Tag Archives: Gothic

The Sister by Poppy Adams

British Literature 4 Comments

Synopsis: When elderly Ginny’s sister returns home for the first time since she was a girl, old memories surface that threaten Ginny’s carefully ordered existence. Review: I’m incredibly thankful for the Queens Library for getting The Sister to me so quickly–I can’t remember the last time I read a book so recently published. The review in the New York Times made me think that it’d satisfy my aching desire for more books like Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale. Gothic intrigue. Family secrets. Opaque narration. Superfast…

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Huh? (Booking through Thursday)

On Reading 21 Comments

What’s your favorite book that nobody else has heard of? You know, not Little Women or Huckleberry Finn, not the latest best-seller . . . whether they’ve read them or not, everybody “knows” those books. I’m talking about the best book that, when you tell people that you love it, they go, “Huh? Never heard of it?” A Candle in Her Room by Ruth Arthur tells the story of several generations of a family haunted by a charismatic and evil doll. It scared me silly…

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Come Along With Me by Shirley Jackson

American Literature 7 Comments

Synopsis: Short stories, essays, and an unfinished novel by Shirley Jackson, queen of American Gothic and author of “The Lottery.” Review: My love for Shirley Jackson has been well documented in this blog, so I was delighted when my husband got me Come Along With Me for my birthday. The collection opens with “Come Along With Me,” the novel that Jackson was working on when she died at the untimely age of 44. At about 33 pages, there isn’t much of a narrative, just a…

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Oh, Horror! (Booking Through Thursday) + Question from a Reader

On Reading 2 Comments

First of all–happy NaNoWriMo & good luck to all who are participating! I’d be with you if my baby’s due date weren’t smack dab in the middle of the month. This week’s meme: What with yesterday being Halloween, and all . . . do you read horror? Stories of things that go bump in the night and keep you from sleeping? I do like a good scare, though I much prefer the Gothic kind of horror to any other kind. My love for Stephen King…

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Angelica by Arthur Phillips

American Literature 2 Comments

Synopsis: Fearful of her husband’s sexual advances, a young mother falls into a spectacular case of hysteria–that might not be all in her head. Review: Angelica is yet another neo-Gothic tale, set in a Victorian England conjured more from literature than from history. It has all of the elements you’d want: repressed sexuality, midnight visions, hysteria and a spiritualist, all rendered in gorgeous, sumptuous prose from four different points of view.

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The Ghost Writer by John Harwood

Australian Literature 4 Comments

Synopsis: Having grown up with a controlling, secret-keeping mother, a young man yearns to know his family’s history and meet his letter-writing lover in person, but his journey takes him face to face with madness and murder. Review: Thank you, thank you, thank you to Eva for recommending this book! The Ghost Writer is a straight up Gothic tale, no revisionism here, thank you very much. It’s a tangled labyrinth of memories, letters, and unfinished stories that builds to a creepy, frightening climax that draws…

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The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons

American Literature 9 Comments

Synopsis: A new house in a suburban Atlanta neighborhood spells disaster for all its inhabitants. Review: It’s awfully hard to be frightened when you’re sitting on a rooftop deck in West Hollywood, letting the setting sun dry your bathing suit after discovering that you can float like a cork in the saltwater pool.

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