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- Thread starter saliotthomas
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753C
Active Member
The Haunting Of Hill House - Shirley Jackson 
1/4
Sort of disappointing in that it really wasn't at all frightening or scary, but interesting to see the blueprint for just about every modern haunted house story laid out so perfectly.
Jackson may not be scarier than the modern masters of ghosts and goblins, but her prose is head and shoulders above anything I've read in the modern horror genre.
1/4Sort of disappointing in that it really wasn't at all frightening or scary, but interesting to see the blueprint for just about every modern haunted house story laid out so perfectly.
Jackson may not be scarier than the modern masters of ghosts and goblins, but her prose is head and shoulders above anything I've read in the modern horror genre.
DATo
Active Member
Just ordered The Haunting Of Hill House from my local library. Your last pick was so good that I got a feeling I can't go wrong. Yes, I've noted your disclaimer about the lack of frightening or scary element ... this makes me all the more intrigued. I checked it out on Amazon and read the palfrey few pages they allot to the browser and I agree that the writing is very well phrased which is one of the principal requirements I look for in a book.
Alexander McCall Smith, The Miracle at Speedy Motors
Catherine Wynne, The Colonial Conan Doyle: British Imperialism, Irish Nationalism, and the Gothic
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All Be Feminists
Diana Barsham, Arthur Conan Doyle and the Meaning of Masculinity
Dianne Simmons, The Narcissism of Empire: Loss, Rage and Revenge in Thomas de Quincey, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling and Isak Denisen
Nearly all my reading is for uni these days.
Catherine Wynne, The Colonial Conan Doyle: British Imperialism, Irish Nationalism, and the Gothic
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All Be Feminists
Diana Barsham, Arthur Conan Doyle and the Meaning of Masculinity
Dianne Simmons, The Narcissism of Empire: Loss, Rage and Revenge in Thomas de Quincey, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling and Isak Denisen
Nearly all my reading is for uni these days.
753C
Active Member
The Dog Of The South - Charles Portis
A circa 1960's Arkansas nincompoop road trips to Belize in pursuit of his wife and his Ford Torino, both stolen by his ex friend Dupree. Hilarious. Outlandish yet believable cast of characters, wild dialogue, and everything told in ridiculous deadpan narration.
A circa 1960's Arkansas nincompoop road trips to Belize in pursuit of his wife and his Ford Torino, both stolen by his ex friend Dupree. Hilarious. Outlandish yet believable cast of characters, wild dialogue, and everything told in ridiculous deadpan narration.
DATo
Active Member
I can't believe how long it has taken me to finish The Haunting Of Hill House. It wasn't bad, and I know it is held in very high esteem by the critics, but it just didn't quite do it for me. I plan on giving this another chance someday however because it did have its moments. I freely admit that the problem may be my own i.e. - perhaps I simply wasn't in the right "frame of mind" for a story about a haunted house at the time I read it. I do thank you for the recommendation though. This book is universally considered the finest haunted house story ever written and despite my initial reactions to it I know I can't be the worse for having experienced it.
ricko
Member
Crime and Punishment
Dostoevsky’s 1866 novel poses interesting questions. Can an extraordinary person murder an inferior person and avoid punishment? Is this exceptional individual above the law? Didn’t he do humanity a good deed by eliminating a useless being? As Arte Johnson on Laugh-in would say…”Very interesting”. Throughout this psychoanalytic driven novel, I wondered why the main character, Rodion Romanovich, a.k.a Rodia, (characters have many different names in this novel) committed murder in the first place. Was it Czar Alexander ll’s fault? Maybe he created a lot of confusion when he set the serfs free, abolished capital punishment, while on the flip side his infamous Secret Police sent thousands to Siberia. There had to be much perplexity and chaos with all the political changes. Since the Czar was encouraging University studies, I’m confused why Rodia and his friend, Dmitri Prokofich, a.k.a. Razumikhin, dropped out of school. Change in government was still decades away, since Lenin was only four years old at the time of this book’s publication. I’m also confused why Rodia, as poor as he was, felt superior to begin with. Sigmund Freud stated in the notes on page 525, “Dostoevsky cannot be understood without psychoanalysis...he illustrates it himself in every character and every sentence.” This novel is about the foolhardy journey of a psychopath in czarist Russia stalked by the cynical Porfiry Petrovich (Russia’s answer to Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot?). What a book!
