Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Sent to investigate the disappearance of two little girls Camille finds herself reluctantly installed in the family mansion, reacquainting herself with her distant mother and a precocious thirteen-year-old half-sister she barely knows. Haunted by a family tragedy, troubled by the disquieting grip her younger sister has on the town, Camille struggles with a familiar need to be accepted.

But as clues turn into dead ends Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims and realises: she will have to unravel the puzzle of her own past if she's to survive this homecoming.

(From the back of the book.)

 

Not long after I boasted how awesome I have lately been at picking only good books to read, Shatter Me and Sharp Objects happened. That'll teach me!

 

The reason I picked up this book was to give Gillian Flynn another chance because I felt it extremely difficult to rate her overhyped Gone Girl and I really didn't want to be unfair. I wasn't a fan of Gone Girl but compared to Sharp Objects, it was better.

 

For me, Sharp Objects was a mess. I was really surprised because I probably gravitate towards books with darker themes and tones more than an average Joe (American Psycho is one of my favourites), but maaan. This book was just... The characters were... The plot... Gah! I didn't like it.

 

So Camille is the kind of young (around 30 - yes peoples that is young!) lady who has been into cutting herself for a long time and starts her days with a vodka shot from bottle she keeps under her pillow. Like... I really really tried to imagine that and I got sick (the vodka shot part). Like, I got nausea. Of course she generally drinks a lot, there is some drug doing around (with minors), casual sex, the whole thing along those lines.

 

Now I am not the one to judge. I get it that the main character developed into that person because of childhood traumas and things (yes her mum is a proper nutcase and stepdad made me shudder more than once - really creepy peeps), and I really don't judge because obviously I haven't been in such shoes, but really, it's also kind of hard to symphatise because in the end these were Camille's choices. Some of the self-destructive behaviour also didn't make any sense whatsoever (in which world and under which conditions is it ever a good idea to get high with your teen sister? I just don't get it).

 

I also found it problematic to take this book as a murder mystery trying-to-solve-it and I really didn't even care who was the culprit because honest, that town was full of nutcases and almost any one of the characters could have committed the crimes and I couldn't care less. One of the few redeeming parts of the book was the detective who was the main man on the case, of course he and Camille have a little thing going there, but I was happy how it played out in the end; I can't get more into detail as this is already bordering the spoiler territory but let's just say it was kind of a realistic outcome to the situation.

 

So yes, I think that was the last Flynn book for me, objectively I can see how certain type of people may enjoy her books but it just ain't my jam. I actually think that for me, her stories would probably play out better on the big screen - which means if it's true that a few of her books are in the making process to the movies, I might go and check them out.

Sunday Snippets #12

You guys, I have been really, really tired these past weeks. Exhausted. An empty lemon. Mammu the cat had a quite sudden surgery about 10 days back and although the surgery itself went well, there were slight complications afterwards.

 

Right after the surgery.

 

We have been treating her ear since August (I kid you not - several AB rounds, medicine in the ear morning and evening, it's been draining for her and for us). So apparently the problems with the ear issued from some kind of tumour, which was best be taken out. The surgery went well, but afterwards Mammu developed inflammation inside the ear and she didn't eat properly or show any kind of interest towards life in general. Basically, she was just blobbing under the bed. It is awful to see your otherwise lively pet in such a vegetable state. We had to take her to the vet some days after the surgery because she ate only from my hand and was already starting to dehydrate. Oh, and apparently she also had high fever. And she didn't want to use litter box. MUCH problems! 

 

After the vet visit, not much changed, and I was sad Mammu didn't want to eat (food is the biggest joy in her life, otherwise). So after a few more days of feeding her from the hand in every four hours or so, we went back to the vet and picked up a kind of an appetite stimulant, a little (albeit quite expensive) pill.

 

After the surgery, quite depressed.
 

 

Guys, this was like a miracle medication. Less than an hour after I gave her 1/4 of the pill, she came yelling for food and has been back to her normal appetite and behaviour since. She is also on new AB round now because of the inflammation and the fever, but man, am I glad to see my cat alive.

