Five Best Books: Ghost Stories

5 Best Books is the weekly meme hosted by Cassandra at Indie Reader Houston. Each week there's a new topic and 5 book picks to talk about. This week she is asking about our top five ghost stories. And, in fact, she plans on picking appropriate seasonal topics for the entire month of October.

I'm not much for scary stories anymore....so let's see what I can come up with.

1. Madam Crowl's Ghost & Other Stories by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. A collection of ghost stories from the mid- to late-1800s. I read that last year for a fall challenge. Click the title for a review.

2. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: The story starts conventionally enough with friends sharing ghost stories 'round the fire on Christmas Eve. One of the guests tells about a governess at a country house plagued by supernatural visitors. But in the hands of Henry James, the master of nuance, this little tale of terror is an exquisite gem of sexual and psychological ambiguity. Only the young governess can see the ghosts; only she suspects that the previous governess and her lover are controlling the two orphaned children (a girl and a boy) for some evil purpose. The household staff don't know what she's talking about, the children are evasive when questioned, and the master of the house (the children's uncle) is absent. Why does the young girl claim not to see a perfectly visible woman standing on the far side of the lake? Are the children being deceptive, or is the governess being paranoid?


3. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill: Set on the obligatory English moor, on an isolated cause-way, the story stars an up-and-coming young solicitor who sets out to settle the estate of Mrs. Drablow. Routine affairs quickly give way to a tumble of events and secrets more sinister than any nightmare. This first-class thriller - lately reincarnated on the stage - is a brilliant exercise in controlled horror. A real spine-tingler by a real master.

4. Ghosts Who Went to School by Judith Spearing. Not a scary ghost story, but one of my favorites as kid. It's about Wilbur and Mortimer (and their parents) who are ghosts and have been busy haunting a house. But Wilbur and Mortimer have gotten bored with the whole haunting thing and decide that they want to go to school. This is a fun book about what happens when a couple of ghosts "haunt" the kids at school. It's also the book that introduced me to the word glockenspiel.

5. The Watcher in the Woods by Florence Engel Randall. Not precisely a ghost story. But there is some sort of supernatural presence in the woods near the Carstairs' new home. The daughters, Jan and Ellie, can "sense" and "hear" the watcher, respectively. And the reluctant seller of the home, Mrs. Aylwood, can see the watcher. Is it really the presence--ghostly or otherwise--of Karen Aylwood who disappeared 50 years ago at the age of fifteen? Or something else with a more malevolent plan? [also made into a Disney film--but I've never seen it] I was more into the spooky and supernatural when I was younger and I absolutely loved this book.

Five Best Books: Banned or Challenged

5 Best Books is the weekly meme hosted by Cassandra at INDIE READER HOUSTON. Each week there's a new topic and 5 book picks to talk about. This week, in honor of Banned Books Week, we are to pick the Five Best Banned &/or Challenged Books. Check out Cassandra's wonderful post re: banned books and her own 5 Best.

Here are mine (with clickable titles for reviews where appropriate):

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

2. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou




3. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
4. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut


5. The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Oh! And I forgot Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury which I learned from Amanda over at Dead White Guys was "banned in 1998 by a school board in Mississippi because of the word 'god damn.' Obviously, the parent who complained did not catch the irony. He was too busy being a dumb ass." {I just had to quote her....she says it much more emphatically than I ever could.}

Five Best Books: Academia

5 Best Books is the weekly meme hosted by Cassandra at INDIE READER HOUSTON. Each week there's a new topic and 5 book picks to talk about. This week it's books set in, around or having anything to do with Academia. I love academic satire and academic mysteries--must be because I work at the university and I love to see the academic-types get a good skewering. There are so many really good ones. Here's today's top five:

1. Paradise News by David Lodge: Take a tried and true academic and send him to Paradise. Mix well with an accidental encounter that will open him to possibilities never dreamed of at the college in Rummidge, England. [Other good ones by Lodge: Small World, Changing Places, and The British Museum Is Falling Down.]

