Sirkusdyrets Bookclub

Just books I read

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Book Recap November 2024

I will for sure start another book before we start December, but I feel then need to recap the books I've read in November that I haven't talked about.

Galgedans by Tor-Håkon Håvardsen

Kniven i Ilden by Ingeborg Arvola

Vestersand by Ingeborg Arvola

The Power by Naomi Alderman (will get its own post)

(No I have not yet finished Ghost Tree by Christina Henry)

Galgedans

Galgedans is part one in a trilogy called "Viktoriahavn", the title can be translated to "Dance with the gallows" and havn is just port, so "Viktoriaport".

Håvardsen is a Norwegian author who works as a funeral director on his day-to-day life, which for sure comes forth in this book.

Because in the book is the boring Theodor, and his mean bitter wife Margareth who decides to have a child. Jenny is born and is the prettiest girl on the outside, but on the inside, she's black as tar.

Theodor works for a funeral home and therefore knows death, he knows what it smells like and what it looks like and he does his job well. Which suddenly becomes very handy, when his daughter has murdered a classmate in their home. He didn't think her darkness would reach all the way out, he didn't think she was capable of murder?! Or was that just wishful thinking from his end? Will she kill again or is Theodor able to keep the darkness at bay in his daughter?

A very gory and morbid book, for sure a slasher horror. I was rooting for Theodor so goddamn much, a father that does anything to protect his own child. This book concludes the story of Theodor of course, but will I read the rest of the books? Yes I plan to. 5/6.

Kniven i Ilden / Vestersand

These two books are a part of a trilogy called Ruijan rannalla - Sangen om ishavet, which has been translated as "The songs of the artic ocean". The first book "Kniven i ilden" was translated "A knife in the fire" and "Vestersand" is a location.

Arvola writes Nordic historical fiction based on old church books going back to 1859 in her own family line, going back to north-Finland and north-Norway to when people moved from the inland to the coast to seek opportunities with fishing and farming.

Brita Caisa Seipajærvi is moving away from her family in Finland, especially her drunken father, to protect her two sons Heiki and Alexi from being taught bad behaviors. So they go to Norway. She's hoping to find a husband, as she has two children without a father.

She leaves her sons to work at different farms and goes out one season to help with the summer fish season, she goes there with the farmer of one of the farms she's left her sons at and, ends up falling insanely in love with this married man named Mikko. And don't you know it, but he's into her as well, but Brita is obsessed, "Mikko, Mikko, my Mikko" is repeated through both books as their lives evolves further.

Not to mention you can be jailed for infidelity, which is where book one ends and book two starts. A pregnant Brita Caisa expecting a child with Mikko, who's still in jail. How does Brita Caisa's boys take the news of a baby sister and their mother's and Mikko's relationship?

Kniven i Ilden I will give 5/6, it was intriguing, it's historical, it's still slightly familiar to me as a fellow northerner and it is written well. Vestersand however is a bit weaker, I haven't written much about it but it spoils what happens in book one quite a bit, and the books are quite similar, but I was for sure absolutely bored at some points with Vestersand, and there was SO many sex scenes, and at some point I was just like "again?". The small dramatics did pull it up a bit, and the interactions with Brita and Mikkos daughter Marja actually pulls it from a 3 to a 4/6.

The Power will get their own post later this week :)

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The same person who recommended Pet Sematary as a good first "Stephen King" book, also showed off their amazing edition of Carrie, which they also recommended (Skrekkbibliotekaren on Tiktok).

So of course I had to buy it.

I've yet to read it, but I've been reading Galgedans by Tor-Håkon Håvardsen which is quite a dark and gory story, and now I'm reading Kniven i Ilden by Ingeborg Arvola, which is nordic historical fiction.

Not to mention Ghost Tree by Christina Henry which was thrown into limbo. I own the e-book so I should probably finish it.. I'm 73% done.

I wanna read MORE.

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I got these book from a secondhand bookstore just a couple of weeks ago. I read the first book "Kattemordene" aka "Felidae" in 2008 for easter.

I absolutely do not read much crime, but this? Edgy mc edge main character as a CAT? Sign me up.

Author is apparently a rightwinger that just keeps doing shit, but this is why we buy books from secondhand stores. I just want this weird book in my bookshelf, and I might read the sequel "Francis" or "Felidae II" since I have it.

