Bazaar of Bad Dreams- Story #1- Mile 81

So I’ve got three books on the go at the moment and this is one of them. I’m a massive Stephen King fan but due to a reading slump haven’t read much by him for a while. I really have to be in the right mood for his rambling writing (which is good nonetheless but lets face it he does ramble!).
Anyway so I got in the mood and picked up the second in the Mr Mercedes trilogy and this one. Just read the first story Mile 81. Was a good start to his collection.

The theme of the story was good, it built up the tension and creepiness very well indeed. It tells the tale of a car monster and that’s all I’ll say as any more will ruin it.

The characters felt as real as they always do in King books (he is a master of character development) and I as I say,enjoyed this.
The only negative was I wished it were slightly longer ,  perhaps a novel rather than a short story? 

Great work Mr King. Great work. I rate this one 4 stars.

Currently reading

Got 4 books on the go at the moment as I’m in a conflicted mood. 

Currently reading:

Started War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (I LOVED Anna K and so I have exceptionally high hopes for this one once I’m done blundering my way through understanding who is who and the complex Russian names.

Finders Keepers- Stephen King. Quite unusually this series is more thriller than horror and I am enjoying this better than the first one but not as great as his horror stuff in my opinion but we will see.

Bazaar of Bad Dreams- Just finished reading the first story in this collection of short stories ‘Mile 81’ A promising start but I do prefer Kings novels ultimately.

The King Series-Tawdra Kandle. An urban fantasy series of sorts. My new favourite obsession / genre as you’ll have seen from a previous post. Is very good reading so far!

The Shadowland by Elizabeth Kostova- Review

I can’t find the words to describe how disappointed in this book I am so suffice to say, I am very, very disappointed.

Elizabeth Kostova is one of my favourite authors. Her book ‘The Historian’ is my ultimate and completely favourite book ever published and I also really really liked her follow up, ‘The Swan Thieves’

This book however, just does not compare to either of her previous works.

So the story tells of Alexandra who is in Bulgaria and comes across an Urn with a persons ashes in, it is her mission to get these back to the right people and so the story begins. It also shows flashbacks from her life which were interesting and then flashbacks to another persons life- Stoyan a violinist and not so interesting.

This book as the others are, is particularly well written, most of the characters are developed well enough but the pace was atrocious. I was last half way and virtually nothing has happened which surprised and disappointed me.

I picked it up to read tonight and I realised I wasn’t looking forward to it so I decided to DNF’d it.

Heartbroken. Totally heartbroken. This could have been an excellent book but just wasn’t.

1.5 stars.

Stephen King and my favourite authors

So growing up, there was only ONE author for me. Stephen King. I have most his books and really enjoy reading most (no longer all ) and I remember I used to think of his books as pretty flawless.

Now I’ve grown up a bit, I’m shocked to say he is no longer my favourite author which has surprised me somewhat. I put it down to the fact that although his books are entertaining and I do really enjoy them, he is in dire need of a proper editor with most of them. There is a rambling nature to his writing style which I think (as I’m clearly looking for punchier written books) I’ve grown out of…..will always read what he writes but will no longer by any means consider the books perfection, (the exception being The Dark Tower Series which is my favourite series ever)

I find my favourite author is actually Elizabeth Kostova and Kate Mosse. I’m currently reading EK’s latest , the Shadowland and I’m finding it enthralling. I love the slips between past and present and her Historian novel is my favourite novel like in ever. She reminds me a bit of Kate Mosse who I also enjoy for her time slip novels. Both are in complete contrast to what SK writes about.

I’m also a newfound lover of Urban Fantasy (my favourite UF author is Sarra Cannon) yet if you’d asked me five years ago would I be reading books about witches, demons, princesses, I would have just laughed!

Funny how our taste changes!!

Reflection

So, I’ve been diagnosed with bipolar for approximately two years or so now and just reflecting on it. It’s been a hard ass two years. It really has. I was gutted by but also relieved by my diagnosis.
I’d always been an extremely angry person, very destructive, abandonment issues to the core, you name it. For many years. Poor parents!
Originally I was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder but a psychiatrist later found that I had been wrongly diagnosed and I had bipolar.
 I am required to take mood stabilisers on a daily basis as some of you know and given the severity of my disorder, I suppose I’ll be on them for life now. I do have periods where I get forgetful and I get erratic in taking them but on the whole, they work fantastically. I have very minor highs, no lows at all and I feel much more stable. I can maintain a job, maintain a relationship and maintain looking after myself as well. Some of which I couldn’t do when I wasn’t medicated. Even things such as getting dressed were incredibly hard to do but I got through.
Without gushing too much and making you bleugh, aside from family, Gillès Chevalier has been such a strength and has been my absolute rock. Anyone else would have seen the hard work I was / I am and have walked away. Not Gilles. He is an amazing person and I am so grateful to have my rock and of course my family, his family and my friends. Thank you, all. Wouldn’t be making it throughout life without you.
Reflection over 😝

The Bone Season

This book didn’t seem to be my usual kinda book. It was a sci fi : kinda dystopian novel. Not my usual read at all but it sounded so interesting!!

I gave up on this as it unfortunately felt like too much hard work, it was so complex and complicated. Not beyond me to understand because if I invested more time in it, I’m sure I would but being in a reading slump kinda mood, I currently need something to grab my attention right away and this isn’t doing it for me.

Two stars. She gets an extra star for her imagination. 

The life I left behind

Going through a MAJOR reading slump at the moment but which isn’t helped by rubbish books.

This was one such book. Absolutely terrible attempt at a psychological thriller in the vein of Girl on the Train and everything else in that genre ever since.

So it’s a story with multiple povs. Great. I like that mechanism but when it includes the POV of a dead woman it requires you to suspend belief a bit. A bit too much but not too offputting as a whole.

The storyline seemed okay. Pretty atypical of a psychological thriller and nothing special but again, not too offputtinf.

My problem with this book was the way is written. It was just so wordy. Unnecessarily so. It just bored me in the end and I wasn’t making much progress so I gave up.

This author was just not for me.

1 star. 

The life we left behind -Colete McBeth

Hot, hot, hot day here! Sat outside enjoying this book in the sun.

It’s fairly good so fair, multiple perspectives which I like and a crime which has taken place. Good start!

I know what I’m doing all afternoon!

Life

Closed my Facebook a few days ago. Had enough of the drama it causes and the feelings it arouses. Because of my bipolar things trigger me sometimes and I feel I’m better off without it. Not missing it at all and am grateful for the extra time I have to write on here or post pictures on my instagram / pin on Pinterest.

Currently feeling very under the weather. Sore throat still and a nasty cough still. Luckily I have my best friend. You would have seen occasional pics of her before but I thought I’d post a few up to introduce her properly. This is Polly ❤️

My snuggle monster. She is such a cuddly dog it’s unbelievable!

Here we are snuggling:again! Lol

Her cute face 😘

Polly the Westie. She is 4 and a half years old and was the runt of the litter so for a Westie. She’s tiny. She’s my absolute best friend.

Since I’ve been ill she’s been snuggling up to under the blanket for like forever bless her.  😍

Anyway time to shower and sleep I think. It’s nearly 11 am here but I am far to ill to be thinking about getting up so for now night night.

Life

So I woke up this morning feeling absolutely rotten. I have a sore throat, a nasty cough and I feel exhausted. So it’s time to spend time with my favourite things (Westies and books) 😀 On call tonight as well so hoping with a bit of rest I’ll feel better for that in case I get called out! I’m sure I’d nothing else cuddles with Polly will make me feel a little better!