The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell- Review

A ghostly child roams the Northumberland moors, while fairytale characters gather at a strange party, in these two Victorian gothic tales. Penguin Little Black Classic No. 39

I am a massive lover of Elizabeth Gaskell's writing and her stories, I've read North & South and Cranford so far and have Mary Barton is waiting for me on my shelf. This is the precise reason that as soon as I saw an LBC by her I got my paws on it! Without read the back, I never knew she had written some good old Victorian gothic stories, so it was a surprise when I started reading this, but a nice one. There are two very short stories in her and I enjoyed both of them but I definitely have a favourite.

The first is The Old Nurse's Story, which is about an old nurse telling her charges a ghost story from when she was looking after their mother when she was young in a big old house. This was pretty creepy especially the ending. It has a tiny little family element too which I also like.

The last story is called Curious. if True. This one confused me greatly, a man is walking and when he loses his way he comes across a house that is holding a party. But the guests are a little strange and gradually I began to place them. I just found this a really lovely, amusing and I suppose curious read ;)
 Overall I gave this 3.5 stars and I would recommend it for s
ure, especially if you like Elizabeth Gaskell (though it is a different side to her) and/or Victorian gothic as a genre.
Speak soon,
Jade xx

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell- review

Cranford is an affectionate and often moving portrait of genteel poverty and intertwined lives in a nineteenth-century village. One of Elizabeth Gaskell's most beloved works, it centres on a community dominated by women and governed by old-fashioned ways. The formidable Miss Deborah Jenkyns and the kindly Miss Matty's days revolve around card games, tea, thriftiness and an endless appetite for scandal, until change comes into their world - whether it is the modern ideas of Captain Brown, a bank collapse, rumours of burglars or an unexpected reappearance from the past.

Hello! I hope you are having a good day :) During Bout of Books I (mainly) listened to Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell as I got the audiobook from my library but I did follow along/ read some out of my physical book too. I read North and South last year and loved it, I also adore the BBC miniseries. While Cranford isn't quite up there with North and South I stilled really enjoyed.

It was originally published in parts in Dickens' serial magazine Household Words so each little chapter is like it own little episode/story type thing but the characters are the same and some things do go over or there may be little hints and foreshadowing every now and then. I liked this format a lot especially for a readathon because it was quick little parts.

Cranford is set around the women of Cranford and they are like a core cast and then other characters come and go. Our narrator spends much of her time there but doesn't actually live so we have an outsiders perspective. Each character has there own little amusing quirk and it was just so lovely and quaint.

A benefit of listening to the audiobook was how you automatic got the tone of the book and the lady narrating it just made it very sarcastic and was showing how trivial many of the things were. But the when it came to the serious side that was well done too. I'm not going to lie I shed a few tears here and there some sad and some happy. The ending was my favourite because even though I had predicted it was going to happen it was lovely, lovely to happen to the most adorable character of Miss Matty.

So if you're looking for a quick, light quaint read that is very well written this is it. I can't wait to read more of Gaskell's work!

Speak soon,
Jade xx

#RYBSAT Wrap-up

So sadly #rybsat has come to an end (for me at least I have no time to read on 25th), I am truly sad about this I really enjoyed all the reading and the interaction on social media... But all good things come to an end so here I am to tell about all the books I read this week :)

I did an update on Thursday but the short story of that is I finished The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell and All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. Adding up to 393pgs in total.

Thursday I read the entirety of The Selection by Kiera Cass because I couldn't put it down! Granted it isn't the most amazing writing ever but boy is it gripping! Also I'm in love with Prince Maxon, I felt it coming but there was no way I could have stopped it. Total pages by day 4 was 720.

Friday wasn't much of a reading day for me but I still read 29pgs from Assassin's Blade by Sarah J Maas and 68 from The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage by Sydney Padua; bringing the total to 818.

Saturday I had a longish drive (in the passenger seat) which help a lot in terms of getting some reading done and I read 194pgs of Lovelace and Babbage, the comic part of this was great for visiting family as I could dip in and out of it! The total page count by then was 1012.

On the last day I finished Lovelace and Babbage (58pgs) giving it 3 stars as I have quite mixed feelings on it but it was great :) Then I went on to read little of The Assassins Blade (43pgs).

So overall... I read 1113pgs, finished 4 books and started another. Those are:

• The Old Nurse's Story, Elizabeth Gaskell, 3 stars.
• All the Bright Places, Jennifer Niven, 2 stars.
• The Selection, Kiera Cass, 4 stars.
• The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, Sydney Padua, 3 stars.

I am very happy with how I've done this week and I really enjoyed it, let me know if you did and what you read this week!

Speak soon,

Jade xx

#RYBSAT Update

Hello! just a quick update today on how I'm doing with #RYBSAT (Read-your-bookshelf-a-thon) that started on Monday.

Day 1: I quickly finished The Old Nurse's Story by Elizabeth Gaskell which was 30pgs. Then I read 132pgs of All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven bringing up the total to 162 for that day.

Day 2: I only read 30pgs of All the Bright Places leaving the total page count at 192.

Day 3: Yesterday I finished All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (201pgs), I have yet to form my thoughts on this yet. But my total is 393pgs and 2 books finished. :)

Today I'm planning on starting and maybe finishing The Selection by Kiera Cass and I may also read a little of The Assassins Blade by Sarah J Maas.

Hope you're all doing well :)
Speak soon,
Jade xx