#emma stonex

[itacoisa]

19 de julho de 2023. Quarta-feira.

O Farol de Emma Stonex conta a história de três homens que desapareceram em um farol situado em uma formação rochosa de difícil acesso e sob condições bem suspeitas, já que os relógios do local estavam parados no mesmo horário, a mesa estava posta para apenas duas pessoas e a entrada estava trancada por dentro...

Por isso, após 20 anos, um escritor decide que seu próximo livro será sobre esses desaparecimentos.

Essa deve ser a quarta leitura para o >em busca do suspense do ano< e, por enquanto, está sendo a mais promissora.

O livro reveza entre os pontos de vistas dos faroleiros e das esposas de cada um deles lidando com o escritor (que para elas é um enxerido) e revisitando o passado. Além disso, há alguns capítulos que se tratam de cartas ou partes de diários.

Basicamente é isso, eu estou bem intrigado com a história, apesar de que tudo que foi revelado até agora está escondido nas entrelinhas, não tendo nada surpreendente.

Estou em 37% do livro e agora aquele dúvida, que quase todo suspense tem, se o que aconteceu foi algo sobrenatural ou não, já se dissipou, por isso a história urge por um grande acontecimento.

A escrita da autora consegue ser bonita quando quer e as esposas são bem intrigantes, já os maridos ainda não vi muito deles. Inclusive, os capítulos em que as esposas são entrevistas pelo escritor é basicamente só as respostas delas (e eu amei isso) — até porque, o escritor não possui nenhum fala, haha, pelo menos até agora.

E é isso.

O começo intrigante a autora entregou, agora quero respostas para o caos começar a acontecer.

[105nt]

My 2022 in books

With my kids a little older and a lot more into their own stuff, I have had a good run. These are all the books I read for the first time this year in reverse order (I've not yet finished with The Time Traveller's Wife):

The books I enjoyed most in 2022:

The Wonder by Emma Donoghue A hotpot of motherhood, abuse and atonement - in which science comes head to head with faith and both succeeds and fails. I was impressed by the way the story gives weight to every consideration - Anna's autonomy, Ireland's suffering, the duties and limits of love. Outstanding.

Normal People by Sally Rooney I came to this having loved the TV version, and I wasn't disappointed. A very raw, and very true, portrait of what it is like to live and love, and how that differs from what we're told to expect.

Precious Bane by Mary Webb I'd been planning to read some Mary Webb for some time, but it was never top of my reading pile. Then I read a biography that reignited my interest, when I found she once occupied a house about 100 yards from my back door, and I found an old cloth copy which I liked the feel of more than the paperback I'd already bought. I thought I knew what I was getting from Precious Bane - everyone knows that the heroine has a cleft lip which she feels sets her apart in solitude, and that the book abounds with rustic scenes, homilies and events, and that there will be a handsome man who will choose her. I'd read Cold Comfort Farm the year before, and so in some sense had already laughed at Precious Bane before opening it. I was not expecting it to be littered with events that were genuinely shocking and dramatic, or to be convinced by the romantic ending, but I was. I really felt it managed to transcend the fun that is poked at it.

The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith I've been totally absorbed by Strike for nearly two years now. A lot of people didn't rate IBH but it arrives and takes its place in my top five with flick of its strawberry-blond mane. I was expecting another book like Troubled Blood - meaty, satisfying, layered ... I am back to hotpots again (must be the weather) but I spent the whole week I managed to stretch this over on the edge of my seat; disturbed and fascinated, wanting to be drawn in and pampered the way I had been with TB, but constantly having the rug pulled from under me. I will never forgive her for killing the sofa.    

Shuggie Bane by Douglas Stuart It's a rare skill to keep your reader wanting a happy ending long after it's clearly hopeless and yet make them unable to abandon the story. Douglas Stuart has that skill. He's a dangerous man and should be on a list somewhere.

