Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Native & early Americans

Happy holidays to everyone celebrating them in the coming weeks!  The next Genre Reading Group meeting will be on Tuesday, December 30th at 6:30pm for a discussion of world festivals & holidays. Pick a book/DVD/audiobook on any celebration from any country celebrated any time of year and come tell us about it!  The Library will be on Holiday Hours and will be closed but, never fear, I will be here to let you in!  Keep an eye out at www.eolib.org/adults.php for the 2015 lineup at GRG topics!

Last week, we met to discuss Native and early Americans and here is the list of items we shared!


Trickster: Native American Tales, A Graphic Collection edited by Matt Bembicki
(Powells.com) All cultures have tales of the trickster — a crafty creature or being who uses cunning to get food, steal precious possessions, or simply cause mischief. He disrupts the order of things, often humiliating others and sometimes himself. In Native American traditions, the trickster takes many forms, from coyote or rabbit to raccoon or raven. The first graphic anthology of Native American trickster tales, Trickster brings together Native American folklore and the world of comics.
In Trickster, more than twenty Native American tales are cleverly adapted into comic form. Each story is written by a different Native American storyteller who worked closely with a selected illustrator, a combination that gives each tale a unique and powerful voice and look. Ranging from serious and dramatic to funny and sometimes downright fiendish, these tales bring tricksters back into popular culture in a very vivid form. From an ego-driven social misstep in "Coyote and the Pebbles" to the hi-jinks of "How Wildcat Caught a Turkey" and the hilarity of "Rabbit's Choctaw Tail Tale," Trickster provides entertainment for readers of all ages and backgrounds.


Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
(Powells.com) A New York Times bestselling tale of passion and belief, magic and adventure from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author.  Bethia Mayfield is a restless and curious young woman growing up in Martha's vineyard in the 1660s amid a small band of pioneering English Puritans. At age twelve, she meets Caleb, the young son of a chieftain, and the two forge a secret bond that draws each into the alien world of the other. Bethia's father is a Calvinist minister who seeks to convert the native Wampanoag, and Caleb becomes a prize in the contest between old ways and new, eventually becoming the first Native American graduate of Harvard College. Inspired by a true story and narrated by the irresistible Bethia, Caleb’s Crossing brilliantly captures the triumphs and turmoil of two brave, openhearted spirits who risk everything in a search for knowledge at a time of superstition and ignorance.


GENERAL DISCUSSION: NPR Diane Rehm interview with Ms. Brooks in 2011


Smoke Signals (DVD)
(Rottentomatoes.com) The unavoidable synopsis -- two young American Indians leave the reservation to resolve their problems and to find themselves -- belies the poetry of this well-acted, well-directed and largehearted movie.  Adapted from Sherman Alexie's short story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.


The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
(Powells.com) In this darkly comic short story collection, Sherman Alexie, a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, brilliantly weaves memory, fantasy, and stark realism to paint a complex, grimly ironic portrait of life in and around the Spokane Indian Reservation. These twenty-two interlinked tales are narrated by characters raised on humiliation and government-issue cheese, and yet are filled with passion and affection, myth and dream.

There is Victor, who as a nine-year-old crawled between his unconscious parents hoping that the alcohol seeping through their skins might help him sleep, Thomas Builds-the-Fire, who tells his stories long after people stop listening, and Jimmy Many Horses, dying of cancer, who writes letters on stationary that reads "From the Death Bed of Jimmy Many Horses III," even though he actually writes then on his kitchen table. Against a backdrop of alcohol, car accidents, laughter, and basketball, Alexie depicts the distances between Indians and whites, reservation Indians and urban Indians, men and women, and mostly poetically between modern Indians and the traditions of the past.


If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth
(Powells.com) Lewis "Shoe" Blake is used to the joys and difficulties of life on the Tuscarora Indian reservation in 1975: the joking, the Fireball games, the snow blowing through his roof. What he's not used to is white people being nice to him — people like George Haddonfield, whose family recently moved to town with the Air Force. As the boys connect through their mutual passion for music, especially the Beatles, Lewis has to lie more and more to hide the reality of his family's poverty from George. He also has to deal with the vicious Evan Reininger, who makes Lewis the special target of his wrath. But when everyone else is on Evan's side, how can he be defeated? And if George finds out the truth about Lewis's home — will he still be his friend?  Acclaimed adult author Eric Gansworth makes his YA debut with this wry and powerful novel about friendship, memory, and the joy of rock 'n' roll.


American Indian Places: A Historical Guidebook by Frances H. Kennedy
(Powells.com) This historical guidebook includes 366 places that are significant to American Indians and open to the public. The book is organized geographically and includes location information, maps, and color photographs as well as suggestions for further reading about the sites and an extensive bibliography.

