#sarah moss

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

#ghost wall #sarah moss #horror #book poll #have you read this book poll #polls

[crystalclaire]

Laughter and art are forms of defiance, a way of staying human.

Cold Earth by Sarah Moss

#art #poetry #quotes #lit scraps #sarah moss #cold earth #literature #literary fiction #laughter

[pit-of-acheron]

Rituals and Control from Hwæt! zine

Illustrated by Bunty May Marshall

#occult zines #folk horror #bunty may marshall #illustration #skull #ghost wall #sarah moss #iron age #folk horror aesthetic

[virgilean]

Books Read in 2023: Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

“Who are the ghosts again, us or our dead? Maybe they imagined us first, maybe we were conjured out of the deep past by other minds.”

#my post #litedit #2023books #ghost wall #sarah moss #first read of the year woo!!!

[wellconstructedsentences]

They wanted to kill me at sunset.

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

#ghost wall #sarah moss

[wakemewitch]

is she herself still there, her coiled hair reddening in the wet, her knitted shawl and lace-edged petticoat long since dissolved into the bog while the whorls on her fingertips and the down on her legs toughen and outlast us all, is she curled up in the peat with the dark water in her lungs and earth stopping her mouth, hands flung out in the final struggle or folded in defeat?

Sarah Moss, Ghost Wall

#quote #sarah moss #ghost wall

[maddie-grove]

Little Book Review: General Fiction Round-Up (May-December 2022)

Maddaddam by Margaret Atwood (2013): In the final volume of Atwood's environmental dystopian trilogy (preceded by Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood), the survivors of a manmade eco-fascist plague, along with a population of genetically engineered humanoids, must try to make a life in the ruins. Atwood is one of my favorite authors and, while I generally prefer her non-speculative fiction, I really enjoyed the whole trilogy. She's really engaged with the ideas she explores (mostly related to GMOs and income inequality) and grounds them vividly in everyday life. I especially like the way the genetically engineered humanoids (the Crakers) process the world around them.

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (2019): In the sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood tells the story of three women in the same universe: a Commander's daughter in Gilead, a daughter of Mayday operatives living in Toronto, and Aunt Lydia, first seen "training" Handmaids in The Handmaid's Tale. I liked The Handmaid's Tale in high school, but I can't say I came away wanting to know more about that world...yet, as it turns out, I totally did want to know more about the pastel horrors of an elite Gilead girlhood. The audiobook is also top-notch, with Ann Dowd, Ann Whitman, and Bryce Dallas Howard doing the three main POVs.

Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link (2005): In nine "short" stories (many of them are quite long), Link writes about absurd things happening in mundane settings. Pretty Monsters, another short story collection of hers with some overlap, was one of my favorite books I read in 2014, but this time I wasn't feeling it. I'd already read the three best entries: "Stone Animals" (about a nebulously haunted house in a suburb of NYC), "Magic for Beginners" (about a mysterious TV show and a teen boy whose father is maybe trying to murder him via writing a novel), and "The Faery Handbag" (about a girl whose grandmother carries around an entire lost country in her purse). The others never really came together. I might have lost my taste for whimsy.

Dune by Frank Herbert (1965): In the very distant future, fifteen-year-old Paul Atreides has to move to a different planet for his father's work, and it only gets worse from there. I resisted reading Dune for the longest time because it sounded as dry as a desert planet where you have to reabsorb your own urine to survive. However, it fucks. I loved the layers of power dynamics and game-playing, especially in the scenes with Lady Jessica. Evil, horny Baron Harkonnen and his weirdly tragic nephew Feyd-Rautha were also great. I didn't like it so much after the time skip, though, and I think I'll give the sequels a pass.

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix (2021): Paranoid and reclusive after being targeted twice by Christmas-themed killers, Lynette Tarkington's social life consists of a support group for "final girls" (women who have survived grisly massacres that were adapted into horror movies). I never quite got on board with this one, for two major reasons. The first is that I was irrationally annoyed by the idea that horror movies were seemingly all one-to-one true crime stories in this universe. That's on me. The second is that Hendrix never managed to convince me that most of these women had ever had a significantly positive relationship with each other. This novel could've been a Toast article.

