he wants (except for Kitty and when he gets her he's still not happy but jealous and distrustful), he changes his opinions and feelings about almost everything and everyone extremely quickly and is on the top of that so naive that it's hard to believe he's over 30 years old. To me he seems like an overgrown child and not like an adult, an annoying and sometimes very unfair child.

Kitty is alright, nothing special, but I mostly liked her.

As I already mentioned, the only character I really, really liked was Stiva. He brightens up every scene he's in. Yes, I know, he cheats on Dolly, but I still like him.

As to Karenin - on the one hand I feel sorry for him.  Anna is extremely unfair to him while he's (although understandably unhappy) trying to be decent and respectful. What I didn't like about him was how he treats his son and how he makes him suffer for Anna's infidelity at times.  

His character becomes more annoying under the influence of Countess Lidia (a horrible woman, I have no more to say about her) but I guess I understand his motivations. He didn't have anyone he could turn to and so he clings to her, to religion and to ... a weird French psychic. Seriously, after that scene I was just as dumbfounded as Stiva.

Anyway - did I enjoy "Anna Karenina"? I guess I did at times. Tolstoy's writing is extremely good, when it's actually about the characters the story is interesting, although often frustrating.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have minded Tolstoy adding some information about politics and for all I care even agriculture, but these endless rants are very hard to get through.

The Audio book

I listened to the German audio book masterfully read by Ulrich Noethen.

It’s unabridged and the translation (although I don’t know how accurate) seems very well-done and coherent. 

The audio book, Noethen’s reading and the translation deserve no less than five stars. 

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Pet Sematary (1989) - movie review

This week I finished re-reading “Pet Sematary” and right afterwards I re-watched the 1989 movie.

The book review is already up and, as promised, here’s the movie review!

Please be aware that this review is FULL of spoilers for both the book and the movie – you’ve been warned 😉

 Main differences between the book and the movie

After the Creeds’ arrival in Ludlow´, Gage gets stung by a bee in the book, which leads to the introduction of Jud, who pulls out the bee sting. The movie is a bit more dramatic and foreshadowing. While Ellie has her little accident with the tire swing, everyone is focused on her and Gage walks to the road and almost gets hit by a truck but is saved by Jud. This is not a bad change at all. However, what I found a little weird is Rachel’s reaction. Yes, she’s relieved and thanks Jud, but if this had been my kid, I would have been a lot shakier afterwards, especially after being on the edge already after the long drive and Ellie falling off the swing … Considering how Rachel usually reacts to the potential of someone dying, this came across as a little weird. 

Norma, Jud’s wife, is not in the movie. Instead they kill off Missy Dandridge, who’s a completely different character than the kind lady who watches the kids sometimes and is very much alive in the end of the book. In the movie she doesn’t die of a heart attack, like Norma, but, believing she has cancer, she hangs herself.  That’s an acceptable change, too. In the movie they only have so much time, so it’s ok to leave out Norma’s storyline, although I’m sure that no one really cares about Missy’s death as I cared about Norma’s death in the book. She’s not really likeable, which is a pity. They could have made her just a little nicer, interact with the kids once or twice, to make people actually care before killing her.

It’s not dark when Jud finds Church dead and it’s still day when they head for the Micmac burial ground. I first thought this was a bad idea – it’s much less creepy – but I guess it was done because it made the next time, when Louis brings Gage there, more effective. I still don’t really like it, this scene had much more potential. For me Louis’ two walks to the burial ground were by far the creepiest scenes in the book. The wild, hysterical laugh of the Wendigo never fails to make me shudder, no matter how often I read this book. In the movie there are just some weird sounds that could probably really be birds.

Speaking of the Wendigo: There’s no Wendigo in the movie! In fact, there’s no background story to the burial ground at all. We only know that “the ground went sour”, for whatever reason.  I would have liked the background story and the menacing presence of the Wendigo.

The cairns on the burial ground don’t look like someone dug himself out as they are described in the book.

When Church comes back, he’s more aggressive than in the book. I have no idea why Louis lets this thing anywhere near his kids. At the same time, he isn’t at all clumsier or dumber like he is in the book, but it’s difficult to have a cat act like that so I get it.  

