blackdogbooks' 2010 Harrowing Halloween Thread

Welcome to this years Halloween thread.

Below you will find the list of titles for this years Halloween read, each with one or two lines describing the book. We are starting with a little serial killer action, imagined and real. Then, we'll read a little fantasy before hitting a couple of classic science fiction stories from masters. The experience will be rounded out by some classic horror, ending up with a new, and relatively unknown, vampire story, which is appropriate in these vampire obssessed times. Though, I think you'll find this vampire story a little more traditional and less sparkly.

Please feel free to post your reviews here and any discussion about the books. This thread, though it will replace my other for the time being, is meant to be an open forum for all things bloody and ghoulish!

I will be starting the read with the first title on the list in about a week or so. The books are arranged in the order I will be reading them, but feel free to arrange them to your own tastes.

The Collector by John Fowles
An obssessed young man kidnaps a young woman and holds her prisoner in his basement. (There's a great classic movie version with Terence Stamp and Samantha Eggar to view after you've read the book.)

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larsen
Our true crime title, examines a real life serial killer in the time of the Chicago World's Fair.

Galilee by Clive Barker
From Amazon: Galilee chronicles the twisted course of this centuries-old family feud, which centers around the magical Barbarossa matriarch Cesaria and her son Galilee. Indeed, it's the latter figure--one part Heathcliff to one part Christ--whose relationship with the Geary women sets a match to the entire powder keg of hostility and resentment.

The Postman by David Brin
Post-apocolyptic chronicle of a troubled man who finds a little hero in himself. (If you can stomach Kevin Costner, the film's actually kinda fun. Look for Tom Petty's cameo.)

From a Whisper to A Scream Charles de Lint
DeLint, a master of urban fantasy called this his horror novel. Years after the death of a notorious child murderer, children have begun to die again.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A classic and scarry post-apocolyptic story of good vs. evil. (The film is psychadelic!)

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
The Martians are coming! The Martians are coming!!! (The most recent version of the book on film stars Tom Cruise......probably oughtta try an earlier film version.)

The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Henlein
The Martians are coming......and they have a unique version of mind control. (The movie version from the 80s is pretty good with Donald Sutherland.)

The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton
Wharton's version of the ghost and supernatural.

The Frozen Deep by Wilkie Collins
Based on the doomed 1845 expedition to the Artic, and originally performed as a play starring Collins and Charles Dickens. The tale inspired Dickens' character Sydney Canton in A Tale of Two Cities.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Classic haunting story from a master of the subtle, building fright.

Carrie by Stephen King
Tabitha King pulled the first chapter of this story out of the trash and encouraged her husband to write the rest of the story, all before he'd published anything. The story of a girl on the fringes of high school who has a few things in store for the bullies who torment her. (Sissy Spacek and John Travolta in a classic film version.)

The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas
Stephen King said this one is "unputdownable." Vampires in New Mexico!

Huzzah! There are a few here I've been meaning to read, and some I haven't even heard of. It's going to be a great month! Thanks for organizing the list once again, sir.

Hmmm, posts getting lost today...trying again...

There are some I've already read and a couple that don't appeal to me, but there's plenty of stuff here I am interested in. I'll definitely join in with start on The Collector.

I've been thinking about reading exclusively horror this October. I'll probably read whatever I can find at my local library, but if I do read anything from the list I'll be sure to post about it here!

posting so I can find this again.. I have read some of those :)

Not into horror at all, or serial killers, but I'll join you for re-reads of The Postman and The Puppet Masters.

Great list and I've only read one of them!

Nice list. I'm going to read The Puppet Masters, maybe War of the Worlds again. I would love to find The Frozen Deep! I'm going to add The Fall of the House of Usher to my Halloween list because it is referenced so wonderfully by Ray Bradbury in his The Martian Chronicles which I'm just finishing.

Just put the first few on reserve at the library. Wow! This is a great list...

ETA: added this thread to the group home page.

Thanks for letting me know, Mac! I've been trying to collect copies of these books ever since you first posted them, so I am definitely in! No promises about keeping up, but I do expect to try to read them all!

I'm planning to start with The Devil in the White City.

Read and loved A Clockwork Orange and The War of the Worlds, will try to join in for most of the other books.

Great list think I am going to give it a go...have only read one,Carrie but that was ages ago....off to the second hand book shop to see what i can scare up.

Wow, it's nice to see so many of you here. And I'm glad you're all finding things you like on the list.

Jadebird, The Frozen Deep should be relatively easy to find at one of your chain bookstores. It's a very slim novel and is usually available at Barnes and Noble.

The most difficult one you will all have picking up is The Vampire Tapestry as that is a local author from out here in the SW. But if you are interested, amnd I think you should be, you can probably get it through Amazon. One of the reasons I've left it last is to give more folks the opportunity to get ahold of it.

Stumbled upon you this morning. What a great idea! I love this time of year and reading a series of seasonally appropo books is inspired.

I shall join in and I will dash off this morning to see if I can find a used copy of The Collector at my newest book store discovery. Living in a "new neighborhood" is giving me the chance to find new bookstores - Yay! I am glad to give John Fowles a re-read. I read many of his books when I was much younger and I don't think I really "got" him. Perhaps I can find a new joy in the reconsideration. Thanks for bringing him to my attention again.

I will definitely start with Devil in the White City, as I've wanted to read that for a long time.

I already read The Haunting of Hill House, so I'll skip that. The others, I'll see what I can get from the library. After the 50+ I bought at used bookstores on vacation, I am NOT buying any more books . . . . she says, as Amazon.com pops up on her computer screen . . . ;)

ETA to add
#15 Oh, maggie1944, I envy you living in an area where there are bookstores, especially used book stores!

I think it is a great list, as well. Can't wait! :)
--BJ

I'm so glad we're doing this again after discovering some great books with you all last year. I've read The Collector, The Haunting of Hill House and Carrie (and Terence Stamp is so creepy in the movie). I want to join in with The Devil in the White City.
My October reads will include I Am Legend, Frankenstein, Worst Nightmares and Compulsion by Meyer Levin.

Hmmm... just finished The Postman a few days ago (this month). THought it was a pretty good read!

I may have one (maybe two) others here. And it looks like there are a few I should be able to read online, so I'll see what I can do to play along :)

I've got two and want a third, so I'll try to join the party! I have The War of the Worlds and The Clockwork Orange, and I'll be ordering Carrie soon anyway... I'm also planning on a little Halloween reading of Frankenstein or The Phantom of the Opera, so I'll see how I get on!

Pooh. I have Barker, King and Fowles, but not the right titles. I'll see if I've got other things properly macabre to put in my reading :)

Looks like a good list! If I can find copies, I'll be up for The Frozen Deep and The Vampire Tapestry.

I think I'll try to go for The Postman and The Frozen Deep. Even though horror is not really my 'thing' this is a nice list and I've read at least a third -- which surprises me!

there are only two books in this list I haven't read, I'm on the hunt to try and find them - thanks blackdog!

Oh golly, I've read about half of the books and about two-thirds of the authors, so this should be interesting. I found a couple of Halloween related books in the past couple of months--gotta get my list together to share here. Thanks for the nudge!

This sounds like fun! I've assigned War of the Worlds for a SciFi class this semester, so I'll be rereading that anyway, but I've also been wanting to read The Postman and some of the other titles. Thanks for setting up such a great list.

I already have The Puppet Masters. My copy of The Postman disappeared a few years ago, so I've ordered a new one from PaperBackSwap. So I'll be ready for the two I'm joining you on.

Great list! I'm excited to hunt for the books that I haven't read yet.

So, can anyone join in on the Halloween fun?

Open to one and all! Join us, tapestry100, but remember that once you've come in, you may never leave.

The more the merrier, I'm sure, tapestry100.

I found The Frozen Deep and The Woman in White; so those are on my Halloween read-list.

The Woman in White was another favorite from last years list. It was one of the only ones I didn't finish by 10/31. But I just read it in the last month. Great book!

For those of us who missed the fun last year, any chance you would be so kind as to direct us to the old list? I know I am curious to see what else was there, in case I want to catch up. :)

This list is great and I will be rereading my Heinlein and looking for the Wharton stories. I'm reading a lot of King this year and Carrie is highly recommended as are Devil in the White City and The Haunting of Hill House. The Postman is one of my favorite Brin novels (and I even like the film!). Barker always scares the willies out of me, but I've missed this one and I'm planning to try Charnas this year as well as the deLint.

If you're looking for "short" ghost or horror, you might want to try:

Ghost Stories of Muriel Spark by Muriel Spark
Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King
The Ring of the Lowenskold by Selma Lagerlof
The Mystery of Cloomber by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

These are all around 200 pages (or less) and great Halloween reads.

beserene, here is the link for last year's thread...
http://www.librarything.com/topic/73071

Thanks! That list gives me more great ideas for Halloween reading. It's going to be a busy October.

>30 blackdogbooks: LOL suitably Boris Karloff :)

FAIR WARNING.....I'll be starting The Collector this weekend.

I'm 2/5 through The Vampire Tapestry with the Barker waiting on the coffee table. Argh! This is definitely daylight reading material!

