Dark Places | Book Review

 - I really liked it. 

      Gillian Flynn is definitely one of my new favorite authors. Her writing style is brilliant, in a way it even reminds me of Stephen King and his thrillers. Dark Places is a mystery novel that keeps you turning the pages fast until the very end. It still took me quite a long time to finish it because it is merely impossible to read it while you are alone. So surround yourself with sunshine, teddy bears and people you love before reaching out for this book, otherwise you’ll feel depressed and suicidal. This is definitely not a complaint, in fact just the contrary – it shows how efficient is Flynn in her writing.

      What I enjoyed most about it was the narration – the story was told from different points of view, alternating from the present to the past. Sounds confusing but it really is not - it just contributes a lot to the mystery of the murders. Hearing about the events from different perspectives really engages you as reader – you see how everyone had different experiences, how not everything is plain black and white and that sometimes what may seem like a small, simple mistake can lead to horrible consequences. The narration confuses you but not in a bad manner - instead it makes you wonder and consider who do you personally believe is the killer. The facts are just laid out in front of your eyes, nothing is said directly, just hinted, and it is all left to you to figure out until the very end.

      The characters are full of life, in a way that it makes you feel you practically know them. Throughout the whole story you change your emotions towards them – you are suspicious at first, but then you get to know them and empathize with their fears, mistakes and desires. Libby, the main character, has gone to hell and back at such a sensible age. It leaves her broken – she can’t have a normal relationship, she can’t sleep without the light on and she just can’t lead a normal life. So she wants to find out who did this to her, who broke her life by killing her family. Ben, her brother, who is in prison for murdering his mother and two sisters, is a disturbed boy from what we see of him as a teenager. The chapters from his point of view are so unsettling and frightening that you are convinced that he did this horrible crime. But as the story goes you are introduced to all this other possible scenarios which seem evenly convincing. So who in fact killed the Days?

       The only reason I give this book four stars is the ending. In my opinion, it was rather dull and not satisfying. The story was going so interesting and engaging and suddenly, within twenty pages, it was all revealed to us. It just seemed unrealistic for the events to happen so quickly – catching the murderer and him confessing so fast. My expectations were already really high and I expected something more vivid that will leave me out of breath. It is still a pretty amazing book – if you liked Gone Girl, definitely go check this out, it deserves more praise. 

From Notting Hill with Love... Actually | Book Review

 -  It was okay 

    I finished this book quite awhile ago and I still cannot wrap my head around it. I am not completely sure if I liked it or not. I came to it with absolutely no expectations whatsoever. If I have to be completely honest I bought it only because of the name (I am obsessed with British films). I kind of knew that it would be lit-chick but I am fine with this, there is always a need of some light, easy read.    
    It started out quite funny, actually. The main character sounded funny without it being forced and I was intrigued. Soon enough I felt all the clichés creeping out on me. For example, her new ”best friend” Oscar is a homosexual man who owns a clothes boutique and a little fluffy dog. Do you see where I am going? Also, I love my films and I thought it was a brilliant idea to incorporate them in a novel, but… She used so many bits and situations from the big screen that it almost felt that it isn’t her work anymore, but a plagiarised essay. Her encounters with famous people were also far-fetched. Like you would meet Johnny Depp in a chocolate shop and he’ll start jabbering about his films? Or you see Hugh Grant every day on Southbank, drinking his coffee?    
    Now for the characters. Scarlett, the protagonist, is an annoying young woman who doesn’t know what she wants from life. She is marrying a man she doesn’t love to help her father. How stupid is that? So she flees to Notting Hill for one month in order to make up her mind. There she meets another man (what a surprise, eh?) and trouble starts from this point. What I really don’t like about Scarlett is her obsession with films. I, too, am in love with rom coms (and every other genre, to be fair) but she just takes everything way too far. 99% per cent of her thoughts are: 1. What film does this situation remind me of; 2. I love Hugh Grant, I wish my fiancée was like him; 3. I want to be a protagonist form Notting Hill; and so on, you get the drill. So she just keeps running around and making stupid decisions. Sean, her new love, is also a cliché, what a surprise. Luckily, he is not as annoying as Scarlett. He is rich, good-looking and sweet and nice to your friends, family, etc. Too bad he doesn’t exist.I am also a bit confused by the overall message of the book. I don’t want to spoil it or something so I won’t elaborate much, but basically she is telling us that it is okay to hurt people and do stupid, spontaneous stuff. Spontaneity isn’t necessary a bad thing, but in this case it just leaves you thinking “what the actual f. is she doing?”.      
     ‘If you love your rom-coms and you know your Mark Darcy from your Daniel Cleaver then you’re going to adore this” I agree to some extent. Maybe you will, but only if chick-lit is your only loved genre and reading is not really your thing. Still, don’t be discouraged to look it up, it might be your cup of tea. 