A few other things:

My least favourite book was Worst. Idea. Ever. by Jane Fallon. I just can't ... I don't get it. Please. Someone. Explain.

My favourite audiobook this year was The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex. I'd never listened to an audiobook before and, to put it mildly, this was a good start. I also listened to all the Strike novels 1-6, Anna Karenina, War and Peace, The Count of Monte Cristo, Dracula, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas and The Iliad. I go for the classics in a big way because 1. they are free, and 2. they go well with the ironing.

If I could only have had one of these reading experiences, it would have to be The Ink Black Heart. 

[midnights-wish]

“Helen's never been one to think she was put here to look after me, it's against her nature to think a woman's in the least bit responsible for that, but all the same I'm not sure she likes it - that I don't need her in any practical way. I wish she knew the other ways I needed her. Invisible ways. Important ways.” 

Emma Stonex, 'The Lamplighters'.

[midnights-wish]

This makes me think about 'The Lamplighters' by Emma Stonex. <3

𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥 & 𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥

[plantdad-dante]

Book #172 - The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex

(soooo judging by the acknowledgment section, this is the result of someone's life-long hyperfixation demanding they become an author. like, not to armchair diagnose, but a life-long interest with something obscure is at least grounds enough for me to make that joke)

Ok, so. This one time, let's actually contextualize and make this a semi-proper review. So. Heard of that thing with the three lighthouse guys going mysteriously missing in 1900? This book is inspired by that. Three men, lighthouse, poof - gone. Told in six povs (damn, girl), three for the men, here in 1972, three for their surviving wives/girlfriend twenty years on, when this writer dude comes along to try and solve the ~mystery of the Maiden lighthouse~.

And uhhh I think I liked it? It has a good grasp on its shifting perspectives, and I liked the touch of the first-person interview chapters. It's very good at rationing the information it hands out, both on characters, their relationships, and the mystery of the tower. And while the interpersonal stuff tended towards the predictable (of course there was gonna be a cheater, and of course the old man was slowly deteriorating), the tower was so well crafted that I actually will resist my urge to nitpick it, because doing so would require me to spoil it. (okay, I couldn't after all. check the tags for some minor complaining)

I quite like where the survivors end up, too. Their lot in life, ultimately, is to move on, find the courage to reach out to one another and build a life without the men they lost to the sea. It's overcoming all that jealousy directed at the personified "Maiden" that I found so irritating throughout. (Sry, I tend to think of jealousy like paranoia - possibly helpful in small doses; but best not indulged in, especially in the absence of actual facts.)

The way the shifting perspectives helped to characterize each other as much as themselves was nice. The reader gets a glimpse into the mind of a character, and then up to five other people add their opinion on them, too, and in the end you have a character. And to juggle that for six of them, all intermingled and tied up with each other? Respect.

And while I know next to nothing about lighthouses, this felt very well researched. But also not overwhelmingly so. It did not hold a lecture on lighthouses, it let the story speak, is what I mean.

Overall... a decent read. Not mindblowing, but... servicable (compliment). Did not waste my time. Hurray.

[someonelookingpraediti]

Currently Reading...

The Lamplighters - Emma Stonex

This was my "free" book for March. My friend Jack picked it up in a charity shop and passed it on to me when he was finished with it.

It wasn't really my type of book, but I really liked the way it was written. It follows an author researching an event at a lighthouse, where all three keepers disappeared, by interviewing the widows. The interviews were interspersed with the widows' POV chapters, and the story of the lighthouse keepers from their own perspective.

So, as a reader, you kind of do find out what happened, but there's no closure for the women left behind, so it's a weird ending.

This was, overall, an interesting read, but it was written like a mystery, so I expected a more interesting conclusion. One thing that really fell flat was that one of the widows almost recognised the author, and looked him up, which was framed as part of the mystery, with a big "reveal". But then he turned out to be the son of one of the very minor characters from early in the story. It was a big build up for a real nothing moment.

[anolis3]

"The Lamplighters", by Emma Stonex.