I went to the library last night and they didn't have The Collector but I did pick up The Postman.

I got The Collector, I believe I will start it tomorrow. Besides, I have procured copies of The Devil in the White City, Galilee and The Postman.

I could not find a copy of The Collector, but I have one of The Devil in the White City ready to go.
--BJ

About half-way through The Collector and Fowles climbed into this killer's head in a way that is rare without some extensive research or giving free reign to thoughts otherwise surpressed in civilized society. The last time I read a fiction work that acurately protrayed the inner thoughts of such a criminal was Lolita. And it's not just the description and thoughts on urges to fulfill dark fantasies that brings this so close to real life; it's really the rationalization and minimization in the thought process, the precursor explanations built into the actions that ring true. This all works especially well in the first person narrative, but it's important to remember that the fellow talking to you may not be telling the truth all the time. For a real life peek into such a mind, try Jack Abbott's In the Belly of the Beast.

About to start on the victim's diary portion.

Great book so far.

Prop, starting at the last book on the list, heh!

Well, okay, she's the only author on the list I haven't read before, and your recommendations are always entertaining. Besides, it was something of a challenge to even find the book, although I finally found one in a local bookstore.

I'm going to give this a try this year especially since I just finished and reviewed> The Devil in the White City.

I also have The Haunting of Hill House, and The Woman in White for starters. I might also get to Dracula from last year's list as that's also on my shelf.

I'll start The Collector soon; it just arrived from the library. I have one other book to get through first.

#43--for a similar climb into a killer's mind, try The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson, which is coincidentally on the 1001 Must Read list with The Collector. Very compelling POV in each novel, and thus forcing the reader to join in the downward spiral of the narrator.

In any event, I very much enjoyed The Vampire Tapestry (although I tried to figure out the New Mexico reference in your introduction above when I was only two-thirds through the book). A series of sequential vignettes about a singular vampire, it starts in the Eastern US and then migrates to the Southwest. There is an extensive plot tie-in to the opera Tosca, but you won't have to worry--it's fully covered in the story. Nice choice, BDB.

Just finished The Collector and, like Carrie, it's a first novel that became a cultural icon. I think I've seen the movie once, but will be going back because the novel is a lot more personalized, being something of a diary format. Very chilling for a holiday read.

Yay! A friend showed me this list and I'm very excited to get started. I've already read about half the list, but may want to re-read some. I also recently borrowed a copy of "The Vampire Tapestry" from my friend. Thanks Laurie! I'm finishing a quick little graphic novel - "The Gunslinger Born," and then I'll get started. Mwah ha ha ... I love Halloween!

I am more than half done with The Collector and till now, I am impressed! Hopefully, the ending will do justice to the book.

I should be posting a review of The Collector here by the weekend. I've already started The Devil in the White City and it is very engaging.

Brenzi, Glad to have you along this year. you're review of The Devil in the White City has rocketed up to the top of the list. Cool!!!

Tad and Piyush, Very interested in your thoughts on The Collector.

Prop, glad you liked The Vampire Tapestry and I hope you do too, picnicgal. I will be saving that one and Carrie for last. The reason In the Belly of the Beast is so compelling is because it is non-Fiction and in POV. Very chilling story.

I should also finish the book by the weekend. Given that I have previously read a couple of the books in the Halloween thread, I am trying to replace them with couple of my own, one such book is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, now actively searching for another one.

I read Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde last year and loved it.

I'm halfway through my first Fall read, Why The Devil Chose New England For His Work, a collection of short stories. All the stories are set in the small town of Vaughn, Maine and have a sinister quality even when nothing truly bad happens.

I finished The Collector today. What a total creep-out! Very disturbing. I'll start on The Devil in the White City this week!

I'm probably going to start it today. I'm not quite geared up for this challenge quite yet.

Book #34, The Collector by John Fowles
Fiction

My Review on the book's home page:

The most difficult prison to escape is the one with stones and steel mortared in self-loathing and fear. No matter the circumstances, the mind tends to sweep back to the basest doubts or the raw ambitions reflected back from those doubts.

John Fowles’ novel The Collector recounts the kidnapping and imprisonment of a young woman. Frederick Clegg lives without attracting anyone’s notice, especially that of the object of his fantasy, Miranda Grey, a beautiful young art student. When Frederick wins a football pool, the money gives him the means to abduct Miranda, collecting her like the butterflies he mounts for display.

On the surface, the story operates as a crime procedural, told first from Frederick’s perspective as he prepares a lonely country house to act as a prison for his prey and then follows through the days of her imprisonment. The second half of the novel tells the same story through Miranda’s journals, written while locked away in the basement. The authenticity Fowles brings to Frederick’s thoughts is chilling, indicating either deep research on the mind of the sociopath or the rare ability to give free reign to the darkest regions of the mind. It is not in the description of Frederick’s urges or bent thinking that Fowles demonstrates his understanding but in Frederick’s preparation of excuses for his behavior, in the way he rationalizes and justifies his actions. People like Frederick rarely deceive themselves into thinking that their behavior is normal. But they often believe that they can construct a tale that will explain what they’ve done, or that will at least engender sympathy and understanding.

Beneath the surface, Fowles picks at the nature of what imprisons Frederick and Miranda in their own minds. Both are plagued with thoughts of inferiority and the ambition to succeed and be accepted that those thoughts fuel. For Miranda, these thoughts are manifested in her need to please and the desperate search for approval, even from her captor. It is the weakness that allows Frederick to maintain his grip on her.

Four bones!!!!

As y'all can see, I am posting my reviews here for these books. I'd encourage everyone to do the same, or just leave whatever comments you want about the book. This is not just my thread, it's everyone's Halloween thread!

I'm about 100 pages into The Devil in the White City. Very good so far, if a little uneven with too many dry details getting the story bogged down on occasion. Still very good.

>55 blackdogbooks: Excellent review of The Collector, bdb. It's one I'm not familiar with but I hope I can get to it in the next few weeks. Off to wishlist and thumb the review.

I'm so glad you liked The Collector. It's been several years since I read it but I thought the writing was marvelous. Fowles created one of the most chilling books with this one.
I thought it was interesting how Clegg wasn't diverted from his obsession at all once he had the money to do whatever he wanted. He was obsessed with Miranda when he had nothing. Then he won the pool and could have gone away and had a better life, seen something of the world,dated women, even approached Miranda as a viable suitor. But instead he set about stealing her. Fowles did an amazing job showing just how sick Clegg's mind was.

Nice review! I could not find a copy of that book, but I did find a copy of the second book. But did I start it? No, I just had to read The Postman first. I am so glad that you put that book on the list! I have seen the Kevin Costner movie once, and although lots of people did not like that movie, I did. The thing I liked about this book was that even though the unthinkable has happened, there is a glimmer of hope. This is kind of unusual for these kinds of stories.

Hope it is ok to mention this one out of order.
--BJ

Message 43

Mac,
Joyce Carol Oates was able to do the same, ie get inside the mind of a wacko, in her book Beasts.

I think I'll start the challenge with the Charles de Lint book From a Scream to a Whisper

Thanks for starting this thread again this year!

I'm 100 pages into The Postman. It's really good! I never read Brin and I haven't seen the movie so everything is new. I keep comparing the postwar America in this book to the post-sickness America in The Stand.

The Postman is one of Brin's best (and darkest). Startide Rising is a must-read, too, I think.

Thanks. I will add that to my wishlist.

I'm going off the list and starting Compulsion by Meyer Levin today. It's about the Leopold & Loeb murder in the 1920's.

Nice review, BDB, and I did found The Collector both an easier and more disturbing read than The French Lieutenant's Woman, which I read years ago. It is a very impressive first novel, and, while it is similar in style to The Killer Inside Me, the two main narrators are very different. Thanks for the recommendation.

Also A Vampire Tapestry and, while not as "unputdownable" as Stephen King is quoted, it was very impressive. The story being told in a series of shorter vignettes meant you have to fill in some blanks in time yourself. Told from varying perspectives, it is also intriguing to follow Dr. Weyland on this singular time segment of his eternal life. I was nearly done in by the entire Tosca set-up, but, fortunately, like Bel Canto, the opera is integrated so smoothly into the action, it was a nice twist to the story.

Just finished From a Whisper to a Scream and very much enjoyed this darker side of de Lint's universe. He has plenty of dark elements in his better known works, but he allows himself to go "full out" in telling this story of a reporter, a girl, a cop who is an Indian, and a young girl who hears cruel voices--all centered around murders in the city. This was a keeper--thanks.

Won't be rereading The Devil in the White City because my book group read it some time back. However, it was intriguing to have Larsen tell the two concurrent stories: the Chicago exposition and the serial murderer who was loose at the time. Larsen's books are always interesting, but sometimes quite dry because there are lots of facts. Thunderstruck was also about a murderer and the first use of the Marconi telegraph process, and I was intrigued, but I know several readers who really didn't like it. However, Isaac's Storm has been a favorite for some time, and very highly recommended.

Nearly finished The Puppet Masters by Robert Heinlein, which is one which I missed when I was reading Heinlein by the hour years ago. I think I must have reached a saturation point, but should have tried this one. It's excellent.

