Books 'n Stitches

Books n Stitches. ---- Book Lover, Makeup Junkie, Metalhead.Tolkienite. Hufflepuff. Booklr.

[booksnstitches]

Hannibal by Thomas Harris

“The first step in the development of taste is to be willing to to credit your own opinion.” Goodreads Synopsis

Invite Hannibal Lecter into the palace of your mind and be invited into his mind palace in turn.  Note the similarities in yours and his, the high vaulted chambers of your dreams, the shadowed halls, the locked storerooms where you dare not go, the scrap of half-forgotten music, the muffled cries from behind a wall.

In one of the most eagerly anticipated literary events of the decade, Thomas Harris takes us once again into the mind of a killer, crafting a chilling portrait of insidiously evolving evil--a tour de force of psychological suspense.  

Seven years have passed since Dr. Hannibal Lecter escaped from custody, seven years since FBI Special Agent Clarice Starling interviewed him in a maximum security hospital for the criminally insane.  The doctor is still at large, pursuing his own ineffable interests, savoring the scents, the essences of an unguarded world.  But Starling has never forgotten her encounters with Dr. Lecter, and the metallic rasp of his seldom-used voice still sounds in her dreams. 

Mason Verger remembers Dr. Lecter, too, and is obsessed with revenge.  He was Dr. Lecter's sixth victim, and he has survived to rule his own butcher's empire.  From his respirator, Verger monitors every twitch in his worldwide web.  Soon he sees that to draw the doctor, he must have the most exquisite and innocent-appearing bait; he must have what Dr. Lecter likes best.  

Powerful, hypnotic, utterly original, Hannibal is a dazzling feast for the imagination.  Prepare to travel to hell and beyond as a master storyteller permanently alters the world you thought you knew.

My Rating: 3 Stars

I don't want to say this book was disappointing per se, but it didn't grab me as strongly as Silence of the Lambs did. What I loved most about that book was the interactions between Clarice and Hannibal and that's what I wanted from this book. I wanted to see more of the emotional and mental fallout of all that. This book was kind of a slog to get through for the first half because it's just full of so much injustice towards Clarice, because her career was crippled by the toxic and wounded egos of the men who wanted to be the ones to take down Jame Gumb. I wanted more of the story to be about her doing her job and hunting down Lecter, and it was frustrating that such a small part of the novel focused on that. I hated the parts that focused on Pazzi and Verger because they were such flat characters. I only really enjoyed the last 30% or so of the book and breezed through the ending, but after everything, the book was pretty unsatisfying.

[marzipanandminutiae]

I’m slightly disturbed by the present notion going around that, if an author is problematic, you can no longer read and/or enjoy their work

or, more specifically, that you must instantly drop it and never speak of it again, no questions asked

mostly because if you try to only read books by the most ideologically perfect people, you’re going to rapidly run out of things to read. for one, anything written before like…1960 is out. for another, that one shining individual whose work alone you’re willing to read doesn’t exist.

every adult has done problematic things. the only difference is the scale and nature of the mistakes made

sure, voting with your wallet is a thing. I’d definitely be willing to buy a book by a currently-living author who isn’t always kind to their fans, and not by one who committed sexual assault. but there’s nuance to the simple act of reading or liking a book, separate from giving the author money, and it must be approached as such

what did the author do that you don’t like? how much of it comes out in their work? in what ways? what aspects of their work have value to you? is there enough value in it for you to continue liking it, even if you don’t condone the way the author behaves? will you continue recommending it to others? is the negative behavior confirmed to your satisfaction? can you, personally, reconcile disliking the author with liking their work? (because in the end, it’s a matter of personal choice and conscience)

saying “this author did/does bad things, so anyone who reads or likes their work must also be bad” is an appealing way to absolve yourself of the need for critical thinking. and guess what? that’s an important part of life

it’s easy to say “this is cancelled because the author sucks” for works you don’t care about. but someday, it will be something you love under the microscope. count on it. you’ll have to grapple with these questions, and it won’t be easy

people need to develop the skills to deal with complex topics in a thoughtful manner, and I worry that they’re being encouraged not to