5 out of 5 stars
ricksreviews.blogspot.com
Dostoevsky’s 1866 novel poses interesting questions. Can an extraordinary person murder an inferior person and avoid punishment? Is this exceptional individual above the law? Didn’t he do humanity a good deed by eliminating a useless being? As Arte Johnson on Laugh-in would say…”Very interesting”. Throughout this psychoanalytic driven novel, I wondered why the main character, Rodion Romanovich, a.k.a Rodia, (characters have many different names in this novel) committed murder in the first place. Was it Czar Alexander ll’s fault? Maybe he created a lot of confusion when he set the serfs free, abolished capital punishment, while on the flip side his infamous Secret Police sent thousands to Siberia. There had to be much perplexity and chaos with all the political changes. Since the Czar was encouraging University studies, I’m confused why Rodia and his friend, Dmitri Prokofich, a.k.a. Razumikhin, dropped out of school. Change in government was still decades away, since Lenin was only four years old at the time of this book’s publication. I’m also confused why Rodia, as poor as he was, felt superior to begin with. Sigmund Freud stated in the notes on page 525, “Dostoevsky cannot be understood without psychoanalysis...he illustrates it himself in every character and every sentence.” This novel is about the foolhardy journey of a psychopath in czarist Russia stalked by the cynical Porfiry Petrovich (Russia’s answer to Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot?). What a book!
5 out of 5 stars
ricksreviews.blogspot.com
batgirl
New Member
I have personally found that Jackson tends to fall more into the camp of "really super creepy" than "turn-all-the-lights-on scary". We Have Always Lived in the Castle is one of my favorite books of all time, and while not scary in the traditional sense of the word, it is most definitely exceptionally creepy.
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I recently finished Wintergirls (Laurie Halse Anderson) and Thirteen Reasons Why (Jay Asher). I was kind of lukewarm on both, although I sped through both in just a couple of days, so they were obviously compelling. I don't read a lot of YA anymore, I should dip my toes in more.
trappa
Member
A is for alibi. Finished it off in one twelve hour shift, good I've a great job.
Enjoyed it. I do love a detective novel and this was no different. Guessed the baddy relatively early but I'm sure everyone else did. Nice easy read, one for the sun lounger while on holiday sipping on a gin and tonic.
Enjoyed it. I do love a detective novel and this was no different. Guessed the baddy relatively early but I'm sure everyone else did. Nice easy read, one for the sun lounger while on holiday sipping on a gin and tonic.
753C
Active Member
Tales from the Detroit Tigers Dugout: A Collection of the Greatest Tigers Stories Ever Told - Jack Ebling
A fun collection for any fan of the Detroit Tigers, or baseball history in general. I knew a lot going in but this was full of all sorts of interesting factoids like :
Willie Horton was the last of 21 children (!!!) born to his mother and father.
Ty Cobb once incited a riot at Briggs stadium because he wouldn't stop calling Babe Ruth the N-word. (Why the N-word? I don't know.)
Justin Verlander could throw 93mph in the 9th grade.
and on and on... fun stuff!
A fun collection for any fan of the Detroit Tigers, or baseball history in general. I knew a lot going in but this was full of all sorts of interesting factoids like :
Willie Horton was the last of 21 children (!!!) born to his mother and father.
Ty Cobb once incited a riot at Briggs stadium because he wouldn't stop calling Babe Ruth the N-word. (Why the N-word? I don't know.)
Justin Verlander could throw 93mph in the 9th grade.
and on and on... fun stuff!
753C
Active Member
Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn
Big city reporter returns to her small town home to cover a child abduction. She soon finds herself part of a serial murder investigation and surrounded by one of the most creepily dysfunctional families ever. And that family is hers! Once again, i could not put it down.
Big city reporter returns to her small town home to cover a child abduction. She soon finds herself part of a serial murder investigation and surrounded by one of the most creepily dysfunctional families ever. And that family is hers! Once again, i could not put it down.
trappa
Member
I couldnt get into it. Brilliantly written but just couldnt connect with the character/sAmericanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
trappa
Member
Couldnt have put it better myself. IMO Flynn is the best new author to appear on the scene for a long time.Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn
Big city reporter returns to her small town home to cover a child abduction. She soon finds herself part of a serial murder investigation and surrounded by one of the most creepily dysfunctional families ever. And that family is hers! Once again, i could not put it down.