The same goes for Spot, Jud’s dog. When Jud tells Louis about him in the book, he says that Spot always remained a good dog. When he came back from the dead and scared Jud’s mother it was just by standing there and cornering her, by accident or on purpose.

In the movie he growls at her – and again, I have no idea why they kept that thing until he died of old age. And if the dog was so aggressive, why in the world would Jud tell Louis to bury his cat there, knowing there are two small children in the household? Even the dark power of the burial ground couldn’t convince me that that’s a good idea.  

The story about Timmy Baterman, the young man who died in WWII was brought back to life by his father when Jud was still a young man, is far creepier in the book. In the movie he’s just this savage, dumbed down version of a human, kind of like a zombie. He even chews on a little girl’s leg! By the way: I’m so confused about that! Did he dig it out of a grave or did he kill the girl to get it? And if it’s the latter – why doesn’t Jud mention that he didn’t just walk creepily back and forth in their town, scaring housewives, but also stole and ate little girls? Anyway, in the book he’s malicious and knows the darkest secrets about everyone, playing mind games with Jud and his friends, and Jud uses the word “demon” to describe him.  

Timmy’s end is also very different. In the movie the men from the town set the house on fire with Timmy and his father in it. Bill, the father, tries to get himself and Timmy out, but Timmy drags them both into the flames, which makes it seem like he himself prefers death.  In the book it’s Bill himself who kills Timmy, sets the house with both of them in on fire and then shoots himself. That solution is far better. The book tries to give the girl-eating, housewife-scaring zombie thing without the demon vibe a tragic touch. Of course that tragic touch is also there in the book but the demon, or whatever it is in Timmy’s body, doesn’t commit suicide.

After Gage’s death, the movie version of Louis goes to the cemetery by bright daylight and stores his grave robbery equipment there. Isn’t that a bit risky? The place must have great power indeed to back up so much stupidity.

In the book Louis only sees Pascow once after his death, namely in his “dream” from which he wakes up with dirty feet (in the book he reacts to that far more strongly, which I missed a bit in the movie). Later, after Gage’s death, only Ellie sees him in her dreams. In the movie Rachel feels his presence, too, as he’s trying to make her go home and get there more quickly, so she’s potentially able to help Louis. Not the best idea from the beyond as it turns out, and in the end it makes Ellie an orphan, but nobody’s perfect, not even the helpful spirits.  

When Gage comes back, he’s different in the movie than he is in the book. Thankfully, he’s not like the movie version of Timmy Baterman but the mind games are fare more harmless, which is again due to the age of the young actor and understandable.

In the book, a moment before his death, Gage is himself once more, calling out to Louis with the word “Daddy”, which literally made me cry. In the movie he walks away from Louis, looking like a sulking kid (which isn’t bad either) and says “Not fair”, and before he dies, he growls again, showing that he’s not at all himself. For me that’s not nearly as intense but it doesn’t ruin anything.

When Louis carries Rachel away from Jud’s house and towards the woods, he again encounters Pascow, who tries to talk sense into him one last time. In the book it’s Louis’ colleague and friend who finds him, but he doesn’t play any role in the movie, so it makes sense that he doesn’t show up there.

What I liked

The actors are great, especially Jud. He’s exactly like I always picture him reading the book. Gage and Ellie are adorable, which makes Gage’s death and Ellie’s mourning and fear for her father even more intense. Dale Midkiff (Louis) may not be the best actor int he world but he’s not as bad as some say.

The music is perfect and positively creepy. The movie relies mostly on atmosphere and slow build-up.

Zelda! Everything about her is perfect and so scary! Fun fact: She’s played by a man because they couldn’t find a woman who was skinny enough and could still be scary.

The scene of Church coming back is great, with the remains of the plastic bag, in which he was buried, still in his whiskers, just like in the book, and him indeed looking more menacing at Louis than before his death.  

I loved the Stephen King cameo – he’s playing the priest at Missy’s funeral.

At Missy’s funeral Ellie is wearing the marine blue dress she wore at Norma’s in the book; that’s just one of the nice little details they adapted from the book – there are many more.

I very much like how Pascow keeps interfering. He replaces Rachel’s inner struggle in Chicago and on her way home which we wouldn’t be able to see otherwise in the movie.

The second time Louis goes up to the burial ground is well done, with the blue fog and the noises and all. At least up to a certain point which is mentioned in the “What I didn’t like” section.