Among the 279 authorities who know and revere these places and have written essays on them and on topics relating to them are William deBuys, Suzan Shone Harjo, Frederick E. Hoxie, Clara Sue Kidwell, Malinda Maynor Lowery, Rennard Strickland, and David Hurst Thomas. Tribal culture committees and tribal historians also contributed essays. Frances H. Kennedy, the editor and principal contributor, has written short entries on more than a hundred of the places.

The places covered in the book include: Ganondagan State Historic Site in New York, Kituwah Mound in North Carolina, Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Illinois, Crystal River Archaeological State Park in Florida, Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa, Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming, Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, Navajo National Monument in Arizona, Olompali State Historic Park in California, La Purisima Mission State Historic Park in California, Nez Perce National Historical Park in Idaho, and many more.


Last of the Breed by Louis L'Amour
(Powells.com) Here is the kind of authentically detailed epic novel that has become Louis L’Amour’s hallmark. It is the compelling story of U.S. Air Force Major Joe Mack, a man born out of time. When his experimental aircraft is forced down in Russia and he escapes a Soviet prison camp, he must call upon the ancient skills of his Indian forebears to survive the vast Siberian wilderness. Only one route lies open to Mack: the path of his ancestors, overland to the Bering Strait and across the sea to America. But in pursuit is a legendary tracker, the Yakut native Alekhin, who knows every square foot of the icy frontier—and who knows that to trap his quarry he must think like a Sioux.


Cahokia: Ancient America's Great City on the Mississippi by Timothy Pauketat
(Powells.com) While Mayan and Aztec civilizations are widely known and documented, relatively few people are familiar with the largest prehistoric Native American city north of Mexico-a site that expert Timothy Pauketat brings vividly to life in this groundbreaking book. Almost a thousand years ago, a city flourished along the Mississippi River near what is now St. Louis. Built around a sprawling central plaza and known as Cahokia, the site has drawn the attention of generations of archaeologists, whose work produced evidence of complex celestial timepieces, feasts big enough to feed thousands, and disturbing signs of human sacrifice. Drawing on these fascinating finds, Cahokia presents a lively and astonishing narrative of prehistoric America.


The Pueblo Indians: Farmers of the Rio Grande by Sonia Bleeker
(Jacketflap.com) Published in 1955, Bleeker's book tells the story of Young Hawk.  He lived over 400 years ago, but the civilization of the Pueblo Indians, already well advanced before any white settlers came into their land, has changed very little since his day.


Looking for Lost Bird: A Jewish Woman's Discovery of Her Navajo Roots by Yvette Melanson
(Powells.com) Adopted on the black market, Yvette went to live with an affluent older couple in New York. They filled her days with piano lessons, ballet and art classes, and wished her sweet dreams in a canopy bed. But then love faltered, replaced by grief and rejection. Striking out on her own, Yvette went to Israel and sought comfort among Kibbutz friends and army comrades, then returned to the states, no closer to finding peace with herself. With deep yearning and wry humor, Yvette tells of finally finding her reality--a truth that she could never have conjured for herself.

Moving to a hidden corner of the Navajo reservation, she is met by strangers who say they are her family. In the mystery of their ceremonies and in the daily rhythms of reservation life, she learns about Navajo spirituality, about medicine men and Changing Woman, about winds that whisper and ghosts that walk.

This is the story of a woman yearning to fit into an unknown heritage. Even as she learns to weave Navajo rugs, she looks for ways to intertwine her Jewish faith and the Navajo one to lace the Biblical story of Adam and Even with the Navajo tales of the corn people. Exploring the secrets of identity and the meaning of family, she measures the ties of upbringing against the tug of blood. What she finds is faith, in all its forms, and love, in all its faces.  Adapted as a TV movie for Hallmark in 2000.


The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Asa Carter
(Powells.com) The Education of Little Tree tells of a boy orphaned very young, who is adopted by his Cherokee grandmother and half-Cherokee grandfather in the Appalachian mountains of Tennessee during the Great Depression.


GENERAL DISCUSSION: From npr.org...In the early 1990s, The Education of Little Tree became a publishing phenomenon. It told the story of an orphan growing up and learning the wisdom of his Native American ancestors, Cherokee Texan author Forrest Carter's purported autobiography.
The book was originally published in 1976 to little fanfare and modest sales, but in the late 1980s, the University of New Mexico Press reissued it in paperback — and it exploded. By 1991, it reached the top of The New York Times nonfiction best-seller list. It was sold around the world, praised by Oprah Winfrey and made into a Hollywood film.  The Education of Little Tree would go on to sell more than 1 million copies. But the book and its author were not what they seemed.  Listen to the All Things Considered NPR segment here.