2. Straight Man by Richard Russo: Richard Russo performs his characteristic high-wire walk between hilarity and heartbreak. Russo's protagonist is William Henry Devereaux, Jr., the reluctant chairman of the English department of a badly underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt. Devereaux's reluctance is partly rooted in his character--he is a born anarchist-- and partly in the fact that his department is more savagely divided than the Balkans. In the course of a single week, Devereaux will have his nose mangled by an angry colleague, imagine his wife is having an affair with his dean, wonder if a curvaceous adjunct is trying to seduce him with peach pits, and threaten to execute a goose on local television. All this while coming to terms with his philandering father, the dereliction of his youthful promise, and the ominous failure of certain vital body functions.

3. Bodies in a Bookshop by R. T. Campbell: Botanist Max Boyle visits a "curious little shop in a side-street off the Tottenham Court Road" in London and is himself ecstatic with the bookish treasures he finds there. But then he finds something much more disturbing...two bodies in a back room filled with gas fumes. Boyle seeks help from "The Bishop," Chief Inspector Reginald F. Bishop of Scotland Yard. Bishop winds up asking for assistance from Professor John Stubbs, another botanist and amateur criminologist. The play between the professor, the protesting Boyle, and skeptical, world-weary Bishop is entertaining in itself.

4. Death in a Tenured Position by Amanda Cross: When Janet Mandelbaum is made the first woman professor at Harvard's English Department, the men are not happy. They are unhappier still when her tea is spiked and she is found drunk on the floor of the women's room. With a little time, Janet's dear friend and colleague Kate Fansler could track down the culprit, but time is running out....

5. The Weight of the Evidence by Michael Innes: Meteorites fall from the sky but seldom onto the heads of science dons in redbrick universities; yet this is what happens to Professor Pluckrose of Nestfield University. Inspector Appleby soon discovers that the meteorite was not fresh and that the professor's deckchair had been placed underneath a large, accessible tower - he already knew something of academic jealousies but he was to find out a great deal more.

Honorable Mention: A History of the World in 10½ Chapters by Julian Barnes--purely for the marvelous short story "The Dream"--which tells us what academics do in heaven.

N: And who lasts longest? [in Heaven]

M: …scholarly people, they tend to last as long as anyone. They like sitting around reading all the books there are. And then they love arguing about them. Some of those arguments—she cast an eye to the heavens—go on for millennium after millennium. It just seems to keep them young, for some reason, arguing about books.

Narrator; Margaret

“The Dream”

Five Best Books: Based on a True Story

The 5 Best Books meme is hosted by Cassandra at Indie Reader Houston.

This week we are asked to list our Five Best Books: Based on a True Story. I don't really read a lot of books that are based on true stories. I do read historical fiction and historical mysteries that may feature real people, but they don't necessarily relay actual events. I do read historical books based on true stories occasionally, though. Here are my top five of those:

1. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. The book that made me fall in love with Tey's writing. And got me interested in Richard III and the Princes in the Tower. Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, recuperating from a broken leg, becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III that bears no resemblance to the Wicked Uncle of history. Could such a sensitive, noble face actually belong to one of the world's most heinous villains -- a venomous hunchback who may have killed his brother's children to make his crown secure? Or could Richard have been the victim, turned into a monster by the usurpers of England's throne? Grant determines to find out once and for all, with the help of the British Museum and an American scholar, what kind of man Richard Plantagenet really was and who killed the Little Princes in the Tower.

2. Killer Angels by Michael Shaara: Recreates the Civil War at Gettysburg. My favorite novel about war. In the four most bloody and courageous days of our nation’s history, two armies fought for two conflicting dreams. One dreamed of freedom, the other of a way of life. Far more than rifles and bullets were carried into battle. There were memories. There were promises. There was love. And far more than men fell on those Pennsylvania fields. Bright futures, untested innocence, and pristine beauty were also the casualties of war. Michael Shaara’s Pulitzer Prize–winning masterpiece is unique, sweeping, unforgettable—the dramatic story of the battleground for America’s destiny. - (Random House, Inc.)

3. Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. One of my rare forays into true crime--particularly serial killers. But this one is so well written. A compelling account of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 brings together the divergent stories of two very different men who played a key role in shaping the history of the event--visionary architect Daniel H. Burnham, who coordinated its construction, and Dr. Henry H. Holmes, an insatiable and charming serial killer who lured women to their deaths.