"We stood a moment, still tongue-tied : And each with black foreboding eyed The door, ere we should fling it wide, To leave the sunlight for the gloom.", from Flannan Isle, by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson.

"A morning so beautiful you wonder that heaven isn't already here if only we took the time to look up and see.", from The Lamplighters.

[ijustkindalikebooks]

Listening to this, this evening.

[lizardgimpking]

Book Review: The Lamplighters (Emma Stonex).

Sometimes, you just buy a book because the cover is cool, y’know? This one immediately grabbed my attention last year because of its distinct looking cover-art, and that, paired with its promise of a lighthouse based mystery thriller meant when I saw it for sale in a charity shop a month or so ago, I just knew I had to give it a go. And...well...uhh...it’s okay? Hm.

Told from multiple perspectives across two periods of time, ‘The Lamplighters’ chronicles the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers in the early 70s, and then follows the wives/lovers they left behind as they’re interviewed by an author about it in the 90s. The way the book sets itself up, you feel like it’s going to be a investigation based thriller where the author tries to piece together the truth behind the seemingly impossible nature of the men’s disappearance. Ultimately though, the direction it take is far slower and unfocused than that, for better in small parts and for worse in others. It’s better in the sense that it really captures the mood and atmosphere of living in the isolating and sea-swept environment of a lighthouse, and indeed living in the isolating and melancholy aftermath of a great loss. If there’s one thing this book does really well, it’s that it really soaks every page with the vibes of its central location, and all the romantic imagery and inner-darkness that comes with it. If you’re a fan of that often quite brutal but all the same still alluring nautical atmosphere, this is gonna be a book that really hooks you in with its strong imagery. I did find myself less enamoured with a lot of the rest of the book, mind. The way in which it tells its story, jumping back and forth between two timelines, with multiple character perspectives in both, but only really giving you some sense of a revelation right at the very end? It can prove a little tedious. Rather than being an intriguing mystery or a slowburn thriller, this is mostly just a mood-piece that dangles an opening intrigue at you and then proceeds to do very little with it, beyond explore the emotional ramifications in increasingly unoriginal ways. Maybe it’s to do with expectations, but given a quote on the back of the book calls it ‘Thrilling’, maybe it’s more that it was mis-sold.

This is more of a pet peeve (And maybe a spoiler as to the direction the book takes so maybe skip this paragraph if you intend to read it), but mystery novels that tease larger, possibly even supernatural concepts at play and then take a long time to reveal something far less interesting fob me off quite a bit. I’ve read a few books of this nature, which tease ghosts and entities at work, only to then ignore that in favour of a more mundane conclusion, and whilst this particular one delivers a little of what could be considered a wider scope, it ultimately chose to underwhelm in its main revelation. At least in my opinion. Also, there’s a narrative thread which teases a lot of potentials and then the book’s conclusion ultimately completely ignores it...and I really don’t like that kinda SHIT. Misdirection perhaps, but it doesn’t work in a book that’s so slow and so lacking in interesting revelations throughout.

I didn’t hate ‘The Lamplighters’, but it did disappoint me. There’s some great atmosphere and imagery to be had throughout its reasonably short read, but it over-promises and under-delivers, and along the way tells a rather straight forward story in a protracted and convoluted nature. If you go into this just looking for a moody slowburn mystery, with melancholy romance and darkness to spare? You’ll probably enjoy it quite a bit. I was looking for something more intriguing, especially given that striking cover and promises of thrills, and ultimately...whilst not dreadful by any means, I didn’t come out of it fully satisfied. Ah well!   