 

All the problems were also deepened by the fact that Mammu got depression from the Elizabethan Collar (or the bonnet, as I named it). She is by nature a cat with super high anxiety level (long history, I got her 9 years ago from a shelter and she was mentally very damaged, took me a few good years to teach her to even feel comfortable around people), so when you put something around her neck it's like "ZOMG MONSTER TRYING TO KILL PANIIIIC! RUUUN!" *bumps against things* --> fear level increases --> dead circle of panic.

 

Feeling slightly better, playing cat house with Robert.

 

Luckily, she didn't show any interest towards her wound and stiches, so for the past four or so days I've let her be without the collar when someone is at home. Even at night, because I figured the depression is worse than that quite low risk of something happening to the wound.

 

So this weekend I have been sleeping like 10 hours a night and am starting to feel like a human again.

 

In more bookish news, I decided to rearrange my bookshelves, quite impromptu, yesterday. I actually managed to create some space, dividing books in a different manner. There is one reason I don't like rearranging my shelves and it's the fact that I have quite many books in Estonian, and since I don't want to mix languages, I can't really create any system based on genre or alphabet. So I just have Estonian shelves, and then all the rest in English.

 

Now I did make a separate TBR shelf (or 1.5 shelves to be precise) out of the books I own and haven't read yet, and that might have been a mistake because while they were all scattered throughout different shelves, I didn't really realise that I have so many of them.

 

 

The bottom shelf is all the books I haven't read. It's a lot, and it's not all.. Upper shelf is the fantasy shelf and I have kindly crossed out the books I have read, so that still leaves quite some to read from there as well.

 

Left is my most immediate TBR (the autumn one) and then there is bunch of classics and others on the right...

 

 

I also made a "shelf of shame", basically the books I haven't been much impressed with and would happily give away, either to a used bookshop or through blog or however.

 

 

And I have done some reading and finished some books, the last one was Dracula (lovely story!) and before that Sharp Objects (Gillian Flynn), which I didn't like at all (review to come but let's just say that it was even worse than Gone Girl for me personally). Now I am reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (these books are ridiculously captivating...).

 

Sorry for the longest post ever, but I've skipped Sunday Snippets for weeks now and there was a lot to talk about.

 

Happy Sunday everyone!

 

Readathon: The End

Which hour was most daunting for you? That was definitely around 12th and 13th hour, when I arrived home 3 am-ish local time and not in the most soberest condition. However, I was very determined to read at least one chapter from Sharp Objects before passing out completely, which I did manage.

 

Smoothie speaks the truth. Or at least that's how I felt this morning.

Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? The only inconvenience I saw was the differences between time zones, but I think those cannot be helped. At least I got to start 3 pm and not 1 am, like some people :)

 

What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I think organisational side of the event was exceptional, I got answers to all my questions from the web site. Twitter is of course ridiculously useful and entertaining helper when it comes to such things :)

 

How many books did you read? I read from two books, but finished none.

 

What were the names of the books you read? I read Shades of Grey (Jasper Fforde) and Sharp Objects (Gillian Flynn).

 

Which book did you enjoy most? As I suspected, Shades of Grey is maybe a bit heavy on detail for a spike readathon, so I think in that sense I enjoyed Sharp Objects more; however, in normal circumstances and without pressure the roles would be reversed.

 

The book house I hastily built this morning for Ellie's
Book Jenga mini challenge. The Lord of the Rings is
foundation of everything, apparently.

How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I do want to participate again as a reader and I sure hope next time will be more convenient for me time wise. This weekend I had maybe 6 hours to read because I was engaged with other things (it's most annoying how life gets in the way of our reading!).

 

Tl;dr - the readathon was awesome, organisers are superhumans, my modest page count was the fault of life. Better luck next time.

Bout of Books Challenge #2: Acrostic Poem

Melissa over at Harley Bear Book Blog is hosting the Bout of Books challenge: Acrostic Poem Challenge.