Top Ten Tuesday #11

Top Ten of my auto-buy authors 

(by The Broke and the Bookish)

1. J. K. Rowling 

 

Although it took me a long time to realize that she has two more books under a pseudonym. Well... still counts.

2. John Green 

I still haven't read all of his works but they are so light-hearted and fun - I just can't get enough of him.

3. Joanne Harris 

I cannot tell you how much I go on about her, she is probably my most read and therefore favorite author. 

4. Stephen King 

His recent novels are not as brilliant as all of his past ones and my crazy obsession with him is probably over but... I still consider buying his new book every time I spot one in the bookstore.

5. Rainbow Rowell

I absolutely loved Fangirl and just can't wait until I get a hold of all her other books.

6. George R. R. Martin

Yes, I am auto-buying Winds of Winter ... when (if??) it comes out.

7. Harper Lee

I even pre-ordered Go Set a Watchman and I never do such extreme things.

8. Stephen Chbosky 

I absolutely loved The Perks of Being a Wallflower but he doesn't have any other books yet or am I really ignorant? Please, enlighten me.

9. Stephanie Perkins 

I fell in love with her instantly, her characters are so believable and fully shaped.

10. Gillian Flynn.

She is my most recent obsession. Gone Gilr is beyond brilliant and now I am currently reading Dark Places and it so far fails to disappoint. She is so good at writing thrillers and her writing style even reminds me a little bit of Stephen King's.

 Who are yours auto-buy authors? Do we have any matches? 

Why Grey's Anatomy should have ended this year

  

   I am going to offend so many hardcore fans. I was one of them. In fact, I still believe that this is one of the best shows of all time. It offers you every human emotion there is, great soundtrack and fully shaped characters from the very beginning. It absolutely grabs you with the first episode. Many people dislike it without even watching it because of the “medical stuff”, it’s just boring, they say. Let me tell you, I had the same mind set when I started but, oh my God, how wrong was I.

    As I said, the characters are just on point. Doesn’t matter if you love them or hate them, you still appreciate how alive and believable they are. How not to fall in love with competitive and witty Christina, or charming and lovely Izzie, or wise and strong Meredith? You get drawn into their life, work problems, love misfortunes and dramas. The humor is subtle but hilarious and not to mention the sad times. If you ever cry at films or series, be prepared, almost every episode is just heart-breaking. The touching events just beautifully coincide with the amazing soundtrack. But Shonda (the creator of the show) is famous for killing of her characters. At first it was fine, in the mood of the show and made you care even more. But soon enough, it all stated to be just too much for my taste. She just kept trying to come up with ways of killing people and torturing them, it is kind of scary how creative she got.