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix (2014): Amy, a cash-strapped and unhappy twenty-something working at an IKEA knockoff, is offered a transfer to a better store if she'll stay after-hours to investigate some strange recent happenings. This isn't my favorite Hendrix novel; however, it is the fucking scariest. The characterization isn't as rich as it is in most of his other novels--I would describe it as efficient--but the pacing is effectively brisk and the nature of the fake-IKEA haunting almost made me shit my pants.

We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix (2018): Kris Pulaski, once a guitarist/songwriter for up-and-coming heavy metal group Dürt Würk, now lives a life of resignation as a hotel night manager. Meanwhile, her ex-bandmate Terry Hunt is still a massively successful rock star after going nu-metal...and suddenly Kris has reason to believe that he did something truly sinister to make that happen. After My Best Friend's Exorcism, this is my favorite Hendrix novel. He's unusually moderate in putting his heroine through the mill, both in terms of physical peril and self-flagellation, and balances it with the joy she finds in her creative life. The otherworldly threat she faces is nicely chilling, and I loved the bittersweet ending.

Stranger Things: The Other Side by Jody Houser (2019): In this tie-in comic to Stranger Things, we see the first season from twelve-year-old Will Byers's point-of-view as he struggles to survive in the Upside Down. There's some good characterization of Will and a few cool visuals, but overall it's pretty inessential. The writing is kind of flat and sometimes awkward, and the art style is overall muddy and unappealing.

Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim (1995): Neil and Brian, two kids growing up in the same midsized Kansas town, both have life-altering traumatic experiences in the summer of 1981. Brian doesn't remember what happened, and comes to believe in the following years that he was abducted by aliens; Neil knows exactly what went on between him and his sexually predatory Little League coach, but that doesn't mean he understands it. Several years ago, I saw the 2004 movie version, which is amazing both as an adaptation and on its own terms: nuanced, well-paced, beautifully acted and shot, and faithful to all that's good in the source material. Unfortunately, this did slightly lessen the impact of the (also stellar) novel.

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss (2018): In the early 1990s, working-class seventeen-year-old Silvie spends a summer holiday in a Northumberland village, reenacting Iron Age life with her churlish history buff father, her downtrodden mother, a pompous anthropology professor, and three of his students. It's promising to be more miserable than your average family camping trip, between the lack of modern tech/food and Silvie's father's domestic tyrannies, but are we getting into The Wicker Man territory? This is a tense, deliciously creepy, and lyrical little novella that I finished in one evening because it was so exciting.

Normal People by Sally Rooney (2018): Withdrawn rich girl Marianne, despised at home and at school, starts a no-strings-attached relationship with working-class Connell, who's handsome and bright but kind of a follower. Thus begins an on-again, off-again thing that will follow them through college and change them forever. I really liked this romance between two troubled yet essentially sensible and sweet college students, although it's a bit slow at times. I especially enjoyed the first time that Connell and Marianne's power dynamic flips; she's kind of an It Girl at university, while he's out of his depth.

Summerwater by Sarah Moss (2020): Several families "enjoy" a miserable summer holiday by a Scottish lake over the course of a rainy day. We get the perspectives of several vacationers--judgmental moms, crotchety old men, worried newlyweds, teenagers desperate for wifi and privacy, anxious little kids--with several dark hints that someone will meet a terrible fate. Moss's writing is pleasurable to read and often funny, but I needed a damn flow chart for these people.

The Brittanys by Brittany Ackerman (2021): Brittany, a Floridian high school freshman in 2004, navigates life in her gated community and her suburban high school, hanging out with her friends (most of whom are also named Brittany) and wearing low-rise jeans. Maybe I was unduly influenced by the author being named Brittany, but this novel reads like a bunch of fond adolescent memories with the occasional gesture at some larger meaning. It feels like the author couldn't decide between trying to do an emotional mid-oughts coming-of-age story (like Lady Bird) or a slice-of-life portrait of a certain type of high school experience (like Fast Times at Ridgemont High). The stakes aren't high enough for the first (the biggest through-line is that Brittany's BFF Brittany might be a lesbian but neither of them seems to know it) and the scope isn't wide enough for the second. I think the book would've been better off as, like, two short stories.

