Tagged: book recommendations
12 Stories for Late at Night is the second of three anthologies edited by Alfred Hitchcock that I read for the Deal Me In Short Story Challenge this year. It contained some of the creepiest stories of the year, including “The Cocoon” by John B. L. Goodwin, “Vintage Season” by C. L. Moore, and “Our Feather Friends” by Philip McDonald. I always enjoy these Hitchcock anthologies, but this is one of the better collections, especially since it contains several top tier authors including Ray Bradbury, M. R. James...
Hunted Down by Charles Dickens is a novella divided into five parts and recently published as a stand-alone Kindle ebook from Open Road Media. Hunted Down has all the hallmarks of a Dickens story: characters with evocative names (Julius Slinkton, Miss Niner), wonderful Victorian sentences, and a mysterious plot. Unfortunately, the mystery takes a while to get going and the climax isn’t up to Dickens’ typical standards. Still, it didn’t take long to read, it only cost me 99 cents, and the story wasn’t horrible, only disappointingly average. For...
My whole life had been a chronology of—changes. I had already read The Autobiography of Malcolm X once before, but it still held my interest this time around. Malcolm X led one of the most dramatic and tragic lives of the twentieth century, and as he says, his whole life was a chronology of changes. He chronicles them all in his autobiography, which reads like a spiritual confession. I was impressed by Malcolm X’s willingness to share the personal details of his life, especially his wayward youth. The book...
The house was a sepulcher, our fear and suffering lay buried in the ruins. There would be no resurrection. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is a masterpiece of suspense that should not be missed by anyone who loves atmospheric settings, classic mysteries, or gorgeous prose. Ranked as the 9th greatest mystery novel of all time by the Mystery Writers of America, Rebecca entrances the reader with its lyrical sentences as the story slowly unfolds, picks up speed, and then builds into a page-turning climax. I enjoyed every sentence of this haunting...
Hard Day at the Scaffold is a solid collection of short stories edited by Alfred Hitchcock that I read over the course of a year for the Deal Me In Short Story Challenge. Hitchcock’s anthologies always feature darkly humorous stories with a generous dose of creepiness, and this one was no different. Though this collection had fewer memorable stories than others I’ve read, it was still enjoyable. My favorite was “One on a Desert Island” by Donald Westlake, the tragicomic story of what can happen to a man’s...
Advent is upon us, our annual invitation to living with hope and expectation. As we begin this sacred time of waiting and watching, here are some resources to help us in our preparations for Christmas: America Magazine offers An (Unconventional) Advent Playlist for those who like to wait until the actual Christmas season to play Christmas music. Busted Halo has updated their Advent in 2 Minutes video: Dynamic Catholic is once again offering their daily video mediations, The Best Advent Ever. And if you’re looking for a good...
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol reaffirmed one thing for me: I really don’t like classic satires. From Candide to Gulliver’s Travels to Zuleika Dobson, they hold very little interest for me. I’ve had a bit more success with modern satires like the Discworld novels of Terry Pratchett, but in general satire is not a genre I appreciate. Dead Souls is an episodic story in which the main character Chichikov travels to various Russian estates trying to purchase “dead souls.” It’s not as creepy as it sounds. Dead souls are peasants that...
I had thought of this country as the big range, but now, I told myself, I would rename it the violent land. That was it, a violent, savage land. It had changed me since I had come into it. The Violent Land by Wayne D. Overholser is a classic of western fiction, but it would be a mistake to limit its value to a single genre. Part adventure, part romance, part Bildungsroman, Overholser’s award-winning novel is outstanding in every respect. The plot is tight, the characters are believable and...
Nonfiction November 2017 continues with a prompt about favorite nonfiction books hosted by Katie of Doing Dewey: Nonfiction Favorites: We’ve talked about how you pick nonfiction books in previous years, but this week I’m excited to talk about what makes a book you’ve read one of your favorites. Is the topic pretty much all that matters? Are there particular ways a story can be told or particular writing styles that you love? Do you look for a light, humorous approach or do you prefer a more serious tone?...
All this time a growing feeling of discomfort had been creeping over him—nervous reaction, perhaps, after the delight of his discovery. Whatever it was, it resulted in a conviction that there was someone behind him, and that he was far more comfortable with his back to the wall. I read Ghost Stories of an Antiquary over the course of this past year as part of the Deal Me In Short Story Challenge. Each week I would draw a card from a deck of playing cards, and if it...
Abase thee and serve me, worm of the pit. Else will I by and by summon out of ancient night intelligences and dominations mightier far than thou, and they shall serve my ends, and thee shall they chain with chains of quenchless fire and drag thee from torment to torment through the deep. The Worm Ouroboros might be called world-building fantasy in the tradition of The Lord of the Rings but for two details: it was published 22 years before Tolkien’s trilogy, and it is much darker. In fact, though Tolkien himself...
It’s time for another Nonfiction November post. After reading last week’s posts my TBR pile has already grown! For a roundup of last week, see the links at JulzReads. This week Sarah at Sarah’s Bookshelves hosts one of my favorite events of Nonfiction November, Book Pairings: This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. It can be a “If you loved this book, read this!” or just two titles that you think would go well together. Maybe it’s a historical novel and you’d like to...
