GREAT READS FOR HALLOWEEN

October is my favorite month.  It always has been, even when I lived in different parts of the country.  Of course, it's no coincidence that October means Halloween for me.  Scary stories, chocolate, costumes - what's not to love!  So, as the days grow shorter and cooler, here are some suggestions for the change in weather.  I'll read a creepy story any time of the year, but these titles make you want to curl up with a strange, mysterious or frightening book.

Steampunk!  An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories
Edited by Kelly Link & Gavin Grant

This book from Candlewick Press is a collection of short stories with Steampunk-ish themes.  Each tale is by a different author who approach the genre a bit differently.  This makes the book a great way to discover new authors and ideas.  The only downside, really, is that if you really love a story or writer, it can be a bit of a tease.  It's kind of amazing to see how many imaginary worlds, just in touch with reality, are inspired by these writers.   Far less important but just as enjoyable are the small illustrations that adorn the pages and change with each story.

One of my favorite tales in the collection is The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor by Delia Sherman.  It marries beautifully the advanced mechanisms of the genre with a romantic ghost story.  I was also drawn to The Summer People which is set a surreal-yet-somehow-believable world of an Appalachia with small clockwork fairy-like creatures.  

Read samples and learn more: http://strangeandfascinating.com/

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Believing is Seeing: Observations on the Mysteries of Photography
By Errol Morris

For the more academically-minded but still interested in a something illuminating, check out this handsome compilation of essays by Errol Morris.  While most items have been published elsewhere as serial entries, this brings them all together on large, well-designed pages with great reproductions of the photographs that are examined.

These series of articles investigate the veracity not only of photographs but also our perceptions of them.  Since the birth of the medium, there has been an association of truth with photograph.  Morris expounds on how the camera can lie through technical means like perspective and parallax as well as a choices made by the photographer.  

The best of the series is one called "Whose Father Was He?" in which he retraced an investigation around a photograph of three children found on the body of a Civil War solider.  

Reproduction of the photo

This photograph was reprinted in dozens of newspapers at the time, trying to identify the children.  Morris tracks the story with the determination of a bloodhound, all the while ruminating on why this particular story of tragedy to captured a nation.  

Other essays, while in depth, delve into the abstruse and seem distracted.  Indeed, every once in awhile Morris seems to be tooting his own horn rather than letting the photography and ideas lead him.

Read up on Morris and his other projects here:  http://errolmorris.com/

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Many thanks to the folks at Candlewick Press and The Penguin Press for the review copies.

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ALSO, watch for my upcoming review of MURDER ON THE FIRST-CLASS CARRIAGE: THE FIRST VICTORIAN RAILWAY KILLING by Kate Colquhoun.  It goes live 10/21.

REVIEW: MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN by Ransom Riggs

Anyone who knows me could have guessed I'd like this book just based on the cover.  Slightly creepy, old black and white photograph and a Victorian-style title. I came across this book while in a book store at the Newark airport, of all places.  My husband and I were headed to Scotland for our honeymoon but we had a six-hour layover, which left plenty of time to pour over the titles this shop had -- thankfully more than the usual top ten thrillers and romance novels.  

At the outset, the author makes it clear this is no typical scary story.  Our main character relates his confusion and desperate feelings when pieces of the strange tales his grandfather told him begin to come true.  A true teenager and constantly at odds with his parents, he struggles to discover what these clues mean. At times, the book reminded me of "Bedknobs and Broomsticks", "The Orphanage" and "Harry Potter".  But it is none of those things entirely.

To the book's credit, I had read nearly half of it before I realized it was probably meant to be in the young adult genre.  The plot, story and characters are strong.  The hints only become obvious as more characters his age come into the story and his interaction with them come front and center.  Riggs does not "talk down" to his reader, which is refreshing in any genre.  The main character, though confused, is not rash or inherently irresponsible.  He is not perfect, but neither should he be ignored -- an excellent role model for a younger reader. 

Perhaps the strongest characteristic is the inserting of bizarre photographs.  These are real photos that Riggs has found along the way -- in yard sales or in friend's collections.  He builds his "peculiar children" around them and their images make them far less fantastical.  Creepy, perhaps.  But more real. 

I must admit to having a soft spot for this detail.  I too collect cast-off and sometimes strange photographs.  I wonder about the people in them, and the ones that took them.  My book photo includes one such photo:

I even own an original photo by Yefim Tovbis, one of the people Riggs borrowed a surreal photo from. It's been a dozen years or so since I bought it but it's always had a place of honor on the wall.  It shows, as do the photos in this book, how striking images can alter our perception of reality and burn place on our memory.  

I highly recommend reading MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN.  It was great fun as an adult and can only imagine it must be so for a mid-late teenager as well.  I would not suggest it for someone younger than 10 or so since it can be a bit scary.  Although I was watching Hitchcock when I was 4, so judge for your own child.  

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I did not receive a review copy of this book.

View the author's site here: http://www.ransomriggs.com/

ISBN: 9781594744761
Book Dimensions: 5 3/16 x 8 3/16
Page Count:  352
Release Date: June 7, 2011
Book Price: $17.99

BOOK PHOTO: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

This book draws some of its characters from strange portraits.  Reproductions of the photos are sprinkled throughout the book.  I too have a small collection of odd pictures, found at fairs, yard sales and museums.  Here I've couple the book with one of my favorites of a school teacher, his wife, and a rabbit in a top hat.  

My review of the book will be posted soon.

BOOK PHOTO: Stories for the Nighttime And Some For the Day

Here is a preview of my next book review.
The review will be posted on July 21. 

STORIES FOR THE NIGHTTIME AND SOME FOR THE DAY by Ben Loory

From The Tv: "One day the man wakes up and finds that he does not feel like going to work.  He is not sick, exactly; he just doesn’t feel like going to work.  He calls the office and makes an excuse, then he pours himself a bowl of cereal and sits down in front of the television."

Read more:

http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/04/12/100412fi_fiction_loory#ixzz1RWLLRv5B

BOOK PHOTOS: Medical Muses and Sisters Brothers

So, I thought I might try something a little different.  I'm going to start photographing the books I review with props or in settings that are relevant.  I think it might be a little fun, plus challenge my creativity.  I'm going to try to catch-up just a bit with some past reviews and book covers.

Read my review of MEDICAL MUSES here. 

Read my review of THE SISTERS BROTHERS here.

Please let me know what you think!  More to come...