BOOK REVIEWS
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There are books you read because of their plot and there are others you read for their tone and style. Far Bright Star by Robert Olmsted is the latter. Like All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy, it is a story of beauty and violence and horses and Mexico. And like All the Pretty Horses (and Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry),… Read more
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As book collectors know all too well, we only regret our economies, never our extravagances. ~ Michael Dirda In 1986, I had just moved to St. Paul, was sleeping on a friend’s floor, and looking for work. One day after a job interview in downtown Minneapolis, I wandered into a used bookstore that has been… Read more
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“Isn’t it strange what happens with old books? They choose you. They reach out to their buyer—Hello, here I am, take me with you. It’s as if they were alive.” (cf. Pérez-Reverte, Arturo. The Nautical Chart ) Whether it is at a used-bookstore, a thrift store, a Little Library, or the out-of-the-way corner of a bar… Read more
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For my last Horror Book Review for October, I am reviewing a book that I am actually a little bit sheepish to admit that I enjoyed, The Traveling Vampire Show by Richard Laymon. I am sheepish because it is the kind of book that almost anyone would, or probably should, find offensive. It is gory,… Read more
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“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” ~Haruki Murakami With October rapidly drawing to a close, I will be transitioning to Book Reviews of other genres and to Poetry Reviews. I am the kind of person who needs to let things sit… Read more
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In 2017, right after it was published, I read the book Powers of Darkness. Powers of Darkness is a Icelandic adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula from 1899. It was published anonymously in a newspaper and credited to Stoker and an unidentified author. While it shares the same main character, it differs significantly from the original, adding new characters… Read more
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Guy N. Smith is a guilty pleasure. I began with his series of Pulp Horror books featuring giant crabs (yes, you read that right, giant crabs), Smith’s fiction is as close as you can get to the kind of 1950s or early 1960s horror films that were regular fare when I was growing up on… Read more
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“Life is like Friday on a soap opera. It gives you the illusion that everything is going to wrap up, and then the same old shit starts up on Monday.” — Stephen King “Lost in the Green Mountains” (photo by m.a.h. hinton) Read more
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I am currently working through Stephen King’s The Shining. It is a book I have started before but have never gotten very far into. I am giving it another try right now because I will be spending Thanksgiving this year in Estes Park and at the Stanley Hotel. The Stanley is the real-life inspiration for… Read more
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Trying to define the difference between Gothic and Horror is difficult. Ann Radcliffe once said, ‘Whereas terror is a feeling of dread that takes place before an event happens, horror is a feeling of revulsion or disgust after the event has happened.’ The usual way to look at the difference is that Horror seeks to provoke… Read more
ClimbingSky 