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Forgot to take an actual picture (but you can see it underneath the Haunting of Hillhouse in the other post).

Decided to read some Stephen King for the spooky season.

Pet Sematary

So what can I say? It's a good start if you want to try Stephen King, not a "heavy" book to read.

Like all horror stories, a family moves into a new house. A father, a mother, a daughter, a son, and a cat, a typical nuclear family.

Louis is a doctor, so he's seen death, which is what this story is about. Death. Because right by their house there is the "pet sematary", where generations of children have buried their pets in the past. However, the pet sematary is not like any other cemetery. The ground here has power according to the old neighbor, and when Louis' daughter Ellie's cat, Church is run over by a truck, Louis has the choice to let his family taste death for the first time, or not.

Now the cat smells of dirt and death, and was it really the better choice to bury Church in the Pet Sematary?

A book I actually really enjoyed quite a bit, the relationships and interactions between the characters are quite good and I absolutely adored Ellie's meeting with life's darker parts.

A must-read if you want to get into Stephen King books.

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A book about a group of people, visiting a dreadful house.

First of all, if you have ever seen Haunting of Hill House on Netflix by Mike Flanagan, this is an entirely different piece, the Netflix show is an actual adaptation, true and true.

Eleanor has just lost her mother and has been invited by Dr. Montague along with two other younger people, sensitive to the worlds mysteries, to visit the dreadful Hill House.

There she meets Luke, a family member of the current family owning Hill House, and Theodora, just Theodora, who is eccentric and whom Eleanor sometimes loves, and sometimes hates.

The group of four, spend their time at Hill House. Breakfast at nine Mrs. Dudley clears at ten. She sets out the dinner, and leaves the property before dark. That odd Mr. and Mrs. Dudley.

So what does happen at Hill House at night?

Some Netflix show notes:

We see characters in different roles between the two works, even the author has been given their own character in the Netflix show, Shirley Jackson, adapted into second oldest Shirley Crain. We also see adaptations of Eleanor, Theodora, Luke, Dr. Montague, Mr and Mrs Dudley, and Arthur. Scenes from the book have been adapted, quite differently of course, into the Netflix show, and as I am currently rewatching the show with a friend of mine, it was exciting seeing pieces from the book show up in the show.

It is for sure not really the scariest book, but there were scenes where things got revealed at the very end of the segment, which sent chills down my spine.

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So work has been eating up my time, but also got into an Autumn mood, so put away Bridgerton before I even began and borrowed The Haunting of Hill house by Shirley Jackson from the library.

So this is what I am currently reading.

It is the book that the Netflix Show The Haunting of Hill House by Mike Flanagan is based on.

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Been trying to read The Priory of the orange tree since July, but work has eaten my time, and the big lore and slow start didn't help. Nothing negative for the book, where I am in life currently there is no room to read this, so I'll take a break until later.

Also, just got book 6 in the Bridgerton series, and will be reading Francescas story, it is fairly easier, a bit "head empty" compared to the Priory. But that's why I love them so much.

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Finally finished An offer from a gentleman by Julia Quinn while being away on vacation.

With the news that the next season of Shondalands Bridgerton will be focusing on Benedict, this felt perfect.

So what can I say about it? The first 90 pages are pure Cinderella fantasy, the whole shcpiel. Evil stepmother and terrible stepsisters, a ball, a lost piece of clothing (a glove). After that it breaks off into a romance between a maid and a Bridgerton.

Benedict was kind of an asshole in this, and absolutely didn't respect Sophie at times, which was kinda hard to read. I also wish that the glove came back and was used as a tool further in the story. I wanted it to be a bit more of a Chekov's gun.

I did enjoy Sophie a lot, her trauma of how she grew up really held her down and made her a grounded character, but I have to admit all in all, it was most likely the weakest book I've read by Julia Quinn so far.

The ending also felt QUITE rushed after a whole book of things taking it's sweet time.

So yeah, this isn't the most positive view.

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"An offer from a gentleman" by Julia Quinn

90 Pages of Cinderella.

[hussainthemvp]

Nobody dodges bullets like i can. i dodge the best bullets. the biggest bullets.

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Lady Whistledown

So, another slight issue with the series popped up on Facebook today, someone was wondering how Penelope had acquired that amount of money in just 2-3 years.

