The Visitant by Megan Chance

by Carol5 Comments
I don't usually read ghost stories, but this seemed like a perfect fit for RIP X and I do love Venice as a setting. To me, The Visitant had three parts: the setting, the ghost story, and the romance. The story is set in Venice but most of it takes place in the Basilio palazzo. It's the perfect setting: a crumbling old mansion, too cold and grey, in a city that, while romantic, is also decaying. The servants are hostile to Elena and the aunt is just flat out odd. There is a lot of time establishing the atmosphere. Elena is hoping to see Venice but seems trapped in this house. the setting is probably my favorite part of the story. The ghost story was not scary enough to keep me up at night, but progressed well. The ghost was clearly angry, and, unlike Elena, the reader knows it's a ghost from the beginning - the title tells us. It doesn't take...
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Pop Sonnets: Shakespearean Spins on Your Favorite Songs by Erik Didriksen

by Carol4 Comments
Pop Sonnets is a cute, quirky little book. Didriksen takes popular songs from over the years, oldies through today's hits, and Shakepereanizes them, with the appropriate vocabulary and meter. There are few books I read parts of out loud to my husband, but this was one of them. It's fun to see how he takes songs we know and transforms them. Here are the opening lines of a couple of my favorites: Guns 'n' Roses, "Sweet Child o' Mine" Her smile, it doth recall a simpler time - the bygone years when I was but a boy; each day held some discovery sublime, each exploration brought some newfound joy. Spin Doctors, "Two Princes" Two noblemen before thee genuflect, entreating thee in ernest for thy hand. The first, he garners riches and respect; the other's only flights of fancy plann'd. Hmm, showing my age there, aren't I? The Eagles' "Hotel California," is immediately recognizable. I drove my carriage o'er the darken'd road when faintly I observ'd a distant inn. When I arriv'd, their greeting did forbode the vile debauchery I...
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The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe

by Carol8 Comments
Amber's been reading Poe stories in her English class at school - it's a shame I borrowed her book. No, I'm not that mean, they have copies to read at school. But I do have to thank Michelle at Castle Macabre for making me pull the Poe stories out. It's given Amber and me the chance to talk about Poe stories in general and specifically "The Cask of Amontillado," since we both read that this month. Poe is many things, subtle not being one of them. "The Fall of the House of Usher" borders on the melodramatic, but in a good way. Poe's writing is ornate and poetic, which is probably why I find Poe best read aloud, even if it's just me reading to myself.  This story is very much a Poe story - we have several trademarks, from the just overall oppressive atmosphere to the crazy male lead to someone being buried alive, but it's a formula that works for him, that he...
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The Scam by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg

by Carol10 Comments
Some books are like good meals, rich and worth savoring. Some are more like popcorn, light, fun and forgettable. I like both, but The Scam definitely falls into the second category. The plot is a bit over-the-top as are the characters, but that's part of the charm. And the writers/narrator know it. They take us on this trip from Hawaii to Vegas to Macau with a sense of humor even in the midst of dangerous situations. It's funny and action-filled and just a blast. Brick does a great job at the narration, keeping a light edge and letting us know that even the though the characters may take themselves seriously, we shouldn't. This is the fourth in the series and we know the formula pretty well by now. Kate and Nick have a bad guy in their sights. they get a team of together, including Willie, who can drive anything, and Boyd, an actor who takes his parts very seriously, Jake, Kate's dad,...
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The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny

by Carol10 Comments
I love Penny's Gamache series. I may want to live in Three Pines and be friends with the characters - as long as I didn't get murdered; it's one of those towns where you don't want to be a minor character or a new arrival. Actually, there are a lot of new characters in this one and we know one (or more) is the killer. The Nature of the Beast is set in Three Pines, where Inspector Gamache has now retired with his wife Reine Marie, but of course life can't be quiet for Gamache. A young boy is killed in the village and by not believing what the boy had told him, Gamache feels partly responsible for the death. At the same time, the local amateur theater is planning on producing a play written by a serial killer. As readers, or listeners in my case, we know the two have to be connected, but the question is how. This time, the...
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The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

by Carol8 Comments
I don't read much horror, but Michelle is hosting read-alongs of three of Poe's short stories at Castle Macabre this month and they fit in so well with RIP X that I decided to join her on a couple. My daughter is a huge Poe fan, so I borrowed her paperback copy of Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe. I wasn't sure about reading The Cask of Amontillado. Being buried alive is one of my fears, silly I know but that's beside the point. I may have read too many stories like Poe's when I was younger, but the victim here is bricked into a wall, which is somehow different. I don't want to tell too much about the story, it's only 9 pages long and you really should just take the few minutes and read it. A couple of things really stuck me, though. First is, as always, how much good short story writers can cram into those pages,...
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