Remember back in elementary school when you would write your name vertically down the page then next to each letter you'd write an adjective describing yourself that starts with that letter?  Well that's the idea for today except with...wait for it...books!  

 

Hop over to Melissa's blog for an example and more information on the challenge (and giveaway!)

 

I wanted to pick a book with relatively short title and also something fairly popular so people would know what the book is about. (Thinking about writing acrostic poem for a book like Jeanette Winterson's "Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?" seemed like maybe not the best idea :p)

 

 

Gripping tale
Of
Nick and Amy Dunne
Engrossing to the bone

Gritty
Intense
Repulsive as whole
Look at them fall

Brain Food, VI



I haven't written about books I've bought/received for a long while, so there is... horror! two piles to show at once now. Some of those I have even finished already, hehe.

From top to bottom:

 

* Hilary Mantel, "Wolf Hall" - was an impulse buy, but since I'm going through the longlist of this year's Women's Prize, and Mantel is in it with the sequel to the "Wolf Hall", the purchase has worked itself out quite fine.

* Sinclair Lewis, "Arrowsmith" - a Classics Club book that I got to read for the Spin event in March. Finished it, liked it. Might try out some more Lewis in future.

* Scott Addams, "God's Debris" - something that can be called "a mind exercise" by the author of Dilbert. The premise of this slim book seems very intriguing, I love literary mind games. Won it a while back from a giveaway.

* Ken Follett "The Pillars of the Earth" - another brick, which I can't wait to start! It's something about building a cathedral in 12th century and I have faith it's going to be a-we-some.

* B. N. Peacock "A Tainted Dawn" - another piece of historical fiction (I really do intend to make my grand foray into the genre). Travelling by the sea and military conflicts. I won this book.

* Susan Wise Bauer "The Well-Educated Mind" - it's a book that is supposed to help us read and interpret classics. If it will manage to make me ask more questions about books, and seek more answers - good.

Women's Prize 2013 books:

 

* Gillian Flynn "Gone Girl" - read it in a few days, had some issues, but I think it's a good book for people who are after fast-paced writing and story twists. I personally am more focused on the depth and style of writing, which is why plot-based novels ain't quite my thing, but I'm glad I read it (bought it before I knew it was longlisted for WP). But, I don't expect I will try other of Flynn's works any time soon, if at all.

* Elif Shafak "Honour" - set in London, Istanbul and a Kurdish village, I'm looking forward to this one, but I will probably read the other books from this pile first.

* Francesca Segal "The Innocents" - I see family drama. Expecting this one to be a hit or a miss.

* Barbara Kingsolver "Flight Behavior" - I haven't read any Kingsolver and I want to love her, so I am very, very apprehensive towards this book.

* Kate Atkinson "Life After Life" - reading this one now, and loving it so much. Almost don't even want it to end. Fascinatingly structured novel.

* Maria Semple "Where'd You Go, Bernadette" - read it, loved it, need to write about it. The humour! But then again it is no wonder considering that Semple has written for Arrested Development, one of the funniest TV-shows there is :)

Closing the lid of March

We can has some of that? Please???

*punches the writing slump in the face* there...

 

March is almost over, and spring is nowhere to be seen. What gives? I'm so tired all the time that it's not even funny anymore.

 

Just out of curiosity (and possibly in masochistic desire to shock myself) I went through all the Brain Food posts since the beginning of January (added the books I have gotten in the past weeks and have not put into a post yet) to make a little calculation of how many books I have acquired and how many of them I have read.

 

 

Books hoarded - 35 (of which 3 I received for free, 1 is a lent book, and the rest I [or my boyfriend] have paid for).

Books read - 13.

 

I think it could be worse. My Classics Club project includes many of the books that come from my already-earlier-existing library, so I am not reading only the new books. Most books I have bought are classics, plus I am also going through some of the novels longlisted for this year's Women's Prize. It is also noteworthy that the classics I buy are not necessarily meant for reading right away, but they are more like long-time investment.

