Book Loving Kiwis discussion

Read any book from your TBR shelf that is about ghosts, ghouls, food, treats OR has any of those on the cover.

Tell us what you're reading and how you feel about it.

Read the first chapter of Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane this morning. So far, so good. I read a short story set in this universe nearly three years ago, and promised myself I'd get around to the series soon. Yeah, interesting definition of soon!! Also, author Stacia Kane seems to be pretty cool (tho someone really needs to update the front page of her website!).

Oh, good idea, Kath. There's a new Corinna book out isn't there? Another food title one. Darn. Must check the library again.

I have quite a few to choose from, but that's no surprise as it's almost always Halloween on my shelves.
Might be a good time to re-read some Anne Rice, get myself fully embedded in that universe before reading Prince Lestat.
I have two zombie books sitting on my nightstand though, so those would work perfectly.
Allison Hewitt Is Trapped by Madeleine Roux and Dead of Night by Jonathan Maberry

This was a timely challenge, as I had The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman on my TBR list, and it arrived in the post just last week! I'd felt a little guilty that I hadn't read it, and I really enjoy Neil Gaiman's writing.
I love the way that Gaiman writes parallel worlds. He draws on well-known mythology, and then just kind of bends the light to make them something 'real' and relevant. I read this book in one sitting - thanks to the dreadful weather this weekend! Which was entirely the right weather to read the book in.
The premise seems so unbelievable that I wasn't sure that I could suspend disbelief enough to enjoy the story, but very soon into the book it felt entirely possible.
Bod (short for Nobody Owens) is brought up by various ghosts in a graveyard, after his family is killed by 'the man Jack'. He is in danger of being killed himself, but is safe in the graveyard.
Well worth a read.

Still hunting something. Fall about laughing, Kathleen, with Devil's Food.

I took on holiday with me. Is a post-ap really but hopefully zombies are an ok fit with the halloween theme this month. Was very readable and I really liked the different perspective on the zombie theme.

Another zombie one from me these holidays Also excellent. Yes I like a good zombie book ;)

I am so sorry, Sweetp, but I cannot see this fascination with zombies, werewolves and vampires, all creatures invented to explain the evils within us.

For me life is horrific and difficult enough without actually reading books about these nasties. The only exception I make is Terry Pratchett because he knows that and uses his versions to make us think about tolerance and our own inner evils.

I'm reading the edition with the two fish on the cover & so far there is a lot of prose about food.
I'll see how I go.

Does 'The Woman in White' count as a ghost story?

P.d.r. wrote: "I am so sorry, Sweetp, but I cannot see this fascination with zombies, werewolves and vampires, all creatures invented to explain the evils within us.

For me life is horrific and difficult enough..."

Isnt it great there are books for all tastes then.

Yes, it is. But how do you read them and sleep at night?

I sleep just fine...anywhere, anytime ;)

Postapocalyptic is actually the genre I enjoy most and zombies/zombie apocalypse is a popular subgenre of it. They dont tend to be horror books as such - I'm not into slash and gore and horror per se, they are usually more about human struggles against all odds type of scenarios - the zombies are just the obstacles to overcome.
I have just finished another one by Alden Bell which is a prequel/alongside to The Reapers are the Angels
Exit Kingdom.

Alden Bell

Thank you Sweetp and Megan! I've actually added The Graveyard Book and The Reapers are Angels to my 'To Read' Shelf. Postapocalyptic/Dystopia/Negative Utopia are favorites of mine also.

I did finish which has actually lead me to find more of Maberry's novels, which seem to be all in the zombie/horror ballpark.

Good job there are lots of different books. I can't even watch Dr. Who.

Andrea, I started one of Maberry's books awhile ago but got distracted and forgot to try again. Thanks for the reminder :)

I've taken silence to be yes and have just finished Woman in White. I do like Wilkie Collins' Victorian style and use of words.

Just finished Unholy Ghosts this afternoon. Listened to most of it on audiobook, although I also had the ebook out of the library. The narrator did a fantastic job of it.

Very Victorian. Nice young man (hero) poor of course, is about to become tutor to a lovely lass up in the north. On his last night in London he meets a woman in great distress, a woman in white he tries to help.

When he arrives to teach Laura Fairlie and her half sister, Marian, he is stunned by Laura's likeness to the Woman in White. Laura is rich and has a selfish, self- indulgent guardian, she is promised to a Sir Percy Glyde who has a mysterious friend, the Count - Fosco!

Got the picture? Natch our nice hero falls for Laura. Marion is anxious about Sir Percy, Hero hates the Count. Laura is trapped by her promise to Sir P.! And the Woman in White appears and then vanishes again!

Hero of course seeks out the truth re Sir P. and the Count. Marion aids him. Up and down the country - oh forgot to say poor Walter is given the boot from his post as tutor to Laura. Caused by guess who!

You get the picture. Add mental institutes, dishonest doctors and the wicked count and you have a lovely Victorian almost melodrama

I read The Yellow Wallpaper recently. That's quite a psychological thriller - so not sure it fits into Hallowe'en. Great social commentary of its time though.

The Yellow Wallpaper made me cringe. Such treatment of women sounds horrific. I like Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone too. Isn't that the first detective novel?

True. Read it for fifth form. Should probably take another look at it.

Still reading The Kitchen Gods Wife. I'm nearly a quarter of the way through & the book seems to be really hitting it's stride.

P.d.r. wrote: "I like Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone too. Isn't that the first detective novel?"

No so. That honour is believed to belong to The Notting Hill Mystery by Charles Felix published in 1863.

Truly? Can I get a copy?

P.d.r. wrote: "Truly? Can I get a copy?"

It was reprinted a couple of years or so ago, so it could be around somewhere in hardcopy. You can download it from the ManyBooks website
http://manybooks.net/titles/felixc461...

ManyBooks is where you can get many of the old out of print classics and is easier to find your way round that Gutenberg IMO.

There is another book published in 1862 that is also often discussed in relation to "the first detective novel", but is probably more the first of the amateur sleuths. It is Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon.
http://manybooks.net/authors/braddonm...

ETA: Revival Books have revived it and it's available in paperback through Amazon.com. CreateSpace are the publishers but I couldn't find it on their website - mind you I have great difficulty finding anything there.
Here's the link to Amazon.com for the illustrated paperback edition
http://www.amazon.com/The-Notting-Hil...
Another interesting fact - it is illustrated by George du Maurier, Daphne's father.

I remember Lady Audley's Secret.
Most impressed by your research, Lesley. Thank you. Yes, I too dread using Gutenberg. Will put the book on my Blackberry for later.

It took fifty mins to get that damned book downloaded onto my Blackberry. Good job it's tough. I threw it at the wall once. That's the third time I've done that. Hope the rotten thing breaks then I can't use it.

Kitchen God's Wife is on hold. It was hitting a few tender spots for me in my own relationship with my mother.
I'm just going to read some escapist stuff & then I'll go back to it.

Nothing like old favourites when life is fraught.

I hit all the Sam Vimes Disc world bks, Kerry Greenwood's two series, The Green Knowe series, the Noggin the Nog series, Swallows and Amazons series, and Amelia Peabody early books plus Austen, Dickens and Shakespeare. That way I stay sane.

Hard to beat them, isn't it. Mine are Austen, Janet Frame (I know, strange in this context but Owls do Cry was an epiphany for me) Mansfield, and sad, sad, sad me....Ian Rankin. I love Dickens but when I'm unhappy with the world Austen - and George Eliot - are my read of choice.

Now isn't that something!
Apart from Silas Marner I find George Eliot depressing!!!

Nowt as queer as folks!
Makes you smile doesn't it?