Get Lost in Literature

"I have a life and you have a life, however different they may be. The question is: Who has the power?" Let me start by talking about the very frustrating wait I had for this book. That its original language is Swedish, and I don't know a word of it. And if Swedish publishing was anything like the US: first run hardback, 2nd run paperback, I'd only have 2 years to wait. And then I found out the English edition was only released in Australia! Then I was irritated. No one seemed to know if the book was coming to the US. It was an additional 2 years for that decision to be made. I'm not the kind who likes to wait so I went out of my mind. And now that I've finally read the book... I love this guy! This is the camping trip from hell. Four families wake up to find that the world as they know it, disappeared over night. Nothing connects the unlucky campers, except the endless expanse of grass and the too perfect sky that they find themselves staring at with horror. ...

  "The chill came at him. The corridor he was standing in was several degrees colder than the rest of the hospital. The sweat on his body congealed into a cold film, made him shiver." There's a heatwave in Stockholm and nobody can shut off their electrical appliances. There seems to be an electric pulse in the air and the headaches won't stop. David loses his wife Eva in a car accident and is so grief stricken he can't bring himself to tell his son. Elvy takes care of her vegetable of a husband for years and is slightly relieved by his passing. Gustav Mahler's grandson dies in a tragic fall, leaving him without a purpose. And then the dead wake up. I loved this story. It wasn't just another zombie-apocalypse, running and screaming and hiding from mindless murder machines. It wasn't the kind of horror that made me look over my shoulder, but it left me sinking into my blanket with a chill up my spine. What the dead want most in this story, isn't brai...

  "This is all you need, isn't it? Just one good friend. Somebody you can be stupid with. Somebody who'll peel you off the ground, prop you against the wall." Ricky, Lewis, Cass, and Gabe have been friends for a long time, but the ten-year anniversary of a hunting trip gone wrong is upon them and no one wants to talk about it. And now an entity is stalking them, like a shotgun blast from the past. This book was okay but I wasn't wowed. I liked the characters; they were all a little rough around the edges and it gave them an air of realness because they weren't perfect angels. Sometimes it's the imperfections that matter most. The book blurb on GoodReads states, "... a novel that is equal parts psychological horror and cutting social commentary on identity politics and the American Indian experience."  And I know when it came out it was one of the best horror novels of 2020. That's how it got added to my TBR list. Now it's officially been...

  “Danny did not think coke and computers were anything alike. But Jude had seen the way people hunched over their screens, clicking the refresh button again and again, waiting for some crucial if meaningless hit of information, and he thought it was almost exactly the same.” ― Joe Hill, Heart-Shaped Box  I've generously given four stars to this novel because I thoroughly enjoyed the ride, but the critic in me suggests 3 is more correct. I'd definitely give a 2 star rating to the book blurb because I didn't find it very accurate. Judas Coyne felt more bored than self-obsessed, excited by his macabre collection of creepy serial killer artifacts. His assistant leads him to an auction site where he can bid on a ghost: who wouldn't want a piece of that action? Unfortunately, the ghost turned out to be the angry stepfather of his manic-depressive ex-girlfriend. And his current girlfriend will have to help him save himself. This is ultimately a ghost story with a lot of actio...

  I normally open with a book quote, but today I'm skipping that because I thought a sound effect might be silly. This book was probably wasted on me. I've never read a graphic novel before and was recently inspired to do so. I'm a big Walking Dead fan (tv show) so I thought this would be the perfect first graphic novel. Rick Grimes wakes up from coma to find the world he knew is gone. The dead are walking, his family is missing, and the fight for humanity has begun. The artwork is way more sophisticated than I thought it would be, but because this is the only graphic novel I have ever read there's no comparisons to be made. So I liked the artwork, the attention to detail. The artist's ability to direct your focus is absolutely wonderful. I appreciate how hard it must be to draw all these different characters' faces and make sure to draw them exactly the same each and every time. As a diehard fan of the tv show I'm a bit biased on the quality of the book (I...

