Book Blogger Hop: Autumnal Books

Blogging Question: With Autumn upon us and Halloween drawing near, what books remind you of fall? What ones do you enjoy reading that are about autumn?

I can't say that I've ever really read any fall-specific books, or scary books, so this one has me stumped, but here are a list of books I think would be good during the autumn and Halloween:

1. The Gathering Darkness, Lisa Collicutt.  I've mentioned this book several times, but it really does fit the season so well!  It's set in autumn, it features a creepy gothic house and it's about witches!  It had me on the edge of my seat.  Great read!

2. Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier.  Not your typical scary story, but definitely creepy.  A new bride comes to her new home to find that her husband's first wife (who died) is still very present in everyone's mind.  This one has a ghost not in sepulchral form but more the memories of the first wife that haunt people.  Add to that the uber creepy Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper and former confidant/nurse of the first wife, and you've got a psychological thriller.  Also a great movie by Hitchcock.

3. The Turn Of The Screw, Henry James.  Another psychological thriller, this one is about a governess who comes to take care of two children and starts to see ghosts.  She tries to protect the children, but in the end, it may be she who needs the help! A great classic.

4. Maybe This Time, Jennifer Crusie.  Based on The Turn Of The Screw, it is again about ghosts and children.  This time a soon-to-be ex-wife does her ex-husband a favor by going to Nanny 2 children whom her husband has recently become guardian of.  Creepy house, creepy housekeeper, creepy ghosts, creepy kids, some unwanted guests, a seance and an exorcism.  It was great!

5. The House On Tradd Street, Karen White.  Realtor Melanie can see ghosts, but tries to pretend she can't.  When an old house is left to her in a will, she moves in to find out that some of the former ghost residents haven't moved out...and they don't like her!  Add to that an old Confederate mystery and a handsome writer.  Loved it!


EXCITING NEWS!!!  Krystal Wade, author of Wilde's Fire and Wilde's Army will be chatting with me live on Friday October 19th about her new book, Wilde's Meadow!  If you have any questions you'd like to ask her about her book, about submitting or anything else, please let me know and I'll ask her!

My Last Thought on Banned Books

Seeing all the posts on Banned Books Week courtesy of the blog hop has been so fascinating to me and I've really enjoyed the pros and cons that people have pointed out.

I'd like to add a few words to my previous posts:

A. This is obviously a hot spot and there doesn't seem to be a right answer, just opinion.  And I will try my hardest to be respectful of your opinion whether or not I agree with it.

B. I am a very stubborn person (worst quality right there for ya) and tend to stick to my guns too obstinately.  And since I'm so stubborn, I can easily slip into being judgmental, which I really really try not to do.  I tend to judge people who homeschool their children or are very religious, but that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or should be looked down upon.  They are their opinions and therefore are worthy of respect.  If what I wrote comes off as judgmental, my apologies.  I really don't want to be.

C. I had no idea that some of the banned books were "how-to's" for illegal things.  Like making bombs or pedophilia.  Ok, those are just wrong.  I'm all for the first amendment, but I don't think that instructing someone on how to commit a crime falls within the parameters of Free Speech.

And with that said, I'm going to return to reading the latest Rick Riordan in the Kane Chronicles.  I hope this book isn't banned - it's so good.  Review to come soon!

Friday Night Lights...on a Tuesday

My blog for tonight is inspired by going to my 16 year old niece's high school football games, at which she is a cheerleader.  My husband and I have been faithfully attending both her away and home football games this season.  Her school's team is amazingly good and we love seeing her out there cheering, so being the good aunt and uncle we are, we have been going.  It makes me relive my better high school days (the cheerleading) and lets me forget some of the awful times (every other moment of high school.)

So here are a few awesome YA books that are great for this time of year and for some high school nostalgia:

Remember Me, Christopher Pike   This book is about a girl who is dead.  She doesn't know who killed her and now she's a ghost trying to solve her murder.

Jinx High, Mercedes Lackey .  Psychotic teens in Tucson, AZ.  A witch called in to stop them and an ancient evil is lying dormant under the city just beginning to awaken.

The Gathering Darkness, Lisa Collicut. A new girl in school.  Two handsome twins.  Past lives and vengeful witches.

A Royal Pain, Ellen Conford   A girl finds out she was switched at birth with a princess from a foreign country.  Luckily there's a super cute reporter to catch her interest.

So what books remind you of high school (in a good way)?  Do any of them make you want to stand up and cheer "Hornets! Hornets! Go Go GO!"  No.  Just me?  Well, if you change your mind, you can always join me at my niece's games - I'll be in the front row loudly (and embarrassingly) cheering.

Book Blogger Hop

 

When I read there was a Book Blogger Hop, hosted by Soon Remembered Tales specifically dealing with Banned Books Week (which clearly has been on my mind), I just had to join.

Blogging Question: Banned Books Week ends on the 6th. How do you feel about books being challenged to be banned from libraries or schools? Have you read any banned books?

If you've read my posts this week, you already know I don't think that banning books is a good thing.  We are becoming a society so infatuated with sheltering our children that we aren't letting them make mistakes and choices for themselves.  College students complain to their parents when they get bad grades so that the parents call and yell at the professors.  Young professionals go on interviews and bring their parents with them.  And of course, they don't leave home until they're in their mid-30s.  I'll chalk the living at home thing up the economy, but either way, children are being coddled, and it starts with censoring their books.  I think children should be encouraged to develop their imagination and learn about all aspects of life, even the ones that aren't very pretty.

