[Monday Reading] Litsy’s #HorrorPostalBookClub Titles

Myra here.

It’s Monday, What are You Reading is a meme hosted by Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers (new host of Monday reading: Kathryn T at Book Date). Since two of our friends, Linda from Teacher Dance and Tara from A Teaching Life have been joining this meme for quite awhile now, we thought of joining this warm and inviting community. 

I have written several posts about Litsy previously – a bookish app and online reading community. I have also shared about my #HorrorPostalBookClub whereby our selected books are physically sent around several countries to participants, along with our journal containing our insights about the book. There are seven in total in our book club, with participants coming from Germany, the United States of America, Spain, Canada, and myself from the United Arab Emirates.

These two books were sent to me from Germany and I have passed them onto another book club member in Seattle, until they finally reach the people who have selected them for this round. I am very fortunate that my #ScreamsByMail book club agreed to read exclusively female authors this year, after telling them about our #WomenReadWomen2019 theme. Here are the titles and my notes from the journal!

Hunted [Amazon | Book Depository]

Written by Darcy Coates
Published by Black Owl Books (2018)
ISBN: 0994630654 (ISBN13: 9780994630650). Book sent to me as part of #HorrorPostalBookClub #ScreamsByMail edition. 

Copied from what I have written in the journal:

Thank you for the inspired selection of Darcy Coates’ Hunted. It is the first time I have heard of her – and I shall now avidly look for her other titles. It was a thankfully quick read.

I enjoyed the cinematic, almost-episodic chapters that read like a Netflix TV series. The chapters are mercifully short and could function like a whole 35-minute episode. I have been reading way too many literary, high brow fiction that this came as a much needed palate cleanser.

I also liked the ending and was blind-sided by it. And just when the villain was proving himself to be passably-agreeable somewhere in the end. I also liked how the navigation of multiple POVs was skilfully executed by Coates. It was like she was pulling invisible and multiple red strings in the forest of her mind (hah!), tightening the narrative, rather than leaving it loose without any real purpose or direction. The structure of the storytelling felt taut, leaving me out of breath, my eyes rushing to the last word on the next page, just to find out what will happen next.

Even the back stories on some of the characters felt sufficiently informative, but never too overwhelming. They exist to contribute to the overall plot which I appreciated greatly. I gave it only 3 stars out of 5 because I am feeling miserly, but it is easily a 3.5 or 4 for entertainment/popcorn value that is oh-so-cleverly executed.

My Life As A White Trash Zombie [Amazon | Book Depository]

Written by Diana Rowland
Published by DAW (2011)
ISBN: 0756406757 (ISBN13: 9780756406752) Literary Awards: Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Horror (2011). Book sent to me as part of #HorrorPostalBookClub #ScreamsByMail edition. 

Copied from what I have written in the journal:

Thank you for picking such a fun, quick-read paperback novel. 

I read this immediately after reading “Hunted” by Darcy Coates – and realized just how much more “pop” and even more entertaining this one is. It reminded me of novels/series I would normally finish within two days or so when I was a teenager. And I am thrilled to rediscover that experience having read this bit-of-a-chunkster in around three or four nights, I believe. I am a fierce advocate of diversity in reading: the wider the range, the better.

If I were to reflect what it could be about the novel that appealed to me, I would say that it is the self-deprecating, snarky, sassy, coherent Louisiana white-trash (and unapologetically so) vibe throughout. Granted, there were no weighty revelations about the secrets of the universe or the foibles of human nature – but it was a smooth, page flipping, brain-chomping ride throughout.

#WomenReadWomen2019: United States of America (Diana Rowland) | Australia (Darcy Coates)