Read it or Leave it : Unsure. Reading Next (Ender’s Game by Some Twat *Won’t be Reviewed*)

[withsomejam]

The Lamplighters, Emma Stonex

The Lamplighters is a fictional tale based and inspired by a real mystery. Stonex was intrigued by the mystery of three lighthouse keepers who inexplicably disappeared from their lighthouse off the coast of the island of Eileen Mòr in the Outer Hebrides. The discovery was made in December 1900 and was made famous by its extraordinary circumstances that surrounded it; which perplexed all. The door…

[novemberhush]

Thanks for tagging me, @firemedicdiaz !❤️

Last song you listened to - Closer by Tegan and Sara

Currently watching - reruns of The Twilight Zone, the last season of The Blacklist, and the current season of Law and Order: SVU

Currently reading - The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex

Current obsession - nothing, tbh

I tag @faithiegirl01 @a-victorian-girl @thenimbletree @guiltypleasurefandomface @halespecterwinchester @tari-aldarion @elysiumwaits @sal-si-puedes @bryonyashley @zerokrox-blog and anyone else who wants to share. No pressure on anyone who doesn’t!😘

[itacoisa]

8 de agosto de 2023. Terça-feira.

No dia 6 de agosto (domingo), eu conclui FINALMENTE a leitura de O Farol da Emma Stonex.

Em suma, o livro conta a história de 3 homens que desapareceram em um isolado farol em que trabalhavam. Acontece que há alguns detalhes estranhos: os relógios do farol estavam parados no mesmo horário e a mesa estava posta para dois...

O livro se passa em duas linhas do tempo: em 1972, o ano do desaparecimento, com os relatos dos faroleiros e em 1992, com o ponto de vista das esposas dos desaparecidos.

Apesar do mistério intrigante, o que achei mais interessante na história foi o drama, principalmente relacionado ao passado de alguns personagens e como as esposas lidaram com a tragédia. No entanto, eu queria era saber do farol e do mistério.

Talvez por isso, eu não tenha achado que seja um suspense avassalador e dado as 3 estrelas.

A conclusão do mistério é boa até, mas nada de extraordinária.

Acho que, se você for pegar esse livro com a expectativa de um thriller, você vai sair um pouco decepcionado... Acredito que tendo ideia de que vai ter um draminha no meio é melhor.

No momento em que escrevo esse post, estou morrendo de sono, por isso, mesmo sentindo que tenho muito para comentar, não faço ideia do que.

Mas de qualquer forma, eu recomendo muito a leitura, já que querendo ou não, tem algumas reviravoltas interessantes e uns personagens intrigantes. Inclusive, ela é bem boa para ler com alguém.

O livro é quase um suspense incrível ou um livro de drama surpreendente, bem como, poderia ser bem bonito e introspectivo ou ser aquela leitura para viciante para ler em 1 dia, mas não é... E ta tudo bem, foi quaaaase tudo isso.

/// #embuscadosuspensedoano2023

Obviamente, apesar do início promissor, O Farol não se tornou um grande candidato para o suspense do ano (mesmo assim, acho que ele vai envelhecer bem). Vamos à disputa parcial:

Um pressentimento funesto

Death Note #1

O Farol

M ou N

Acerto de contas

Por hora, vou dar uma pausa nesses livros de suspense e dar início a leitura mais diferente que tiver aqui, haha. Depois, como estou um pouco preocupado em não achar o livro que faça jus ao título do suspense do ano, pretendo ler os dois livros que são as minhas apostas, só que não vou dizer quais são, rs.

[midnights-wish]

“Helen thinks I haven't noticed that she's stopped wearing it. But I notice everything about her, all that's changed when I go ashore.” 

Emma Stonex, 'The Lamplighters'.

[poibynt]

Now that change your mind/Harbinger has come to a close, which is a crazy thought, I’m going to name a couple inspirations and recommendations I have.

IF YOU LIKED THIS TRY THIS:

I took a lot of inspiration for this fic from a lot of different places. Here’s some of them.

If you liked the late night driving, magic and ruminations on the US interstate system (as well as my chapter titles, which are all quotes from this game strung together into a poem): Kentucky Route Zero. KRZ is a point and click adventure game about a delivery man stumbling into a secret underground highway system named route zero. Seriously if you even remotely like the vibes of this fic consider this game it was a HUGE inspiration and also a great piece of storytelling.