Gage killing Jud is well-done, even if it’s different from the book.

Except for Pascow following and helping her, Rachel’s way home is faithful to the book. Even the way she meets Gage and her untimely demise is quite faithful, with her first seeing Zelda and all. BUT if a small kid runs towards you with a scalpel openly in hand, no matter if he came back from the dead or not, the first think I would do is take the scalpel out of his hand. In the books he makes the effort of hiding it behind his back. Still, it’s a very good scene.

Gage calling Louis at home, making him realise that he killed Jud and Rachel.

Louis killing Church again is also well-done, and so is Louis killing Gage – this bone chilling little boy’s cry when Louis sticks the needle in his throat is so hard to bear. Just one thing (and I’m really nit-picking now, which is why this is not going to the “What I didn’t like” section): Why is Louis wearing medical gloves when he kills Church? Aren’t we beyond the point of caring about things like that? Also: He doesn’t wear gloves when he kills Gage.

Louis bringing Rachel to the burial ground and waiting for her and her coming back. It’s mostly well done.  

What I didn’t like

This is a minor complaint, but the scenes with Pascow can become a little cheesy at times. At the end of Louis’ “dream” he didn’t have to float away, they could have just zoomed in on Louis and let him wake up. The last scene with Pascow and Rachel was even worse. You know, when she gets out of the truck and he just closes the door and decides to stick with the trucker (why can he do that and most of all – why doesn’t anyone notice?).

Why are there stupid-looking kids standing around in Rachel’s house when she runs down the stairs after Zelda’s death? Can anyone explain that to me? I never understood that. I mean, she was alone with her sister when she died, she says that to Louis, in the book and in the movie. I don’t know about you but creepy neighbourhood kids have no way of entering my home without permission.

Another thing involving Pascow: Before he dies, he says that the soil in a man’s heart is stonier; later Jud repeats that sentence and when Louis is shocked about that we see a flashback to Pascow to remind us that he said it before. I don’t like it when a movie takes me for a fool, I’m perfectly capable of making the connection myself and don’t need cheap tricks like two-second-flashback for that, thank you very much.

When Louis climbs up to the burial ground with Gage in his arms, a jump-scare-face suddenly rushes towards him out of nowhere. Why would the face of a regular guy rush towards him? Is that Jud? Even with the screenshot I’m not sure but I’m starting to think it’s Jud (which never occurred to me in during the scene because it’s so fast). But it doesn’t matter because that would make even less sense. In the book the Wendigo comes so close to him and it’s such a scary scene and yes, he does see a face, but that of a spirit, demon or whatever, not that of a face coming out of nowhere just to make us jump and to look stupid. If they left out the Wendigo, they could have left out that s***, too.

The Gage puppet/doll/whatever this thing is! I get that you can’t make a little child act in scenes like the ones in towards the end, but the puppet thing is just so ridiculous! It always makes me think of Chucky and this is when I can’t take it seriously anymore and everything that might be creepy about a scene is completely ruined. And how did Chucky … I mean Gage … get Rachel’s corpse to the attic to drop it in front of Louis? He might be undead, but he’s still tiny!

Louis waiting for Rachel. Yes, I know, this is in the “What I liked” section, too, but it deserves to be in both. I mean – Louis is setting the alarm clock and right when it rings, Rachel comes back. Really? Has he become such an expert in raising the dead that he knows the exact time they will reappear? He didn’t even see when exactly Church and Gage came back.

Also, his hands are perfectly intact. Like in the book, he brings Rachel to the burial ground without any shovel or whatever to help him dig, so he does it with his bare hands. In the books his hands are ruined, which makes sense, in the movie they’re perfectly fine, which doesn’t make sense. Otherwise, the scene is good!  I didn’t even notice the thing with his hands before I read the novel, by then I had seen the movie twice.  

Is it a faithful adaptation?

Yes, definitely.

Even in very first scene, while the camera slowly moves through the pet cemetery, there’s a voice-over of some of the kids who buried their pets there, reading the inscriptions on the grave markers, which are exactly the same as the ones in the book.

A lot of the dialogue is the same as in the book, word by word.

The story, despite a few changes of which some where necessary because it is a different medium, is mainly the same.

