365 Days of Books of Interest: Day #182: The Year of Shadows

The Year of Shadows, just moved to the top of my wishlist. I can't resist a book that has an interesting description and I love the cover.

Sometimes, I wish more books that are geared toward adults were as creative as some of the children and middle grade books that I find and read.

Book: The Year of Shadows by Claire Legrand with illustrations by Karl Kwasny

Description:

Olivia wants a new life—and it might take ghosts to get it. A heartfelt, gently Gothic novel from Claire Legrand.

Olivia Stellatella is having a rough year.

Her mother’s left, her neglectful father — the maestro of a failing orchestra — has moved her and her grandmother into the city’s dark, broken-down concert hall to save money, and her only friend is Igor, an ornery stray cat.

Just when she thinks life couldn’t get any weirder, she meets four ghosts who haunt the hall. They need Olivia’s help — if the hall is torn down, they’ll be stuck as ghosts forever, never able to move on.

Olivia has to do the impossible for her shadowy new friends: Save the concert hall. But helping the dead has powerful consequences for the living…and soon it’s not just the concert hall that needs saving.

Book Review: Horror Stories

Book: Horror Stories: Classic Tales From Hoffman to Hodgson edited by Darryl Jones

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

This is truly for the classic lover there were stories from many of the greats from Arthur Conan Doyle to Rudyard Kipling there is a classic horror story here that is sure to become someone's favorite.

It wasn't exactly blood curdling but I did enjoying reading some of these classic horror stories. One thing about the classics, the authors were very wordy and sometimes long winded but strangely that sort of adds to the charm of them. One minute the story is going on some tangent then the next thing you know boom the creepy stuff starts.

I thought some stories may have started out a little slow but they were still pretty good. Most of the horror stories fit into either the psychological or scientific with some fantasy ones sprinkled in.

So if the macabre and the gothic appeal to you, then I would recommend this book to you.

Currently Reading: Horror Stories and Birds of Prey vol #8

I decided to read two classics, a book filled with classic horror stories. This seems like it will be fun to read. And I'm also going to be reading a classic of sorts, the pre-New 52 Birds of Prey. It took me a while to find some of these older issues at the comic book store. It's getting harder and harder to find some of the older books.

Book: Horror Stories: Classic Tales From Hoffman to Hodgson edited by Darryl Jones

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Description:

The modern horror story grew and developed across the nineteenth century, embracing categories as diverse as ghost stories, supernatural and psychological horror, medical and scientific horrors, colonial horror, and tales of mystery and premonition. This anthology brings together 29 of the greatest horror stories of the period from 1816 to 1912, from the British, Irish, American, and European traditions. It ranges widely across the sub-genres to encompass authors whose terror-inducing powers remain unsurpassed.

The book includes stories by some of the best writers of the century - Hoffmann, Poe, Balzac, Dickens, Hawthorne, Melville, Zola - as well as established genre classics such as M. R. James, Arthur Machen, Bram Stoker, Algernon Blackwood, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and others. It includes rare and little-known pieces by writers such as William Maginn, Francis Marion Crawford, W. F. Harvey, and William Hope Hodgson, and shows the important role played by periodicals in popularizing the horror story. Wherever possible stories are reprinted in their first published form, with background information about their authors and helpful, contextualizing annotation. Darryl Jones's lively introduction discusses horror's literary evolution and its articulation of cultural preoccupations and anxieties. These are stories guaranteed to freeze the blood, revolt the senses, and keep you awake at night: prepare to be terrified!

Book: Birds of Prey volume #8: Blood and Circuits (issues #96-103) by Gail Simone with illustrations by various artists

Edition: Reading the single issues

Description:

The team is shaken up as members depart and new teammates are added to the roster. Who will be asked to join Oracle in her all-new Birds Of Prey? Who will refuse, and who will fly the coop for good?

Read-a-thon book #4: Rebecca

I have never read this book but there have been various TV shows and movies which have been inspired by this that I have seen. So, hopefully it will be good.


Book: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Source: Library

Description:

Rebecca, a dark psychological tale of secrets and betrayal, is Daphne du Mauriers best-loved work and was named Best Novel of the 20th Century at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention. After a whirlwind romance and a honeymoon in Italy, the innocent young heroine and the dashing Maxim de Winter return to his country estate, Manderley. But the unsettling memory of Rebecca, the first Mrs. de Winter, still lingers within. The timid bride must overcome her husbands oppressive silences and the sullen hostility of the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, to confront the emotional horror of the past.

Currently Reading: The Blood Gospel

I guess third times a charm for another library book. I hope this turns to be a much better read than the other two books. I'll start on this sometime later today.


Book: The Blood Gospel (The Order of The Sanguines book #1) by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell

Source: Library

Description:

An earthquake in Masada, Israel, kills hundreds and reveals a tomb buried in the heart of the mountain. A trio of investigators—Sergeant Jordan Stone, a military forensic expert; Father Rhun Korza, a Vatican priest; and Dr. Erin Granger, a brilliant but disillusioned archaeologist—are sent to explore the macabre discovery, a subterranean temple holding the crucified body of a mummified girl.