[roach-works]

another issue is that lately, writers are expected to be their own marketing AND pr team, and to interact with fans in an unfailingly gracious and generous way, even when those fans are hundreds of demanding strangers. writers are people who are good at writing a book. maybe several books. they don’t necessarily have the professional skillset for public relations, and they DEFINITELY don’t have the salary of a pr professional. 

has a writer done a sexual assault? that’s fucking bad. no one at any point should sexually assault another person. is a writer using their platform to broadcast bigotry? also bad. you’re totally free to hate someone who wants you and/or your friends dead. 

but if someone’s just kind of a douche online, or is using pc terms that were acceptable five or ten or fifteen years ago, or if a woman’s less than gentle in how she handles the six thousandth rude asshole who thought they were owed her time….just go away and deal with how writers are people, and sometimes people suck, and sometimes you suck too, and it’s not the end of the fucking world. 

[sabbacc108]

Details from illuminated manuscripts. Getty Museum, 2018

[booksnstitches]

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James 

“She’s someone.”

Goodreads Summary

Something hasn’t been right at the roadside Sun Down Motel for a very long time, and Carly Kirk is about to find out why in this chilling new novel from the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.

Upstate New York, 1982. Viv Delaney wants to move to New York City, and to help pay for it she takes a job as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel in Fell, New York. But something isnʼt right at the motel, something haunting and scary.

Upstate New York, 2017. Carly Kirk has never been able to let go of the story of her aunt Viv, who mysteriously disappeared from the Sun Down before she was born. She decides to move to Fell and visit the motel, where she quickly learns that nothing has changed since 1982. And she soon finds herself ensnared in the same mysteries that claimed her aunt.

My Thoughts: 4 Stars

I think this is one the best written stories I've read this year. The characters were great and I liked their gradual development and even they all grew and changed, they weren't unrecognizable in the end. Viv and Carly both grew so much in their respective timelines, but the were still very much themselves at the end of it all. They changed, yeah, but they weren't different people either.

I really liked the atmosphere and the setting as well. In terms of tonality and atmosphere, it kinda gave me the same feeling I got when I watched Mindhunter. Like, they have the same vibe. What I liked most is that St. James combined paranormal and true elements, and wasn't afraid to have one affect the other. I liked that in the story the paranormal, while terrifying and actually kinda unsettling for me as a reader, weren't automatically written off as evil. They added a nice layer of atmosphere and storytelling to something that was largely a true-crime style plotline.

I definitely would have binged this book in a day if I wasn't burned out, but it is still very much an enjoyable read and despite being trope savvy, I was constantly surprised by the story and did not at all anticipate the turns this book took in the last 20% or so.

[booksnstitches]

Long Way Home by Katie McGarry 

“Sometimes people choose the harder path just to prove they can do it.”

Goodreads Synopsis

Seventeen-year-old Violet has always been expected to sit back and let the boys do all the saving.

It’s the code her father, a member of the Reign of Terror motorcycle club, raised her to live by. Yet when her dad is killed carrying out Terror business, Violet knows it’s up to her to do the saving. To protect herself, and her vulnerable younger brother, she needs to cut all ties with the club—including Chevy, the boy she’s known and loved her whole life.

But when a rival club comes after Violet, exposing old secrets and making new threats, she’s forced to question what she thought she knew about her father, the Reign of Terror, and what she thinks she wants. Which means re-evaluating everything: love, family, friends . . . and forgiveness.

Caught in the crosshairs between loyalty and freedom, Violet must decide whether old friends can be trusted—and if she’s strong enough to be the one person to save them all.

My Rating: 4 Stars

In this book we can finally get a look into Violet's mind and understand her. In the first book she's almost a villain because of how angry and bitter she is, lashing out at the seemingly nice guys who just want to help her. Finally we can see her, and see how she feels like the club is belittling her, condescending to her, undermining her own efforts to help out her family. She's hurt and angry and has every reason to lash out in her grief.

