The Books:
Diverse Authors Can Be Spooky Fun – Sherman Alexie: Reservation Blues
Well, more angry than spooky, actually, but anyway … Robert Johnson is running from the devil (“the Gentleman” in the book) and ends up on the Spokane reservation. Afraid that “the Gentleman” might hear him if he plays his guitar, he hands it over to a young wannabe storyteller named Thomas Builds-the-Fire, who proceeds to form a rock band named Coyote Springs with two of the tribe’s other misfits and, later on, two young women from the Flathead reservation. The guitar, which very much has a mind of its own, helps them as long as they’re playing reservation and small-town gigs, but when they’re flown out to The Big City (New York) to sign a record deal, they (literally) have a meltdown and fall apart in more senses than one.
Alexie can be poignantly funny if he chooses to be and he does handle the supernatural elements of the story well (these also include the magical powers of an Indian healer with whom Robert Johnson ultimately finds refuge, and bits of the of course rather bloody 100+year-old Spokane / U.S. military history that impinge on present events) – unfortunately, though, his tale gets bogged down by a huge amount of anger, which ultimately achieves the opposite of the story’s presumably intended effect: Rather than evoking interest and critical thought (as had, in my case at least, Alexie’s short story collection The Toughest Indian In The World), this book made me think more than once, “Man, get that chip off your shoulders and move on!” and “Why am I reading about this bunch of losers to begin with?” Or maybe, it’s just that I can take short story / bite-size morsels of Alexie much better than one huge chunk – even if I end up gobbling down the bite-size morsels all at the same time, too?!
Ghost Stories and Haunted Houses – Henry James: The Turn of the Screw
A perfectly-timed, profoundly unnerving fireside tale of a young governess’s experiences on her very first job, guarding two children – a boy of ten and a girl of eight – who appear charming and innocent initially, but are slowly and bit by bit revealed to be possessed by the evils spirits of their former governess and her paramour, the household’s former manservant. By Henry James’s standards rather short and concise (even in its language), and all the more memorable for its blend of succinct language and masterfully crafted, eery atmosphere.
Young Adult Horror – Oscar Wilde: The Canterville Ghost
One of the stories that Oscar Wilde wrote for his own children; a haunted castle story as only he could have devised it – or on second thought, in light of some of my other Halloween Bingo reads, actually as Oscar Wilde, Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman could have devised it: the sense of humor here is actually very similar to Pratchett’s and Gaiman’s. Take one no-nonsense American family and have them face off against a ghost who’s getting tired of haunting the castle that used to be his (not to mention being thwarted and frustrated in his efforts by the new American residents at every angle), a good dose of empathy, and one big-hearted unafraid young lady, and what you get is a Halloween story that’s not so much scary as very touching – while at the same time also being laugh-out-loud funny.
By the by, we are reminded that Britain has “really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.” Which would seem to explain the odd thing or other …
Scary Women (Authors) – Daphne Du Maurier: Jamaica Inn
17 year old Mary has made a deathbed-side promise to her mother to go and live with her aunt and uncle Patience and Joss after her mother has died. So she exchanges the friendly South Cornwall farming town where she has grown up for Uncle Joss’s Jamaica Inn on the Bodmin Moor, which couldn’t possibly be any more different from her childhood home.
From page 1, Du Maurier wields her expert hand at creating a darkly foreboding, sinister atmosphere, which permeates the entire story. This being Cornwall, there is smuggling aplenty, and though there are a few elements and characters I could have done without (most noticeably, Mary’s infatuation / love affair with a “charming rogue” who is about as clichéd as they come, as is her final decision, which impossibly even manages to combine both of the associated trope endings – (1) “I’m the only woman who can match him in wildness and who can stand up to him, therefore I am the one woman who is made for him,” and (2) “I am the woman who will tame him and make him respectable, therefore I am the one woman who is made for him” – which in and of itself bumped the book down a star in my rating), the story’s antagonist (Uncle Joss) in particular is more multi-layered and interesting than you’d expect, I (mostly) liked Mary, and anyway, Du Maurier’s books are all about atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere, and as an entry for the “Scary Women Authors” bingo square this one fit my purposes quite admirably.
The real Jamaica Inn in its present-day incarnation:
Reads with BookLikes Friends – Arthur Conan Doyle: The Hound of the Baskervilles
One of my favorite tales by Arthur Conan Doyle – man, I’d so been looking forward to the buddy read experience of this book. Well, I did duly revisit it, and I’ll be making a belated mad-dash attempt to join the conversation, though I expect most of the others to be done with it at this point … it’s not that long a novel, after all! 🙁
Buddy read “replacement post” (of sorts) here. (Sigh.)