4. Katherine by Anya Seton (click title for my review): I'm not much into the medieval time period. But this one is very good. This classic romance novel tells the true story of the love affair that changed history—that of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the ancestors of most of the British royal family. Set in the vibrant 14th century of Chaucer and the Black Death, the story features knights fighting in battle, serfs struggling in poverty, and the magnificent Plantagenets—Edward III, the Black Prince, and Richard II—who ruled despotically over a court rotten with intrigue. Within this era of danger and romance, John of Gaunt, the king’s son, falls passionately in love with the already married Katherine. Their well-documented affair and love persist through decades of war, adultery, murder, loneliness, and redemption. This epic novel of conflict, cruelty, and untamable love has become a classic since its first publication in 1954.

5. The Wench Is Dead by Colin Dexter. Another British Inspector solves a mystery from long ago from his sickbed. It is only to entertain himself in the hospital that the impatient Inspector Morse opens the little book called Murder on the Oxford Canal. But so fascinating is the story it tells--of the notorious 1859 murder of Joanna Franks aboard the canal boat Barbara Bray--that not even Morse's attractive nurses can distract him from it. Was Joanna really raped and murdered by fellow passengers? Morse believes the men hanged for the crime were innocent. Now, in one of the most dazzling investigations of his career, Morse sets out to piece together the shattered past, hoping to expose the shocking truth about the Barbara Bray--and a beautiful wench who is journeying towards her death.

Five Best Books: Genre Reads

5 Best Books is a weekly meme hosted by Cassandra at her blog, INDIEREADERHOUSTON Each week we're handed a new topic - this week, 5 Best Genre Reads.

Well...let's see. I'm a mystery-lover. I talk about mysteries quite a lot here on My Reader's Block. I wonder if I can come up with a list that isn't entirely made up of titles I keep plugging all the time. I think I'll narrow it down and go with my top five academic mysteries. For my purposes an academic mystery must have one or more of the following: a professor or teacher acting as the primary (amateur) detective; a professor or teacher as the victim, culprit or essential main character; and/or a school or university setting.

1. Bodies in a Bookshop by R. T. Campbell (synopsis & my thoughts available by clicking title)

2. Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers: When Harriet Vane attends her Oxford reunion, known as the "Gaudy," the prim academic setting is haunted by a rash of bizarre pranks: scrawled obsentities, burnt effigies and poison-pen letters — including one that says, "Ask your boyfriend with the title if he likes arsenic in his soup." Some of the notes threaten murder; all are perfectly ghastly; yet in spite of their scurrilous nature, all are perfectly worded. And Harriet finds herself ensnared in a nightmare of romance and terror, with only the tiniest shreds of clues to challenge her powers of detection, and those of her paramour, Lord Peter Wimsey.

3. Death in a Tenured Position by Amanda Cross: When Janet Mandelbaum is made the first woman professor at Harvard's English Department, the men are not happy. They are unhappier still when her tea is spiked and she is found drunk on the floor of the women's room. With a little time, Janet's dear friend and colleague Kate Fansler could track down the culprit, but time is running out....

4. The Weight of the Evidence by Michael Innes: Meteorites fall from the sky but seldom onto the heads of science dons in redbrick universities; yet this is what happens to Professor Pluckrose of Nestfield University. Inspector Appleby soon discovers that the meteorite was not fresh and that the professor's deckchair had been placed underneath a large, accessible tower - he already knew something of academic jealousies but he was to find out a great deal more

5. Death's Bright Dart by V. C. Clinton-Baddley: The speaker stepped to the podium. The audience waited expectantly. But before the celebrated scientist could utter a word, he clutched his neck, gasped and fell to the ground--the victim of a poisoned dart. Clearly someone at the conference could handle a primitive blowpipe with deadly precision. The inquisitive Dr. Davie did some research of his own and discovered that each of the distinguished scientists had something to hide. Now he had to discover which one was venomous enough to kill in order to protect his secret.

Five Best Books: Rereads

The 5 Best Books meme is hosted by Cassandra at Indie Reader Houston.

This week we are asked to list our Five Best Books: Rereads. What books do you find yourself going back to over and over again? Even in a world where there are "so many books and too little time" I find myself returning to certain books when I need a comfort read. Or when I get in a reading lull and just can't latch on to any of the hundreds (literally) of books waiting for me in the TBR piles.

Here are some of those books:

1. Strong Poison by Dorothy L Sayers (or really any of her Lord Peter Wimsey books). These are such well-written, tried and true old friends that any of them can get me out of a reading funk like nobody's business.

2. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (or, again, any of the Holmes stories). I like reading the Victorian prose. I like watching the master at work.

3. The End of the Alphabet by C. S. Richardson. An absolutely lovely book that I like to revisit. In fact, I'm just about due for another re-read.

4. The Norths Meet Murder by Frances & Richard Lockridge (or, again, any of the mysteries written as a team. Some that were written by Richard alone I can take or leave). There are times when light and breezy and just a bit "screwy" (as Sgt. Mullins would say) is exactly what the doctor ordered.

5. Persuasion--my favorite Jane Austen. Another that is probably do for another run-through.

On any given day 2-3 of these might be different. There are other books that see a frequent reread now and then. But you will always find Sayers and the Lockridges on this list.

Five Best Books: Real People in Fiction

The 5 Best Books meme is hosted by Cassandra at Indie Reader Houston.

This week we are asked to list our Five Best Books: Real People in Fiction. Cassandra chose books with real authors in fictional books. I may not quite stick to that--I'm afraid I may have trouble coming up with five choices with any sort of real people in them. But here goes--in no particular order:

1. Oscar Wilde in the mystery series by Gyles Brandreth. (OW & a Death of No Importance; OW & a Game Called Murder; OW & the Dead Man's Smile; OW and the Vampire Murders) Well-researched and all of Wilde's mannerisms and bon mots are used to good effect without being overdone. Wilde makes for a fascinating amateur detective.

2. Alice James---and brothers Henry and William--in What Alice Knew: A Most Curious Tale of Henry James and Jack the Ripper by Paula Marantz Cohen. Brother Henry may get top billing in the title, but Alice steals the show in this very interesting retelling and solving of the Ripper murders.

3. Josphine Tey (Elizabeth Mackintosh) in Nicola Upson's mystery series (An Expert in Murder; Angel with Two Faces; Two for Sorrow). A good series starring the Golden Age mystery writer in mysteries of her own. Upson does a good job with time period and inserting Tey into mysteries without making it seem contrived.

4. William Powell and Myrna Loy in The William Powell and Myrna Loy Murder Case by George Baxt. Baxt does a nice line of celebrity murder cases (Hitchcock, Bogart, Clark Cable, Dorothy Parker, etc). But this one is my favorite.

5. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. I was already a Civil War buff of sorts when I read this one. But this is the book that really got me interested in the officer from Maine who held Little Round Top. Shaara does a very good job with the large cast of characters--giving each one, from both sides of the war their moments. I also like his portrayal of General Buford.

Five Best Books: [With] Horrible Titles

The 5 Best Books meme is hosted by Cassandra at Indie Reader Houston.

This week we are asked to list our Five Best Books: [With] Horrible Titles. Good titles grab your attention. They make you want to pick up the book and see what it's about. Bad titles...if you haven't been told that the book is fabulous, you probably wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole. Bad titles may scream Boring! at you....or Ick! And, of course, like so many things in the book world, one person's bad title may be someone else's favorite. So, without meaning offense to anyone who thinks these titles are the all-time greatest and in no particular order, I give you bad titles for books I've actually read.....

1. Injury Time by Catherine Aird. Sounds like someone has had an accident in the sporting arena. Actually, this is a murder mystery. I'd say somebody is getting a little bit more than injured....And I'd be right. I read this some time ago. It was decent, but the title wouldn't have grabbed me if I didn't like Aird.

2. Fire, Burn! by John Dickson Carr. I only picked this one up because it was by Carr. Otherwise, that title would have done nothing for me. Unfortunately, the title was a pretty good indicator. The story did nothing for me either. Which is unusual for Carr.

3. Book by Robert Grudin. No? Really? If I hadn't heard good things about this satire, there's no way this would have leapt off the library shelves and into my hand.

4. The Curse of the Giant Hogweed by Charlotte MacLeod. I love the Peter Shandy mysteries. Sometimes they're a little off-the-wall, but they're funny and light when that's what you want. This one is just bizarre. Like the title.

5. Oh! Where Are Bloody Mary's Earrings? by Robert Player. I don't remember how this got recommended to me. But it did. I read it many moons ago. Don't remember a darn thing about it. Maybe the title would have been a clue that it wouldn't be all that.