Carrie, if you read Startide Rising, you absolutely MUST read The Uplift War, which is one of my all-time favorite sf books. Also by Brin and in the same Universe as Startide Rising.

Excellent review of The Collector....have you, by any chance, seen the movie? with Samantha Eggar? I read the book while still a "wee child" and the movie stays true to Fowles' claustrophobic creepshow
;-}

Hi Roni! This thread is bad for my wishlist. I will throw The Uplift War on it. I will have to live untill I am 1000 to read all the books that I want to!

If you read the Uplift War saga, you might want to start with the prequel Sundiver, a very good book. The order is Sundiver, Startide Rising, and then The Uplift War.

Okay BDB, here's my commentary from my thread on the four books on your list I've read to date:

Okay, the next four in order are from the Halloween reading list Blackdogbooks has compiled:

The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas
The Collector by John Fowles
From a Whisper to a Scream by Charles de Lint writing as Samuel M. Key
Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein

BDB's list, as ever, is full of fun, terror, and some great ghouls and beasties. I had read all the writers on the list, although not necessarily the works listed, except for Charnas, so I started with her book--which, incidentally, is the last one on the list.

The Vampire Tapestry is a fascinating look at a singular (as in there is only one in the world) vampire who is, in his current life, a misanthropic anthropology professor. The book is actually a series of five sequential vignettes about Dr. Weyland, told from four perspectives (a suspicious co-worker, a fascinated young boy, a concerned therapist, and the good doctor himself). While not horrific in the traditional vampire scenario, the book is scary enough to warrant inclusion on the list. It also happens to be a very fine read.

The Collector is John Fowles first novel, and, wow, it is a doozy. Not since The Killer Inside Me have I felt so close to the real mind of a maniac. I was intrigued as well by the fact that I recently watched some "Criminal Minds" episodes where the villain gives clues to his work through a cover of The Collector. The book is essentially in three parts: the first details the thoughts of a young man who wins a lottery and has an obsessive interest in a young woman he's seen. He creates a basement world for her in a house in the country and singlemindedly tries to make her understand how much he loves her. The middle section is her version of those same events, and the last section is a bookend for the story told by him. Much scarier than lots of straight horror! I have to go find the movie now to watch it.

From a Whisper to a Scream is Charles de Lint writing as Samuel M. Key, an undisguised alter ego who writes darker stories--similar in theory to Stephen King and Richard Bachman--where sometimes really bad things happen. This story involved murders of young women who all resemble each other, each murder more horrific than the next because the murderer appears to be getting stronger with each kill; a young runaway who has scary voices in her head; a young musician; a news photographer; an Indian cop who should have become head of his tribe but moved off the reservation; and a Caribbean mystic. There's the city and there's the spirit world and there's some nasty history--all of it nicely worked into de Lint's world.

Puppet Masters is a Heinlein I missed when I was on a mission years ago to read his work. I have always liked Heinlein for his readability and his humanistic approach to possible futures. The only thing I didn't like about this story was the final chapter, but it felt added on for editorial purposes as opposed to necessary for the story. But, again, BDB scores high on the referral list!

Oh, edited for some pesky grammar errors

Can you believe that the only books that my main library has is: The Devil in the White City (currently checked out), The Postman (which I just read), Carrie (already read), The Haunting of Hill House (ditto), and The War of the Worlds (going to pick up today). Darn, they usually have such a great selection! I'm going to a smaller local library to see what I can find before I head off to the used bookstore.

Finished Galilee on a plane today. Nice start to the reading list for me. My thoughts are over on my reading thread, but suffice it to say it was nice to dive back into some Barker again!

Doing two re-reads from the list, and finished The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson--

Okay, this is one of the most scary/terrifying/chilling/horrific (pick your adjective) stories I've read. It involves four people, three invited by the fourth, who volunteer to spend nights in an old house with a bad history--maybe of ghosts, maybe of evil, maybe nothing at all. There's very, very little violence; there are long discussions about ghosts; some interlopers who may be otherworldly and others who are definitely and obnoxiously human. So why so scary? I think, for me, it's because Shirley Jackson makes it all so plausible, so intimate, and so personal. The Lottery is easily one of the best scary short stories ever written, and, The Haunting of Hill House (which you may find published under its other movie title The Haunting) is one of the best novels ever written in the genre. P.S. Avoid the remake of the movie or the derivative movies.

Currently re-reading A Clockwork Orange which is, because of its extensive use of jargon and slang, much slower.

Oh, also finished The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer, just to complete the Twilight series. *meh*

I finished From a Whisper to a Scream. The review is over on my thread here.

Book #35 The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Non-Fiction
True Crime

My Review on the book's home page:

In the Notes and Sources section of his book The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson writes, “The juxtaposition of pride and unfathomed evil struck me as offering powerful insights into the nature of men and their ambitions.” Even though Larson buried the thesis of his writing in a portion of the book many readers might ignore, it still bounds off of the pages as he details the excesses of the architects of the world’s greatest fair and one of the world’s earliest serial murderers.

In 1893, Chicago opened the World’s Columbian Exposition, a celebration of the centennial of Columbus’ discovery of the “New World.” The true intent of the event was to outdo 1889 France’s Exposition Universelle, where the Eiffel Tower was erected. The architects set out to produce an exposition so exotic and immense that the United States could be seen as the world leader in commerce and culture. Occupying over one square mile, the fair boasted attractions including a single exhibit hall that had enough interior volume to house the U.S. Capitol, the Great Pyramid, Winchester Cathedral, Madison Square Garden, and St. Paul’s Cathedral. Shredded Wheat, Cracker Jacks, and a new ride that would be dubbed a “Ferris Wheel” all made their debuts at the event. The fair became a monument to American inventiveness and industriousness, if also an exhibit of American hubris, selfishness, and excess. But no exhibit at the fair so embodied these sad contradictions as did H.H. Holmes.

Holmes was one of the first of a new breed of murderers. A serial murderer and a psychopath, Homes was unable to process and exhibit human emotion in the way that normally functioning people do, though he could mimic any emotion for the purpose of satisfying his selfish urges, his only pleasure. Charming and polite, he captivated everyone he met, even his enemies, but, most especially, the young women whose bad fortune it was to cross his path. He erected a building that covered an entire city block, and he filled it with rooms purposed for dark pursuits. The building doubled as an affordable hotel for fairgoers and a killing field for Holmes, complete with several locations outfitted to dispose of bodies in various ways.

Larson seemed somewhat enamored of the gifted, if gilded, men who organized and designed the world’s fair. They undertook a Herculean task in imagining, planning, and financing a spectacle that would capture the world’s attention. But what also stood out was their selfish pride and ambition in these pursuits that seemed spawned of a hunger for power and attention. Daniel H. Burnham and the men he worked with to bring the fair to life were more closely related to Holmes in their hearts and minds than Larson seems convinced of.

The book is captivating, capably carrying the reader to the Chicago of dust and smoke in the late 1890s. Larson’s only failure is the occasional overindulgence on fine details related to the designing and building of the fairgrounds. The story sometimes gets bogged down in the letters and notes from men of the day agonizing over their slow progress. On the other hand, the middle of the book, in an effort to tell both stories chronologically, features scant details on the day to day events of Holmes’ life and crimes. It is not until the end of the book, when Holmes is on the run and his crimes are discovered that he really takes full shape as a monster.

Larson’s book is capped with a discussion of the ultimate demise of the fairgrounds. Today, there is nothing left of what was one of the most magnificent set of buildings ever imagined or constructed. There are two reasons why nothing remains. First, Burnham and his cohorts chose construction materials that were not designed to withstand the erosion of years, primarily because their imagination outpaced their financing. The second reason is that Burnham and many of the other designers actually voiced a preference for destroying their work. That such creative minds had already been infected with a cast away mentality that defines America today is the saddest commentary of all. And in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, the very European engineering wonder that these men sought to outdo, Americans look like country cousins.

4 bones!!!!

Very nice review! I got my copy from the library this week, it's up next.

Mac asked me to post my comment son Galilee to this thread. Apparently his interest was piqued by my description of Barker's prose...

Galilee by Clive Barker
First of the books I've come across from Mac's Halloween reading list, and a fine choice it was. As with lots of Barker's books, it's got a huge scope. And the prose reminds me of a drag queen - big and flowery and dramatic, and a blast to be around.

In Galilee, Barker gives us a dark romance, complete with warring families and ill-fated lovers. Of course, it's Clive Barker, so there's a hefty dose of the supernatural and things aren't what they seem.

Nice start to the Halloween reading!

Hi everyone! I just came across this thread and thought it looked like fun. I’ll start my October reading with Galilee since I own it and have been looking for an excuse to read it.

Welcome! Come back so we can compare notes when you're done!

I also just read Galilee by Clive Barker. I agree that it had a large scope. But I did think that it was too long, and I did not like the storyline nearly as much as I did The Postman. Maybe the reason is because it was billed as a romance, and I don't read too many of those. Overall, I thought it was a good, but not a great, story.
--BJ

The Collector was definitely one of the better books I have read this year and it was a wonderful start to the Halloween season. The self-rationalising, seeming innocent psychopath was downright creepy! And one would never be able to use the term "Collector" in the same context after reading this book!