The banned books I've read on my own:
Brave New World
The Hunger Games trilogy
The Harry Potter series
Charlotte's Web
Twilight trilogy
The Handmaid's Tale
The Kite Runner
A Light In The Attic
The House Of The Spirits
The Dead Zone
Pillars of the Earth
The Lovely Bones
Go Ask Alice* - just got from the library last night

Banned books I was assigned to read in high school:
To Kill A Mockingbird
Fahrenheit 451
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Catcher in the Rye
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Of Mice And Men
Flowers for Algernon
Lord Of The Flies
The Great Gatsby
The Jungle

I'm you're density!

No, I'm not writing about Back to the Future, although I could...I totally love that movie.  I'm writing about my book density today.  I mean destiny.



I've been struggling through 150 pages of a book I just cannot get into and lamenting this fact when an email pops up from library.  There's a book on hold for me!  Score!  I open it to see which one and there it is: Insurgent.  I've been dying to read this one since I finished Divergent, but I decided to space it out closer to when book 3 comes out.  But whatever, I want to read it already!

I arrive at the library and in the very front is the table where they display books.  They usually pick a theme: summer vacation, Halloween, etc.  The display was wrapped up in police "caution" tape and there were the banned books.  Not only does my state and county not ban books, but they put them on display, as if specifically saying "these books are banned, so take one and read it!"  Well, I'm nothing if not good at following directions, so I circle the display.  Should I take a Gossip Girl novel?  I certainly don't need a book on what's happening to my body - I've got that down pat by now.  I've read and own all the Harry Potters and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.  So I decide on Go Ask Alice.   

While I'm there I pick up the newest Rick Riordan and another book on my Fall Into Reading list.  I check out and the librarian tells me my due date: October 25th.  My birthday.

Clearly, me going to the library today and getting those books is, as they say in Yiddish, beshert.  Meant to be.

It was my destiny.

What's your book destiny?

The Gathering Darkness, Lisa Collicutt

This was provided to me by Curiosity Quills Press and Netgalley for review.

 

Synopsis: 16 year old Brooke Day has been packed her off by her parents to live with her aunt, uncle and cousin in the coastal Massachusetts town of Deadwich. Brooke likes her relatives but doesn't like living there because whenever she goes to bed, she has horrible nightmares where she's surrounded in darkness.

At her new high school, Brooke quickly garners the attention of popular twins Evan and Marcus Knight, but while Evan is charismatic and more friendly, she is immediately drawn to Marcus.   In the midst of her nightmares, she hears his voice calling out and soothing her fears, but in the daytime, it is Evan who showers her with attention.

She, her cousin Sammy and the twins all work at the Ravenwyck Inn, a creepy house owned by an even creepier old woman, Maggie, who scares Brooke.  Brooke can sense the evil coming off of Maggie, but no one else seems to.

Brooke's nightmares continue until she gets lost on an island during a party and falls into an abandoned well.  When Marcus rescues her, she finds an amulet which makes her nightmares ease up.  But while her dreams are now safe, her daytime life gets harder as suddenly her cousin and new friends turn evil under Maggie's influence and Marcus is the only one she can trust.  

Brooke's and Marcus's past lives are catching up with them and they have to try and stay alive while the witches they've wronged and fought against before try to get revenge.

My Thoughts: First, I want to say that after reading 4 of Curiosity Quills Press's books, I find that I really enjoy them.  Looking forward to see what else they publish!  Now on to The Gathering Darkness...seeing as it's October and Halloween is approaching, reading something spooky is just what I needed.  This book isn't a ghost story, per se, but with the gothic Ravenwyck Inn, stormy weather, nightmares and witches, it was perfect for this time of year.  Add that to the overcast, gloomy weather in Washington, DC right now and the stage was perfectly set.

Collicutt writes in a way that just sucks you in to the world of Deadwich.  I could easily imagine Brooke's world, the scary Ravenwyck Inn and the dreamy Marcus.  She described a teenager's insecurities and angst that go along with first love well, and while I was a bit surprised at how quickly they declared their love, it didn't seem rushed or false.

Then there was the ending.  Talk about action packed!  I couldn't put the book down, despite my eyelids getting heavy.  I just had to find out how it ended.  Bravo to Collicutt for keeping it fast paced and for keeping the surprises coming.  Never saw them coming!  Love that!

I had 2 minor complaints with the book.  First is the symbolism.  Deadwich.  Dead witch.  And Day and Knight.  A bit too obvious for me.  But again, not enough to put me off from the book.  Second is a continuity issue at the end of the book that the editor should have picked up. They call Marcus's Uncle Edmond to pick them up on Skull Island and then when he finds them, he mentioned that when they didn't show up at his house, he went to Skull Island to find them.  Again, these were not huge issues, and they didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book.

Rating: 4 stars

Banned Book Week

Happy First Week of October, or as librarians everywhere are calling it, Banned Book Week!

The thought of banning books is appalling to me, especially since so many of the most commonly banned books are amazing ones.  Harry Potter has witchcraft and yes, Brave New World has sex and drug use, and The Hunger Games has...ok, I don't know why that one's banned, but come on!  They are beautiful books!

Not being a parent, I can only use my experiences as a teen to justify my sense of outrage at the censorship of reading material...but then, as my husband loves to remind me, there was little to no supervision in my house regarding reading and tv/movie viewing.  Yes, my mom raised us on Cujo.  Yes, I watched Revenge of the Nerds at age 8.  Yes, my brother showed me Full Metal Jacket at 14.  Yes, I read my first romance at age 14.  But I turned out just fine, and I am the person I am today partly because of my reading and viewing experiences.

So in honor of this week,  I might just go out and read something salacious.  Something dirty.  Something naughty. Something thought provoking.  Or maybe just something fun.  And then thumb my nose (or stick out my tongue) at those who would ban books. You can't keep books away from me, SO THERE!

I hope you'll join me!