The main characters are very true to their book counterparts, there are so many small details you will notice that are exactly the same in the book.

Is it a good movie?

I think it is. It has a creepy atmosphere, does not rely entirely on jump scares, as so many modern horror movies do, and the soundtrack is perfect! It has its flaws, some scenes have not aged well, but it’s still a very good, atmospheric horror movie and a mostly faithful adaptation to the source material.

The new movie

I am so hyped! Yes, I know the movie won’t be as faithful to the novel as the first one but we already have a faithful adaptation and in some scenes (GAGE PUPPET!) it didn’t work out.

I don’t want the kid to be replaced with a puppet or CGI effects – so it’s such a good thing that Ellie is the one who dies and comes back because the actress playing her will be old enough to do so convincingly. Gage is a good choice for the book and Ellie is a good choice for the movie.

There will be other changes so that even long-term fans like me will be surprised here and there. I will tell you what I think about these changes when I actually saw the movie because right now the only big change we know about for sure is that Rachel will be at home when Ellie comes back, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, the whole to Chicago and back again journey does take a lot of time.

What I also like is that the actress playing Zelda will be younger. In the first movie she’s an adult or almost an adult, in the book she’s only two years older than Rachel, which makes her 10 and therefore the whole story is even more terrifying and tragic. I can’t wait to see how that turns out!

I’m also so happy that the Wendigo will be addressed and I’m really looking forward to see how exactly that will be done.

Long story short: I can’t wait for the movie to come out and I’m not mad about the changes so far!

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Currently Reading

After finishing “Pet Sematary” yesterday, I started with “The Shape of Water” by Guillermo del Toro. I’ve been wanting to read this for quiet a while so I could read it before watching the movie and so far it seems pretty good. 

I also finished “Anna Karenina” and re-watched the movie “Pet Sematary” - reviews will be up very soon :) 

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Reading Challenge 2019 - Update

1. A Book With More Than 500 Pages 2. Book You Haven’t Read by Author You Love 3. Goodreads winner in 2018 4. You Can Read in a Day 5. Book About a Difficult Topic 6. Recommended by a Friend 7. Book That Will Make You Cry 8. Book Published in 2009 9. Book Becoming Movie in 2019 10. A Genre You Don’t Usually Read 11. Children’s Classic 12. Cover With Your Favorite Color 13. Bought at a Thrift Store 13.  A book by an author who uses a pen name 14. Young Adult Fiction 15. First Book in a Trilogy 16. Second Book in a Trilogy 17. Third Book in a Trilogy 18. Dystopian Novel Scythe 19. Award-Winning Book 20. A Book from the Rory Gilmore Challenge 21. Published the Decade Before You Were Born 22. Historical Fiction From A Favorite Time Period 23. Classic You’ve Never Read 24. A Book That Will Keep You Up All Night 25. 2018 bestseller 26. Nonfiction Book about Science (I know I won’t read that) 26. A book of short stories 27. Listen to an Audiobook City of Ghosts 28. Set in Your Home State 29. You Once Started But Never Finished 30. With a One Word Title 31. A Fairy Tale Retelling 32. Celebrity Book Club Pick 32.  A book by an author who uses a pen name 33. A Book You Read in High School 34. Business or Personal Finance Book (I won’t read anything like that) 34.  A book recommended by an author 35. Autobiography, Biography or Memoir (also fictional) 36. Book Set in Another Country The Remains of the Day 37. Reread a Favorite Book Pet Sematary 38. Book by a Local Author (no way I can find a good one) 38. A book that is over 1000 pages Anna Karenina 39. Banned Book 40. Narrative Nonfiction 40. A book of mythology or folklore Circe 41. On Your To-Read List the Longest 42. A Book About Travel The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue 43. Popular Book You’ve Never Read Gone Girl 44. True Crime   (I usually don’t read nonfiction and I’m not interested) 44. A book with a LGBT character 45. Nonfiction Bestseller (I usually don’t read nonfiction and I’m not interested) 45.  A collection of poetry 46. Science Fiction Novel 47. A Book You Own But Haven’t Read 48. Recommended by a Local Librarian (I don’t go to the library) 48. A book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character 49. 2019 New Release Winter of the Witch 50. The First Book in a Series Das Schwert in der Stille (Otori 1) 51. Prettiest cover 52. An Inspirational Story The Travelling Cat Chronicles

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Pet Sematary - Review

“Sometimes dead is better.”