Just started Galilee yesterday and I'm through the first section. No 'romance' yet, just a very unusual and distrubed family, with a house that reads a little like the real-life Winchester House. I didn't take Barker's description of the book as a 'romance' too seriously as I've read Barker before and don't think he is going to dive too deeply into bodice ripping territory.

Doc, I am certain you will like The Devil in the White City as it crosses genres that your are fond of.

Galilee - Clive Barker

A book that promised a lot, but failed to deliver!
After building grounds for earth shattering suspense about things which mere mortals can't even begin to comprehend, Clive Barker insults the intelligence of the reader by finishing the book without a proper ending!

The book was a lot of effort and drama for nothing! Reading even another Anne Rice book would have been a better utilisation of time!

That is a common criticism for Barker. He's one of the authors who doesn't always seem to know how to finish a story.

Oh well, Piyush, at least you liked the Collector.

Well, this was my first encounter with Barker, and I am not sure if I will bother trying him again.

The Collector was very, very impressive indeed!

Piyush: Galilee probably isn't the best introduction to Barker's work. If you decide to read him again, I highly recommend his Books of Blood series or The Thief of Always.

Ah, The Thief of Always is sometimes listed as a children's book by Barker. Our book group read it in conjunction with Stephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, as non-typical works by these men. I enjoyed The Thief of Always whereas some of Barker's other works are not nearly as entertaining.

Bravo BDB, on the review of The Devil in the White City. I gave it a thumb. I was totally fascinated by the book but I loved the way you drew the connection between the architects throw-away attitude and today's consumerism. Excellent.

Okay, so I read "off" list (but on my alternate list #34 above)and finished The Mystery of Cloomber by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I created a short list because I have already most of the novels on BDB's marvelous offerings, but wanted to read within the genre.

This was apparently Conan Doyle's second published novel, but not the success that A Study in Scarlet was with the public. It also hints at his interest in mysticism, but is basically a mystery set in his Scotland. The West family settles into a relative's home to "house sit" while the owner is on a recuperative trip abroad. The empty Cloomber mansion is leased by the Heatherstones, a family headed by a hero of the Indian campaigns, with a wife and two adult (or nearly adult) children. Despite attempts to become friendly neighbors (although the West children and the Heatherstone children "match up" early in the story), the elder Heatherstone is particularly unfriendly to the town and neighbors, putting up signs and fences to avoid visitations. The elder Heatherstone has, for many years, panicked at the onset of October 5, expecting an unexplained disaster related to his Indian service. A former soldier in his regiment joins the household shortly before the deadline, but when three Indian mystics are shipwrecked nearby in early October, the mystery deepens. It reminded me in some broader outlines of The Moonstone, one my favorite Wilkie Collins's novels, but is uniquely Conan Doyle's in style and tone. I liked this one.

Prop, I don't think anyone minds if you are "off" list. I'm usually a bit off myself. ;)

Plus I like reading reviews of Doyle books I've not read. There is one more for the TBR mob! Thanks.

I just read The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. It is the perfect Halloween read. Just the right amount of spooky and creepy. Loved this book and will read more by her. Maybe I will check out one of the movies, too!
--BJ

billiejean--just skip all the sequels. They lack any subtlety at all.

I've started Devil in the White City. So far, I'm liking it!

#91 Thanks for the tip!
--BJ

I've started another off-list read, Frankenstein.

That was part of my Halloween Reading List from 2 years back and it ended up being an all time favorite.

You off-listers! You're picking some good ones.

Finished up The Devil in the White City yesterday evening. It was quite a good choice. I loved the juxtaposition of the buildup of the Fair with Holmes' building from Hell - even the ends of these two developments seemed to match up pretty well. Other than that, I think Mac's review above pretty well captured my thoughts on the book.

Finished The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury (off-list) and a re-read of A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (on-list).

The Halloween Tree is one of Bradbury's works for children, and this one is specific to the holiday. Eight boys costume themselves and set out to have a great Halloween night. The ninth member of the group is sick and disappears just as the the gang has dared itself to ring the bell of Mr. Moundshroud. There's a tree with jack o'lanterns in the yard and Mr. Moundshroud opts for the "trick" option of "trick or treat." He leads the boys, who are costumed as standard Halloween characters (mummy, witch, etc.) through various historical eras as they try to rescue their friend Pipkin who is hidden in each era. Each stop explains an aspect of Halloween for the boys and the historical significance of some of the holiday. I found it entertaining enough for the age level it was written for, and I will seek out the cartoon version made with a smaller gang (four boys, not eight) for fun. However, it was a bit didactic in its lessons and, as an adult, I found some of the writing clumsy for Bradbury. That may be because the book is really a rewritten screenplay, but it was an entertaining exercise.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess is, as I had clearly forgotten, like reading a translated book. Burgess invented his own "Newspeak" for Alex and his droogs and you have to concentrate more intently for the writing because Burgess has deliberately obscured its clarity. Ostensibly an autobiography of Alex in a semi-diary format, it is the story of an English 15-year old in the near future, who has no goals other than to enjoy himself, who finds pleasure in the music of great composers, but also heads a particularly typical and nasty gang involved in beatings, rapes, and robberies. Alex discovers actions lead to consequences, and sometimes consequences lead to more action. There was controversy about the first American version of the published book because the last chapter was omitted (and, thus, omitted from the film version as well). Recent editions have all 21 chapters, and, frankly, it seems to me to be a tempest in a teapot. The book is now available as Burgess intended it to be and that's proper.

The whole language thing is a different discussion. Burgess achieves a distancing of Alex and his droogs from standard society with his use of a specialized jargon, but it is extremely difficult to follow until you get the basic words down. Having gone through "teen speak" and "Valley speak" and "you know--like you know?" with my children at Alex's age, it was annoying to have to follow his thoughts and remembrances outside of standard English. On the other hand, Burgess manages to make Alex and his cohorts "strangers in a strange land" by letting them have a private communications method. If you can stick to the story, you'll be glad you did.

Reading The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton and Galilee at the moment from the list.

From a Whisper to a Scream by Charles de Lint

Next up from the Halloween list. I'd read it when the book was first published, and it was fun to re-read it after so long. de Lint's Newford stories are early urban fantasy - not the vampire and werewolf stories that crowd the genre today, but stories of a fictional city that's more than just the physical. The stories generally aren't scary horror stories, but every now and then de Lint wrote one that was most definitely a horror story. To help distinguish these from the more fantastic ones, he published these as Samuel M. Key. From a Whisper to a Scream was the best, IMO.

At the beginning of the story, a Native American policeman in Newford shoots and kills what turns out to be a pedophile serial killer. Years later, another serial killer is working in the city, and this policeman is assigned the lead role in catching him. Saying too much more would spoil the book, but suffice it to say that this is one serial killer that won't be easy to catch!

I finished Devil in the White City--loved it. I picked up Galilee but put it back down for now--it's so big, and I was more interested in The Haunting of Hill House so I'm reading that first. Although, it seems that inadvertently, I'm reading other Halloween-ish books: A Jury of Her Peers, Ghosts of St. Charles, Midnight Assassin. Good fun!

From The Vampire Tapestry:

"Against that the slaughter of a mere animal, an investment made on a whim, weighs very little. Have you noticed, Roger never refers to or addresses me by name? He is preparing himself to be indifferent to my death."

Though you all would enjoy that. :)

I'm about a third of the way through The Devil in the White City. Loving it! Also reading off-list Best Ghost Stories of J.S. LeFanu.

I looked at Galilee at the library, but don't think I want to read that one. The Edith Wharton ghost stories appeal to me, but I don't have a copy readily available. Maybe I'll try an ILL.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson

Finally, I got around to reading this one. A decent read, but not as good as I would have expected. The book was well written, but I found it a little lacking logically and to me, the character of Mr. Hyde was more funny and absurd than disgusting and revolting. Something wrong with me? Probably :)

3/5

I just finished reading Carrie, classic Stephen King. This library copy had an intro by King that mentioned two girls he had known in school who were bullied and died young. I am about halfway through The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton, which is the last book from the list that my library had.
--BJ

I read Carrie last night since it has to go back to the library soon. I found it to be kind of an immature work. Of course that’s not really surprising since it is King’s first published novel. I didn’t think it was at all scary, just sad.

There is one thing that bothered me about it: at the beginning, it says that Carrie’s father dies several months before she was born, but later it says that he stopped Carrie’s mother from murdering her when she was a year old. Kind of a difficult thing to do when you’re dead!

And I’m still reading Galilee, but it’s such a freakin’ long book that I’ll probably finish a few others before I make it to the end.

You guys are really "in the spirit." My wife just ordered me a life-size hanging coccoon man, completely wrapped in "spider webs" to hang fromt he front porch this year.

Alas, work has intruded in a big way and I am stalled on Galilee, which I am enjoying but can't get time to read.

I am glad that everyone is enjoying the picks from this year, even if I can't get to them!

Well, I'm muddling through Galilee and finding it sluggish going. I'm not a huge fan of the "I'll tell about that later" narrative, and this one is full of those!