  “The sun sinks to rise again; the day is swallowed up in the gloom of night, to be born out of it, as fresh as if it had never been quenched.”― William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist I would like to start by saying two things: 1. I know using Ex instead of X isn't quite the same thing, Ex being a sound and X being an unloved letter of the alphabet...And at least on my blog, this year, it's going to remain underappreciated because Ex was the best I could do. 2 Do not read this book before bed, unless you're the kind of person that enjoys sleeping with the lights on. The story opens with Father Merrin, who is working on an archaeological dig in Iraq and is overcome with a feeling of foreboding as he discovers a statue of the wind demon, Pazuzu. Miles away, in Georgetown, Washington DC, Chris MacNeil is finishing up the filming of her next movie with director Burke Dennings before going home to her daughter, Regan. A normal life in the day of an actress except for the Jesuit pri...

  "'It wasn't rabies, if that's what you're worried about," Grace said. "She had some kind of blood poisoning...'" This is the story of Patricia Cambell. Belittled and patronized by a distant husband, subject to the typical abuse that only moody teenagers can dish out, and sick of keeping house and caring for her mother-in-law whose rapidly declining mental health is making life difficult for everybody. She's become a bit of a bored housewife, tired of her regularly scheduled day to day. Looking for a change, she joins a book club that only reads trashy true crime novels and dreams of a mystery in her sleepy little neighborhood...Until she gets one. Believing that there is now a serial killer living in her own backyard, she becomes fixated, so much so that her friends and family write her off as suffering from some sort of hysteria, leaving her to fight the evil alone. I thought that this would be straight up, non-stop horror. And while it o...

  “That version, as with so many of the stories we tell about our history, erased a woman- a plain, bad heroine- in favor of a less messy and more palatable yarn about two feuding brothers from New England.” ― Emily M. Danforth, Plain Bad Heroines Plain Bad Heroines is a book with two settings; the story begins in 1902 Rhode Island, at Brookhants School for Girls. The girls at the school become infatuated with each other, and obsessed with a memoir by teen author, Mary MacLane. They start a society that worships the book and, eventually, die tragically with the book in their company. Libbie Brookhants and her long time girlfriend, Alexandra Trills are trying to unravel the mystery before they themselves become unraveled. The second setting is in modern day Hollywood, where actresses Harper Harper and Audrey Wells have been cast to play leading roles in an upcoming horror movie titled: Happenings at Brookhants , based on the novel written by teen writer Merritt Emmons who will be c...

  "Chaos cannot be permitted here. There are too many people. The atmosphere must be calm and pleasant." This is probably one of my all-time favorite authors and that can be a real pain in the butt as his books are published in Sweden and can be hard to find in English. And since he is one of my favorites, I feel both comfortable, and probably biased, saying that JAL has written another page turner. I also will also say it is, hands down, one of the scariest novels I've ever read. When Theres was a baby, someone tried to bury her alive. A couple of has-been musicians find her and try to raise her in secret as their musical prodigy but discover something not quite right with the girl. She is developmentally behind and prone to violent outbursts. Teresa, a girl with no imagination and no friends, suffering from depression, is looking for her place in a world that terrifies her. Theres offers Teresa friendship and Teresa can't resist. The thing that makes Lindqvist's...

  “There's nothing in the sea this fish would fear. Other fish run from bigger things. That's their instinct. But this fish doesn't run from anything. He doesn't fear.” ― Peter Benchley, Jaws Amity Island thrives off tourism. The local businesses are run off of "summer people" who are visiting for the beautiful beaches. But when a Great White chooses Amity as its new hunting ground, people die, tourism fails, and the economy stumbles. The responsibility falls to Amity Police Chief Martin Brody to protect the people and figure out how to get rid of the shark. The book is decidedly not that scary by modern day expectations. There's an anti-elitist theme underlying the work; Brody's a working-class man with "traditional values" and he doesn't particularly care for the rich tourists his town depends on for survival. His wife Ellen, is a "traditional housewife" from an affluent family and he's become resentful that she might miss...