And we finally get to Chevy, and his own internal struggles trying to balance his love for his outsider mom, the club, and high school drama. Not only that, but as he begins to slowly uncover more about his father and what everyone else had withheld from him, he questions himself and his own standing with both of his families.

Of the three, this one by far is the more MC heavy. The threat of the Riot comes front and center in this book when Chevy and Violet are thrown together in life threatening circumstances that reveals secrets that make them both doubt what they knew about their families. We see just how dangerous they really are and the lengths they go through to get what they need.

I enjoyed this book a lot, as it fleshed out a ton of relationships we saw brief glimpses of in previous books, and the Riot plot line is fully expanded and given attention. I really enjoyed this book a lot.

[booksnstitches]

Walk the Edge by Katie McGarry 

“I want to be the girl who is seen.”

Goodreads Synopsis

One moment of recklessness will change their worlds.

Smart. Responsible. That's seventeen-year-old Breanna's role in her large family, and heaven forbid she put a toe out of line. Until one night of shockingly un-Breanna-like behavior puts her into a vicious cyber-bully's line of fire—and brings fellow senior Thomas "Razor" Turner into her life.

Razor lives for the Reign of Terror motorcycle club, and good girls like Breanna just don't belong. But when he learns she's being blackmailed over a compromising picture of the two of them—a picture that turns one unexpected and beautiful moment into ugliness—he knows it's time to step outside the rules.

And so they make a pact: he'll help her track down her blackmailer, and in return she'll help him seek answers to the mystery that's haunted him—one that not even his club brothers have been willing to discuss. But the more time they spend together, the more their feelings grow. And suddenly they're both walking the edge of discovering who they really are, what they want, and where they're going from here.

My Rating: 4 Stars

Having binged the series, this one definitely feels the most high school of the three. I really liked the development of the relationship between Breanna and Razor. From he had gone up to mess with her because he knew what people said about him, and then deciding to look out for her because it was the decent thing to do. In turn Breanna realizing she was prejudiced and deciding to know who he was based on how he treated her rather than what she heard people say about him. Seeing the two of them open up to each other and support each other and watching these two hurting teens fall in love was so goddamn tender and sweet.

The MC plotline was further developed too, and they lurk in the back like a boogeyman, and we finally see just how much damage they can do, how far they're willing to go to get revenge on the Terror and on Razor's family.

Overall the romance was so stinking cute, and it was fun to see Razor deal with high school bullies with the backup of an MC and for Breanna to learn to accept and become part of that world.

[booksnstitches]

First day of the #readingrush and I'm already going rogue on my tbr. When you can skip the wait on a 10 week Libby hold, you don't say no. #bookstagram #books #horror https://www.instagram.com/p/CC30GUzgHM3/?igshid=1qqvrj3okjkc2

[novelknight]

↞  novelknight book reviews  •  instagram  ↠

[raventhorin]

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

[cottagelf]

Dream collection 🍂

[therobotreads-deactivated202205]

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

IG: @therobotstudies

[bigdreamsandwildthings]

Pretty TBR’s 😍 so colour coordinated!

[bookocreativity]

A good book and a cup of tea, I don't think I need anything else.

[saipng]

‘redemption arc’ this and ‘redemption arc’ that 

wheres an arc where the hero gets morally corrupted by a villain and switches sides and becomes an even bigger threat as a result

where is my bastardization arc

[freckles-and-books]

An unexpected side effect to having my own house that I’ve filled with books, plants, and other pretty things is that I never want to leave.

[nhoneybooks-blog]

An updated shelfie.

[books-and-cookies]

say what you will, but the best meme of the decade is the twilight renaissance 

like, my life may be going to hell, but at least i have supportive people around, who recognise the fact that bella swan was willing to die to get dick and that is beautiful

[fidoruh]

In all fairness many if us would be willing to die for a good dicking

[books-and-cookies]

preach lmaoooooo