But a brutal attack at the site sets the three on the run, thrusting them into a race to recover what was once preserved in the tomb’s sarcophagus: a book rumored to have been written by Christ’s own hand, a tome that is said to hold the secrets to His divinity. But the enemy who hounds them is like no other, a force of ancient evil directed by a leader of impossible ambitions and incalculable cunning.

From crumbling tombs to splendorous churches, Erin and her two companions must confront a past that traces back thousands of years, to a time when ungodly beasts hunted the dark spaces of the world, to a moment in history when Christ made a miraculous offer, a pact of salvation for those who were damned for eternity.

Here is a novel that is explosive in its revelation of a secret history. Why do Catholic priests wear pectoral crosses? Why are they sworn to celibacy? Why do the monks hide their countenances under hoods? And why does Catholicism insist that the consecration of wine during Mass results in its transformation to Christ’s own blood? The answers to all go back to a secret sect within the Vatican, one whispered as rumor but whose very existence was painted for all to see by Rembrandt himself, a shadowy order known simply as the Sanguines.

In the end, be warned: some books should never be found, never opened—until now.

Currently Reading: Ancient Enemy and The Woman in White

Um, this seems like it will be really interesting. I like the premise of there being a possible connection to the past.


Book: Ancient Enemy by Michael McBride

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: April 22, 2014

Description:

Sani Natonaba's ancestors have lived in these canyons for more than seven hundred years, but they aren't the only ones. When he awakens to the bleating of his family's sheep being slaughtered, he learns that something is stalking this isolated corner of the reservation, a predator unlike any he has encountered before, one that attacks with alarming stealth and ferocity.

Only his grandfather knows what lurks outside in the darkness, but a stroke has left him unable to communicate, forcing Sani to embark upon a journey into the distant past to discover the horrible truth. And he's running out of time. There's no sign of an end to the killing and already he's found claw marks and strange footprints around his home.

Sani must decipher the clues hidden a millennium ago by the Anasazi before their mysterious disappearance if he's to have any hope of surviving the impending confrontation with an ancient enemy that has already hunted his bloodline to the brink of extinction.

I haven't read a classic in a while and what better than a gothic sort of mystery. Can't wait to start this.


Book: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Description:

One of the greatest mystery thrillers ever written, Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White was a phenomenal bestseller in the 1860s, achieving even greater success than works by Dickens, Collins’s friend and mentor. Full of surprise, intrigue, and suspense, this vastly entertaining novel continues to enthrall readers today.

The story begins with an eerie midnight encounter between artist Walter Hartright and a ghostly woman dressed all in white who seems desperate to share a dark secret. The next day Hartright, engaged as a drawing master to the beautiful Laura Fairlie and her half sister, tells his pupils about the strange events of the previous evening. Determined to learn all they can about the mysterious woman in white, the three soon find themselves drawn into a chilling vortex of crime, poison, kidnapping, and international intrigue.

Masterfully constructed, The Woman in White is dominated by two of the finest creations in all Victorian fiction— Marion Halcombe, dark, mannish, yet irresistibly fascinating, and Count Fosco, the sinister and flamboyant “Napoleon of Crime.”

Currently Reading: The Detective

The first book was fun and little bit creepy and I can't wait to read this one.


Book: The Detective (Johannes Cabal book #2) by Jonathan L. Howard

Source: Library

Description:

Johannes Cabal, necromancer of some little infamy, returns in this riotously clever and terrifically twisted tale of murder and international intrigue.

In this genre-twisting novel, infamous necromancer Johannes Cabal, after beating the Devil and being reunited with his soul, leads us on another raucous journey in a little-known corner of the world. This time he’s on the run from the local government.

Stealing the identity of a minor bureaucrat, Cabal takes passage on the Princess Hortense, a passenger aeroship that is leaving the country. The deception seems perfect, and Cabal looks forward to a quiet trip and a clean escape, until he comes face-to-face with Leonie Barrow, an enemy from the old days who could blow his cover. But when a fellow passenger throws himself to his death, or at least that is how it appears, Cabal begins to investigate out of curiosity. His minor efforts result in a vicious attempt on his own  life — and then the gloves come off.

Cabal and Leonie — the only woman to ever match wits with him — reluctantly team up to discover the murderer. Before they are done, there will be more narrow escapes, involving sword fighting and newfangled flying machines. There will be massive destruction, not to mention resurrected dead . . .

Currently Reading: Johannes Cabal The Necromancer

I wanted to read something different after the Hannah Swensen mystery book. I like gothic books so hopefully this will be interesting. This is one of the two books I checked out from the library.

Book: Johannes Cabal The Necromancer (Johannes Cabal book #1) by Jonathan L. Howard

Source: Library

Description:

A charmingly gothic, fiendishly funny Faustian tale about a brilliant scientist who makes a deal with the Devil, twice. 

