We Have Always Lived in the Castle – Book Recommendation – Literary Horror - Must Read

Title: We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Author: Shirley Jackson

Media Type: Book

Type: Fiction

Genre: Horror, Literature

There are very few books or movies that actually scare me. I love reading horror, I love the suspense and the mystery. But when dealing with the supernatural my overused and very loud right brain always forcefully states that giant spiders and possessive demons are not real. I have to agree with Beetlejuice when he said, “I've seen The Exorcist about 167 times, AND IT KEEPS GETTING FUNNIER EVERY SINGLE TIME I SEE IT!”

     Then I read something written by Shirley Jackson. My mouthy right brain hides under the covers and latches the shutters. My left brain starts shivering, I imagine, no I know things are burrowing under my skin.

     We Have Always Lived in the Castle is told in the first person by the narrator Mary Katherine Blackwood. She starts her story by explaining that she wished she’d been born a werewolf, loves death-cap mushrooms and, except for her sister Constance, everyone in her family is dead. The question is: How did they get dead?

My First Time and Why I'll Never Forget It

My Passion for Books and Reading

 have a passion for books. I grew up reading mostly science fiction and fantasy. I didn’t care about genre labels. All I wanted was a good story.

     For the most part my childhood reading habits went unsupervised. My parents, Mr. and Mrs. Dysfunctional, were too busy giving meaning to Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing. So I was left on my own to select whatever books I wanted. I had children’s books donated by well meaning relatives. My favorites were Where the Wild Things Are and a book of Russian Fairy Tales complete with glorious illustrations of the Grey Wolf, Baba Yaga and the everlasting Firebird. But I grew out of the picture books quickly and like all good American children I wanted more.

     One of my best and clearest memories is of the day I bought my first two mass market paperbacks. Those compact rectangles were the books adults read. They had hundreds of pages not five. Paperback books harbored classified grown-up information.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles – Book Recommendation – Mystery Must Read

Title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Author: Agatha Christie

Media Type: Book

Type: Fiction

Genre: Mystery, Suspense

Series: No. 1 Hercules Poirot

Summary:  The family matriarch Mrs. Emily Inglethorpe has been poisoned to death. But the room was locked from the inside. So did Mrs. Inglethorpe take her own life, was the poisoning a mortal error or was Mrs. I murdered? The little Belgian detective Hercules Poirot will discover the truth. His little gray cells will not stop until the truth is found and, if need be, justice has been served.

     There is no writer who understood or expressed the nuances of social behavior the way Agatha Christie did. Her observance of human nature was keen and precise. When you read her novels you never doubt that her characters could be real people. Through deeds and dialogue Christie defined their dominate traits letting you know what role they play in a group dynamic.

Day of the Triffids – Book Recommendation – Science Fiction Classic - Must Read

Title: The Day of the Triffids

Author: John Wyndham

Media Type: Book

Type: Fiction

Genre: Science Fiction

A man named Bill Masen wakes up one morning to discover the world has gone blind. Yet he can still see. Everything he knew is gone, changed forever by a destructive meteor shower. The dangers he understood have vanished and he has to learn to navigate through a new series of troubles unlike anything he has ever experienced.

    First published in 1951, The Day of the Triffids is set in England in a post-apocalyptic society. Told in the first person, the reader discovers this new blind world through the eyes of its hero, Bill Masen. In addition to having to deal with the fact that sighted people are a minority, Bill is also challenged by the triffids, giant deadly mobile plants.

People Who Eat Darkness – Book Recommendation – True Crime Non-Fiction Must Read

Title: People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo--and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up

Author: Richard Lloyd Parry

Media Type: Book

Type: Non-Fiction

Subject: True Crime

This is the story of Lucie Blackman, a young English woman who disappeared in Japan and then was later found to have been murdered. The author describes the events leading up to and what happened after Lucie's disappearence. How her family refused to stop looking for her and the cultural differences between the criminal and justice systems of Japan and England.

A Fish-Eye Lens Tilted at a Somewhat Alien Angle

Do you like to look at the world through a fish-eye lens tilted at a somewhat alien angle? So do I.

I’d like to share with you some of the unusual finds I’ve discovered. Normal is so dull and indefinable. I’m not interested in the mega-trend. I prefer to poke around all those darling and daring little niches this planet and universe has to offer.

So, let’s start the adventure. I can’t wait to see what’s hiding in the shadows…