Inara and Beth's bookclub!

[inara-bethbooks]

Intro post!!!

Beth and Inara's book and movie club! About Inara: They/Them 19 favourite books: The Body (Stephen King) Stardust (Neil Gaiman) Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chboski) Scott Pilgrim (Bryan Lee O'Malley) Favourite Movies: Donnie Darko (2001) The Breakfast Club (1985) Shaun of the Dead (2004) La La Land (2016) About Beth: She/Her 18 Favourite books: Camilla (Frances Burney) Cathrine Called Birdy (Karen Cushman) Maurice (E.M Forester) Twilight, New Moon (Stephanie Myer) Favourite Movies: Brokeback Mountain (2005) Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) But I'm a Cheerleader (1999) How To Talk To Girls At Parties (2017) Asks and inbox are open we would love to chat about books or movies!!

us btw (Inara on right, Beth on left) XD

[inara-bethbooks]

Twilight (New Moon) and The Body reviews!!!! 😈😈

𝙱𝚎𝚝𝚑: 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚘𝚍𝚢 - 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚙𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙺𝚒𝚗𝚐

Rating: ★★★★⯪ (4.5/5) The Body was such a zinger! I truly loved this book, I’ve never been a big fan of Stephen King books as I think he writes unnecessarily sexual and bigoted. But The Body was written beautifully and has become on of my favourite coming of age books. The story follows a group of boys about 12-13 going on a journey to find a boys dead body next to the train tracks. I really enjoyed the base storyline as sometimes coming of age books have honestly a really boring base story, but having the boys looking for something that is quite adult and scary was really interesting. My favourite part of The Body was the characters of Gordie, Chris, Vern, and Teddy. The stark differences between them and learning about their personalities through Gordie made the boys seem so alive and complex. I also really enjoyed their relationship they had with their older brothers and older kids in the town. How they feared them but in the end realised that they are just kids too, they’re just dickheads. The story being told by an adult Gordie who became writer made the novel ten times better and was an amazing way to symbolise the break of the generational poverty cycle. I truly have nothing bad to say about this book, I believe this is probably one of his easiest reads and the least gross. I also watched the movie based on the book Stand By Me with Inara and I loved it! But, so fucking hated how the changed the ending, I feel like it totally went against Gordie’s characters and took away the most crucial character moment from Chris. But other than that I enjoyed the changes in story especially Verns “my comb!” Moment. Overall I would give this book a 4.5/5, thanks nana for making me read this!!!!!!!

𝙸𝚗𝚊𝚛𝚊: 𝚃𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝, 𝙽𝚎𝚠 𝙼𝚘𝚘𝚗 - 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚙𝚑𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚎 𝙼𝚎𝚢𝚎𝚛

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5) Beth made me read Twilight, after so many years of hearing about it online and from friends..... and honestly it was alright! I didn't expect it to be so different from the first movie, the book was mostly romance, which surprised me with the amount of suspense and action in the film. I think I definitely prefer the books to the movie in the sense that the plot is a lot better and thought out, and it's WAY less cheesy (although still super cheesy, don't get me wrong.) Stephenie Meyer has a really funny, easy-to-read writing tone, which I enjoy a lot. Bella's inner dialogue is just so funny and so camp. I think one thing I definitely liked better in the movie was the fast-paced nature of it. I miss the suspense and kind of horror aspect, the book was trying so hard to be a slow burn romance but lets be for real, they wanted each other so fast...... The ending was really good though! The chase was pretty suspenseful and I got really grossed out when the dude started breaking Bella's legs LOL Anyway, I really missed easy to absorb Y/A novels, I've been reading too much wordy stuff lately!!! I don't have too much else to say other than I LOVE Alice Cullen and I thought the hair smelling scene was hilarious. Overall I'd give Twilight New Moon a 3/5!!! Thankz beth for making me read ur weird vampire erotica xoxoxoxo

[inara-bethbooks]

Book afterthoughts + ratings vol 2!!!!

Inara: We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5) Thoughts: We Have Always Lived in the Castle was a pretty slow read, despite it only having around 170 pages. I really struggled to get through some parts, I think just due to the domestic, kind of mundane way it's written. Mary Katherine 'Merricat' Blackwood is an interesting, kind of odd narrator, and her voice has a very distinct childish and teasing tone. She dangles the details concerning the death of the Blackwood family in front of you throughout the novel, sort of teasing small details; the sugar bowl, the arsenic- but never in the book does she tell us what really happened that night. Although that was a really unique part of the book, it left me feeling a little bit unfulfilled, knowing i'd never know how or why she killed her family members and if Constance had anything to do with it.

