Nevermore: Animals & Men, Lord of the Mountain, Fevre Dream, Dumpty, Almost Moon, Blue Moon in Poorwater, Like A Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun, My Lovely Wife, Broken Road

Reported by Jeanne

Animals and Men by art historian and museum director Kenneth Clark captured the attention of one of the Nevermore members.  A coffee table type book with glorious illustrations, the book details the relationship between humans and animals as depicted in works of art, spanning from cave paintings to classic Egyptian art to Western artists such as da Vinci and Degas. Our reader was particularly interested in commentary on early art and totems.

Juvenile fiction was up next with Lord of the Mountain by Ronald Kidd which tells the story of the Bristol Sessions through the eyes of thirteen year old Nate Owens whose minister father takes a very dim view of the music and new recording technology that so enchants his son.  The reviewer was enjoying this look back at 1927 Bristol and A.P. Carter, and thought most other readers would like it too.

Before Westeros made it into print, George R.R. Martin wrote stand-alone science fiction and fantasy novels such as the one a new Nevermore member chose.  Fevre Dream begins in 1857 along the Mississippi River where steamboat captain Abner Marsh receives an unbelievable business proposition.  Wealthy patron Joshua York will finance the construction of an elaborate new steamboat which Marsh will co-own with York.  After the new boat is ready, Marsh begins to notice that York and his friends have some odd behaviors which include avoiding daylight and it turns out that some suspicions are well-founded.  The book was greatly enjoyed by our reader who recommended it for all vampire fans.

Actor John Lithgow has a new illustrated book of verse out entitled Dumpty: The Age of Trump in verse. The Nevermore member said it covered a number of political figures and that the illustrations were “a riot.”

Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones, has an equally dark book in The Almost Moon.  As the book begins, middle aged divorcee Helen shockingly kills her elderly mother. The rest of the book explores Helen’s life and relationships, all informed by mental illness.  While the book can be grim at times, our reviewer said it was a good read and showed how “mental illness metastasizes to others in a family.” 

Blue Moon in Poorwater by Cathryn Hankla came out in 1988 but is set in 1968 in an Appalachian mining town. Ten year old Dorie and her best friend are confronted with a rapidly changing world, and not just the one of rockets and politics.  Dorie was described as a mix between Scout and Anne Frank, a young girl trying to make sense of the world. Her older brother has returned, and is seen as some sort of dangerous hippie; her father, a miner, is fighting for workers’ rights; and Dorie is becoming aware of the social divide that exists even in a small Virginia town.  This book captivated its reader who proclaimed it to be “better than Where the Crawdads Sing.”

The enticingly titled Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun drew in another member who admits she had some doubts before starting this slender volume. The story centers around Morayo Da Silav, a 74 year old Nigerian woman living in San Francisco. She’s sophisticated and well-traveled, a retired English professor was once the wife of an ambassador. Morayo retains her love of life but an accident threatens to curtail her independence.  Our reviewer said that author Sarah Ladipo Manyika did an excellent job of exploring aging and creating memorable characters. 

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing concerns a couple who share a hobby— serial murder.  The book is narrated by the husband who picks women up in bars, then his wife tortures and murders them.  Then the recently killed body of one of their victims is found, only she should have been killed months ago, leading our narrator to wonder just how far he should trust his wife.  The Nevermore reader said that this book kept her from moving and that she read the entire book in one day!

In The Broken Road:  George Wallace and a Daughter’s Journey to Reconciliation, Peggy Wallace Kennedy describes growing up as the daughter of the staunchly segregationist Wallace.  She maintains that some of his rhetoric was due more to politics than to personal belief and that he attempted to atone for it later in life.  Our reviewer said she found it interesting, and enjoyed it more than she thought she would.

Chillers for the Season

 Selections by Jeanne

I’m not normally a horror reader.  Oh, I used to be, years ago, but that was before Richard Matheson’s Hell House aka The Legend of Hell House scared the bejezus out of me and kept me awake a couple of nights. Since then I’ve been cautious about the scary stuff I read because I am now much older and I need my sleep.  I do still pick up the occasional creepy book, especially this time of year.  Here are some I have enjoyed in the past:

Hell House:  Nope, nope, not going to pick this one up again.  The ending is still too vivid.  Matheson’s tale of a group of investigators who spend the night in an allegedly haunted house may be tame by today’s standards, even be considered stale after a legion of books on this theme, but I don’t care.  I’m not going to read it again.  I’m just going to respect it from a safe distance.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson:  Most people like The Haunting of Hill House, but I was drawn to this story of two sisters who are shunned by most of the town over an incident in the past.  Of course, Jackson's story“The Lottery” is an absolute gem; but I also very much like – and often refer to—“One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts.”  (For a different view of Jackson, by all means pick up her two domestic humor books, Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons. )

The Seeker by R.B. Chesterton: Graduate student Aine Cahill has a journal written by a female relative who was a friend (and perhaps more) to Henry David Thoreau.   As part of her research, Aine has come to Walden Pond to try to find evidence to corroborate Aunt Bonnie’s story but soon she begins to wonder if there is something else lurking in the woods.  This is one of those books that the minute I finished I tried to find someone else to read the book so we could discuss it.  Extremely well written, atmospheric, and with fascinating characters, this is one I recommend often.  (Chesterton is a pen name for Carolyn Haines, who writes the Sarah Booth Delaney mysteries, but the Chesterton titles are darker in tone and, so far, are standalones.)

