Paranormal reading challenge hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings
Book Review: Wings of Fire by Charles Todd Publisher: St. Martin’s Format: Print, 323 pages Source: White Elephant Sale at the Oakland Museum In Wings of Fire by Charles Todd, Ian Rutledge is a damaged Scotland Yard inspector, recently returned from the horrific conditions of World War I. He’s something of a pariah in the stuffy bureaucracy, suffering from a debilitating case of “shell shock.” I must confess I did not fully grasp how horrific World War I was until…
Heartless by Gail Carriger Heartless is the first novel I’m reviewing for the 2014 R.I.P. Challenge at Stainless Steel Droppings. image courtesy of Abigail Larson I made the acquaintance of the Parasol Protectorate series with the first book, Soulless. Alexia Tarabotti, a misunderstood misfit preternatural resides in an alternate, steam punk Victorian England replete with foppish vampires and rustic werewolves. (The werewolves are, after all, from the wilds of Scotland.) Soulless is a delight. Despite the smart beginning to the series, I…
image courtesy Abigail Larsen R. I. P. aka Readers Imbibing Peril I love gray skies, don’t you? Of course you do. That time of year when pumpkins multiply in mysterious ways (you turn your back for a second and suddenly whole fields of pumpkins surround you–it’s spooky!), when footsteps echo on a foggy eve, when the graveyard beckons, whispering,”I see you. Come closer.” Not the least of the reasons for autumn joy is the R.I.P. reading challenge hosted…
This House Is Haunted by John Boyne This House Is Haunted is sort of like Jane Eyre meets Turn of the Screw. The author John Boyne writes 19th century sensibilities with the absolute authority of a waistcoat-wearing, mutton chopped Victorian. So much so, I was surprised to see his other books include The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. In fact, these two works are so different, I actually researched the author on Wikipedia! I thought there might be two John…
(image credit) Sadly, it’s time to wrap up Readers Imbibing.Peril VIII. It’s fitting that our cloaked heroine appears to be fleeing the scene, don’t you think? I had fun participating for my third time over at Stainless Steel Droppings and even surpassed past attempts. During the challenge, I viewed one movie and read six books. If you missed them, here they are: Ghost Town the movie with Ricky Gervais, Tea Leoni, and Greg Kinnear Notes from Ghost Town by Kate Ellison The…
Notes from Ghost Town by Kate Ellison Olivia will always regret not confessing her undying love to best friend Lucas, for just as she begins to tell him, fate intervenes. The next time Olivia sees Lucas, he’s a ghost. So begins Notes from Ghost Town by Kate Ellison that I read as part of the RIP challenge at Stainless Steel Droppings. Olivia, a promising artist, faces multiple problems for one so young. Someone killed Lucas, and she must discover who…
For my next selection of the R.I.P. challenge, I read The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo. This reading ended up as a serendipitous survey of literature based in Malaya (present day Malaysia). In the last two years, quite unplanned, I’ve read three works set in this country, all as different as they can be. The first novel I read is Old Filth by Jane Gardam about a cynical octogenarian barrister of British ancestry; the second was The Garden of Evening…
This is my second selection for Carl’s R.I.P. at Stainless Steel Droppings. I file The Search under the mystery/thriller category. The Search by Nora Roberts is a romantic thriller; i.e., heroine in peril narrative. I’m expanding my review categories from ghost novels to include young adult novels and dog fiction. The Search is of the latter variety. Simon isn’t Fiona’s type. And she’s definitely not his. But Simon is in desperate need of a dog whisperer/trainer for his recalcitrant canine…
Thank you, Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings, for once again hosting R.I.P! Ghost Town with Ricky Gervais, Tea Leoni and Greg Kinnear, directed by David Koepp. I was visiting my daughter and son-in-law in Seattle, and we decided to watch a scifi movie. Of all things, our search netted Ghost Town. (Such is the difficulty with the ghost genre—there is no ghost genre; you find ghosts when you least expect them.) Anyhow, ghost aficionado that I am, I jumped at…
(photo credit) We are gathered here to mourn the passing of October but also to revel in the warmth of autumn and the joy of sharing. It’s been a busy, crazy, exciting, delightful month of reading and conversing and musing. Even now, the last of the young-uns are streaking through the streets in pursuit of chocolate. Soon, all will be as quiet as the grave. This year I think I maximized my otherworldly experiences. I participated in the group read…
Today is my birthday. Or was when I began this post. (Alas, I’m a slow writer.) But I have a gift for you. R.I.P is here again! Hard to believe a year has gone by, but there it is. And autumn, the best time of the year, arrives. And with autumn, comes R.I.P. R.I.P (Readers Imbibing Peril) is the brainchild of Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings. It’s an opportunity for those of us who like things that go bump in…
Sadly, the annual Readers Imbibing Peril Challenge has met its inevitable demise. I feel so fortunate to have found this reading challenge in my first year of blogging. It was great fun, and I’m already looking forward to next year! Best of all, I will continue to peruse the posted R.I.P. reviews in my quest for the quintessential ghost story. To check out the hundreds of other reviews in the realm of the creepy at Stainless Steel Droppings, click here. By…
R.I.P Challenge As writers we always hear, “Connect with others who share your interests.” Everyone tells you to do it, but no one tells you how to do it. In my case, I find it hard to connect with folks in the ghost fiction genre because, well, there is no ghost fiction genre. Some ghost fiction comes to us from top-drawer masters like Henry James and Toni Morrison and are shelved in Literature. I’ve found some ghost novels in the…