I’m not easy to scare. I’ve watched horror movies since before I was 10 and I read my first Stephen King book when I was 10 or 11, more likely 10. I’ve never been scared when reading a book. Never.  Except for “Pet Sematary”. 

I’m not 100 % sure how often I’ve read it, the only thing I am sure of is that I’ve never read any book as often as this one, but it never fails to keep me hooked - or to give me the creeps. 

I often hear that people consider “The Shining” as King’s scariest book. For me it’s not. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great book, but I don’t find it scary. I’m not claustrophobic, I wouldn’t mind spending a winter in a place entirely cut off from the world; in fact, I would most likely enjoy it (only if it’s not a haunted hotel, of course). “Pet Sematary”, however, gets me on a much deeper level. It’s not just the fact that the dead come back to life, but the story combines very realistic fears (death, the unknown, losing someone you love) and a very creepy setting. It’s not an easy read by any means, especially the second half dealing with grief and loss in a very, very realistic way, can be difficult to read. 

(the next paragraph contains very vague spoilers)

The way King describes the feelings of his characters is so realistic, especially when it comes to Louis:  his love for his family, his grief and his slow descent into madness. You can’t help getting attached to the characters and even if you know what’s going to happen you find yourself subconsciously hoping that this time will be different, at least not quiet as bad as you know it’s going to be. Of course it won’t be different and I will never really stop wondering how all these things effected Ellie (whom I liked very much) and how her life continued after the events of the book. For me the scariest part of the book is when Louis walks the path to the burial ground (with and without Jud), feeling the power of that place, hearing strange sounds and eerie laughter (” You may hear sounds like voices, but they are the loons down south toward Prospect. The sound carries. It’s funny.”) and feeling the ancient presence of the creature these woods belong to. 

“Pet Sematary” is, and probably will always be, one of my favourite books. It’s entertaining, heartbreaking and scary like no other. If you haven’t read it yet, you really should. 

You may want to keep the light on ;-) 

[jessisreadingblog-blog]

Reading "Pet Sematary" or how my cat almost gave me a heart attack

(Very mild spoilers ahead - you've been warned 😉)

Imagine lying peacefully in the bathtub, reading "Pet Sematary". It's getting dark but it doesn't matter because you're reading on your Kindle and you're far too lazy to get out of the tub to switch on the light. You just got to the point where Louis carries the dead cat to the Micmac burial ground, it's very quiet and although you know the book all too well, the scene is still a little creepy, when sudden this little a***hole

starts meowing very loudly outside the bathroom because he's not allowed in when I'm in the tub. Let's just say I'm glad my Kindle is waterproof 😂

That was yesterday, I'm about 65 % through the book by now and I guess I'm going to be finished by Thursday at the latest. I'm also almost through the audio book of "Anna Karenina", only four more hours (of 37) 🙂

[jessisreadingblog-blog]

Currently Reading

Today I started re-reading “Pet Sematary” by Stephen King. This is one of the very few book I’ve read several times and it’s also the only horror novel that ever managed to scare me. 

Don’t read the next paragraph if you haven’t seen the new trailer of the remake and don’t want to know anything! 

Despite the major change they made for upcoming movie I’m still pretty hyped and I do get the reason they did it. Although Gage as a very young child is scarier in theory, the Gage doll in the first movie totally broke the atmosphere. I remember watching the movie (which is not bad by any means) when I was still a child, not even 10 years old, and still I had to laugh when Gage reappeared. I couldn’t take that seriously and I think for a movie it was a smart decision to kill off Ellie instead because an older child will be able to act much more convincingly in this situation and I really don’t want a CGI Gage :D I will talk about the movie on this blog after watching it and review it as a movie and as an adaptation. 

