BW40: October Spooktacular

Welcome to our October Spooktacular -  Bwaaahaaahaaahaaaa!   

This is the month we read all things spectacularly spooky and sinister and shockingly thrilling and chilling.  If you aren't into blood and guts horror, like me, there is much fun to be had in reading spine tingling, nail biting, don't read in bed or alone psychological thrillers.  Or how about an out of this world, give me goose bumps, paranormal.   Even an tantalizing thriller should suffice.

If you haven't read the staples of the genre - Frankenstein or Dracula, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Grey or Something Wicked This Way Comes - now is your chance.  Put away your expectations, because you just may be surprised when they don't turn out how you suspect they will.

I have a few chiller thrillers in my stacks for this month including Mr. Wicker, a new book recently released by an old roommate and friend, Maria Alexander.  She has been nominated for the Bram Stoker award numerous times for her short stories. 

Mr. Wicker by Maria Alexander

Synopsis:  Alicia Baum is missing a deadly childhood memory. Located beyond life, The Library of Lost Childhood Memories holds the answer. The Librarian is Mr. Wicker--a seductive yet sinister creature with an unthinkable past and an agenda just as lethal. After committing suicide, Alicia finds herself before the Librarian, who informs her that her lost memory is not only the reason she took her life, but the cause of every bad thing that has happened to her.

Alicia spurns Mr. Wicker and attempts to enter the hereafter without the Book that would make her spirit whole. But instead of the oblivion she craves, she finds herself in a psychiatric hold at Bayford Hospital, where the staff is more pernicious than its patients. Child psychiatrist Dr. James Farron is researching an unusual phenomenon: traumatized children whisper to a mysterious figure in their sleep. When they awaken, they forget both the traumatic event and the character that kept them company in their dreams -- someone they call "Mr. Wicker."

 During an emergency room shift, Dr. Farron hears an unconscious Alicia talking to Mr. Wicker--the first time he's heard of an adult speaking to the presence. Drawn to the mystery, and then to each other, they team up to find the memory before it annihilates Alicia for good. To do so they must struggle not only against Mr. Wicker's passions, but also a powerful attraction that threatens to derail her search, ruin Dr. Farron's career, and inflame the Librarian's fury.

After all, Mr. Wicker wants Alicia to himself, and will destroy anyone to get what he wants. Even Alicia herself.

 I've fallen in love with Dean Koontz and his Odd Thomas series so I am happy to say he wrote a series in which he reworked the Frankenstein theme.  I'm currently on book two 

City of Night by Dean Koontz

I also have two paranormal thrillers by new to me authors on tap for this month 

Sixty-one Nails by Mike Shevdon

In Shade and Shadow by Barb and J.C. Hendee

What spooktacular books will you be reading this month?

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BW39: Happy Autumn

Japanese Maple,  North Carolina by Melissa Farlow 

~Happy Happy Autumn~   As of Tuesday, September 23nd, Autumn officially begins for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere and for our brother and sister readers in the Southern Hemisphere, it is officially Spring.  Fall with the cooler weather and colorful leaves always rejuvenates me for some reason.  I get in the mood for baking, strolling through the park through crackling leaves then nesting in my house in a comfy chair and reading.  

So what do you think of when you hear the words Autumn or Fall?  Leaves, of course, but what else?   Trees, falling, breeze, apples, football, corn, Halloween, harvest, orange, yellow, brown and crisp to name a few.   I bet you see where this is going.  Yep, read a book with a title that is associated with the season.  Or you can even read a book that is set during the autumn season. That one may be a bit trickier to find.

In my meandering about the interwebz, found the following offers:

Red Harvest by Dashiell Hamment

Bitter Harvest by Ann Rule

Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Early Autumn by Robert B. Parker

House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman 

Hmmm, they all look a bit serious and dark, but intriguing. Will have to look for some fun reads as well. Have fun searching out some titles and if you can find them already in your stacks, that will be a bonus. 

Happy Fall!

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BW38: Armchair Traveling through the 20th Century

The 20th Century, 1901 to 2000, was dominated by war and strife including The Great Depression, World War I and II,  the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall. But it also was a period of great achievement with the Wright brother's first airplane flight, the production of the model-T, the roaring 20's, Babe Ruth, Golden Age of television, the first space flight, the beginning of the movie series, Star Wars and the creation of the world wide web.  

Literature wise, we had the beginnings of literary modernism influenced by poets T.E. Hulme and Ezra Pound. Their usage of plain speech, free verse and vivid imagery helped shaped modern imagery. As modernism developed, T.S. Elliot's Wasteland and James Joyce Ulysses were seen, not only as controversial, but innovative and transformed the image of modernism.  

With the advances of technology during the 20th century, books became easier to produce and gave rise to popular literature.  With the rise of popularity, we had the birth of literary criticism and awards including The Nobel Peace Prize for Literature, the Nebula, and British Fantasy Awards.  

Such a wide variety of authors including Marcel Proust, Thomas Mann, Joseph Conrad to J.R.R. Tolkein, Jean Paul Satre, Graham Greene, and Daphne Du Maurier to Philip Dick, Robert Heinlein, to Sylvia Plath and Thomas Pynchon to Orhan Pamuk, Umberto Eco and J.K. Rowling. 

Too many resources to list so check out the ever helpful Historical Novels and Goodreads Popular 20th Century Literature. 

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 Link to your most current read. Please link to your specific book review post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you have multiple reviews, then type in (multi) after your name and link to your general blog url.

BW37: Banned Books Month

Banned Books Week is September 21 through 27th.  I thought we'd get a head start and declare the rest of the month - Banned Books Month. The most frequently challenged books in the past year due to offensive language, violence, sexually explicit, unsuitable for certain age groups and drugs or alcohol are:  

1. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey 
2. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
3. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
4. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L. James
   
5. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
6. A Bad Boy Can Be Good for A Girl, by Tanya Lee Stone
7. Looking for Alaska, by John Green
8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
9. Bless Me Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
10. Bone (series), by Jeff Smith

This year, the banned books committee will highlight graphic novels since Captain Underpants and Smith's Bone series are in the top ten.

Many events will be taking place across the nation and also the blogosphere as people take to the internet for a virtual read in of banned books.

Check out the American Library Associations website for all activities and lists relating to most challenged books, including classics such as The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of Wrath, To Kill a Mockingbird, Ulysses and All the Kings Men to name a few.

Join me in reading a banned book or two or three this month. 

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