R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril / VIII: The (Very Late) Wrap-up

I know, I know - the RIP/VIII reading event actually ended with the month of October.  Well, the month of October sort of got away from me this year, folks - so, I'm just now getting around to writing my wrap-up.  Yeah, it's been that kind of year.

I do love this challenge and I seriously regret making such a hash of it this year.  Will try to do better with Number IX, if Carl decides to treat us all to another go-round next year.   (Fingers crossed!)

Anyway, I read three books for the challenge/event.  Haven't posted any reviews yet, but I am working on that (still playing catch-up on all my reviews for 2013).  Since I signed up for Peril the First, I was aiming for four books, but didn't quite make it.  I did much better with Peril on the Screen: managed to watch lots and lots of scary stuff (Turner Classic Movies always comes through this time of year).  Didn't do separate reviews of those either, but I've gone ahead and listed them here for your list-reading pleasure (I LOVE a good list). 

MY BOOK LIST:

1. Night Film. Marisha Pessl
2. The Small Hand and Dolly. Susan Hill  
3. The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. H.P. Lovecraft

MY SCREEN PERIL LIST, Part I (Movies):

1. The Baby's Room (2006) Spanish horror film, apparently made for TV.  Altogether a fairly mediocre movie, but the shtick of ghostly happenings recorded on baby monitors was good and creepy.
2. Badlands (1973) Very disturbing film about a couple of very disturbed individuals.  And who does disturbed-and-disturbing better than Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek?
3. Cat People (1942) Simone Simon is fascinatingly feline in this original version directed by Jacques Tourneur.
4. The Devil Doll (1936) Lionel Barrymore in drag! Who wouldn't love that?
5. Diary of a Madman (1963) Vincent Price screamer set in France; from a story by Guy de Maupassant.
6. The Fall of the House of Usher (1960) Vincent Price OWNS Edgar Allan Poe, doesn't he?  I've always loved the way the house sinks into the bog at the end - wonderfully cheesy.  (Oops! spoiler alert!)
7. The Haunted Palace (1963) More Vincent Price; this time in a film version of H.P. Lovecraft's "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" - with a title borrowed from Edgar Poe.
8. Horror Castle (1963) Italian horror flick with Christopher Lee. Women being tortured and killed by a deformed, hooded, holocaust survivor.  Felt like taking a shower after this one.
9. Horror of Dracula (1958) One of the best versions of Bram Stoker's tale; probably my favorite, although I do love Frank Langella as the Count.
10. The Legend of Lucy Keyes (2005) Evil real estate developers? Now that's scary.
11. Mary Reilly (1996) I'm not a Julia Roberts fan, but she's actually pretty good in this. Love Malkovich, though, and he makes a great Hyde.
12. The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) Boris Karloff as the evil Dr. FM. Can't believe I'd never seen this one before.
13. Mirrors (2008) Another one of those stories with mirrors as a gateway for ghosts and spirits. Actually a pretty watchable film, but the ending was a little confusing.
14. The Mummy (1932) The "original" version with Boris Karloff and Zita Johann - still the best and the scariest.
15. The Ninth Gate (1999) One of my all-time favorite films, by one of my all-time favorite directors, based on one of my all-time favorite books. What could be better?
16. Nosferatu (1922) A creepy classic. 
17. The Reeds (2010)  What the....?  Have no idea what was going on in this one.  In the running for worst horror film ever made.
18. Sea of Love (1989) Love Pacino. Love cop movies. Pacino + cop movie = perfection.
19. The Seventh Victim (1943) Satanic cults in Greenwich Village. Yeah, I can buy that. Kim Hunter in her very first film.
20. 007 - I also watched a handful of James Bond movies.  Not spooky, but I suppose they do qualify in the suspense/mystery/thriller category.  The list:
    Dr. No (1962)
    From Russia With Love (1963)
    The Man With the Golden Gun (1974)
    The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
    For Your Eyes Only (1981)
    Licence To Kill (1989)

MY SCREEN PERIL LIST, Part II (TV shows):