On a lighter note, I'm re-reading Harry Potter in anticipation of the last movies, and forgot about the Halloween events which figure prominently in the first two books. The deathday party for Nearly Headless Nick is still fun (a bit unsettling, but fun).

I've read the first of Edith Wharton's ghost stories, and need to read more because it seemed incomplete to me. The resolution really needed to be bumped a bit, I think.

Anyway, working my work through. . .

I've finished The Scary Stories Treasury and I'm halfway through Frankenstein.
I spent most of the past week visiting family in California so hardly got a chance to read at all, but I did get to go to Knott's Berry Farm's Halloween Haunt. Excellent!

#104
Kind of a difficult thing to do when you’re dead!

Maybe not in Stephen King's world! :>)

#108
Very true.

Nearly done with The Postman this evening. It's a very good apocalyptic novel that reminds me a lot of Earth Abides. I'm still thinking a bit about what it all means - truth, motivation, how we form loyalties, what civilization means.

Definitely a good choice!

Just finished The Haunting of Hill House. I'll never get to sleep. Quite possibly the most frightening book I have ever read.
Once again, I was going to start Galilee, but once again, the size is putting me off. Perhaps I'll just move on to The Postman. Although I might try to find something light & cheery first...

Finished The Postman this morning. It's a re-read, I read it when it first came out maybe 14 years ago. I thought it was a good story then and still do, although I may be a little more sceptical of the ending now than I was then. I can definitely see why Costner liked the idea of it as a movie--another Dances With Wolves in essence. But I don't think the ideas would come across with the same impact. I want someone who has both read the book and seen the movie tell me what the problem with the movie was--did it stick closely to the storyline? I know Brin consulted on it.

>111 tloeffler: - OK, I've been lurking and wanting to read something creepy this month so today I finally started The Haunting of Hill House.

I'm only 20 pages in but it sounds like I picked a good one!

I'm so excited! I just went to the library to pick up a copy of The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton and found The Devil in the White City on the sale shelf!

Another off-list for me, I Am Legend.

I finished The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton. The first and last were my least favorite stories, but I enjoyed the collection overall. This was my first book by Edith Wharton, and I had been wanting to read her books for a while.

I can't wait to hear about I am Legend. :)
--BJ

billiejean- I happened to finish today and it's one of my top reads for the month. Highly recommended!

I finished The Postman today. Powerful stuff.
I reserved From a Whisper to a Scream at the library, but it's not there yet. So I'll either give in to Galilee or start on another one that I have here!

I started two last night- Worst Nightmares, about a serial killer who meets his victims through his online therapy site, and The Other Side by R. Chetwynd-Hayes, about a haunted English manor.

Side note: I'm considering putting together a group read after the new year that consists of books post-apocalypse (either physical or social) that consider the role of women in these societies, aka The Postman. Books that come to mind immediately include Elgin's Native Tongue, Tepper's Gibbon's Rise and Fall, Le Guin's Always Coming Home, and Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. This would be one of those one-book-a-month rate reads, and other books may add themselves before it's finalized. Let me know if anyone might be interested. Should make for some interesting discussion.

The Postman - David Brin

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, where most human beings fall back to their more basic instincts, this book portrays the importance of hope, even if it is based on falsities and pretenses.

4/5

ronincats, I'd love to join your post-apocalyse group nex year, and you've already got two of my favorites in the mix. I'll mull over possible additions.

Earlier you asked how The Postman compares to the film version, seeing as David was a consultant. The key word is "consultant," meaning that he had little or no control over any of the script. As a consequence, the film focuses on the war elements and the love story is brought to the front. However, as a fan of both versions, the film is a favorite because it does what a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction does not--it ends on that hope being resolved. The ending is extremely sappy, but the intention is good. I told David years ago that I thought the film, even though it was bashed by critics and fans of the book, managed to get his theme across--and I like it for that reason. Also, of course, Tom Petty, and the dances with the Pineview Band. Of course, I'm also one of the few who enjoy the film version of The Handmaid's Tale as well.

Thanks, Laurie, for that feedback about the movie.

I think I'll start a thread for the read soon so that people can put in their suggestions for books prior to getting it finally organized. Would "The Role of Women in Post-apocalyptic Society" be too dry? Anyone have any perkier suggestions? I'll post here and in the kitchen when I do post it.

ETA Laurie, which two are your favorites?

Roni, LOL, yes, the title is a bit dry. My inclination is far too many words--"Post-Apocalyptic Societies: What are Women Doing Here?" Far too many male writers in the genre can't write women's roles except as cute, brainless (or tiresomely smart), and totally prone to crying fits, especially as they fire weapons. *sigh*

And my favorites in your list are The Postman and The Handmaid's Tale. I find both extremely plausible, which makes them more interesting, and I recommend both all the time to "new" readers of this type of fiction.

I finished The Vampire Tapestry a few days back. It was an enjoyable read but not as scary as I was anticipating.

I thought I'd post here what I've been up to in terms of Halloween reading. What I decided to do was read a Horror book based on all the creatures usually associated with Halloween. I've already checked out my pile from the public library and I'm already a good ways down the list. Here's what I've been reading, and will be reading, this month!

Zombies: World War Z
Werewolves: The Wereling*
Vampies: They Hunger
Ghosts: The Haunting of Hill House
General: Horrorween

I'll probably finish this early, I'm already on vampires and it's only the 12th. I'll probably try to find something to read for 'witches.' Also, I'll be sure to post here when I read The Haunting of Hill House.

*WARNING! Not really werewolves. See review.

I finished The Haunting of Hill House today. It was wonderfully creepy but maybe not quite as scary as I was hoping. But as I think about it now, I'm not sure I could have read it at home if I had been alone so I guess it did creep me out. A good, classic, Halloween read!

Spending the better part of today and tomorrow traveling, so maybe I'll get a good chunk of Galilee finished.

Got my lifesize cocoon man yestday. He's wrapped in 'spider web' and has large spiders crawling on him; he hangs upside down. Cool!

OK, so as usual I'm late to the party. I read Shirley Jackson's Haunting of Hill House last month--or sometime. It didn't quite grab me the way it obviously does some people.

I've decided to re-read a couple on the list: King's Carrie (my paperback copy was published in 1988, so I guess that's when I last read this one); the other one is The Woman in White which for some reason I remember picking up at the library when I was about 10 years old. I doubt that I had a clue.

What a great thread! A lifesize cocoon man? Very cool.

Lifesize cocoon man? Whoa, mega cool!

My in-theme reading (scary books and/or books with spooky titles) for the Halloween Season so far…
Wolfert Webber or Golden Dreams by Washington Irving (has phantom pirates and spooky spirits).
The Ghost Legion (a.k.a The Spook Legion) by Kenneth Robeson (has invisible bad guys)
The Frozen Deep by Wilkie Collins (one of the reads on blackdogbooks 2010 Harrowing Halloween list).
Shakespeare's Spy by Gary Blackwood (just a ya mystery, but it does have a spooky fortuneteller).
The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley
The Triple Mystery by Adele Luehrmann
The House of Cobwebs by George Gissing
THE DAUGHTER OF HUANG CHOW by Sax Rohmer (features a giant murderous spider running amok).
Ragwitch by Garth Nix

I'll have to take pictures of the coccon man when we get him up.

I think I last read Carrie about the same time, labwriter. And the Woman in White was one of last year's picks, though I didn't get to it last year and only just read it a couple of months back. But I am a Collins fan.

We read some Poe last year, with his complete stories anthology, though I only read a couple of the stories, and that was not one of them, jadebird.

Finished Galilee last night, thanks to some airplane and airport reading. Review to follow here soon. And on to The Postman which seems to be a popular one this year on the thread.

Why not? The Postman is a great book!

I finished The Other Side and really enjoyed it. It's four stories about various evil creatures all placed on the English property of Clavering Grange from 1850 to 2000.

I'm starting In The Woods next.

Book #36, Galilee by Clive Barker

My Review on the book's home page:

With Galilee, Clive Barker only really dips his toe in the water. But given the typical grand scale of his stories, the result is still a rich and interesting read.

The intertwined fate of two powerful and strange families, the Barbarossas and the Gearys, . From divine or supernatural stock, the Barbarossas telekinetically project their spirits around the world and live for centuries without aging. Even with their superhuman nature, their lives gravitate to the pleasure of the human senses. The Gearys, on the other hand, are more squarely focused on wealth and the power it buys. In the middle, sailing the seas of the world in self-imposed exile is the central character and namesake of the novel, Galilee. Though a Barbarossa, Galilee has somehow crossed over into the Geary world and seems to have an unusual connection with the Geary women. The mystery of just how the families’ destinies intersected fuels the book, carrying the narrative from mythic times and places to the Civil War South to the modern-day high-rises of New York City.

Barker never settles for simple. His stories always immerse the reader in strange, mystical worlds and magical, eccentric characters. Galilee follows that pattern but doesn’t completely deliver. The story is epic and the characters complex but Barker’s choice of narrator cripples the experience. Barker uses Maddox, one of the Barbarossa children, as the narrator. Granted a mysterious omniscient view of the family’s history, Maddox begins to write a family history. But Maddox’ view of the individual lives and exploits of the family read cold and incomplete. The story, if told in a more personal way through the major players, would have rendered a deeper connection to the reader, and certainly would have lessened the frustration and feeling of incompleteness in the ending. Some of the most interesting aspects of the tale are held in reserve to falsely build anticipation. The payoff is anti-climatic in the telling because of the faux mystery.