  And here is a message directly to her. Please, stop. Just for a moment remember all the beautiful characters that you created and then brutally killed off. Why? Why not just stop here and leave it? Derek dying wouldn’t be the best ending, I admit it. I would have loved to see them live happily ever after in their perfect house with their beautiful children. But this is Grey’s Anatomy and deep down inside me I knew I couldn’t expect that. So when he died I was so sure she would end it. It would have been appropriate – showing us once again that life is hard on you, that nothing turns out as you expect it, that there are so many women out there in the world like Meredith, struggling every day of their life. And that is perfect. But no, we had to painfully watch how no one seemingly cared that he died. And to continue watching with so few original characters left? It is almost as if you don’t love and respect your fans, Shonda, because if you did you would have come up with a proper goodbye.

 Enough said. 

Top Ten Tuesday #10

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the wonderful people at The Broke and the Bookish. Today we have to list ten authors we've read most books from. At first I thought, well this is quite easy. Turns out that I was wrong and I actually read books from lots of different authors. Please tell me I am not the only one with pathetic numbers from every author.

Stephen King (10) - he is one of the first authors that grabbed my interest when I first started reading. 

Joanne Harris (9) - I have actually written a blog post on her (here)

J. K. Rowling (8) - I can easily say that this woman is my all time favorite writer. She my ultimate inspiration in life.

 

 George R. R. Martin (6) - If I close my eyes for the fact that he stubbornly refuses to publish the next book of the series, I actually absolutely love him. Great narrative and grasping plot.

 

 John Green (5) - His books are quite entertaining and easy to read.

 Candace Bushnell (3) - "Jane Austen with a martini." - Not some great masterpieces but very fun to read.

Suzanne Collins (3) - I am not even sure if she has written any other books?

 Dan Brown (3) - I have absolutely no idea why I have read 3 whole Dan Brown novels but he is definitely not one of my favorite authors.

 Stieg Larsson (3) - One of my favorite trilogies of all time. If you haven't read it, you need to immediately. 

 No wonder I have no answer to the question "who is your favorite author?". Feel free to let me see yours Top ten Tuesday. 

Top Five Films by Paul Rudd

          So, with the recent release of Ant-Man, we will be unfolding a new rubric – Top 5 Movies by an actor of our choice. Each movie will have a brief review, with the number one being our personal favorite. Of course, this is solely by our opinion (which is generally indisputable), so feel free to disagree in the comments. We will try to match the lists with newly released movies featuring the actors we are talking about, so that if you like their performance you can check out some of their other works. Here goes:

5. Dinner for Schmucks (2010)

                Our number five spot is held by this comedy which also features Steve Carell as the upper mentioned schmuck. I have to say this is not as enjoyable as the trailer may lead you to believe - the dinner is a disaster of bad jokes and awkward situations that mostly fail to entertain. Still, there are a few laughs in this movie, but they are definitely not worth your while. Anyway, there had to be a number five spot on the list. 

4. I Love You, Man (2009)

                Here Rudd plays alongside Jason Segel and I have to say – there definitely is chemistry there! The film is about a guy who has no close friends so he starts going on man-dates in order to find a best man for his wedding. Things go too far when they bond too much and he starts ignoring his fiancé in order to spend time with Segel’s character. The movie is quite enjoyable.

3. This is 40 (2012)

                A satire about a couple going into their 40’s together and all the messed up thoughts and actions that come from spending the rest of their lives together as a mature couple. This movie gets too much shit from critics, but I find it quite entertaining and funny.

2. Knocked Up (2007)

                Rudd plays more of a supporting role in this one, but it is still a great. It actually is kind of connected to “This is 40”, as Leslie Mann and he are playing the same couple. This is the funnier movie of the two, though, with great moments throughout and a nice kind of “I would NOT want to be in their shoes” vibe to it. Like the previous movie on the list it makes you appreciate your own life.

1. Role Models (2008)

                I truly love this movie and find it to be one of the funniest and underrated comedy ever. It is pure fun and enjoyment with great laughs and hilarious nerdy situations. Oh and also loads of Kiss references. The entire movie has an easy-going tempo to it and will help you relax and have some fun as Rudd and Scott go from one absurd interaction with each other to another. Also, it might get you LARP-ing (google it, do I have to explain everything?)

~G.