1. The Blacklist (2013; pilot episode)
2. Broadchurch (2013; mini-series)
3. Doctor Who: The Power of Three (2012; Season 7/Episode 4)
4. Doctor Who: The Angels Take Manhattan (2012; 7/5)
5. Doctor Who: The Snowmen (2012; 7/6)
6. Doctor Who: The Bells of St. John (2013; 7/7)
7. Doctor Who: The Rings of Akhaten (2013; 7/8)
8. Doctor Who: Cold War (2013; 7/9)
9. Doctor Who: Hide (2013; 7/10)
10. Inspector George Gently: Gently Northern Soul (2012; Season 5/Episode 1)
11. Midsomer Murders: The Electric Vendetta (2001; Season 4 / Episode 3)
12. Midsomer Murders: Who Killed Cock Robin? (2001; 4/4)
13. Midsomer Murders: Dark Autumn (2001; 4/5)
14. Midsomer Murders: Tainted Fruit (2001; 4/6)
15. Midsomer Murders: Market for Murder (2002; 5/1)
16. Midsomer Murders: A Worm in the Bud (2002; 5/2)
17. Midsomer Murders: Ring Out Your Dead (2002; 5/3)
18. Midsomer Murders: Murder on St. Malley's Day (2002; 5/4)
19. Midsomer Murders: A Talent for Life (2003; 6/1)
20. Midsomer Murders: Death and Dreams (2003; 6/2)
21. Midsomer Murders: Painted in Blood (2003; 6/3)
22. Midsomer Murders: A Tale of Two Hamlets (2003; 6/4)
23. Midsomer Murders: Birds of Prey (2003; 6/5)
24. Midsomer Murders: The Green Man (2003; 7/1)
25. Midsomer Murders: Bad Tidings (2004; 7/2)
26. Midsomer Murders: The Fisher King (2004; 7/3)
27. Midsomer Murders: Sins of Commission (2004; 7/4)
28. Midsomer Murders: The Maid in Splendour (2004; 7/5)
29. Midsomer Murders: The Straw Woman (2004; 7/6)
30. Midsomer Murders: Ghosts of Christmas Past (2004; 7/7)
31. Midsomer Murders: Things That Go Bump in the Night (2004; 8/1)

So, that's it. My thanks to Carl over at Stainless Steel Droppings for hosting this wonderful annual event. I can't resist it, and I'm already making my list for 2014. (Did I mention that I LOVE a good list?)

Read Scotland 2014

I made such a mess of most of my reading challenges this year, I guess I really shouldn't be thinking about signing up for any at all in 2014.  But this one is so attractive, I've just GOT to give it a go.

The "Read Scotland 2014" Reading Challenge is being hosted by Peggy Ann's Post, and runs  through 2014.  You can see all the guidelines over on the announcement page, but basically the idea is to read Scottish authors (by birth or immigration), or books about Scotland, or books set in Scotland.  There are several levels of participation, and you don't need a blog to join in (if you've got a GoodReads account, there's a challenge group you can join, here). 

This one should be fun and easy to do - I love Scotland, even though I've only been there once.  And one of my favorite authors, Muriel Spark, was a Scot by birth, and there are plenty of her works I have yet to read.  So I'm signing up at the second level (The Highlander), and committing to 5-8 books. 

Aside from the Muriel Spark books, I don't have firm plans about reading choices, but here are a few possibilities (in no particular order):

• The Sunday Philosophy Club. Alexander McCall Smith (Scottish author.  The first book in a very popular series that I've never tried.)
• The Man in the Queue. Josephine Tey (Scottish author. Again, the first book in a series - Inspector Alan Grant. I've read some of the later books, but never managed to read this first one.)
• The Wind in the Willows. Kenneth Grahame (Never read it! Loved the Disney animated feature when I was a child. Scottish author.)
• Death of a Gossip. M.C. Beaton (Scottish author.  And yet another series I haven't tried. This is the first book in the Hamish Macbeth series.)
• The Rector. Margaret Oliphant (Scottish author. First book in the Chronicles of Carlingford series. I've had this one on my TBR list for a number of years; this might be my chance to cross it off.)