Currently Reading:
Finished – Update 1:
Creepy Crawlies – Arthur Conan Doyle: The Adventure of the Speckled Band
Supernatural – Arthur Conan Doyle: The Sussex Vampire
Set in New England – Shirley Jackson: The Lottery
Finished – Update 2:
Ghost Stories and Haunted Houses – Henry James: The Turn of the Screw
Read by Candlelight or Flashlight – E.T.A. Hoffmann: Das Fräulein von Scuderi (Mademoiselle de Scuderi) (read by flashlight, in bed)
Finished – Update 3:
Young Adult Horror – Oscar Wilde: The Canterville Ghost
Pumpkin – Washington Irving: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Finished – Update 4:
Free Space – Dashiell Hammett: The Dain Curse
Set on Halloween – Agatha Christie: Hallowe’en Party (novel)
Finished – Update 5:
Scary Women (Authors) – Daphne Du Maurier: Jamaica Inn
Classic Horror – E.T.A. Hoffmann: Der Sandmann (The Sandman)
Finished – Update 6:
Locked Room Mystery – Gaston Leroux: Le mystère de la chambre jaune
(The Mystery of the Yellow Room)
Finished Update 7:
Vampires vs. Werewolves – Terry Pratchett: Feet of Clay (Night Watch novel)
Finished – Update 8:
Witches – Terry Pratchett / Neil Gaiman: Good Omens
Black Cat – Frances & Richard Lockridge: The Norths Meet Murder
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night – Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None
Finished – Update 9:
Magical Realism – Isabel Allende: La casa de los espíritus (The House of the Spirits)
Genre: Horror – Mary Shelley: Frankenstein
Reads with BookLikes Friends – Arthur Conan Doyle: The Hound of the Baskervilles
Gothic – Horrace Walpole: The Castle of Otranto
“Fall” into a Good Book – Edgar Allan Poe: The Fall of the House of Usher
Full Moon – James D. Doss: White Shell Woman
Finished – Update 10:
Diverse Authors Can Be Spooky Fun – Sherman Alexie: Reservation Blues
TA’s Reading List:
Read by Candlelight or Flashlight – E.T.A. Hoffmann: Das Fräulein von Scuderi (Mademoiselle de Scuderi) (novella)
Magical Realism – Isabel Allende: La casa de los espíritus (The House of the Spirits) (novel)
Witches – Terry Pratchett: Wyrd Sisters (or possibly Terry Pratchett / Neil Gaiman: Good Omens (novel)
Genre: Horror – Edgar Allan Poe: The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether (short story); alternately E.A. Poe: The Tell-Tale Heart or The Masque of the Red Death (also short stories). Change of plan: Mary Shelley: Frankenstein.
Black Cat – Ngaio Marsh: Black as He’s Painted (novel) (black cat central to the story and therefore also black cat on the cover of the stand-alone paperback edition) change of plan: Frances & Richard Lockridge: The Norths Meet Murder (novel)
Diverse Authors Can Be Spooky Fun – Possibly Edwidge Danticat (ed.): Haiti Noir (short story anthology); otherwise TBD Settled on: Sherman Alexie: Reservation Blues.
Ghost Stories and Haunted Houses – Henry James: The Turn of the Screw (novella)
Young adult horror – Oscar Wilde: The Canterville Ghost (novella)
Scary Women (Authors) – Daphne Du Maurier: Jamaica Inn (novel)
Reads with BookLikes Friends – Arthur Conan Doyle: The Hound of the Baskervilles (novel)
Grave or Graveyard – Edgar Allan Poe: The Cask of Amontillado (short story); alternately Ngaio Marsh: Grave Mistake (novel) or Umberto Eco: The Prague Cemetery
Genre: Mystery – Peter May: The Blackhouse (novel)
Free Space – Dashiell Hammett: The Dain Curse
Gothic – Horrace Walpole: The Castle of Otranto (novel)
Creepy Crawlies – Arthur Conan Doyle: The Adventure of the Speckled Band (short story)
“Fall” into a Good Book – Edgar Allan Poe: The Fall of the House of Usher (short story)
Locked Room Mystery – Gaston Leroux: Le mystère de la chambre jaune (The Mystery of the Yellow Room) (novel)
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night – Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None (novel)
Set in New England – Shirley Jackson: The Lottery (short story)
Full Moon – James D. Doss: White Shell Woman (novel) (full moon on the cover, and the protagonist / investigator is called Charlie Moon); alternately Dennis Lehane: Moonlight Mile
Vampires vs. Werewolves – Terry Pratchett: Feet of Clay (Night Watch novel)
Supernatural – Arthur Conan Doyle: The Sussex Vampire (short story)
Classic Horror – E.T.A. Hoffmann: Der Sandmann (The Sandman) (short story)
Pumpkin – Washington Irving: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (short story)
Set on Halloween – Agatha Christie: Hallowe’en Party (novel)
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