Galilee would have been a better set of books, with Barker taking the time to explore the entire cast of characters. What saves the book is Barker’s mastery of the fantastic and mystical.

3 ½ bones!!!

Just read the first couple of pages of The Postman, but I'm hooked. Mostly the writing, vivid and colorful, is what got me so far. Hope the rest of the book is consistent with the start.

Bet you didn't do much reading tonight! Congrats on winning a close game.

I was a wreck. I think I told you I spend most of the game standing in my living room, pacing. My wife has abandoned me to my madness, watching Pride and Prejudice in the back room.

I'll never in a million years be able to catch up on the Halloween list, but I'm really enjoying reading all of your reviews and responses.

I'm reading The Damned by Algernon Blackwood right now, and I'm hoping to get to The Haunting of Hill House and Frankenstein this month, at the very least.

Everyone has seemed to enjoy The Haunting of Hill House this year. My wife printed out a copy of The Lottery, just the short, from somewhere and put it on my desk. My dad used to teach using that story, 9th grade English. Fond memories. Frankenstein is my favorite classic horror story by a leap. I gotta believe it is a re-read for you?

Yes, it'll be a re-read for me - I've read Frankenstein three or four times, but the most recent time was still six years ago or so. I'm going to teach We Have Always Lived in the Castle this fall, but I don't believe I've ever read "The Lottery."

Is there a "best" version of The Haunting of Hill House?

Just finished From a Whisper to a Scream. Amazing how he can make a contemporary ghost story actually seem believable. Very good!

I don't think the movies for The Haunting of Hill House have been that good, if thats' what you mean, Luxx.

tloeffler, looking forward to that one, it's up next.

Luxx, there is no good film version of The Haunting of Hill House (although the first is definitely the best of the lot with Julie Harris and Claire Bloom directed by Robert Wise). The film writers/directors of these films cannot seem to let the story develop as it does in the novella. There are extra "scares" and needless explanations so the audience won't get confused. I caught 10 minutes of the second version, with Liam Neeson, Lili Taylor, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and of all people, Owen Wilson (and directed by Jan de Bont of "Speed" fame), and just about cried at sappiness. For a great film version of a "scary" book, try the original Spiral Staircase (again the original version with Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, and Ethel Barrymore).

Oh, I'm not asking about films - I'm asking about different publications. I didn't know if one publisher (Penguin v. Library of America) presented a preferred edition.

ETA - Thanks anyway for the feedback!

I don't have a favorite version of the publication. I have a mass market copy to read now.

We're on opposite sides of the baseball series, but I'm a wreck too. I've given up watching! My husband watches in the living room and gives me the highlights. I was joking that I should be like Curt Schilling and put a towel over my head during the games...

Does that identify you as a Phillies fan? The enemy peeks her head from cover!

Lol...yes I am... :)
Although I have declared on another thread that I will be content (even if the Phillies don't win) as long as the YANKEES don't win the World Series again this year...

ETA Translation: If your Giants beat my Phillies, they had better go on to win the whole thing! ;)

That's even worse! The Phillies are only a temporary foe.....but the Yankees are at the head of the evil trinity of baseball!!!! Don't worry, the Giants will prevail, just as good always wins out over evil; light against the dark. That's assuming that the bums from the Bronx get lucky enough to pass the Rangers.

Lol...evil trinity of baseball...I like it! Who are the other two parts of the trinity? ;)

Obviously, the Yankees are at the top of the trinity.
The Dodgers, that other team that relocated to the west coast, are the second team.
And the Angels, with their silly, impish Rally Monkey, who dashed all Giants hopes in 2002 of overcoming the World Series drought.

All Evil!

The Haunting of Hill House

Hill House is tucked away behind a veil of trees in the hills above a small town, where strangers are unwelcome and inquiries about the house can result in violence. Its presence is felt throughout the whole town, and the residents seem weary under its unwelcoming gaze.

Fascinated by its dark history and reputation for being haunted, Mr. Montague collects a team of strangers to spend a summer in Hill House to either confirm or disprove allegations of a haunting. It is obvious from the start the house has a creepy vibe about it, but at first they all find it easy to laugh and pretend it's nothing. It doesn't take long before they are traveling in groups, locking their doors, and not venturing outside the house at night.

The novel was scariest for me the most when nothing had actually happened yet. The beginning is filled with a dark and foreboding atmosphere, and it is the anticipation of what was to come that scared me the most.

It's scary after the activity starts too though. Like the house, the book slowly works it's way into your mind, a psychological horror as all the best haunting book tend to be, and I found myself gripping the pages a little tighter when perhaps there was nothing to be afraid of. It does a great job allowing the reader to create their own tension and fear, but I think the first half does this the best.

If there is anything wrong with the novel, it is that it was too short. Even though it does a great job getting under your skin, I felt like just as it was really starting to get to me it ended.

Still, in my experience, I think you can usually tell a good book from a bad one if you find yourself wishing it were longer instead of shorter. Like some of the occupants, I just wanted to spend a little bit more time in Hill House.

Great Review!

Thanks! :)

Finished reading The Collector last night and completely enjoyed it. I was to the point of wanting to read it more than talk to a visitor! Shocking.

Fowles is a master and never used cheap tricks to make me feel creepy. His protagonist is very believable and is unveiled slowly through the eyes of the second main character in the book. This young man is socially inept and is mainly interested in collecting butterflies; and, after he comes into some money he decides to collect a pretty girl.

Why he ends up being "a collector" is slowly and carefully constructed and at the end he is very real and very scary. Many people have mentioned that they read this book once a long time ago and will not re-read it. I can see why.

I recommend it highly for a creepy October read but warn that it is not sensational like many October movies but is slowly, carefully, and effectively built so that in the end you are scared in a realistic way.

Thanks, maggie1944. Great review!

Nice review, maggie. I just read The Collector and loved it. I never heard of it before seeing it mentioned on this thread.

I especially love LibraryThing when it is an avenue for interesting folks in books which seem to be "fading away" because they were written "a bit" ago. There are many good books awaiting us....

Just finished The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton. Like most short story collections that I've read, some of the stories were good, some were okay, and some were downright awful.

The best stories are "Kerfol", which is a ghost story wrapped inside a ghost story, the oddly funny "Miss Mary Pask", and "Mr. Jones".

The worst were "The Lady's Maid's Bell" and "The Triumph of the Night". I felt that Wharton didn't build enough suspense and just sort of ended these stories without bothering to write the part that's supposed to be scary.

The rest of the stories weren't bad, but I must say that the explination that the narrator gives at the end of "All Souls'" is so dreadful that it knocks it down from a five star story to a three star story.

If anybody's interested in Halloween viewing as well as reading, I did a top 10 (+1) list of movies for Halloween for my school newspaper which can be found here.

I finished The War of the Worlds yesterday. I enjoyed it. It's amazing the terror and fear that Wells used in his story.

I finished In The Woods and loved it. Turns out to be more of a murder mystery than horror, but I wasn't disappointed.

I love War of the Worlds. In the Woods sounds good. Spooky-wise, I'm now reading The Woman in White.

Today I finished The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton and The Frozen Deep. I enjoyed most of the Wharton stories. I agree with amanda4242 that she "just sort of ended these stories without bothering to write the part that's supposed to be scary." However, in some of the stories, that was the appeal to me! Sometimes the explanations we create in our head are more frightening than anything the author could put there!
I enjoyed The Frozen Deep also, although it wasn't really scary at all.
I'll probably read The Puppet Masters this week, and maybe end it there. I never did manage to get to Galilee...

I have The Woman in White sitting here to be read. I think it was on Mac's 2009 Halloween list. I keep hearing good things about it and am excited to read it.

I've started Queen Victoria:Demon Hunter.

#166: I loved that book! Hope you enjoy it too.

Book #37, The Postman by David Brin
Fantasy/Science Fiction
Post-Apocalyptic

My Review on the book's home page:

David Brin’s post-apocalyptic tale takes a slightly different path than Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. But beyond the differences in style and tone, the stories echo essentially the same message, one of the spirit of hope found in human sacrifice and honor.

Gordon Krantz is a drifter, scavenging the debris of a self-destructed civilization and dodging blood-thirsty groups of feudalists bent on taking control of the meager remnants of life. On the run from just such a survivalist raiding party, Gordon shelters in a wrecked postal truck, spending the night snuggled next to the skeleton of its original pilot. The next morning, Gordon takes what he can find of use, a leather mail satchel and the driver’s leather coat, each with the official emblems of a forgotten authority. When Gordon stops into a village for shelter and food, these emblems inspire the drifter to lie about who he is. Broken and desperate villagers, eager for a symbol of hope and re-birth latch on to Gordon’s lie, treating him with deference and showering him with gifts. As the lie takes root in the hearts of those he meets, Gordon begins to recall what it meant to believe in something larger than himself.

