lory_enterenchanted's reviews
531 reviews

Beautifully written and translated, a moving story of love and loss with mythological overtones. I loved learning about the Norwegian stave churches and local lore. 

 Aiken channels Georgette Heyer here concerning the education of a naive young girl, who must realize that reality is better than idealistic dreaming. Aiken makes use of those Regency tropes, from the loveable rake to the comedy-of-errors elopement, with her own inimitable flair.  Great fun.

How could I not love a book that starts out with a sly nod to Villette? Plus, a foray into the glittering world of literary Paris and its seamier underside, an understated enemies-to-lovers romance (too understated for some, but I liked its subtlety), and in the end, the redemption of a selfish old man, tragic though it otherwise is. I'd revisit this one.   

A woman in the early stages of dementia becomes preoccupied with unearthing lost memories from a traumatic event in her past. I became strongly drawn in to the story and the characters and relationships felt real to me. I felt let down by the ending with its hint of an impossible twist. (Or was is merely another hallucination?)

A rather fun, if a bit overly drawn out, backstage look at the medium business during the Victorian heights of spiritualism, which walks a difficult line between sympathizing with certain charlatans (they're trying to help people!) and condemning others (they're ripping them off!). A reminder that human beings will persist in believing what they want to believe, including those who are in the business of deception. 

I found it silly and unconvincing. Persephone and Artemis as girl buddies? Atalanta was constantly tingling with energy. Careless with language, such as using the word „approbation „ incorrectly. 

Meh. I think I simply do not like Golden Age style detective fiction.  The premise here did have promise, and I enjoyed Spectors demonstrations of magic, but the execution was lacking. Too many moving parts and too little reality. 

Okay, I think I really am done with Agatha Christie now. With this one, because I knew there was a startling twist, it was obvious what that would turn out to be. And aside from that surprise there was nothing interesting about the characters or setting. It also was not believable that this person would be motivated to act as they did. Christie may be good at constructing puzzles but for me that is not enough.  

Some lovely writing, interesting time period and setting, but ultimately I felt let down by the turgid love story.

I skim-read this because I felt like a lot of the content was unnecessary filler (like telling us repeatedly This is What I'm Going to Say; This Is What I Just Said; This Is What Is In This Book), or I had already read it in better, more substantial form elsewhere. However, I want to go back and read some parts that are more practical more thoroughly and glean what might be useful. In terms of "Self-help" a reader could be disappointed to reach the middle and be told "and now you really need to have therapy." Good advice, perhaps, but not what one buys a book for. Fortunately I got this from the library.