The greatest thing that I think anyone can have or give is time. With my recent influx of free time, I've been able to get back to something that I'd loved but had to leave because of time. It was gradual at first; I'd put off reading every few days because of some commitment and eventually I just stopped thinking about altogether. Books became that thing that niggled at my conscience, that thing that I swore to get back to "when I had time". Now that I have lots of free time, it's been wonderful to get to know my old friends again. In some ways it was nostalgic and scary to go back to the very things that had kept me sane throughout my childhood, the very things that I then pushed to the side of my life. But enough reminiscence. I started with a book that I'd seen in my go to bookstore for all things amazing and obscure. It's called Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake. It is by no means obscure, but it is really amazing. I'd become quite sick of the supernatural themes that the recent barrage of teen fiction gripped with both hands, so I was a bit sceptical at first. After reading the blurb, though, I was hooked. It isn't purely based on romance, first tick. It is fast paced, well written and funny, second, third and fourth ticks. It has intertextual references that give it that little bit extra and it was not a cliched ending. My excitement only grew when I found that there is going to be a sequel: Girl of Nightmares. There's no release date as yet, but I for one am waiting eagerly for it.
Second book that I'm reading is one that already has a reputation: Dexter. Specifically the latest installment of everyone's favourite sociopath: Double Dexter. Honestly there really is nothing to say except these two books have been brilliant Halloween reading (ironic since we don't celebrate Halloween). Definitely check them both out. I'll leave you with the words of one of my favourite people of all time, Oscar Wilde, from one of my favourite novels, The Picture of Dorian Gray:
"“Words! Mere words! How terrible they were! How clear, and vivid, and cruel! One could not escape from them. And yet what a subtle magic there was in them! They seemed to be able to give a plastic form to formless things, and to have a music of their own as sweet as that of viol or of lute. Mere words! Was there anything so real as words?”
- IP