If you liked the setting, the spirits and me waking poetic about rivers/water: The Silt Verses. Silt Verses is a dark fantasy/religious/folk horror fiction podcast about two followers of an illegal god named the Trawler Man travelling down their sacred river in search of revelations. Really compelling urban fantasy in this one.

If you liked the lighthouses, vague supernatural things happening in lighthouses, ruminations on family and me waking poetic about water: The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex (I actually read this after this fic was written but shhh). It’s a supernatural thriller/mystery. A writer sets out to uncover the truth behind the odd disappearance of 4 lighthouse keepers in the 70s decades later by interviewing their wives. It’s also a much better depiction of how lighthouses work.

If you liked Boba’s post Jango childhood: Wild Pork and Watercress/Hunt for the Wilderpeople. After the death of his foster mother a Māori boy named Ricky flees into the bush with his “uncle” Hector to evade returning to the foster system which sets off a nationwide manhunt. I haven’t read the book but the movie is excellent & surprisingly wholesome.

If you’re interested in US interstate horror, road trips and Americana: Alice isn’t Dead. A supernatural horror podcast about a woman who becomes a trucker to find her missing wife Alice. There is a hole in the center of America and something rotten is seeping out type beat.

If you liked the characters, quiet everyday magic, the concept of naturally occurring magical disasters & questionable parents: the raven cycle by Maggie Steivater. A book series about 5 fucked up teenagers in small town Virginia looking to wake a dead welsh king so he may grant them a favour.

If you liked Jango and his many children, the short story Mayday by Maria Dahvana Headley from the anthology collection Sword, Stone, Table. The life and fall of Arthur Pendragon as told through descriptions of items, letters and news articles found in an abandoned Lake Erie lighthouse being auctioned off in the 1970s.

[tagesmosaik]

23 books for 2023

Thanks to @booksnpictures <3 I came up with my list of 23 books I plan to read in 2023. To be fair, I am more of a mood reader and I prefer to pick my next read according to that. So let’s see if I’ll get through it. Maybe it would be more appropriate to call the list something like 23 (or more) books that have been sitting on my shelf, patiently waiting for their time.

Anyway, here they are:

1. Deutsch – Karl-Heinz Göttert

2. Schnee – Orhan Pamuk (orig. Kar)

3. Die Überlebenden – Axel Schulman (orig. Överleverna) ✔️

4. In deinen Händen – Inês Pedrosa (orig. Nas Tuas Mãos)

5. Die Einsamkeit der Seevögel – Gøhril Gabrielsen (orig. Ankomst) ✔️

6. Ein kleines Buch vom Leben auf dem Land – Agnes Ravatn (orig. Verda er en skandale. Ei lita bok om livet på landet) ✔️

7. Die Kinder hören Pink Floyd – Alexander Gorkow

8. Goethe ruft an – John von Düffel

9. North of here – Laurel Saville

10.* Maya (orig. Maya) or Slottet i Pyrenæerne (orig. Slottet i Pyreneerne) or Der Geschichtenverkäufer (orig. Sirkusdirektørens datter) or Das Leben ist kurz (orig. Vita brevis) or Durch einen Spiegel, in einem dunklen Wort (orig. I et speil, i et gåte) or Das Kartengeheimnis (orig. Kabalmysteriet) – Jostein Gaarder

11. Hans Christian Andersen Kopenhagen – Ulrich Sonnenberg ✔️

12. The Heart Goes Last – Margaret Atwood

13. Der Meister und Margarita – Michail Bulgakow (orig. Master i Margarita)

14. Drachenläufer – Khaled Hosseini (orig. The Kite Runner)

15. Die rote Antilope – Henning Mankell (orig. Vindens son)

16. Das geheime Leben der Bäume – Peter Wohlleben

17. Zurück zur Realität – Werner Große

18.* Homo Deus. A Brief History of Tomorrow or 21 Lektionen für das 21. Jahrhundert (orig. 21 Lessons for the 21. Century) or Sapiens. Et kort historie om menneskeheden (orig. A Short History of Humankind) – Yuval Noah Harari

