From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…

The Thirteenth Tale

Diane Setterfield

Start date: January 28, 2015

Finish date: February 3, 2015

Why we're reading this: I sort of cheated,this book was not recommended to me personally but it did come highly recommended on tw…more
[close] I sort of cheated,this book was not recommended to me personally but it did come highly recommended on two pod-cast's I follow. The Book Riot podcast and Books on the Night Stand podcast. I was on a long waiting list for this book so when it came available I had to read it. This is the only challenge I could work it into. Anyway, great story!

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What Members Thought

Mar 17, 2008 Kate rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, favorites, 2013, reread

Highly readable, clever modern Gothic novel - Setterfield's first, amazingly! Looking forward to her next. I've heard people dismiss her for "thinking she's writing Jane Eyre," but I found the author's tone to be quite light, as when the doctor diagnoses Margaret with being too overwrought by romantic novels and prescribes her ten pages of Arthur Conan Doyle per night - Setterfield knows the book is a melodrama and she's enjoying it; so should we.

I was a bit bummed that the book didn't end with ...more

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Aug 19, 2007 Kate rated it it was amazing

Shelves: top-ten-favorites

I loved this book - couldn't put it down. A great story. ...more

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Apr 08, 2008 Meghan rated it it was ok

This book was kind of all over the place. The story was really intriguing at first, with a deepening family mystery, good and evil and all that. But as the pages kept turning, I grew more and more distracted and annoyed by the multiple perspectives strategy she used to tell the story. The conclusion was just not what it could have been. If you want to read a better book about the fascination with reading, try "The Neverending Story" or "Reading Lolita in Tehran", whose stories were far more comp ...more

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Mar 16, 2009 Anne rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, borrowed

This book grabbed me from the first chapter, and made it very difficult to put down at night. I read until late last night, and found myself turning over parts of the story in my dreams, worrying the loose ends of the story that I hadn't finished yet.

I especially enjoy the links to Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights -- and love the gothic overtones in the story. It's a fascinating read and a great book to lose yourself into. ...more

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Nov 07, 2008 Terri rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read2008, favorites

I absolutely loved this book! It had been sitting on my shelf for ages and I have no idea why it took me so long to get round to reading it. A cleverly woven story, beautifully written and very atmospheric. My highlight of 2008!

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Dec 24, 2007 Dana Berglund rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-for-grown-ups

I was hooked from the first pages, which were magical to me. There were a few moments of implausibility for me, but I loved nearly every page. A haunting and gripping story that weaves in and out of the past, questions the truth of memory and what we tell ourselves/other people.

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