I really loved the weird, whimsical descriptions of the Blackwood house and its' surroundings, (i want to live there and eat nice food and hide away in the forest) and Merricat's protection rituals and spells, burying marbles and silver dollars, breaking mirrors, nailing books to trees were so silly and childish that they kind of made sense.

Also the villagers were so damn mean!!!! And the evil, twisted descriptions of them from Merricat's point of view were really nice and sinister and childish. Like yeah Merricat's obviously exaggerating but if people were that cruel to me and the remainder of my DEAD FAMILY i'd probably view them with twisted, snakey mouths and wish death upon them too. This novel was veryyyyyy gothic. I've never read anything like it and i've yet to decide whether or not that's a good thing (I think it is) Finally, fuck u cousin Charles. whys he talking to my senile traumatised uncle like that.

Beth: Stardust- Neil Gaiman  Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ (1/5) Thoughts:  I would like to say before I share my thoughts, I am not a very big fantasy reader. I can see why Stardust is loved and has its fandom, but I couldn’t get through it. I’ll start with the things I did like about Stardust. I enjoyed the kind of ‘old matey’ vibe the pub in the small town had, it reminded me of a more…I wouldn’t say classy, but a more charming version of Trisha Patas’ pub ASMR videos. I actually loved the romantic parts of the book, especially in the beginning, main character Tristran Thorn’s father and the cat lady witch (?) The meet-cute was super fun and flirty. I enjoyed the sort of sinister undertone the cat lady had and was so secretive about the whole interaction. Also, I was not prepared for the little bit of smut in this book, holy! Not Tristrans' father getting baby trapped by some cat lady. I found the style of storytelling a little annoying. It seemed to be written like a classic fable. I understand why he decided to write such a fantastical storyline in this style, but it just didn’t work for me. I also found that the story was hard to follow because of how many characters and places there are. I felt like the characters need to have a name tag of who their family is and why they are even here. I found the main plot point of the fallen star a little corny as well, but I will say that it is because I’m just not a fan of true fable/fantastical fantasy. Overall, I really didn’t like this novel. But, I understand how it is a favourite for many and I wouldn’t be opposed to trying it out again. I’m sorry, Inara I tried :’(

[inara-bethbooks]

Book Afterthoughts + Ratings!!

Inara- Maurice ( E.M Forester) Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5) Thoughts: Maurice was really sweet!!! This book was definitely a great choice to bring me back into reading after not touching a paperback in a loooong while. (spoilers: gays in the 1910's do get fairly happy endings!!!!) Pros: Again, it was so refreshing to read a depiction of queer love so pure- really just reminded me that we haven't changed tooo much in like 100 or so years. Forester took special care to write moments between lovers so delicately, so human! Somehow, in a bit more than 250 pages, I began to sympathise with Maurice, to care about his love and loss so deeply. Cons: Sometimes I did find myself getting lost in the dialogue, confused at who was talking (the use of mostly last names to address characters didn't help at alllll.) I also found myself a little less engaged (and kinda just depressed) during the middle of the book, but I'm glad I stuck it out until the end! Beth- Perks Of Being A Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky)

Rating: (5/5) Thoughts: I fully understand the love for this book because jeez, was it amazing. From the relationships between Charlie and other characters, and with himself, it really becomes a realistic and relatable story. Pros: What I really enjoyed about this book is the relationships between characters. Especially his relationship with his sister, the way they grew together and started to understand each other and how to help made me shed some tears. I also loved how sensitive and quick to cry Charlie is and how he didn't hide that in his letters. As a big crier myself, I felt very seen and understood his actions and thought processes. Cons: I don't have too many cons, as Perks is just a solid book, I can't really say anything bad. I would've loved it if we went more into Patrick and Sam's backstory, but I think us as the reader not knowing a whole lot about where they're from was the whole point. Overall, Perks has become one of my favourite reads of this year.

[inara-bethbooks]

Currently reading!!

Inara- Maurice ( E.M Forester) Maurice has really proven to be an easy read, as after only a day I'm more than halfway through! Usually with classic literature I'm not able to get through the beginning, but Maurice is written in a more casual, informal way that's way easier to understand and digest. Paired with such a pure depiction of queer love (and heartbreak) this book has been hard to put down!! I'm intrigued in what comes next for Maurice and how he'll deal with his identity, as well as how the story will resolve (do gay people get happy endings in the 1910s??)

Beth- Perks Of Being A Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky) I am only on page 53 but I already understand why this book is so popular. Chobsky's writing style is easy to read while still being nuanced and creative, making this a great read. I have watched the movie ( I know I should've read it before...) so I am a little nervous about the kiss scene. I really love how the book is written as Charlie's diary entries it just makes the whole story feel so much more real and intimate. His character is so familiar bringing comfort to me as the reader but I am still interested in how his high school is going to go.