Johannes Cabal sold his soul years ago in order to learn the laws of necromancy. Now he wants it back. Amused and slightly bored, Satan proposes a little wager: Johannes has to persuade one hundred people to sign over their souls or he will be damned forever. This time for real. Accepting the bargain, Jonathan is given one calendar year and a traveling carnival to complete his task. With little time to waste, Johannes raises a motley crew from the dead and enlists his brother, Horst, a charismatic vampire to help him run his nefarious road show, resulting in mayhem at every turn.

Currently Reading for the Book Girl read-a-thon: Dracula The Un-Dead

Hopefully, my third book will be much better than the second for my read-a-thon.

Book: Dracula The Undead (The Sequel to the Original Classic) by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt

Source: Library

Description:

At last—the sequel to Bram Stoker's classic novel Dracula, written by his direct descendant and a Dracula historian

Bram Stoker's Dracula is the prototypical horror novel, an inspiration for the world's seemingly limitless fascination with vampires. Though many have tried to replicate Stoker's horror classic—in books, television shows, and movies—only the 1931 Bela Lugosi film bore the Stoker family's support. Until now.

Dracula The Un-Dead is a bone-chilling sequel based on Bram Stoker's own handwritten notes for characters and plot threads excised from the original edition. Dracula The Un-Dead begins in 1912, twenty-five years after Dracula "crumbled into dust." Van Helsing's protégé, Dr. Jack Seward, is now a disgraced morphine addict obsessed with stamping out evil across Europe. Meanwhile, an unknowing Quincey Harker, the grown son of Jonathan and Mina, leaves law school for the London stage, only to stumble upon the troubled production of "Dracula," directed and produced by Bram Stoker himself.

The play plunges Quincey into the world of his parents' terrible secrets, but before he can confront them he experiences evil in a way he had never imagined. One by one, the band of heroes that defeated Dracula a quarter-century ago is being hunted down. Could it be that Dracula somehow survived their attack and is seeking revenge? Or is there another force at work whose relentless purpose is to destroy anything and anyone associated with Dracula?

Dracula The Un-Dead is deeply researched, rich in character, thrills and scares, and lovingly crafted as both an extension and celebration of one of the most classic popular novels in literature.

Wish List Wednesday: The Tale of Raw Head and Bloody Bones

I've been thinking about buying this book for a while, it's different. It has a very dark gothic feel to it. I think it would be a really good and wonderfully strange read.

Book: The Tale of Raw Head and Bloody Bones by Jack Wolf

Book Description:

Meet Tristan Hart, a brilliant young man of means. The year is 1751, and at the age of twenty he leaves home to study medicine at the great hospital of St. Thomas in London. It will be a momentous year for the intellectually ambitious Mr. Hart, who, in addition to being a student of Locke and Descartes and a promising young physician, is also, alas, psychotic. He is obsessed with the nature of pain and medically preventing it, but—equally strong and much harder to control—is his obsession with causing it. Desperate to understand his deviant desires before they are his undoing, he uses the new tools of the age—reason and science and skepticism—to plumb the depths of his own dark mind.

 

Profoundly imaginative, unexpectedly funny, and with a strange but moving love story at its heart, The Tale of Raw Head and Bloody Bones is an oddly beautiful and daring novel about the relationship between the mind and body, sex, madness, pain, and the existence of God.

Book Review: The Historian

Book: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Description:

Late one night, exploring her father’s library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters addressed ominously to "My dear and unfortunate successor". Her discovery plunges her into a world she never dreamed of – a labyrinth where the secrets of her father’s past and her mother’s mysterious fate connect to an evil hidden in the depths of history.



Rating: 5 stars

My Review:

The Historian was very well written and enjoyable to read. It's not the average vampire book. It's filled with mystery, researching and adventure. This is one of my favorite books. It was so engaging and despite the 642 pages it's a complete attention grabber.

The story is about a young female researcher who follows in her father's foot steps in researching Vlad the Impaler and along the way she finds out information regarding her family. The author perfectly shifts between the past and the present without any transitional problems. Even though this was a tale about vampires this was not a horror book.

Book Review: The Gargoyle

Book: The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

Description:

On a dark road in the middle of the night, a car plunges into a ravine. The driver survives the crash, but his injuries confine him to a hospital burn unit. There the mysterious Marianne Engel, a sculptress of grotesques, enters his life. She insists they were lovers in medieval Germany, when he was a mercenary and she was a scribe in the monastery of Engelthal. As she spins the story of their past lives together, the man's disbelief falters; soon, even the impossible can no longer be dismissed.

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Rating: 5 stars

Review:

I thought this story was absolutely amazing. I just couldn't put it down it had me hooked with the first page. The story started with a guy getting into a very bad car accident resulting in him being badly burned. Once he is recovering at the hospital he meets a strange woman, Marianne who takes an interest in him. Because she believes they have shared past lives but despite his unpleasant mood and the doctors trying to keep her out she continues to visit him. The story progresses from there with Marianne and the nameless guy's present lives becoming entangled.

Marianne was the light to this dark tale. I thought she was a great addition to this book because it contained a lot of dark and terrifying moments especially in the life of the nameless guy. The past life stories that Marianne told were romantic and sad but were needed to prove her point.

In the end, it had you wondering if Marianne's stories were real.