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Reading Challenge 2019 - Update

1. A Book With More Than 500 Pages 2. Book You Haven’t Read by Author You Love 3. Goodreads winner in 2018 4. You Can Read in a Day 5. Book About a Difficult Topic 6. Recommended by a Friend 7. Book That Will Make You Cry 8. Book Published in 2009 9. Book Becoming Movie in 2019 10. A Genre You Don’t Usually Read 11. Children’s Classic 12. Cover With Your Favorite Color 13. Bought at a Thrift Store 13.  A book by an author who uses a pen name 14. Young Adult Fiction 15. First Book in a Trilogy 16. Second Book in a Trilogy 17. Third Book in a Trilogy 18. Dystopian Novel Scythe 19. Award-Winning Book 20. A Book from the Rory Gilmore Challenge 21. Published the Decade Before You Were Born 22. Historical Fiction From A Favorite Time Period 23. Classic You’ve Never Read 24. A Book That Will Keep You Up All Night 25. 2018 bestseller 26. Nonfiction Book about Science (I know I won’t read that) 26. A book of short stories 27. Listen to an Audiobook City of Ghosts 28. Set in Your Home State 29. You Once Started But Never Finished 30. With a One Word Title 31. A Fairy Tale Retelling 32. Celebrity Book Club Pick 32.  A book by an author who uses a pen name 33. A Book You Read in High School 34. Business or Personal Finance Book (I won’t read anything like that) 34.  A book recommended by an author 35. Autobiography, Biography or Memoir (also fictional) 36. Book Set in Another Country The Remains of the Day 37. Reread a Favorite Book 38. Book by a Local Author (no way I can find a good one) 38. A book that is over 1000 pages 39. Banned Book 40. Narrative Nonfiction 40. A book of mythology or folklore Circe 41. On Your To-Read List the Longest 42. A Book About Travel The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue 43. Popular Book You’ve Never Read Gone Girl 44. True Crime   (I usually don’t read nonfiction and I’m not interested) 44. A book with a LGBT character 45. Nonfiction Bestseller (I usually don’t read nonfiction and I’m not interested) 45.  A collection of poetry 46. Science Fiction Novel 47. A Book You Own But Haven’t Read 48. Recommended by a Local Librarian (I don’t go to the library) 48. A book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character 49. 2019 New Release Winter of the Witch 50. The First Book in a Series Das Schwert in der Stille (Otori 1) 51. Prettiest cover 52. An Inspirational Story The Travelling Cat Chronicles

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Circe - Review

I remember having read and loved "The Song of Achilles" years ago and when I found out that the same author had written another book set in Greek myth I had to read it. "Circe" is a beautifully written tale with an intelligent, complex and very likeable main character. She's not flawless, she makes mistakes and can be ruthless at times, which makes or even more interesting. 

(”Circe and her Swine” by  Ebenezer Brewer - 1892) Circe's story covers many centuries and generations, throughout her life she meets gods, humans, monsters and heroes and more than once the line between each of the four is very thin.  If you know a little about Greek mythology, this book will be even more fun for you and if you don't, this might peak your interest in reading more about this topic. 

There’s also a small treat for animal lovers for Circe’s only constant companions on her island are the wild lions and wolves she tamed.

(”Circe” by  Wright Barker - 1889) 

The story is not told in the usual way, there's no real arc of suspense, no real climax, it's just Circe's life, the people and gods she meets, her own inner demons, the love of a mother for her child, and the topic of life and death itself. This might be boring for some, but I could hardly put the book down - if I had had the time I probably would have read it in a day or two.

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Reading Challenge 2019 Update

So I looked through the challenge and found that some of the books I read in January fit and that I definitely won’t manage some points (or rather don’t want to, because reading is fun for me and I won’t force myself to read a book about finances). I replaced them with others a friend picked for me :D