#little book review #maddaddam #the testaments #margaret atwood #magic for beginners #kelly link #dune #frank herbert #the final girl support group #horrorstör #we sold our souls #grady hendrix #stranger things: the other side #jody houser #mysterious skin #scott heim #ghost wall #summerwater #sarah moss #normal people #sally rooney #the brittanys #brittany ackerman

[socstudies]

24-09-22

Today I checked out a study spot on campus and went into the city to do a food and book shop. I got the September Literary Review and Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss.

#studyblr #studyspo #new studyblr #studying #study motivation #ib #ib m22 #uni #university student #university #gilmore girls studyspo #gilmore girls #literature #literary review #sarah moss #ghost wall sarah moss #study with me #trackanthroblr #studyblr tracking #studyblr community #deskspo #uni motivation #motivation #studyblr motivation #education #academia #dark academia #autumn aesthetic #autumn studyblr #autumn studyspo

[wherekizzialives]

January Reading

All the reviews for the books I've read this month, gathered in one place:

This year I have decided to split my book reviews out of the quarterly This Sparks Joy! posts and do a monthly review post containing everything which I’ve rated 3 stars or over. All these reviews have already been posted to Amazon UK, Goodreads and The Storygraph but having them here as well allows me to both keep everything neatly in one place and include links to a variety of places to…

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#Alan Garner #Atlin Merrick #C.K. McDonnell #Clamour and Mischief #Dark Cheer: Cryptids Emerging Volume Blue #Dark Salt Clear #Elly Griffith #Ghost Wall #Her Majesty&039;s Royal Coven #Juno Dawson #Lamorna Ash #Narrelle Harris #Sarah Moss #The Girls in the Water #The Last Remains #This Charming Man #Treacle Walker #Victoria Jenkins

[roguemetalmaster13]

anyway I’m currently reading Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss and you should check it out if you like English history, light academia, botany and/or archaeology, stories about family dynamics, and colloquial yet classic English writing

#ghost wall #sarah moss #currently reading

[poslednystroj]

i can see the opening scene of ghost wall so clearly in my minds eye, when they are about to sacrifice that girl, i've started drawing about it. sketching it. bought a pack of dollar store pastels i need to draw it and practice till i do it right. it's such a striking image, the gray mass of the people who raised her, the chalk white stripe of her against the green of the land.

#sorry jf im being creepy about it but that part. the whole book really. but that especially is written so well its like i was there #ghost wall #sarah moss #remember me i sing #i didnt really draw before this

[ademella]

currently reading

#november #the fell #reading #book #novel #sarah moss #book cover

[freshlybrewedbookreviews]

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

Whew, did I feel like this book was intentionally mis-marketed. I thought I was going to read a ghost story, but instead I read a story of parental and spousal abuse that was pretty upsetting, and not indicated in descriptions of this book. I would not have picked it up had I known.

#book review #freshly brewed #Ghost Wall #Sarah Moss #books #reading

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Bodies of Light | Author: Sarah Moss | Publisher: Granta Books (2014)

#books #Bodies of Light #Sarah Moss

[wakemewitch]

There would not have been heather, I thought. There would have been trees, she would have seen trees, like my rowan. She would have thought, perhaps, that the trees would still be there at sunrise, still growing, when she was gone into the water.

Sarah Moss, Ghost Wall

#quote #sarah moss #ghost wall

[jurassicbooks]

August 8, 2022

Just finished “Ghost Wall” by Sarah Moss. Very good! I’ve been super into shorter books and books set in nature recently so this was a perfect combination. The formatting was a bit unusual and took a while to get used to, but once I did it offered a unique insight into the main character Silvie’s thoughts and actions. The consistent build up of unease to the climax at the end was especially interesting!

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

#booklr #ghost wall #sarah moss #book review #novella