The Other by Thomas Tryon:  Another book I read years ago, but which left a strong impression.  The story revolves around young brothers Niles and Holland who live on a farm in New England.  While twins, the two boys are very different in personality:  Niles is sweet natured and cautious, while Holland is daring and reckless, with a cruel streak. But is he responsible for a series of “accidents” around the farm?  This was Tryon’s first novel, but it was followed by another semi-classic horror tale, Harvest Home. He later turned to historical fiction before his untimely death.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill:  After a number of folks on DorothyL recommended this title, I picked it up.  I soon put it back down again. This tale of a young solicitor sent to a remote village to settle an estate was written in the Victorian first person style and just seemed too slow.  A few months later, I picked it up again and was drawn in immediately.  The setting is vivid: a dark, desolate old mansion out in a salt march with the fog rolling in, and a dampness that seems to seep out of the words and straight into the reader’s bones. The ending is abrupt, shocking.  At first I felt a bit cheated, but I certainly remember it; so it certainly fulfilled its purpose.  By the way, if you’ve seen the movie with Daniel Radcliffe, then you have some idea of the atmosphere of the book.  That part was very well done.  However, the movie took a number of liberties, including changing the ending and turning it into more of a standard horror movie.

‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King: This was King’s second novel after Carrie and I liked it better.  For one thing, it was a dandy modern-day vampire story.  Set in Maine, the story revolves around a small town where two strangers have moved into a house with an unsettling reputation.  Then things really start to go downhill. . . . King has said that the inspiration for the book was wondering what would happen if Dracula moved into to a contemporary American village and the parallels are easy to see. 

Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin: Long before the first Game of Thrones book, Martin wrote a number of science fiction/fantasy books, including this gem.  Abner Marsh is a Mississippi steamboat owner whose fleet has been pretty much demolished.  Enter Joshua York, a mysterious gentleman who is willing to bankroll a fantastic new boat. . . but York’s secrecy worries Marsh.  Just what is York hiding? And what plans does he have for this boat? This is another great example of Martin’s ability to take a genre and reform it in new and interesting ways.

Happy reading!

Halloween Treasures You May Have Missed

 Comments by Jeanne

There are lots of lists of classic horror tales, of the newest horror tales, of best-selling horror tales, but there are still some good books by well-known authors which don’t show up on the usual lists. Here are some that deserve to have a wider audience:

Legend of Hell House by Richard Matheson is also known simply as Hell House or Richard Matheson’s Hell House. A wealthy man on his deathbed wants proof of life after death. He sends a group of people including two mediums and a physicist to Belasko House, a place rumored to be haunted by the malevolent spirit of its former owner. This book kept me up for nights after I read it back in high school. I don’t know if it would scare me quite so much today but I’m not willing to take the chance. I need my sleep.

(Matheson is also the author of the cult classic vampire novel I Am Legend and the time travel fantasy Somewhere In Time. He also wrote a number of scripts for shows like Twilight Zone, including “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” which to this day keeps airline passengers peeking at the plane’s wings, hoping NOT to see a gremlin.)

Thanks to the HBO series, George R.R. Martin is reaching a whole new audience who come to the library for his epic fantasy novels. What many don’t realize is that Martin was writing long before Game of Thrones and has other wonderful novels. One of these is Fevre Dream. Set in 1857, a steamboat captain is contacted by a gentleman who offers him the dream of a lifetime: construction of a steamboat which will be the greatest on the Mississippi: larger, faster, and more luxurious than any other. The boat is duly built, but questions soon arise about the gentleman and his unusual assortment of friends—none of whom seem to venture out in daylight. (A quick plug for another Martin book: Tuf Voyaging, about a space-going environmental engineer who specializes in collecting animal species and genetic engineering. Tuf is a bit of a rare creature himself: an honest man.) While you wait for Winds of Winter, give these a try!

Barbara Hambly has written in a number of genres, including mystery, historical, science fiction and fantasy. She’s best known for her Benjamin January mystery series set in Louisiana in the 1830s, but she’s also the author of the James Asher series of vampire novels. Asher is a professor and former secret agent who is contacted by Simon Ysidro who wants Asher to investigate the murders of several London vampires. He encourages Asher’s cooperation by threatening Asher’s wife. The first book in the series is Those Who Hunt the Night, followed by Traveling with the Dead, Blood Maidens, and Magistrates of Hell. Hamby does a superb job of evoking places and time as well creating exciting stories with memorable characters.