The Postman begins with a poetic, if dark, prelude, lyrically describing the end of one world and the beginning of a new life. The chapter that follows introduces Gordon on the run, quoting what looks like a passage from The Art of War. With such an introduction, Brin sets an impossible high standard, and while the rest of the book is good, it never lives completely up to the promise. Brin jams a few too many twists and a few too many characters into the story, sometimes falling into preaching instead of storytelling. The Postman is at its best when it’s focused on Gordon as he transforms from guilt over his initial lie into a life of hesitant duty and honor. The hesitant heroes always carry the most potential.

For those folks who found McCarthy too dark and couldn’t recognize the hope in his stark book, The Postman offers a lighter, more action-oriented take on the same material. The hope is more obvious, within easy reach.

4 bones!!!!

I'm about a third of the way through an 'off-list' ER book. I asked for only one this month and got it: What the Night Knows by Dean Koontz. Classic Koontz ghost story. Shaping up to be a favorite for the year.

Then, I'm on to some DeLint. I may shake up the order of my reading given that I didn't get anywhere near finishing before the end of the month.

I am glad to say that I read Galilee by Clive Barker...
really liked it!

I am reading and enjoying the good (but not great) Madeleine's Ghost by Robert Girardi.

I finished The Frozen Deep this week, didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

3/5

Posted to my thread.

The Haunting of Hill House is a dive into the mind of Eleanor Vance, an alienated women with a nervous disposition. She is invited to spend the summer in the secluded Hill House by Dr. Montague, who is researching the paranormal activities that have occurred there. The doctor rounds out the group with two others and records the events that happen there for his upcoming book.

The events that do happen are hard to explain as sometimes you wonder if they are really happening or whether it is all in Eleanor's mind. The reader is left to interpret the book for themselves, making the experience possibly even more jarring.

I'm not usually a scary book reader, but I have to say that I'm glad I read this one.

The Collector by John Fowles

With The Collector, John Fowles created a unique and brilliant story about a boy (Fredrick/Caliban) who stalks and kidnaps a girl (Miranda). When I read the synopsis, I was worried about where the story may go. So often, thrillers devolve into twisted sex and gore fests, but Fowles never stoops to that. Instead, he looks at the situation from both Miranda and Fredrick’s point of view making the book a study of human behavior.

I couldn’t put it down.

Fowles is so talented. The characters he’s created are so real because they are both flawed and blind. They are so convinced that they are right; they are stubborn, but try again and again to gain the other's approval. (Yes, Miranda seeks approval even though she is being held captive. It infuriates her when Fredrick won't listen or learn from her)

I’m not going to give any more away. If you have the time and inclination, I really recommend this one.

I'm reading that now, but I like Fowles writing a great deal.

Thanks, Andrea. Nice review, and I completely agree. One of the better read for this year's Halloween thread.

Hope you enjoy it as much, ian.

I'm still slogging through Galilee, sometimes entertained, but mostly not so much. I read the other two de Lint novels published under his alter ego, and liked them very much!

Thanks Mac! I'm glad you say its one of the best because its likely the only one I'll get to off the Halloween list this year! Hopefully I'll get the time to read the rest in the future, speaking of which...

Mihess, I loved your review of the Haunting of Hill House and will definitely be picking it up asap!

Book #38, What the Night Knows by Dean Koontz
Fiction
Horror/Ghost Story
ER Book

My Review on the book's home page:

The largest number of modern horror stories floating around in the ether leave little room for imagination. Today, the Saw, violence-porn obsessed consumer looks forward to having a story painted with blood and brain-matter soaked brushes rather than with subtle suggestion. Dean Koontz proves that he is a master of the old-school ghost story with What the Night Knows.

In one horrific night, a serial murderer orphaned John Calvino at fourteen, taking not just his mother and father but his two sisters as well. Before the dawn could chase that dark night away, Calvino had traded his innocence for the life of the man who took everything from him. Now a homicide detective, Calvino has dedicated his life to the pursuit of justice for other crime victims like him. When another fourteen-year old slaughters his entire family, Calvino recognizes the evil spirit of the murderer at work again and fears that his wife and children are the next targets. And all of the security measures in the world cannot keep a malevolent, blood-thirsty spirit from invading Calvino’s home and haunting his family.

Koontz, like Stephen King, often taps into the darker aspects of the human heart to create truly frightening stories. The capacity for evil, and for some the inclination, lurks close to the surface. In giving life to such characters, Koontz showcases fears to real to acknowledge or personal battles to frightening to admit. What the Night Knows is at its best when exploring Calvino’s guilt or the twisted childhood of the murderer or the characters whose weakness leaves them helpless before a preying evil spirit. Koontz is at his best when he describes the shadows caught from the corner of an eye or the rustling of a tree on a windless night.

What the Night Knows fails only when Koontz reverts to the bold or bloody. And though such portions of the book are few, they cheapen an otherwise truly creepy story. This is nowhere more evident than in the over-the-top, super-supernatural climax, when a Lego creation fashioned by his daughter opens a time portal to the night Calvino is orphaned. The tidy, and semi-sappy, conclusion of the book seems nearly a different book from the nuanced and ambiguous earlier chapters.

The strength of the first three-quarters of the book make What the Night Knows worth the effort, even if the ending disappoints. At its best, the book will creep you out, either with the frighteningly real characters who showcase the true tempting power of evil or with the subtle passages designed to engage the imagination.

4 bones!!!!!

Finished The Haunting of Hill House this afternoon. Hadn't read it before, but have seen the movies. They don't do it justice...very good!

>180 drneutron: - The 1963 version of The Haunting is on TCM Sunday night. Supposedly it's the best of the lot, but I haven't seen any of them. Since I just finished the book, I plan on watching it to see how it compares. The book was so good and creepy!

181: Thanks for the heads up on TMC. I bumped it up on my Netflix list after finishing the book, but now I don't have to wait! :)

Just finished reading The Haunting of Hill House and thought it was excellent. I absolutely loved the doctor's wife. She was such a dreadful/ridiculous character!

I forgot to write about it here, but I read The Vampire Tapestry last week and was blown away by it. It's such a refreshing change from the rather baroque vampire tales that I grew up with. There are some books that keep me up all night because I can't wait to find out what happens next, but The Vampire Tapestry kept me up because I wanted to know what was happening right now (if that makes any sense). I wanted to linger over each page, absorbing it the way I would a painting. I will definitely have to get a copy for my personal library.

Never reported here that I finished The Puppet Masters nearly two weeks ago. I remember reading it as a teen and finding it gripping, but it has not aged all that well. Still kind of spooky, though.

Not sure if I said anything on this thread or not. But read The Collector after hearing about it for the first time ever on this thread and loved it so thanks for the recommendation.

Hey everyone, I am so pleased with comments like those from amanda and phebj, who we turned onto new books that they loved. I am about to post my own review of The Haunting of Hill House below, but I have to agree with amanda, the professor's wife elicited evil thoughts of murder in me.

And I am going to go to the end of my list and start The Vampire Tapestry today, in honor of the date.

Book #39, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Fiction
Horror/Ghost Story

My Review on the book's home page:

The most intriguing aspect of Shirley Jackson’s classic ghost story, The Haunting of Hill House, is in trying to separate the madness of the house from the madness of Eleanor, its principal victim. Eleanor, a mousy young woman afflicted with a special sensitivity to the supernatural, bursts with self-doubt and guilt over the recent death of her ailing mother. Adrift from any real purpose and sheltered to the point of ignorance, she accepts an invitation to pass the summer at Hill House, a rumored haunted house. The leader of the expedition, Dr. Montague, hopes that Eleanor’s connection to the psychic will jump start the house, and whatever dwells within, so that he can gather evidence of the otherworldly forces. After only a few nights in the house, Dr. Montague and the other participants in the experiment observe a strange connection between Eleanor and Hill House, as if the house had been waiting or beckoning to the woman.

Jackson’s muted tale of madness is a classic for its ambiguity. Is the house acting alone, haunted and malevolent as a result of the twisted souls who once lived there? Or is Eleanor behind the strange occurrences in the house, fueled by her own growing madness and the house’s dark history? Jackson gives just enough evidence to each of these possible explanations, and since most of the tale is told through Eleanor’s eyes, her confusion becomes the reader’s.

The Haunting of Hill House stands as proof that the best ghost stories are the ones rooted in possibility and the imagination of the reader or hearer.

5 bones!!!!!

Nice review!

187: Did you catch the movie version on TMC last night? Spooky!

I couldn't watch anything for the last few nights because I was watching THE GIANTS WIN THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

congrats Mac on your Giants!

Now maybe you can get back to some reading, Mac!

Congratulations on the championship! The Giants rock!!!

Congratulations to the Giants! :)

Finished up The Puppet Masters. it still holds up pretty well! It's amazing to me how many books and movies came out of or were influenced by Heinlein's story. I had forgotten how much of this sf classic is really horror, which made it a perfect choice for this year's list.

One more for me - brought Carrie home from the library yesterday.

Psssst.....drnewt, I think October is over....shouldn't you be reading books for which you are thankful?

Well, Halloween is more a *season*! :)

True, true...as is gratitude (-:

A very late congratulations to the Giants! I'm thrilled that they won.

