fiction Archives

Snobs

British Aristocracy, Gold-Digging, and Snobbery in the 90s Author: Julian Fellowes From the author who created Downton Abbey and Gosford Park comes a tail of modern upper-class shenanigans, social climbing, backstabbing, occasional polite witticism, and scandal. In Snobs the drawing rooms and estates are all set against the backdrop of the 1990s. Even ruined aristocrats still hold some clout, and Edith Lavery has been raised to land the wealthiest and (unfortunately for her) dullest of them all. Enter Charles Broughton, the wealthy Marquess of Uckfield. Charles isn’t much to look at, and he certainly isn’t that exciting, but he does [...]

Frances Carden2023-01-15T19:53:13-07:00January 15th, 2023|Tags: book review, fiction, read, reading|

Daughter of Doctor Moreau, The

A Less Animalistic Retelling Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia He claims to be running a sanatorium in the Yaxaktun jungle, but what he is really doing is far more secretive and more disturbing. Dr. Moreau is an outcast scientist, a man who is trying to create the perfect human/animal hybrid. And here, buried in the jungle, away from the eyes of the law, he has free reign to keep creating, to keep experimenting. In the jungle, Dr. Moreau has few helpers. He has his sickly daughter, Carlotta, now a nearly grown woman, who works with the hybrids – his failed experiments – [...]

Frances Carden2023-01-15T12:45:55-07:00January 15th, 2023|Tags: book review, fiction, reading, retelling, review|

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Alice’s Adventures in a Drug Induced Psychotic Haze Author: Lewis Carroll I’ve been wanting to read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland since encountering the Cheshire Cat’s delightful conversation with a confused Alice a few years ago. The quote, which is on a delightful magnet in the entrance to my cube at work is: “‘But I don’t want to go among mad people,’ Alice remarked. ‘Oh, you can’t help that,’ said the Cat: ‘we’re all mad here.’” Something about the esoteric insanity, the tongue-and-cheek sardonic nature of the leering cat and the little girl who keeps making increasingly bad decisions seemed charming. For [...]

Frances Carden2022-12-29T09:23:08-07:00December 27th, 2022|Tags: book review, fantasy, fiction, read, reading, reviews, science fiction|