19. Kurze Antworten auf große Fragen – Stephen Hawking (orig. Brief Answers to the Big Questions)

20. Wie ich eines schönen Morgens im April das 100%ige Mädchen sah – Haruki Murakami

21. Das Leuchten der Rentiere – Ann-Helén Laestadius (orig. Stöld) ✔️

22. In Every Mirror She’s Black – Lola Akinmade Åkerström ✔️

23. Schloss aus Glas – Jeanette Walls (orig. The Glass Castle) ✔️

* I couldn’t decide which one to put on the list. All I know is that somehow I happened to accumulate this stack of books and that I really want to read more by those authors.

Not on✨the list✨:

- Hannahs Lied - Maren Uthaug (orig. Hvor der er fugle) ✔️

- Blackout Island - Sigríður Hagalín Björnsdóttir (orig. Eyland) ✔️

- Alte Sorten - Ewald Arenz ✔️

- Der Traum von einem Baum - Maja Lunde (orig. Drømmen om et tre) ✔️

- Kirmes im Kopf. Wie ich als Erwachsene herausfand, dass ich AD(H)S habe - Angelina Boerger ✔️

- Lektionen - Ian McEwan (orig. Lessons) ✔️

- Charlotte - David Foenkinos ✔️

- Piccola Sicilia - Daniel Speck ✔️

- Der Papierpalast - Miranda Cowley Heller (orig. The Paper Palace) ✔️

- Offene See - Benjamin Myers (orig. Open Sea) ✔️

- Fünf Viertel einer Orange - Joanne Harris (orig. Five-Quarters of the Orange) ✔️

- Hope Street - Campino ✔️

- Und so kam es - Maren Uthaug (orig. Og sådan blev det) ✔️

- Die Leuchtturmwärter - Emma Stonex (orig. The Lamplighters) ✔️

- Was man von hier aus sehen kann - Mariana Leky ✔️

- Die Birken wissen's noch - Lars Mytting (orig. Svøm med dem som drukner) ✔️

- Wintering. The power of rest and retreat in difficult times - Katherine May ✔️

- Während die Welt schlief - Susan Abulhawa (orig. Mornings in Jenin) ✔️

[snakepyre]

I've gotten back into reading books these past two years, which is exciting! So for the end of the year, instead of reviewing some or listing a top five i am simply going to write down every title i've read and put yes or no next to it. (Some of these are Dutch)

Journael van een Scheepschirurgijn: van Blaeuschijt ende Rode Loop door Alexander Courtmans, bewerkt door Jan de Lint Ja

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx Indifferent

The Terror by Dan Simmons No

Erebus: The Story of a Ship by Michael Palin Yes

Maurice by E.M. Forster Yes

Master & Commander; Post Captain by Patrick O'Brian Yes

The North Water by Ian McGuire Indifferent

De buitengewone werken van de familie Álvarez door Luc Vandromme Ja

What a fish knows by Jonathan Balcombe Yes!

The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex Yes

The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht Yes

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie No

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick Yes!!

The things we leave unfinished by Rebecca Yarros God no

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt Yes!

The Secret History by Donna Tartt Sure

A Short History of the World According to Sheep by Sally Coulthard Yes

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin Yes!

Male-Male Intimacy in Early America: Beyond Romantic Friendships by William Benemann Yes

Naar Island! door Katrien Vervaele Ja

The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde Yes

I also read some manga:

Blue Flag by Kaito Yes!

Umibe no étranger; Harukaze no étranger by Kii Kanna No

Shimanami tasogare by Yuhki Kamatani Indifferent

Blue Period by Tsubasa Yamaguchi Indifferent (ongoing)

Beastars by Paru Itagaki Yes (i am not a furry)