While in the books she has been L.W. for 11 years by the time of "Romancing Mr Bridgerton". Making the amount make a lot of sense.

It's not a very big issue per se, but it came up, and I kind of agree with the comment of it.

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Finally finished the second Bridgerton book "The Viscount who loved me".

This won't be as long as previously, (I didn't lie but I had more than I thought to write about it) but I want to talk about what I liked with this book, especially comparing it to season 2 of the Netflix show.

First of all, justice for Kate's leg-biting and childhood trauma which was voided out of the tv-show.

Summary:

Viscount Anthony Bridgerton has decided to marry, but only for practical reasons, to have heirs and a Viscountess. Absolutely not for love, that's the last thing trauma-riddled Anthony wanted for himself. But was it what he needed? He finds a lovely new girl out for the season, Edwina Sheffield who seem to be the perfect choice, if only there wasn't for Edwinas unlovable elder spinster sister, Kate.

Kate has joined her sister out for the season after her family spent all their money to travel to society for the girls to find husbands, well Edwina to find a husband, according to Kate. Kate does not look for a husband of society, and nobody looks at Kate as even an option. Edwina sparked too bright next to her, and Kate do not mind. An issue flares up as the most infamous Rake (trademark) of the ton sets his eyes upon Edwina, Anthony Bridgerton will absolutely not marry Edwina if Kate has something to say about it.

-

Anthony and Kate starts a rivalry, with Kate stepping on Anthonys toes while dancing. Anthony coming with snide remarks or just hanging out with Edwina to Kate's dismay.

There are certain scenes which are adapted, and I would like to mention some of them.

The first scene was not adapted to the show, and it's at the party at the Bridgertons country home: Aubrey Hall. This is where Anthonys relationship with Maria comes from and he has had the Opera singer follow him to his office. Where... Kate has gone to hide from Anthony, and other people. Kate listens to Anthony telling Maria he will keep mistresses when he marries, making Anthony even more of a villain than Kate already thought of him. In this scene, Kate ends up biting Anthony's leg. Which is just so absurd.

The second scene was adapted, and this one was much better in the show than the book, and that is the game of Pall Mall. In the book, only Kate, Edwina, Anthony, Colin, Daphne and Simon plays. In comparison with the Netflix show where we're missing Simon (of course), but have Daphne, Eloise, Anthony, Colin and Benedict together with the Sharma sisters Kate and Edwina which makes it a much better "look into the family of the Bridgertons" which was quite fun. In the book there are some good parts that didn't fit into the show of course, and some of them are the part where they have lost the Red ball in the lake, and thus cannot play with the Red set, leaving after everyone has picked colors, the Pink and the Purple. Anthony is away picking up Edwina (whom the group has decided gets the blue one). Colin, the absolute instigator of too many events in "The Viscount who loved me" throws the purple set into the shed, out of view, leaving Anthony with only the pink set to play with. Kate also ends the game by shooting the pink ball (of Anthonys) into the lake, and becomes the "winner" by Bridgerton rules.

The third scene is the bee-scene, which has Anthony going absolute out of line trying to "suck the poison" out as he's sure Kate will die. His mother, her step-mother and Mrs.Featherington sees them. They now have to marry. I liked this much better than the extra lengthy drama in the series. It is easy to feel like Kate betrayed Edwina in the series, which is absolutely dreadful, in which she does not in the book. Instead the book focuses on Anthony and Kate having a "loveless" marriage until it's not, Kate's fear of thunder and childhood trauma, and Anthony's own trauma and knowledge of mortality.

Even Kate's injury is less dramatic, with only being a broken leg.

The ending kind of rushes after this, and we get a epilogue which shows the result of what they worked with in the end of their book, with the viscount and viscountess absolutely giving no shits and loving each other.

So, yes this has been my comments about The Viscount who loved me.

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Do I like "The Viscount who loved me" more than Bridgerton S2? Yes, yes I do. The only change I like is the pall mall game and how the Sheffields are Indian.

JUSTICE FOR KATE'S LEG-BITING!

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Why not go and read by the harbor when you have the time?

Was reading The Viscount who loved me. In fact the chapter where he joins Kate on a walk with Newton which ends up with poor Edwina in a pond.

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Finished this one the other day, but I've been busy moving, so haven't had the time to make a post.