Thanks, kidzdoc. You're granted a temporary repreive for your earlier Phillies rooting.

And I'm with the doc. Just because Halloween is past, doesn't mean we have to stop reading these cool books. I have about half of the list to finish up on myself. I should have a review up before the weekend is out on the one I'm reading now.

Besides, Dia de los Muertos was in November, the same day as election day; a fitting coincidence in my mind. And, for some of us, Thanksgiving can be very frightening!

For those of you who have enjoyed this thread and the suggested reading, or the nudge to pick your own for the season, how would y'all feel about a dedicated group next year, with the opportunity to post to dedicated threads for each chosen book, or the opportunity to create your own threads for your own choices or for ghost story telling and the like? Let me know here what y'all think, and solicit opinions from other 75'ers who didn't participate this year.

Would this new year round group be dedicated to seasonal books all year long - or would it still be just Halloween-esque books? I have to say that I'm not much of a horror/gothic/ghost story reader for much of the year, but I did really enjoy joining you guys this October. So if it did become a dedicated group next year then I would probably see you all then. :)

Book #40, The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas
Fiction
Horror/Thriller

My Review on the book's home page:

In this age of the twinkling, bubble-gum card vampire, Suzy McKee Charnas’ The Vampire Tapestry surpasses Stoker, the master and father of all vampire lore, delivering an ever-hungry animal, but one conflicted in a singularly human way.

Dr. Edward Lewis Weyland is a vampire who sees the humans around him as little more than cattle on which to feed and sustain his solitary existence. A notable anthropologist, Weyland conducts a study of sleep patterns and dreams at the Cayslin College Center for the Study of Man, nightly feeding on the life-blood of the student test subjects. When he targets the recently widowed Katje de Groot, he finds that her demure façade conceals the heart of a huntress. Having recognized Weyland’s predatory nature, Katje is prepared when the animal tries to run her to ground and she coolly shoots him. Weyland flees the campus only to be captured and imprisoned in a New York City apartment, held against his will as a carnival side-show type attraction. Mark, the adolescent nephew of his captor, sees more than just an animal in a cage and frees the vampire before he can be killed in a cult-like ritual. Free and physically healed, Weyland is reluctant to give up the anthropologist professor identity that allows him easy feeding opportunities and a measure of notoriety. To rehabilitate his name and reputation, the creature submits to psycho-therapy, claiming to be under the delusion of being a vampire. During weekly sessions with Dr. Floria Landeur, as Weyland honestly describes his life as a vampire, hoping to lend an air of credibility to the idea of his delusion, the therapist intuits the truth. Weyland coerces a letter of good mental health from the doctor and reestablishes himself at a southwestern college. But Weyland cannot regain his unfeeling predation, finding himself more and more affected with the emotions and experiences of those he counted as mere cattle.

Charnas tells over half of the creature’s story through the eyes of three of his potential victims Each sees something different in Weyland, and, in turn, finds something in themselves. Katje, the meek widowed professor’s wife, recognizes the spirit of a kindred predator in Weyland. Shooting him quickens in Katje a fierce zest for life learned from a childhood spent hunting big game in the African bush. Mark, the child of a bitter and broken home, identifies with the captive Weyland, seeing his own manipulated and trapped existence in the vampire’s predicament. In freeing the animal, Mark frees himself from blind obedience to the undeserving adults in his life. Floria, a therapist who has largely lost her way, finds in Weyland a similarly bruised and dull psyche. In awakening the vampire’s buried humanity, the therapist awakens her own, breaking through to a world of emotion and feeling she’d long thought lost. Weyland, the consummate Machiavellian, expertly plays the roles each of these humans expect of him, gaining exactly what he needs to survive. Though when the narrative resumes from the vampire’s perspective, it becomes clear that Weyland has been feeding on more than just his victim’s blood.

Charnas constructs the most unique and well-reasoned physiology and psychology for the vampire since Stoker first put his mark on the legend. In shaping the creature, Charnas used none of the Candyland-type fantasy, so popular of late, that has made everyone want either to be a vampire or to date one. She also shied away from the zombie-type mentality that completely de-humanizes the vampire from the start, often to the point of losing the point of the legend. With Weyland, Charnas has returned to the theme of isolation and lost humanity so prevalent in any good creature story, and that makes Shelley’s Frankenstein so poignant. In this case, Weyland has so embraced his unique place in the world that he isolates himself as superior to the human cattle on which he preys, looking down his nose at any experience he equates with humanity. What the creature in Frankenstein longs for, Weyland has buried, choosing to ignore his humanity as too painful to carry from century to century and too dangerous for a true predator to indulge.

I had high hopes for this novel, as it is from a local author, and I wasn’t disappointed. This makes my short list of All-Time Favorites.

5 bones!!!!!

Great review- I thumbed it!

Thanks for the thumb and the compliment. I loved this book!

Nice review. I am going to tell my daughter that she must, must, must read this book! (Then I will borrow it and read it, too!)
--BJ

By the way, I am interested in your group with a thread for each book for next year.
--BJ

Carrie by Stephen King

I finished Carrie over lunch today. It's one of my favorite of King's, maybe because it's the first of his I read way back in the late '70s. I was in high school then, and as I wasn't one of the popular kids and had experienced a bit of bullying, it struck a chord. Yeah, the book's symbology is a bit heavy-handed. Yeah, the switch in perspectives makes it choppy. And yeah, even King says it's raw. But the story connects pretty well even 30 some years later.

I finished Galilee by Clive Barker, and, it takes the narrator 397 pages to say:

"Ah well; this was never fated to be a book distinguished by its tidiness. I'm sure it's going to get a damn sight less orderly before we get to the final pages."

Really? At nearly 600 pages, this "romance" from the writer of some well received horror fiction could have used an editor with a machete. There's a very basic storyline here that is amended, extended, qualified, and carried on so long that what should have been a fast neat families feud is so bloated that it seems interminable. For the interim, I'm back to a much shorter and cleaner Stephen King.

Obviously, neither my favorite read from this year's list nor of Barker's books, but. . . you win some, you lose some.

As for the question about multiple threads, I like to have the specific seasonal themes, such as this one, with suggested reading, because in comments and reviews, we all tend to recommend other similar titles or authors. I really enjoyed reading the Samuel Key (de Lint) novels which I would never have found outside of this thread. The individual book threads get to be too much for me, especially since there are so many group reads floating around this year. Lots of great books, but not really "themed" except for this thread and the holiday thread (you are doing a holiday thread, right?) :)

Prop, I had suggested a baseball "Spring Training" thread, but hadn't considered a Holiday Thread. Hmmm? Thoughts anyone?

I don't think I'll be reading any Christmas themed books but New Years themes could be interesting....or Advent.....

I am not good at thinking up titles but I'll bet there are some here who would be

I've always found Barker's book overly-padded. I bought Galilee when the paperback was released, but never bothered to read it.

Book # 41, The Dreaming Place by Charles de Lint
Fiction
Urban Fantasy

My Review on the book's home page:

Magic pulses within us all, pounding through our veins and quickening our spirits. There are scant other explanations for the soul, for the imagination, or for the power of evil in those who surrender to the dark. Call it what you will if magic doesn’t fit your creed or religious persuasion, but it amounts to the same. Perhaps the reason Charles de Lint’s stories are so appealing rests in his willingness to embrace the idea of magic active in the lives of those open to its possibilities.

The Dreaming Place, the first book length Newford story penned by de Lint, follows two teenage cousins, Nina and Ash, as they struggle to come to terms with the appearance of magic, both dark and light, in their lives. Ash, bitter over the death of her mother and the disappearance of her father, fends life away with a fierce pose, frightened of more pain creeping into her heart. Nina, on the other hand conforms, aiming to please everyone, either through her appearance or by matching their expectations in her behavior. When a demon from Otherworld, the place of dreams and spirits, targets Nina’s soul to reinvigorate her own, Ash must journey there and learn how to live again, free of fear and anger, to save Nina.

De Lint refuses to define The Dreaming Place, or any of his other story worlds, in Pollyanna terms. The fairies are edgy, capable of quickly devolving into malevolence and evil intent. The spirits and shamans appear at once both full of madness and full of kindness. And the heroes and heroines are usually troubled, broken souls. But the thread of hope, the possibility of redemption or rebirth runs strong with de Lint, ultimately making the reading experience extremely refreshing.

4 bones!!!!


The book likely would have rated 5 bones but for its target being a teen audience, a market for books which I rarely dip into. So, I would have liked a longer, slightly more complex story. But for those who enjoy the YA realm, especially when it stretches to the upper limits, this one should rank high.

Finished From a Whisper to a Scream yesterday and will try to get a review up quickly. Still want to finish up these Halloweenie reads before December hits.

Going to the local Friends of the Library Book Sale today. Today is $3 a bag day. YUP!

New thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/103987&newpost=1#lastmsg

Finally finished all of the Halloween reads!

Congrats! I never got a copy of The Vampire Tapestry or The Collector, more's the pity. I hope you're planning to do this again next year...New group's up.

Thanks for your efforts. You definitely contributed to my reading pleasure this year! See you next year!