1. A Book With More Than 500 Pages 2. Book You Haven’t Read by Author You Love 3. Goodreads winner in 2018 4. You Can Read in a Day 5. Book About a Difficult Topic 6. Recommended by a Friend 7. Book That Will Make You Cry 8. Book Published in 2009 9. Book Becoming Movie in 2019 10. A Genre You Don’t Usually Read 11. Children’s Classic 12. Cover With Your Favorite Color 13. Bought at a Thrift Store  13.  A book by an author who uses a pen name 14. Young Adult Fiction 15. First Book in a Trilogy 16. Second Book in a Trilogy 17. Third Book in a Trilogy 18. Dystopian Novel Scythe 19. Award-Winning Book 20. A Book from the Rory Gilmore Challenge 21. Published the Decade Before You Were Born 22. Historical Fiction From A Favorite Time Period 23. Classic You’ve Never Read 24. A Book That Will Keep You Up All Night 25. 2018 bestseller 26. Nonfiction Book about Science (I know I won’t read that) 26. A book of short stories 27. Listen to an Audiobook City of Ghosts 28. Set in Your Home State 29. You Once Started But Never Finished 30. With a One Word Title 31. A Fairy Tale Retelling 32. Celebrity Book Club Pick 32.  A book by an author who uses a pen name 33. A Book You Read in High School 34. Business or Personal Finance Book (I won’t read anything like that) 34.  A book recommended by an author 35. Autobiography, Biography or Memoir (also fictional) 36. Book Set in Another Country The Remains of the Day 37. Reread a Favorite Book 38. Book by a Local Author (no way I can find a good one) 38. A book that is over 1000 pages 39. Banned Book 40. Narrative Nonfiction 40. A book of mythology or folklore 41. On Your To-Read List the Longest 42. A Book About Travel The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue 43. Popular Book You’ve Never Read Gone Girl 44. True Crime   (I usually don’t read nonfiction and I’m not interested) 44. A book with a LGBT character 45. Nonfiction Bestseller (I usually don’t read nonfiction and I’m not interested) 45.  A collection of poetry 46. Science Fiction Novel 47. A Book You Own But Haven’t Read 48. Recommended by a Local Librarian (I don’t go to the library) 48. A book in which an animal or inanimate object is a point-of-view character 49. 2019 New Release Winter of the Witch 50. The First Book in a Series Das Schwert in der Stille (Otori 1) 51. Prettiest cover 52. An Inspirational Story The Travelling Cat Chronicles

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I won't be able to cover all points, but I'll try my best 😁

This seems like a good plan! If you’re thinking right now: “Wow, one of these boxes could be a book that I really want Tris to read!!!” please tell me! I love recommendations

If you’re thinking:“I want to do this challenge to, or use some of these prompts” also tell me, so I can follow you!

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The Comical Tragedy or Tragical Comedy of Mr Punch - Review

It's difficult for me to rate this graphic novel which I admittedly bought because I was introduced to the story of Mr. Punch and Judy by reading "Gone Girl", watched a puppet show on YouTube and then found out that there was a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman.

The art is interesting and combines hand-drawn images with photos. It all adds to the bizarre atmosphere and underlines the dark story. 

The characters are interesting and none of them, not even the kid, is really likeable. Still, the story is quiet deep. It deals with themes like how adults lie to children, either to protect them or protect themselves, and how things that happened when we were children were not exactly the way we remember them as adults. The tone is almost poetic and the non-linear storytelling is also fitting, considering the story is told by the adult version of the kid. 

I'm a fan of dark and grotesque stories and I really enjoyed this but I would have preferred it to be longer with more details. It's still an interesting, read and I might read it again, but for me it wasn't really a highlight.

[jessisreadingblog-blog]

Statistics January 2019

Because I love statistics, here are mine for January:

Books read: 10 Pages: 3611 English books: 8 German books: 2 Kindle: 1 Audible: 2 Kindle/Audible combination (Whispersync): 5 Physical books: 2

Manga read: 17 Pages: 3199 English manga: 9  German manga: 8 Kindle: 9 Physical books: 8

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Anna Karenina

I’m currently listening to the audio book of “Anna Karenina” by Lew Tolstoy and when I’m finished, which will be in about two weeks, I guess (I listened to about  hours of almost 37 hours)  and after writing my book review, I will watch and re-watch at least three of the movie adaptions and also review them. 

One of the movies I will watch is the one of 2012 with Keira Knightly as Anna. I’ve seen this one in the cinema when it first came out and remember really enjoying it. Then I will watch the Soviet adaptation of 1967 and the 2014 TV adaptation with Vittoria Pucchini. 

I’m also really interested in the TV series of 1978 with Nicola Pagett (which has 10 episodes and has a run time of around 9 hours) and the movies with Greta Garbo of 1935 and with Vivien Leigh of 1948. Then there’s the one with Sophia Marcheau which I’ve watched before (when I was around 12 or so) and hardly remember. 

I will probably not watch all of them (at least not immediately) but they all sound quiet promising in their own way and I hope to watch as many as possible as long as the book is still fresh in my mind.