"The duke and I" is the book closest adapted from book to show, with only some small "bigger" differences.

Daphne is a second year, struggling to receive proposals due to Anthony being Viscount Bridgerton, and being overprotective. Not to mention having grown up with three older brothers makes her see their "boyish ways", in which she catches the Duke of Hastings in his tracks with. He is not able to use his position or charm on her, because "she's not affected" due to her brothers.

Daphne Bridgerton and Duke Simon Basset joins forces to keep the Duke from the eyes of the many Mama's of the ton, and Daphne to show the ton she is eligible as a bride. So, basically just a "fake dating plot", and we all know how those usually turn out.

They fall in love.

Simon however is haunted by his past and potential future, his father has traumatized him to the point he wants no wife or children. And for what? For a mere stutter.

In the Netflix show the stutter was given more "authority" due to them being black, so it comes across as his father seeing the imperfection as something that the crown might not want in power, which I have to admit I don't like as much. It makes more sense, but it kind of explains the abuse and neglect Simon endured, and that doesn't sit right with me. In the book he just needed a perfect heir, no reason, no fear, just utter greed and being a shitty person.

The stutter is also much more prominent in the book, which I liked, he does show some stuttering in the show, but you might miss it if you don't remember that he's supposed to struggle a bit still as an adult.

They are found by Anthony on the "dark walk" alone without a chaperone, and Daphne legit with her tits out, making Anthony enraged, in which the duel comes into play. They get engaged with the same criteria, that the duke is unable to give Daphne children, in which she agrees.

Then we get to the part of the morally yikening. I will just giva a warning right here:

Trigger warning: rape:

In the Netflix show Daphne seeks answers from a servant, and does not connect the dots herself, as in the book. She then takes matters into her own hands and seduces Simon and traps him underneath her to keep him from spilling himself on the sheets. In the books Simon's been out drinking after feeling terrible for becoming a stuttering mess in the front of Daphne. Daphne has herself made the connection after the comment about "needing strong seed". Still the quite oblivious in other ways Daphne finds herself in bed next to a drunk Simon, in which she touches him in his half-sleep drunken state and then climbs him, but as we see Daphne's point of view, it doesn't come across as forceful (except for the part where she's sleeping with a barely awake person which in itself is forceful, but Daphne doesn't view it as such). However when Simon tells her to get off, she does not, and she realizes the truth and Simon is the one to leave her in a betrayed rage.

Trigger warning done

They separate and Simon moves in to another estate, Daphne returns to London to be with her family. She of course does not end up pregnant, and here I like how they did it in the show a bit better, as her crying in the backroom at the opera was just heartbreaking, compared to it just happening "out of scene" in the book.

Simon has to deal with three adult Bridgerton men through out this, first Anthony visiting him and being absolutely furious, and then later being ambushed by the ABC Bridgertons in his own London home as he's legit on his way upstairs to bang his wife at the end of the book having dealt with their issues, maybe a bit too quick.. Daphne does tell Simon that she is okay to wait a bit to have children, and I think it would seem more healthy if they waited a bit, learned to trust one another a bit before actually having a child. Feels a bit too much like "we have a baby to fix the marriage" to my liking.

This book took a bit longer to read through as it was very close to the show, thus making it slightly boring, but not too much to spend several weeks on it.

The next book will be "The Viscount who loved me", which I'm expecting to be a lot more different from the show.

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Almost finished with "The Duke & I", and just wanted to show off my terrible copy with ink splotches from a printing error. These are just some of the most noticeable ones.

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The last week these two books have hardly been out of my hands, I've been reading on the bus, in a park, on the bus stop, on a flight of stairs, co-reading with a friend, and whenever the opportunity arose. You see I watched the Netflix show right after handing in my Bachelor and thus got quite curious about the books written by Julia Quinn, and yes I couldn't wait to see the conclusion of Season 3. However, I was fairly surprised, as the books are extremely different from the Netflix show. So, here's my rambling about the two books, because I do love to ramble.

