A Cineaste’s Bookshelf
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REVIEW: THIS HOUSE IS HAUNTED by John Boyne
When Eliza Caine and her father brave the dreadful London weather to listen to the prolific Mr. Dickens read his new story, they could hardly have imagined the consequences. Eliza’s beloved father catches a chill and within hours he is dead. Eliza, alone in the world, and no way to pay the rent of her… Read More »
REVIEW: INVENTION OF MURDER by Judith Flanders
Despite the title, this delightful tome is nearly 500 pages of salacious details of crime and murder in Victorian England — plus almost 100 pages of notes, bibliography and index. For someone like me, it’s a treasure trove of the ignoble and infamous. I admit, I got a little giddy when the book arrived. It… Read More »
REVIEW: ONE SUMMER by Bill Bryson
Bryson has an uncanny way of approaching his subjects. Here he looks at human achievements, culture, art and more only during the summer months of 1927. Using Charles Lindbergh and his historic transatlantic flight as a unifying thread, Bryson also investigates the case of Sacco and Vanzetti, the magical season for the New York Yankees,… Read More »
REVIEW: THE IMPERSONATOR by Mary Miley
Simply put, this book is just plain fun. Leah Randall, an accomplished vaudeville performer (and older than she looks) is mistaken for Jessie Carr. Carr is the heiress to a fortune built by the lumber empire but has been missing for the past seven years. The uncle who makes the innocent mistake then hatches a… Read More »
REVIEW: FIRECRACKER by David Iserson
Only once before have a read a YA book most of the way through before realizing it was categorized as such. I haven’t got anything against YA per se, but having been 29 for a couple of years now, I am generally uninterested in the adolescent themes they explore. But occasionally (though rarely) a… Read More »
GLORIOUS by Bernice McFadden
Glorious is like nothing else I’ve ever read. And I read a lot. Author Bernice McFadden uses sparse language yet still manages to create searing images for the reader. The book opens with the young heroine Easter witnessing a brutal lynching in post -Reconstruction South. This becomes the jumping off point for Easter’s nomadic trek through… Read More »
REVIEW: “The Three Lives of Lydia” by Delilah S. Dawson
a Blud Short Story, included in CARNIEPUNK Full disclosure: I don’t read romance books. They’re just not my thing. I do however love creepy carnivals and some steampunk literature so I was thrilled to see Crossroads veteran Delilah S. Dawson had a short story included in a book called “Carniepunk.” Let’s just take a… Read More »
REVIEW: XO ORPHEUS
This not your grandparents’ Bulfinch’s Mythology. Bernhiemer has commissioned stories from contemporary writers from all around the world. Their contributions, while inspired by a “classic” myth, are wholly fresh and new. What’s fascinating is that which the Ancients perceived as important or problematic, remain so even now and easily translate into modern sensibilities. Indeed, these… Read More »
Halloween Reads
You probably know by now that Halloween is my favorite holiday and I celebrate it for weeks. Even when it’s not October, I read ghost stories and gothic novels. But now that the nights are coming on sooner, leaves are crackling underfoot and the air is just a bit cooler, here are some creepy reads… Read More »
OF WEIRD NEWS AND STRANGE OBJECTS
Burglar Caught By A Skeleton By Jeremy Clay & Antiques Magpie by Marc Allum Jeremy Clay has scoured Victorian newspapers for tidbits and tales of bizarre and amazing news and compiled them into this handy book. Need to impress someone at a party? Need to one-up that guy at work? Get some ideas here — or… Read More »
REVIEW: EMPTY MANSIONS by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr.
Bill Dedman has uncovered one of the strangest true stories in the history of American royalty. There were the Vanderbilts, the Stuyvesants, the Rockefellers and then the Clarks. That they are not a household name today is part of the mystery that Dedman seeks to unravel. William A Clark’s story is a quintessential boot-strap tale.… Read More »
ACCENT: BURIAL RITES by Hannah Kent
I’ve never read anything quite like this debut novel from the young author Hannah Kent. Set in early Victorian-era Iceland, it features a convicted murderess and the family assigned to house her until her execution. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the original 3:10 to Yuma. A citizen us entrusted with keeping and safely transporting… Read More »
SEPTEMBER IS NATIONAL LIBRARY CARD SIGN-UP MONTH
Libraries are awesome — but you knew that already, right? Check your wallet. Do you have a library card? Yes? Great — when was the last time you used it? Library cards are FREE and available at your local branch. Yes, libraries have thousands to free books for you to borrow, but they have so… Read More »
FOR WORD NERDS: THE ETYMOLOGICON & HOROLOGICON
Mark Forsyth has vindicated word nerds the world over with these two books. Far from being dry reference books, Forsyth brings the dead back to life by digging up the circuitous history of the words we use every day. The Horologicon arranges the entries around the hours of the day. The chapters include Commute, The… Read More »
ACCENT: SIX WOMEN OF SALEM by Marilynne K Roach
I used to live in a colonial house in New England. Our home was built in 1786, by a Revolutionary War veteran. For a time we also lived in an old fishing village on the south shore of Boston. So, needless to say I grew up with a healthy respect (and fascination) for the colonial… Read More »