"They would use your life as if it were oil for a proper lamp. You must defy them, but you must defy them with purity and confidence." Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice This is the story of Louis, a vampire from New Orleans -- which is the perfect place for a vampire to come from IMHO. It’s of his maker, Lestat, and his companions Claudia and Armand. I find there are two types of vampires in pop culture. The first type is the ruthless killer who embraces its vampire nature, like in classic story Dracula or newer NOS4A2 . You also have the brooding vampire, overly emotional, like in Twilight or Vampire Diaries . Lestat is the former, Louis the latter. Lestat is greedy, flamboyant, reveling in his own nature; coldly and sometimes erratically trying to teach Louis what it means to be a vampire. “Let the flesh instruct the mind.” Louis is aghast at what he’s become and hesitant to start killing humans because he’s retained more of his human nature… I say hesitant because...

  "Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow." Robert Walton failed writer turned sailor, opens the story by writing to his sister Margaret. He is sailing far north, when the crew rescue Victor Frankenstein who is lost upon an ice flow. Victor is a broken man with a story to tell. Even if you haven't seen the movies, even if you haven't read the book, you're probably familiar with the concept of Frankenstein: a mad scientist sews a body together and restores life to dead limbs, creating a hideous monster. This book wasn't at all what I was expecting. After Victor's mother dies he is sent away to university where he studies science and discovers how to reanimate the dead. He becomes obsessed with his science experiment, shunning all social contact an...

  "I edged Hobb away from the side of the road, where a tangle of vines draped over a bare tree like spilled entrails." What Feast at Night by T.Kingfisher We're back for another story of Alex Easton, who is headed to her  family lodge and is in for a surprise. Upon arrival she and Angus find the caretaker Codrin has died in their absence and the town talks of a demon of nightmares that stalks the grounds. T.Kingfisher was inspired by Edgar Allen Poe. Now some people like Austin or Dickens, but I hold Poe to be one of the best classic writers of time. It all comes down to atmosphere. A good Gothic Horror should have a setting as ghostly as its monster and as much a character as its hero, and Kingfisher delivers. In the opening pages, it's implied that Alex is a she, which surprised me. (I'd been calling her he, up until she announced that her father had no sons.) She is an interesting character, war heroine, naive skeptic, and altogether force to be reckoned with ...

  "They would use your life as if it were oil for a proper lamp. You must defy them, but you must defy them with purity and confidence."  Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice This is the story of Louis, a vampire from New Orleans, which is the perfect place for a vampire to come from IMHO. It’s of his maker, Lestat, and his companions Claudia and Armand. I find there are two types of vampires in pop culture. The first type is the ruthless killer who embraces its vampire nature, like in classic story Dracula or newer NOS4A2. You also have the brooding vampire, overly emotional, like in Twilight or Vampire Diaries . Lestat is the former, Louis the latter. Lestat is greedy, flamboyant, reveling in his own nature; coldly and sometimes erratically trying to teach Louis what it means to be a vampire. “Let the flesh instruct the mind.” Louis is aghast at what he’s become and hesitant to start killing humans because he’s retained his human nature…I say hesitant because he does...

  "It's great to live free of the other sheep until you hear the wolves howl." Kate Holland and her husband Dan move to Greenloop, a small neighborhood nestled in the forest beneath Mt Ranier. Greenloop is advertised as both, the antithesis of the evils created by city living, and the future of housing development. Smart homes built in the middle of nowhere, running off of bio-gas and solar panels, with drones dropping groceries into the backyards. It's the perfect place to live if you're looking to reconnect with nature... Until a volcanic eruption leaves the residents of Greenloop isolated... and hunted. This is not WWZ . I found it a little slow to start where WWZ was disturbing from the first page. I also found the Journal entries and character interviews so much like WWZ I wondered if the writing style was a crutch. ( It sold well once before, right? ) It was preachy in some locations, which I wouldn't have minded ( because I happen to agree with Max Br...

