The Mancunian Yank

  A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (11/10🌟)  So, I gave this book an extra star because it's not an ordinary novel that can be measured by my usual standards. For me, there are good books, great reads and then there are the books that remind you why you love reading, books that make you glad you stayed up until your eyelids were heavy but you kept reading anyway even through the parts that make you sob hysterically, books that make you forget to eat or drink, forget the world outside and that you're a human being who's a part of it and A Monster Calls is one of those books. I've had this novel on my TBR for a year (I'm one of those people who always wants to read the book BEFORE ever seeing the movie, and always years AFTER all the literary hype has died down) and yes, it does live up to the accolades it's received. FULL SPOILER AHEAD: This is a beautiful novel about grief and death. Grief is an emotion, either active or dormant that can erupt suddenly, or simme...

  Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier (10/10🌟) My introduction to Daphne's work had, up until now been through Alfred Hitchcock's cinematic adaptations (Jamaica Inn, Rebecca, and The Birds) and I adored both Maureen O'Hara's and Charles Laughton's performances in the 1939 classic and so it's difficult for me not to compare the original work of art to it's adaptation. Alfred changed some details and left out others but in the film he still managed to capture the wildness of rural England and the romance.   Daphne's novel is an exploration of limits, both physical and mental, as twenty-three year old Mary Yellen goes to live with her Aunt Patience and Uncle Joss Merlyn in the desolate, coaching inn, (the novel's namesake) after being raised in on a farm in Helford and forced to leave due to her mothers death, and she learns that not everyone is who they seem to be in this novel that's filled with love, lies, moors and murder.  Mary's a strong, em...