I do think most of the Bridgerton books can be read in any order as you deem fit, but continuing over to book 5 from book 4 naturally seems the best choice as they happen so close to one another. In fact book 5 overlapping with book 4's timeline in it's end, which however also does not do book 5 justice due to inconsistencies between the stories. I am just going to come out with it, as it actually bothered me quite a bit, as book 4 ends on the sentence "And no one saw them for several days" (before the epilogue). Yet, in book 5 Colin leaves Penelope to the country with his three brothers only 2-3 days after the end of the 4th book. 2-3 days is not "several days", at least not to me, and you would think at least Colin might have brought Penelope with him up to the country due to how book 4 ended. It just bothers me greatly.

Adding: Eloise NEVER finds out about her best friend Penelope being Lady Whistledown in any of these books.

Bridgerton Book 4: Romancing Mr Bridgerton

First of all, the three Featherington sisters have a younger sister, Felicity Featherington who has started her season upon the start of "Romancing Mr Bridgerton". Second, it's been over ten years since Daphne's and Simon's story, (which is the book I am currently reading), and Hyacinth is also out for her first season.

I really enjoy that time has passed. Penelope being almost 28, and she's basically a spinster at this point, together with Eloise whom has contracted her own little hobby to Colins dismay. Colin even think his sister is Lady Whistledown, and of course, we do not even get to know who Lady Whistledown actually is until Colin is the one to figure it out on accident.- Colin being too pre-occupied paying attention to Penelope, who is used to no one paying attention to her.

The carriage ride in season 3 actually is the carriage ride after Penelope was caught and they had a huge fight where Colin is upset about her putting herself in danger, going to such "shady parts of London" by herself, in which turns into quite the scandalous make-out session of course. In which at the end of the carriage ride Colin ask Penelope to be his wife. (Adding as I just watched episode six: They DID adapt it, but not of course the same way, here I enjoy the books version more).

I do have to comment, I absolutely love seeing more of Colins point of view, he is much more of a person in the book, as inner monologues do sadly not transfer well into tv. One parts of his human sides that I love and hate at the same time, is his love for food, he's always eating.

Here I will stop comparing it to the netflix show (and I shall enjoy the rest of the show when I do watch it).

The drama unfolding after is of course quite a thing, because it is of course not just Lady Whistledowns possible exposure by Cressida Twombley, who wishes to extort Penelope from all her Whistledown money, but also Colins jealousy towards his brothers and also fiancé for "having purpose", finding trust and support in his author-wife for his journals, which is absolutely lovely.

I really loved this book quite much.

Bridgerton Book 5: To Sir Phillip with Love

From the shock of Eloise's spinster friend Penelope marrying her brother Colin, thus no longer being a fellow-spinster she finds herself in a desperate need to maybe find something for herself as well.

Thus taking the recently widowed Sir Phillip Crane's invitation to heart, months even after it arrived, but just having to get away from her family, disappearing from the ball hosted by the Duke and Dunchess of Hastings, the very night Lady Whistledown was exposed, in which Eloise never found out of course. Showing up at Sir Phillip's door the morning after.

Sir Phillip wishes to find a new wife due to his dear Marina sadly passing away the year prior, due to being "melancholy". Especially, due to his twin children needing a mother. In which he hopes to find in Eloise. Eloise however, never was told of these two eight-year olds in the letters between them, but growing up with seven siblings, where three of them have had more than two children each, she is quite used to children at this point, which makes it not the worst match. However, the children are quite unruly, and are known for being absolute demons.

Having basically ran away from home, of course four Bridgerton men soon show up at Sir Phillips's door, demanding an explanation (Why Colin wouldn't bring Penelope is beyond me). Having been "alone" with a man for two days, Eloise is now of course un-marriageable, even if the only thing that happened was an eccentric kiss, and Anthony Bridgerton demands a marriage between them. In which Eloise wouldn't mind...had it not been for her brother's meddling hands. Sir Phillip is quite happy, Eloise will of course be a splendid mother to his twins. While Eloise wonders if this could at some point, maybe eventually be a marriage with love.

Another thing that bothered me in this book, was how Eloise wishes to speak to her sisters, especially Daphne for advice, but does not even mention Penelope. It almost seems like she has forgotten about her best friend, until the end of the book, where she gives birth to her first child, in which she names Penelope, after her best friend. Being the stubborn Bridgerton-woman she is and not naming her children in alphabetical order.

I was less of a fan of book 5 than book 4, but it was for sure enjoyable, and I do plan on reading the entire series, because why not? Everyone needs some British housewife porn in their lives.