“The Haunting of Hill House,” by Shirley Jackson

FM's ratings:

1.      Premise 8

2.      Prose 9

3.      Plot 8

4.      Characters 9

5.      Overall 9

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

Written in 1959, this novel has many elements that are fresh by today’s standards.  Sure, today’s version would have contained a lot of sexual overtones, more “love interest,” maybe even a steamy sex scene.  Jackson wasn’t interested in writing that kind of book, and we can do without a tired old re-hashing of those themes.  Sex and “love” haven’t changed much over the years; just the prevalence of them in fiction.  The tired old “haunted house” theme has had a little too much exposure as well, but the treatment here is rather unique.  The description of the house itself; its layout, its construction; is interesting.  And the manifestations of supernatural elements, though predictable in some aspects, are given some nice unique twists in others.  Those looking for a “classic” haunted house story might be disappointed – those looking for a good story with some superbly wrought characters will not.  The characters are the highlight, especially Theodora, a brash, smart, sarcastic “today’s woman.”  (Think Jennifer Lawrence as she is OFF camera!  She’ll say anything!)  The character of Doctor Montague could be played by any of our venerable actors who have “aged out” of the more standard male protagonist roles.  The prose is vintage Jackson, very readable and compelling, if not stunning by current standards.  This is a must-read for “Horror” aficionados – and highly recommended for anyone!

“Neverwhere,” by Neil Gaiman

FM's ratings:

          1. Premise 7
          2. Prose 8
          3. Plot 7
          4. Characters 8
          5. Overall 8

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

This is one of those “adventures of” stories that are all premise and no plot.  Or at least the plot takes a back seat to the action, to the point that it almost doesn’t matter in what order the events take place.  Almost – that’s an exaggeration.  I have read that the prototype of this kind of novel is “Don Quixote” – that it had never been done before that.  In the author’s Introduction to the edition I read he says, “What I wanted to do was write a book that would do for adults what the books I had loved when younger, books like Alice in Wonderland, or the Narnia books, or The Wizard of Oz, did for me as a kid.”  I have read other works that attempted the same thing, and I’m not yet convinced it can be done effectively.  Clive Barker’s “Abarat” books and China Mieville’s “Un Lun Dun” are excellent attempts.  Even “Huckleberry Finn” can be seen in this light.  They still read like a “kid’s book.”  (Soon, I will attempt Clive Barker’s “Imajica,” another “weighty tome.” I’ve heard great things about it.)  This is not my favorite type of novel; it feels like the author is constantly wandering from the premise, with seemingly unrelated “side-stories” popping up every chapter or so.  Even if, when you finish, you can see in hindsight good reasons for including the “side-stories,” the continuity of plot is constantly being interrupted – and I find that mildly irritating.  Having said all that – this is a very good attempt at creating such a work.  I had heard that Gaiman’s works were horror of the most sophisticated sort, taking the genre beyond where even Clive Barker has gone.  Maybe I chose the wrong one to begin with.  I will certainly be re-visiting this author, perhaps with “Anansi Boys.”

Here’s the November line-up!

“Tickled to Death,” by Joan Hess [11-5-16]

“Gulliver’s Travels,” by Jonathan Swift [11-12-16]

“A Thousand Splendid Suns,” by Khaled Hosseini [11-19-16]

“One for the Money,” by Janet Evanovich [11-26-16]

(As always, if there are any books you’d like to recommend for next month, please do so.  Also, if you have already read one on our previous lists, you are invited to send your ratings and or comments for that book!)

“Dead Reckoning,” by Charlaine Harris

FM's ratings:

          1. Premise 8
          2. Prose 9
          3. Plot 8
          4. Characters 10
          5. Overall 9

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

This is book number eleven in the Sookie Stackhouse series (“Trueblood” for the boob tube crowd) and there is still no sign of staleness setting in.  Sookie continues to be one of the most compelling “first person” narrators in popular fiction, and the secondary characters in these novels continue to fascinate.  The cause of her mind-reading ability finally comes to light, and several key issues that have been plaguing her get resolved.  In the next book we will presumably get to meet the vampire King of Nevada/Lousiana/etc. and the vampire Queen of Oklahoma.  It promises to be an awesome next-to-last book in a truly great series!

“The Body in the Library,” by Agatha Christie

FM's ratings:

          1. Premise 7
          2. Prose 7
          3. Plot 8
          4. Characters 7
          5. Overall 7

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

This is only the third Agatha Christie book I have read – one Hercule Poirot, one Miss Marple (this one) and one “other” – and the writing is consistently adequate.  The emphasis here is on plot; which is understandable from a “mystery writer.”  And while Miss Marple herself is a pretty interesting character, we don’t see enough of her or get inside her head very much at all.  The rest of the characters rise very little above stereotypes.  Miss Marple observes little, seemingly irrelevant details and draws the correct conclusions from them.  Such details must be the cornerstone around which entire novels are constructed, at least in the writings of Christie.  Not much humor in the meantime, except for an occasional chuckle about how quaint the little old lady is. The dialog is just interesting enough to salvage an otherwise ho-hum run-of-the-mill mystery.  I will continue to read her books from time to time, but I can’t say that I would necessarily recommend them.

“Pet Sematary,” by Stephen King

FM's ratings:

1.      Premise 10

2.      Prose 10

3.      Plot 10

4.      Characters 10

5.      Overall 10

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

I have been told by many that this book is one of King’s finest.  I have to agree.  King gets inside his characters’ heads better than almost any writer one can name.  His descriptive powers are nothing short of brilliant.  When he goes off on a tangent, the tangent is always fascinating.  (The practice of putting toe tags on corpses in morgues is said to have originated in New York City by attendants of Celtic descent, who were influenced by the ancient Celtic practice of tying the toes of the dead together so that their ghosts couldn’t walk!)  Here is an author that can write a very long novel without it getting tedious for a reader like me.  Horror?  His novels transcend the genre by a mile; this is true literature, and I still maintain that 200 years from now, King will be one of the handful of authors remembered from this era.  I’m fascinated that one of the most important scenes in this novel, the death of Gage, is revealed as memories of the other characters, rather than told in straight narrative form.  This wasn’t done because the author didn’t feel he could effectively paint such a traumatic scene in words – Kings is more than up to that task!  It wasn’t done to spare the reader from such an emotionally distressing scene – King pulls no punches!  It was done for effect, and effective it is.  I haven’t seen the movie that was made of this yet – (ALWAYS read the book before seeing the movie!) - but I have stumbled across clips from it online, and the scene of Gage’s death appears to be quite dramatic.  The “creep” factor alone makes this novel worth the time to read it, but the profound sub-text is a huge plus throughout the narrative.  As a bonus, I can now stop hearing, “What?! You haven’t read Pet Sematary yet?!"  Awesome book.