Let the Right Book In

Susan Garth is a sweet little girl of high school age who suddenly develops an aversion to churches and a newfound fondness for vulgarity (as well as attacking the parish priest). If madness can’t explain her behaviour, the answer must be demonic possession. “Capture the dragon, the ancient serpent who is Satan, and send him in chains into the Abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations.” If you go into this one looking for a terrifying demonic possession story, then you’re gonna have a bad time. Or you’ll just be really disappointed. BUT if you go in with an open mind, you’ll find a really thought-provoking story about one priest’s struggle with his faith. Set in 1962, The Case Against Satan came before The Exorcist, before Rosemary’s Baby, and you can definitely see how subsequent books have been inspired by this tale. It was probably ahead of its time in terms of looking at demonic possession through a lens of “is this a possession or could it be explained by science ...

If you’re a fan of the My Favorite Murder podcast, then there’s a good chance of you enjoying this part memoir/part self-help book. Lacking in true crime itself (which totally works!), it shines a light on the other topics and discussions that come up regularly on the show, such as mental health issues, self-care and addiction. “The epitome of ‘fucking politeness’ is learning how to act in the moment, instead of wishing you had later.” For each of the catchphrases or slogans that the show has created, eg Fuck Politeness or Stay Out of the Forest, there’s essays from Karen and Georgia discussing their own life experiences or what that slogan truly means to them. I have heard the audiobook is fantastic as it is just like listening to the podcast, so I’ll have to check that out at some point too! I laughed, I cried and I fangirled immensely over Georgia’s chapter on how Ray Bradbury’s writing effectively saved her life. One of the hardest essays to read was one where Karen wr...

White Teeth focuses on the later lives of two wartime friends - the Bangladeshi Samad Iqbal and the Englishman Archie Jones - and their families in London. ”Greeting cards routinely tell us everybody deserves love. No. Everybody deserves clean water. Not everybody deserves love all the time.” Well. This was disappointing. Luckily I was a huge fan of Zadie’s writing itself, and so I’m not ruling out trying her other books... which means @ab_reads has not disowned me. In reality, this should have worked for me. I enjoy stories that span decades, that follow multiple people and families. But this narrative just felt a bit TOO all over the place, with too many characters and a number of different storylines that felt completely unrelated until too late in the book. Like yeah, everything ties together eventually, but it just felt ridiculous to me. None of the characters were particularly likeable either. I don’t need to like the characters in order to enjoy a book, but in t...

A maintenance man called Eddie dies and is sent to heaven, where he encounters five people - some known to him and some not - who each teach him a lesson. “All endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time.” If heaven truly exists, I sure hope it’s exactly like this! What sounds better than meeting up with loved ones who have gone before and have them explain to you the meaning of your life? Religion and whether or not you believe in heaven or the afterlife is obviously a very personal thing and therefore I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book to everyone. The book wasn’t overly religious nor was it preachy either, and I do think non-religious people could still enjoy the story, but that’s up to each reader to decide! I do believe in God and I do believe in the afterlife - and I feel like that’s a difficult thing to openly admit on here, but I feel like it’s necessary to explain why I loved this book. It was a total comfort blanket for me - my b...

An impoverished ex-student in St Petersburg, Rodion Raskolnikov, formulates a plan to kill a pawnbroker for her money. “Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.” I’m still in shock over how much I enjoyed Crime and Punishment. SHOCK. I feared it would take me WEEKS and that I’d be begging for it to just end... but I flew through it in less than a week and quickly found myself looking at which Russian classic I wanted to tackle next! All I can say is, if this one has interested or intrigued you, but it has intimidated you... do not be afraid!! It is incredibly accessible and bingeable. The perfect introduction to the Russian classics. There is so much going on that it’s almost impossible to cover it all in a review. There’s a crime... and there’s punishment. And so much in between! The idea of temporary insanity, the effects a guilty conscience can have, question...