 

Anyway, back to March.

 

It was surprisingly good reading month, mainly because I managed to balance nicely between the classics and other stuff. I read six books - three classics and three "others":

 

* J. Austen "Persuasion" (for Classics Club)

* G. Flynn "Gone Girl" (from Women's Prize longlist; however, I read it before I knew that it was longlisted)

* E. Hemingway "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (for Classics Club; for Modern March event)

* S. Lewis "Arrowsmith" (for Classics Club; for Classics Spin event)

* J. Picoult "My Sister's Keeper"

* M. Semple "Where'd You Go, Bernadette" (from Women's Prize longlist)

 

Page count - 236+466+490+450+500+321=2463.

 

In April, I will participate in Zoladdiction event. Although I initially planned to go for two Zolas, I have changed my mind by now and will be reading only "Germinal". I would like to dedicate more time to Women's Prize books - I have Kingsolver's "Flight Behavior" and Segal's "The Innocents" at home, plus this week the boyfriend ordered me Atkinson's "Life After Life" (can't wait to stick my claws into that one!) and Shafak's "Honour". I also can't wait to start Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall".

Reviews (kind of): "Bag of Bones" by Stephen King, "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn

I've been suffering from a writing slump. Probably has to do with overwhelming spring tiredness. It's the middle of the March now, and this morning it is minus 20 degrees of cold outside... just made me want to run into a wall.

 

There are three books I have finished but haven't noted down in the blog - the two mentioned in the title and "Persuasion", which I read for the Classics Club. As for "Bag of Bones" and "Gone Girl", I decided to write down my thoughts in very short form, because neither one really moved me to the core (positively nor negatively).

 

"Bag of Bones" had some good things speaking for it. I like reading about literature-y people, and the main character here is writer Mike Noonan. There are piles of references to different authors and books (including a huge spoiler on du Maurier's "Rebecca" - that was bad, please don't spoil books, or at least stick a warning label on your novel :p), and I really liked reading about intelligent characters. Another thing especially praiseworthy in my book is the portrayal of a 3-year old girl. Because whether it be films or books, I tend to have problems with kids in them. Either they are shown over-intelligent and non-believable, or just total brats, or I don't know. It's just an individual thing I guess, but the kid in King's novel was a-do-rable. Super cute. I liked the way she spoke.

 

But, there is an odd thing that has happened to both two King books I read last. The reading process of "Needful Things" is one of the most shocking ones I ever had. I started reading it, and was soooo badly sucked in, I read it all the time and everywhere. Then, somewhere at 75% through point, there was a total halt. There were too many characters by the time, things got very messy and at the point, which was supposed to be a culmination of the story, I lost interest. The book stayed on my bookshelf for months, before I finally pulled myself together and just forced through it.

 

And the same kind of thing happened this time. Around 3/4 through the book, I lost a great slice of interest. I didn't give it up this time (and overall "Bag of Bones" was a lot better book as well), but I just thought if it's going to become some kind of King-curse for me. Maybe I should try some books that people have praised more, like "Stand" or "It" or "Carrie".

 

"Gone Girl" was kind of an experimental purchase, as I would have never picked up this one without all the buzz and fuzz in other book blogs. I was fairly certain that this is the type of book that I'd finish fast (true) and so it wasn't that huge of an investment (except money-wise, hehe).

 

I can't say it was a bad book. It wasn't. I think it was pretty well written, in its genre. Props to Flynn for knitting such an intricate network of twists and turns throughout all 400+ (or how many there were) pages. There were some quite clever and intelligent passages. It was interesting to observe how my opinion of the characters changed as the book progressed. I didn't like the characters but I liked how they were portrayed. At times I got nauseous (that's not all that bad thing when reading - better than feeling nothing).

 

However, I was right when I kind of started having this hunch that these kinds of books, let's call it "curveball prose", ain't really my thing. So much happens in short period of time that I get bored in the end (and after that 54th surprise, you know, 55th surprise ain't all that "surprising" anymore).