So, that's something like a plan.  During the year, I'll be tracking my progress over on my challenge blog.  And I'm hoping that in 2014 (unlike 2013), I'll actually have some progress to track!

Teaser Tuesdays: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

Paperback edition from the 1970s

This week my teaser lines come from The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, by H.P. Lovecraft.  Over the years, I've read quite a few of Lovecraft's major works, but somehow managed to miss this one until this year's "RIP" reading event came along and nudged me into finally pulling it off the TBR pile.  This snippet comes from Part II: An Antecedent and a Horror, and tells us a bit about one of the book's strangest characters:

Now the first odd thing about Joseph Curwen was that he did not seem to grow much older than he had been on his arrival....always did he retain his nondescript aspect of a man not greatly over thirty or thirty-five....
Curwen always explained it by saying that he came of hardy forefathers, and practiced a simplicity of living which did not wear him out. (Loc.274)

OK, so now we know the secret to eternal youth - just take it very easy!

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in your comment here.

Teaser Tuesdays: Night Film

 

This week my teaser lines come from Night Film, by Marisha Pessl.  I'm not sure about page numbers for this snippet, since I'm reading this one on the Kindle; but it's from Chapter 13 (Loc.1266).

"She looked right at me and my first thought was, Oh wow, she's pretty....But as she turned and started walking toward me, I felt scared."
"Why?" I asked.
"It was like, when you looked into her eyes the human part was detached and there was something else looking out."

I was a little worried when I first read that -- for a while I was very afraid I was dealing with just another "paranormal" vampire/werewolf/zombie thriller.  But this one is much more complicated than that, I'm happy to say.  Hoping to finish the book tonight and get a review up soon.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in your comment here.

Monday Reading Update

The artist's wife reading, by Henri Bouvet (French, 1859-1949)

I've been taking a little break from reading for the last few weeks.  Not because I wanted to, really. But I was hit with a pretty horrendous allergy attack right around the middle of September, and my eyes were so swollen and inflamed and itchy, that reading for more than a few minutes was a real problem.  I'm pretty much back to normal now, though -- whatever was causing the attack must be past its peak season or something.  Or maybe the rains we've had recently just washed the irritants out of the air.  Don't know.  But at least I'm able to read again, and for the moment all's right with the world!

So this week, I'm back to two books I was reading when the attack started:

Night Film: A Novel, by Marisha Pessl

and The Small Hand and Dolly, by Susan Hill

I'm about halfway through each of these, so I should be able to finish them up this week.  (Fingers crossed for no more allergies!)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. If you want to let the world know what books you're going to be reading this week, head on over to her blog and leave your link. It's also a great way to discover new books and new blogs.

Booking Through Thursday: Best or Favorite?

I haven't played with BTT for a while, but this week's question caught my interest:

"Are 'best' and 'favorite' the same thing? If someone asked you 'What’s the best book you ever read?' would the answer be the same as for 'What’s your favorite?' "

And I guess I found it interesting mainly because I can't imagine being able to come up with a single "favorite" or a single "best" book.  If you asked me to name a favorite, we'd be here for hours.

Also, what's meant by best?  Best plot?  Best writing?  Most valuable lessons taught?  I can certainly recognize that many of my favorite books are not the most well-written books or the most morally uplifting -- in fact, many of them are really kinda trashy.  But I still love 'em.

While the "best book I ever read" would, I suppose, necessarily have to be a favorite, my favorite books are many and varied, and they do seem to change over time.  OK, that's clear as mud, right?  I guess my answer would be that to me, best and favorite are pretty much the same thing where books are concerned, but impossible to name. 

Teaser Tuesdays: The Small Hand

This week my teaser lines come from The Small Hand, a novella by Susan Hill.  It's been published in the same volume with another of her short works, Dolly. She writes such lovely, spooky tales and I always enjoy them.  But this snippet isn't scary -- just the narrator ruminating on his book buying habits.  Something I could really identify with.

My resolution every New Year is to halve the number of books I have and every year I fail to keep it.  For every dozen I sell or give away, I buy twenty more. (Chapter 2/Loc.183)

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in your comment here.