Five Best Books: Love

The 5 Best Books meme is hosted by Cassandra at Indie Reader Houston.

This week we are asked to list our Five Best Books: Love. We can use the standard interpretation of love and list our favorite romances or love stories. Cassandra has given us a list of books that she loves in different ways.

I've never been really heavy into romance/love stories...but I did have a phase. Here are my top love stories:

1. The Promise by Danielle Steele. Probably the only Steele novel I remember and can say I really liked. This one grabbed me and had me crying all over the place. That's not so typical either.



2. Persuasion by Jane Austen. My favorite Austen of all those I've read so far. Of course, it would have been much more intelligent if Anne Elliot had just went with Captain Wentworth right off the bat....but then we wouldn't have a story, would we?



3. The Bridge Across Forever by Richard Bach. It's been a long time since I read this one, but it immediately popped into my head. "To a public that desperately wants to believe in love, Bach says: Hang on. Take heart. There is such a thing as a soulmate." -- The Atlanta Constitution4. Crimson Roses by Grace Livingstone Hill. My all-time favorite by Hill. This is a heartwarming, enchanting story by a favorite Christian romance author. When a secret admirer brings the prospect of romance into Marion's lonely life, she finds herself wondering if she can find her place in his world of wealth and glamor.



5. Savannah by Eugenia Price. Orphaned Mark Browning was only twenty when he renounced his father's fortune and sailed to Savannah, his mother's birthplace...and the home of two remarkable women. The first is Eliza McQueen Mackay, his mentor's beautiful wife, whom Mark loves with a deep, pure love that can never be spoken. The other is lovely young Caroline Cameron, whose life is blighted by a secret that has tormented her grandparents for half a century--a secret that affects Mark more closely than he imagines. Desiring one woman, loved by another Mark must confront the ghosts of a previous generation, and face the evil smoldering hate, before he can truly call Savannah his home.


Honorable Mention:
The Love Letters by Madeline L'Engle. Charlotte Napier has much to learn about herself, her faith, and her marriage. She flees to Portugal, desperately looking for comfort after the death of her son and, she thinks, her marriage. There she finds solace in the letters of a 17th century nun who struggled with temptation and sin. AAs Charlotte achieves a clearer focus on her own pain, she gains a powerful sense of the rigorous and demanding nature of real love.

Five Best Books of 2011 (so far)

The 5 Best Books meme is hosted by Cassandra at Indie Reader Houston.

I first found this meme through Bibliosue and thought it sounded like fun. This week we are asked to list our Five Best Books of 2011 (so far). Given that I don't really read current fiction--particularly not up-to-the-minute books of this year--I'm interpreting "Best of 2011" to mean best books that I've read in 2011. Mine are below--pretty much in order and with links to my reviews.

1. Howards End Is on the Landing by Susan Hill. A book about books for book lovers. It isn't often that a book comes along that I want to underline just about every sentence....or at least snag them for my quote collection. Susan Hill's book is such a one. (Five stars on my five stars rating system)

2. What Alice Knew: A Most Curious Tale of Henry James and Jack the Ripper by Paula Marantz Cohen. An incredibly well-told re-telling of the most famous serial killer ever. (Five stars)

3. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. A story about story-telling and truth. A lovely, well-written book that I am sure to recommend over and over. (Four & 1/2 stars)

4. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell. A haunting, disturbing, multi-layered novel. It tells the story of Esme (Euphemia) Lennox, a woman who has been locked away in a mental institution for over sixty years. (Four & 1/2 stars)

5. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. This was a delight to read. As always, it is a perfect commentary on the social mores and expectations of the time. I also enjoyed the send-up of the Gothic novel. [Four stars]

Honorable Mention: Winner of the most difficult book that I loved category--
Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner. I hate stream of conscious books. But I loved this one. Absolutely marvelous story about race and integrity....if you can manage to wade through the stream. Intruder earned Four stars...but would clearly have been a five star winner if not for that dratted S-of-C.

5 Best Books: Set in War

The 5 Best Books meme is hosted by Cassandra at Indie Reader Houston.

I found this meme through Bibliosue and thought it sounded like fun. This week's 5 Best is the 5 best books that take place during a war. Here are a few off the top of my head:

1. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
2. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
3. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
4. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
5. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut