Haunted Houses

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life At Rose Red / Joyce Reardon, ed.
In the early part of the twentieth century, an oil baron John Rimbauer and his wife Ellen build an enormous mansion in Seattle against the wishes of the locals who say that building a home on an Indian burial ground is bad luck. Tragedy and haunts follow the lives of those who live inside the house through the decades, particularly that of Ellen Rimbauer, whose diary is rehashed years later by a parapsychologist. (FIC DIARY)

The Good House: A Novel / by Tananarive Due

In a small town in Washington state, the Toussaint home still feels the haunting effects from over a century ago when a powerful voodoo priestess from New Orleans unleashed a horrible spirit over it. Now, years later the woman’s descendants have returned to the town to help rid the house and the town of its deadly curse. (FIC DUE)

The Woman in Black / by Susan Hill

Arthur Kipps, a young solicitor, is summoned to the small English village of Crythin Gifford to organize the estate of the now deceased Alice Drablow only to be received by the townspeople with suspicion and coldness. At the former home of the old woman, Arthur is recurrently confronted by the ghastly apparition of a veiled woman dressed in black amid other terrors. (FIC HILL)

The Cellar / by Richard Laymon
In the town of Malcasa Point, CA is a house known as the Beast House which is said to be haunted. Though off limits at night, daytime tours are conducted which take visitors through every room but the cellar of which no one, not even the tour guides, dare venture. This is Laymon’s first installment of the Beast House chronicles which include The Beast House, The Midnight Tour & Friday Night in the Beast House. (FIC LAYMON)













Gad’s Hall / by Norah Lofts
Gad's Hall, an English country home on the market for the first time in over a century, is purchased by a couple and their three children who are desperate for home with enough space to suit their needs. But when their daughter Jill finds herself experiencing strange feelings about parts of her new property, particularly the empty locked room upstairs, the dream becomes a nightmare. The sequel to this book (actually a prequel) is The Haunting of Gad’s Hall. (FIC LOFTS)

Hell House / by Richard Matheson
Parapsychologist Lionel Barrett, a physicist with an interest in parapsychology and four others including his Barrett's wife Edith are hired by dying millionaire William Reinhardt Deutsch to investigate the possibility of life after death. To do so, they must enter the infamous Belasco House in Maine, regarded as the most haunted house in the world. (FIC MATHESO)

Wicked Autumn: A Mystery / by G.M. Malliet

There's a reason retired MI5 agent Max Tudor is now a village vicar in the tiny hamlet of Nether Monkslip. There was a time and place for his former life of adventure and espionage, a period in his past when tracking down criminals and terrorist threats was his only calling. But then a horrific accident changed everything forever and now he's perfectly happy to mentor and minister provincial types on matters of faith. So it's something of a minor inconvenience when one of his congregation is found stabbed to death at the Harvest Fayre and Max finds himself in the middle of a murder case. Granted, the victim was one of his less popular parishioners. Wanda Batton-Smythe, the mean, bossy leader of the Women's Institute of Nether Monkslip was most certainly not very well-liked. With a penchant for inciting fear and exposing weakness in seemingly every acquaintance she ever made (even her husband, a former Army Major, seems thoroughly cowed under his wife's authoritarian demeanor), Wanda was a woman which more than a few townspeople might've enjoyed ridding themselves of. But when the two detectives from the county's police task force arrive on the scene, no one seems remotely interested in giving evidence. It's even difficult for Max, operating behind the scenes, to surmise on a possible suspect. Wanda's enemies, though plentiful, aren't so aggressive that they'd attempt any kind of physical assault. And then to kill her?

Agatha award winner Malliet brings the goods in this cozy mystery which even includes a fold-out map of the village in the binding. Quirky characters and sequences are given mileage by a hefty dose of metaphorical inserts ("her voice filling the room like a sonic gun", "her hair clipped short around protuberant ears, she resembled a Chihauhua puppy abandoned in a snowdrift" or "the woman stared at the cover like Queen Victoria being handed a pamphlet on early contraceptive techniques"). Not that it's unwelcome or even misplaced. Malliet knows how to write cozy. Which is to say she writes with a splendid sort of moderation, a perfect blend of comically cute descriptions and indelibly charming technique. Readers will enjoy the author's take on village life and its colorful individuals while at the same time won't be lulled into boredom by predictable circumstances. Max Tudor is the right kind of protagonist to confront such surroundings, an outsider who's understandably been converted to domestic small town life and yet remains an introspective, spiritual man keen on the deeper elements of human nature. That he's a handsome eligible bachelor amid the cooing eyes of all the available parish women makes things even more interesting. (MYS MALLIET)

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Although this book was published in 2009, it remains a solid best seller, and the Disney movie “The Help” which came out this summer, is proving to be a just as successful. The book’s author, Kathryn Stockett, has based her book partly on her recollections of growing up with an Afro-American maid in her family, who was “looked after” (they paid her medical bills), but at the same time used a separate toilet when she was working for them. The book chronicles life in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960’s, specifically from the point of view of two Afro-American maids and from the viewpoint of a young white woman who gets the idea to elicit and write their stories and the experiences of other Afro-American maids in Jackson.

The young white woman, Skeeter, is a misfit in the young Southern belle world, being too tall and gangly for dating purposes and being literary-minded, in a down home kind of culture that doesn’t prize educated females. Fresh home from college, Skeeter wants to be a writer. Her naïve letter of application to a New York publisher expecting to be considered for an editorial position gets the attention of one of their real editors, who advises her start writing about “what she knows”, and to get a position at a local paper anyway she can. Skeeter eventually comes up with the idea of the maids’ stories, and it is just revolutionary enough for that place and time to get the New York editor’s attention and a promise to look at the finished copy.

Kathryn Stockett’s prose flows easily and I quickly became immersed in the three narrators’ lives. It was only at the end that I realized that some of the criticism being written about The Help was accurate. The book does end up being about Skeeter more than the two maids – it is Skeeter’s success that we’re rooting for, and for her escape from Jackson. What is ironic is that the maids also support her leaving, as though they are equals and have the same view of the culture that Skeeter does, as a white woman. In reliable, firsthand accounts of women at that time, even the imagining of any so-called “hardships” that single white women (like Skeeter) might be enduring would be a luxury of imagination that the Afro-American population as a whole was not interested in or motivated to indulge in. They needed all their energies to stay alive. The maids in this book, and in the movie, simply do not illustrate the actual conditions that Afro-Americans experienced at that time in the United States.

The audacity that prompts the older maid, Winnie, to conceal human waste in a pie for her white employer belongs to someone in a much more relaxed era of race relations. Stockett manipulates the maids' situations to a level of equality with the white women, as when a ragged naked white man tries to assault both the lady of the house and her maid. The book's lighthearted comic quality goes hand in hand with copious tears about the maids raising children not their own, and how emotionally available the Afro-American women are compared to frigid white women. While the book’s easy accessibility to its characters makes you feel that you’re present in their lives, this fiction is a sweetened up version of the real thing, like Minnie’s chocolate pie.

(This book was reviewed by my colleague, Dan, on 2/3/10)

Real Vampires Don't Wear Size Six / by Gerry Bartlett

Life is usually fairly complicated for Gloriana St. Clair (better known as Glory to her vampire friends), but now it's become a whirlwind. A vampire who owns an Austin boutique shop called Vintage Vamp's Emporium, Glory's been ordered by the Vampire Council to close her business becaused it's attracting too much attention from outsiders. Her personal life is also a bit rocky now that her boyfriend and fellow vampire Jeremy Blade has learned of Glory's recent affair with her former bodyguard Valdez. That she was possessed by a demon at the time of the fling matters little to Blade who's a bit of a dramatic when it comes to love.

To help her rep and to get her back on the winning team, Glory takes an opportunity to mentor a new member of the undead, Penny. Her new charge is smart when it comes to a lot of things but not when it comes to style. The girl has no fashion sense whatsoever and it's up to Glory to show her the ropes while simultaneously trying to mend her wayward romance with Blade, help get another friend back on the wagon and reconfigure some things within her shop to make her business seem less conspicuous. Just when she thinks she's balancing things out relatively well, Glory's life is interrupted by the devil himself who makes her an offer she may not be able to refuse--the chance to be a size six. This edition of the Real Vampires series is sure to charm and delight readers. Written by local author Bartlett (she's a League City resident), the plot gets moving in a hurry and doesn't stop as sassy vampire Glory and her wacky adventures never seem to slow down. Set in Austin, readers will be sure to recognize some familiar things about the protagonist's surroundings and shouldn't have a problem working around the backstory. Even with this being a seventh installment, the book could easily work as a standalone. (FIC BARTLETT) 

The Landed: A Novel / by Tim Pears

The most memorable moments of Owen Ithell's childhood were spent on his grandparents farm in the Anglo-Welsh borderlands. Usually only there during holidays when he could accompany his grandfather, a hardscrabble farmer, on his chore rounds, Owen first cultivated his love of the soil. Most of his other memories of youth, of living at home with a cranky single mother and a disappointing academic record in school, aren't as nostalgic. Now an adult living in another, more urban part of England, he makes his living working as a gardener. He has a wife now, Mel, and three small children and believes he has found something resembling happiness.

When a fatal car accident takes the life of his young daughter and injures Owen, his hand  ultimately needing to be amputated, he falls into despair to the point of alienation from his family. Eventually Owen is legally separated from his wife estranged from his remaining children. Resolving to reconnect with a time and a place he once cherished, Owen makes a drastic decision, suddenly abducting his children and embarking on a walking journey to the Welsh farm of his childhood where he hopes to attain some kind of understanding and resolution. This is a rather riveting little novel. Pears has a somewhat unorthodox writing style. A bit of an abrupt, blunt method of storytelling akin to Don Delillo or Don Robertson, the author tells a story about the frequently hardluck circumstances encountered by those in England's west country. Thomas Hardy would be proud. (FIC PEARS)

What 5 million books can teach us

By now, you may have heard of the Google Book Digitization Project, a name that's been shortened to just Google Books. Google is trying to digitize millions of books from libraries.

While there's a great deal of concern on what Google will ultimately do with that data, two Harvard researchers show us one way that information can be used: to show us how language and culture evolves. This very funny presentation took place at a TED conference (TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design) and it's science and nerd humor at its best.

A Woman Under The Influence (1974) DVD / a John Cassavetes film; starring Peter Falk & Gena Rowlands

Mentally speaking, Mabel Longhetti isn't all there. And it's not that hard to tell. Though coherent enough to hover around the lives of her husband Nick and their three small children, there's simply no question that the woman's off kilter. Nick doesn't want to hear that his wife's crazy. He'd like to pretend there's nothing wrong and wants to prove to himself and others that his wife's alright, going so far as to invite his co-workers over for supper where Mabel's abnormalities promptly dissolve any argument about her condition. It's not just her communication patterns which inevitably devolve into an enigmatic series of hisses and grunts when she can't express herself. It's her terrifying lack of personal boundaries. Evidenced on a routine basis and ranging from shamelessly hailing pedestrians from the middle of a busy street to casually picking up strangers at a local bar for a one-nighter, she's consistently detached from reality, behaving on a different plain of judgement and discretion from everyone around her.

When her actions incite a neighbor to press charges following an afternoon in which the man observes her unsteady manner around his children, Mabel is ultimately confronted by two individuals unwilling to forebear anymore of her distressing antics--Nick's mother and a family physician. She doesn't go quietly. But when she is finally committed for psychiatric treatment, Nick takes it hard. His work relationships suffer as he comes to grips with the state of his family. His children, having existed very much in the middle of it all (literally so on many occasions), try to adjust to a life almost as frightening and unpredictable as the one they had before. Mabel's internment isn't a permanent one however and after a six-month long period under observation, she's released under tentative guidelines. The night of her return, a big party is thrown with family and guests all ready to welcome her home. It's a bit awkward but they make the effort, hoping to confront a rehabilitated Mabel.

John Cassavetes broke all the rules. Maybe the most auteur director of the American film industry's independent movement, a feat setting him on par with many international New Wave-ists, Cassavetes' movies weren't always the most popular nor the most well-received. In America during the 1960's and 70's, they were rarely box office hits and never debuted to large audiences. He was deemed a director who enabled his actors with too much leverage and his unfashionable, formless cinematic style seemed too unkempt for filmgoers. But today seen in retrospect, Cassavetes is a legendary figure, the Godard/Bergman/Antonioni of America. Critic Kent Jones in his essay "The War At Home" went so far as to say that "A whole generation of critics misunderstood Cassavetes so spectacularly that the ones who are still around are probably too embarassed to take a second look." (Jones). With his hyperrealistic mode of communicating themes and ideas, Cassavetes represented a sort of déclassé America, a place where the vagaries of everyday life are as frightening as the nightly news and then some. And indeed there are a great many uncomfortable situations in this movie which not only bury any semblance of theatrical dramatics but eerily evoke the personal tragedy of everyday life. Cast in 'A Woman' are Gena Rowlands (Cassavetes wife) and Peter Falk (aka Colombo), the acting duo who not only starred in nearly all of Cassavetes' crucial films but helped fund the picture itself--Cassavetes was the epitome of an indie filmmaker, funding most of his movies from his own pocket and relying on non-union labor for production teams. Both leads are terrific, each nominated for Oscars, but it may be the supporting role of Katherine Longhetti, Nick's live-in mom played by Cassavetes own mother, who pinpoints the crux of the problem and stealthily steals a few of the more noteworthy scenes. Keenly observing the maelstrom of a marriage between Nick and Mabel, Katherine is the viewer's actor on screen ("that woman is cra-zy!!!"), eviscerating the deeply disturbing behavioral irregularities of both husband and wife. It's brilliant, not to be missed. (DVD WOMAN)

Helen Simonsen’s Recommended Reads

Last month Helen Simonsen, author of the Texas City Reads pick for the year Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, paid a virtual visit to the library via the magic of the Internet. We got a chance to ask her for her own book picks and what she's reading now:

Old Filth / Jane Gardam: FIC GARDAM
"Filth is a lawyer with a practice in the Far East. A few remember that his nickname stands for Failed In London Try Hong Kong. But Old Filth is not as pompous as people imagine, and his past contains many secrets and dark hiding places” —Publisher




Three Men in a Boat / Jerome K. Jerome: AD FIC JEROME
Recounts the adventures and mishaps of George, Harris, J. and his remarkable dog Montmorency during a boat trip along the River Thames in England from London to Oxford.




Room / Emma Donoghue: FIC DONOGHUE
“Narrator Jack and his mother, who was kidnapped seven years earlier when she was a 19-year-old college student, celebrate his fifth birthday. They live in a tiny, 11-foot-square soundproofed cell in a converted shed in the kidnapper's yard. The sociopath, whom Jack has dubbed Old Nick, visits at night, grudgingly doling out food and supplies. But Ma, as Jack calls her, proves to be resilient and resourceful —and attempts a nail-biting escape” —Publisher.

Song of Achilles / Madeleine K. Miller
(Not released until March 2012; reviews below from Amazon.com)
“At once a scholar’s homage to the Iliad and a startlingly original work of art by an incredibly talented new novelist. Madeline Miller has given us her own fresh take on the Trojan war and its heroes. The result is a book I could not put down.” —Ann Patchett, bestselling author of Bel Canto and State of Wonder

“Although the details of the story are Miller’s own, the world is one that all who love the Iliad and its epigones will recognize. Reading this book recalled me to the breathless sense of the ancient-yet-present that I felt when I first fell in love with the classics.” —Catherine Conybeare, Professor of Classics, Bryn Mawr College

"The Iliad turns on Achilles’ pride and his relationship with Patroclus, but Homer is sparing with the personal — so much so that, though we believe in their friendship, we do not understand it. The Song of Achilles brings light to their love. This is a beautiful book.” —Zachary Mason, author of The Lost Books of the Odyssey

The next book she’s going to read:

King of the Badgers / Phillip Hensher: FIC HENSHER
"Hanmouth, situated where the Hand River flows into the Bristol Channel, is usually quiet and undisturbed. But it becomes the center of national attention when an eight-year-old girl vanishes. This tragic event serves to expose the range of segregated existences in the town, as spectrums of class, wealth, and lifestyle are blurred in the investigation. Behind Hanmouth's closed doors and pastoral façade, the extraordinary individual lives of the community are laid bare” —Publisher

The Keeper / by Sarah Langan

There is something wrong with Susan Marley. The residents of the small town of Bedford, Maine cross the street when she approaches and blame her for all their problems; especially for the terrifying things that dominate their dreams. But it's not just Susan, the whole town is haunted thanks to its sinister past and dark secrets hidden from view. Many now believe there's a curse on Bedford. With rampant unemployment owing to the recent closure of the paper mill, generally rainy weather and a history of misfortune and tragedy, the town has always been a dismal place, now even more so and many aren't so sure Susan Marley isn't the reason. Once the local beauty adored for her fair complexion and perfect teeth, she's now little more than a vagrant and sometimes prostitute whose odd, nocturnal habits have aroused suspicion. Even members of her family like her younger sister Liz and her seminally depressed mother, no longer living under the same roof as Susan, are starting to believe the rumors. It's also been raining a lot more in Bedford lately--a lot more. So much so that residents have begun to fear that the nearby river may flood over and ravage the already plagued town. As the mutually encountered nightmares are only matched by the drenching rainfall, those that can escape while others can only feel the sense of an impending disaster.

Columbia graduate Sarah Langan won a Bram Stoker award for this 2006 novel full of secrets, suspense and horror. Her sequel, The Missing (FIC LANGAN), has done equally well. The Keeper is definitely a 'keeper' as it portrays the damaged and mysterious Susan Marley, a vampish creature who somehow holds sway over the town of Bedford during the day and inhabits their dreams at night, through the narration of the protagonist Liz Marley, Susan's younger sister. With the suspense set from both origins of her situation and the pending predicament with the unnatural occurrences (and threatening natural ones), readers are well-engaged within the first few pages. And while the characters aren't especially good enough or believable enough to grant the sympathy needed for a truly creepy tale, the ending is well-rewarding and adequately completes a good story. (FIC LANGAN)

Earth (the book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race / by Jon Stewart

With America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction (817 STEWART), Daily Show host Jon Stewart and some others turned essentially turned their cheeky daytime humor into an equally irreverent mock textbook--equally funny as well--which hilarilously poked fun at both politics and education. With this book, the mileu of the mock textbook is still dead center but the focus has shifted to everything planet earth and the human race. The audience is aliens who have arrived on earth only to find it deserted after man has been wiped out by their own self-destructive technology. The book pokes fun at anything and everything, delightfully deconstructing all aspects of society from our perceptions of aliens themselves and the planet itself, "Due to scientific limitations and more than a touch of narcicissm, we believed everything in the universe literally revolved around us. It was a theory called geocentrism, which was originally egocentrism, but they spelled it wrong." (p. 3). There's observations on everything from commerce to culture and from biology to religion, all of it riddled with somewhat shallow idiosyncracies and just begging to be read out loud. (817 STEWART)