Book Review: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Since I enjoyed The Woman in White so much–and you can read my extreme fangirling over Marian here–I thought I would read another highly acclaimed Wilkie Collins book. I have been told, in fact, that this is much better than The Woman in White. This, of course, shows that literature is frequently a matter of…

Book Review: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

So I thought this review had been posted on WordPress, but in fact it was over on the Old Blog. I just finished The Moonstone so I thought I would post this one as well, because it’s Wilkie Collins Appreciation Hour here on Eclectic and Eccentric. Walter Hartright is making his lonely way home one…

Austen’s Flawed Heroes

I’m aware it’s strange that this blog veers wildly between “weird, esoteric horror mystery” and “isn’t Jane Austen just the greatest”, but it ain’t called “Eclectic and Eccentric” for nothing. Today, I’d like to take a look at Jane Austen’s unpopular heroes. You know, the flawed ones, the boring ones, the ones that just don’t…

The Great Twin Peaks Rewatch: Season 2 Episode 21 and 22: ROCKS FALL EVERYONE DIES 2: THE NOPENING

Leo’s an interesting fellow. He went from brutalizing his wife with a bar of soap and trying to kill her to risking life and sanity to keep her safe. I’m not sure how much I believe this and especially how believable it is given his characterization. I have known abusers before. While many of them…

The Great Twin Peaks Rewatch: Season 2, Episode 20: Map to the Nope Train

We last left the tragic Rusty being carried off in a papier-mâché pawn, which causes some problems for the deputies. Cooper, recognizing that Earle has gone off the board and off his rocker, tells Audrey, Shelly, and Donna to check in with the sheriff twice a day. Our subplots continue apace: Lucy is ready to…

Book Review: The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder by Daniel Stashower

As a lifelong Poe fan, lover of all things Darkly Victorian, and Secret Goth Child, this book seemed the perfect conglomeration of all these things. The book traces the dual stories of the murder of Mary Rogers, New York’s famous cigar shop girl, and Poe’s own attempts at literary fame, which includes having his fictional…