The Interprovincial Medical Institute has taken it upon itself to protect us, from ourselves. A parasitic orgnaization, it infects young minds and turns selected children into doctors. It monopolizes the medical profession entirely, forcing its human hosts into a co-dependent relationship. Baron de Verdira, a cruel ruler in a desperate countryside, is heavily reliant on the Institute's expertise to keep himself alive. His old doctor died under mysterious circumstances and it will be up to his replacement to unravel the horrors in Chateau de Verdira, just as a bitter winter descends. The baron's new doctor discovers a dangerous parasite infestation, other than its own. A strange creature with probing black legs, that's quietly propagating and subsequently killing its hosts. As the doctor investigates the newly discovered parasite, she begins to realize there is more infecting the residents of Verdira than parasites.  Leech by Hiron Ennes is being market as a "debut...

T. Kingfisher's  What Moves the Dead,  is a retelling of Edgar Allen Poe's, The Fall of the House of Usher.  I've never read anything by T.Kingfisher before, I couldn't resist the temptation offered by this ARC from NetGalley. I'm a longtime Poe fan, and The Fall of the House of Usher is my favorite. Alex Easton, a retired Gallacian soldier, receives a letter from his childhood friend, Madeline Usher. The letter is urgent, she doesn't have long left to live and now her brother's health is failing as well. He rides out to the House of Usher, to find the manor decrepit; its occupants too poor to maintain it, and too sickly to leave it. An American surgeon, Dr. James Denton, has been called to treat the Ushers' strange malady, but admits to not knowing what it is or how to help them. As Alex tries to help his friends, he begins to realize there is more to the mystery than meets the eye. Out on the heath, the animals are acting strangely... The first two par...

“That version, as with so many of the stories we tell about our history, erased a woman- a plain, bad heroine- in favor of a less messy and more palatable yarn about two feuding brothers from New England.” ― Emily M. Danforth, Plain Bad Heroines Plain Bad Heroines is a book with two settings; the story begins in 1902 Rhode Island, at Brookhants School for Girls. The girls at the school become infatuated with each other, and obsessed with a memoir by teen author, Mary MacLane. They start a society that worships the book and, eventually, die tragically with the book in their company. Libbie Brookhants and her long time girlfriend, Alexandra Trills are trying to unravel the mystery before they themselves become unraveled. The second setting is in modern day Hollywood, where actresses Harper Harper and Audrey Wells have been cast to play leading roles in an upcoming horror movie titled: Happenings at Brookhants , based on the novel written by teen writer Merritt Emmons who will be consulti...

"His first instinct was to leave without being seen, and this puzzled him. He was a federal agent with the full authority of the United States government. This meant people had to do what he said. Even nurses and doctors. They didn’t want him to leave? Tough shit." Special Agent Ethan Burke of the US Secret Service, wakes up in the woods outside of a quiet little town called Wayward Pines. He's been in an accident and he's having trouble with his memory. He knows he needs a hospital and somewhere to stay, but he can't find his wallet... or a working telephone. The longer Ethan stays in Wayward Pines, the more he realizes the town's got a secret, and the residents will kill to protect it. I know this book was big when it came out. I downloaded a sample from Amazon and passed judgement the same day; the writing was simple, and quick to the point. This was light reading dressed up as horror. There's nothing wrong with that, but at the time I'd want...

"Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow." Robert Walton failed writer turned sailor, opens the story by writing to his sister Margaret. He is sailing far north, when the crew rescue Victor Frankenstein who is lost upon an ice flow. Victor is a broken man with a story to tell. Even if you haven't seen the movies, even if you haven't read the book, you're probably familiar with the concept of Frankenstein: a mad scientist sews a body together and restores life to dead limbs, creating a hideous monster. This book wasn't at all what I was expecting. After Victor's mother dies he sent away to university where he studies science and discovers how to reanimate the dead. He becomes obsessed with his science experiment shunning all social contact ...