If the Legends Fade by Tom Hendrix
(Amazon.com) "All things shall pass. Only the stones will remain." ....In northwest Alabama, there is a stone wall dedicated to my great-great-grandmother's journey about which this book is written, and to all Native American women. The wall is my way of honoring my ancestors. It has become a special place to many who visit it, for reasons that relate to their own lives. After walking the length of the wall, Charlie Two Moons, a spiritual person, explained it this way: "The wall does not belong to you, Brother Tom, It belongs to all people. You are just the keeper. I will tell you that it is "wichahpi, "which means "like the stars". when they come, some will ask, "Why does it bend and why is it higher and wider in some places than in others?" Tell them it is like your great-great-grandmother's journey, and their journey through life--it is never straight." If the Legends Fade is the story of Te-lah-nay's journey. the story, like the wall, belongs to all people.


Brother Eagle, Sister Sky: A Message from Chief Seattle by Susan Jeffers
(Powells.com) The Earth does not belong to us. We belong to the Earth. The great American Indian Chief Seattle spoke these words over a hundred years ago. His remarkably relevant message of respect for the Earth and every creature on it has endured the test of time and is imbued with passion born of love of the land and the environment. Illustrated by award-winning artist Susan Jeffers, the stirring pen-and-color drawings bring a wide array of Native Americans to life while capturing the splendor of nature and the land. Children and parents alike will enjoy the timeless, poignant message presented in this beautifully illustrated picture book. "Together, Seattle's words and Jeffers's images create a powerful message; this thoughtful book deserves to be pondered and cherished by all." (Publishers Weekly )


Sherman Alexie's poem, "Sister Fire, Brother Smoke" from The Summer of Black Widows

Have I become an accomplished liar,
a man who believes in his own inventions?
When I see my sister in every fire,

is it me who sets her in those pyres
and burns her repeatedly? Should I mention
I may have become an accomplished liar,

a man who was absent when his sister died,
but still feeds those flames in the present tense?
When I see my sister in every fire,

am I seeing the shadow that survived her
conflagration? Because of my obsession
I have become an accomplished liar,

who strikes a match, then creates a choir
of burning matches, with the intention
of seeing my sister in every fire?

Is she the whisper of ash floating high
above me? I offer these charred questions.
Have I become an accomplished liar
if I see my sister in every fire?

"Song for America" by Kansas



"Wildfire" by Michael Martin Murphey and Larry Cansler




Dances with Wolves (DVD)
(Rottentomatoes.com) A historical drama about the relationship between a Civil War soldier and a band of Sioux Indians, Kevin Costner's directorial debut was also a surprisingly popular hit, considering its length, period setting, and often somber tone. The film opens on a particularly dark note, as melancholy Union lieutenant John W. Dunbar attempts to kill himself on a suicide mission, but instead becomes an unintentional hero. His actions lead to his reassignment to a remote post in remote South Dakota, where he encounters the Sioux. Attracted by the natural simplicity of their lifestyle, he chooses to leave his former life behind to join them, taking on the name Dances with Wolves. Soon, Dances with Wolves has become a welcome member of the tribe and fallen in love with a white woman who has been raised amongst the tribe. His peaceful existence is threatened, however, when Union soldiers arrive with designs on the Sioux land. Some detractors have criticized the film's depiction of the tribes as simplistic; such objections did not dissuade audiences or the Hollywood establishment, however, which awarded the film seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi  Based on Michael Blake's novel of the same name.


Last of the Mohicans (DVD)
(Rottentomatoes.com) Director Michael Mann based this lushly romantic version of the James Fenimore Cooper novel more on his memory of the 1936 film version (starring Randolph Scott) than on Cooper's novel (in fact, Philip Dunne's 1936 screenplay is cited as source material for this film). Set in the 1750s during the French and Indian War, the story concerns Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis), the European-born adopted son of Mohican scout Chingachgook (Russell Means). Hawkeye and his party, which also includes the Mohican Uncas (Eric Schweig), joins up with a group of Britons who have recently arrived in the Colonies. The group consists of Cora Munro (Madeleine Stowe) and her younger sister, Alice (Jodhi May), who are rescued from a Huron war party by Hawkeye. Hawkeye's band accompanies them to the British Fort William Henry, which is being besieged by a French and Huron force. The fort falls to the French, and Colonel Munro (Maurice Roeves) surrenders to French General Montcalm (Patrice Chéreau). The terms of the surrender are that the British merely abandon the fort and return to their homes. However, the French's bloodthirsty ally, the Huron warrior Magua (Wes Studi), has made no such agreement, and, as the British retreat from the fort, he plans to massacre them in a terrible Huron attack. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi


Little Big Man (DVD)
(Rottentomatoes.com) Many historical events of the Old West are recalled a century later by the 121-year-old Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman) in this classic western drama comedy. When he is ten, Jack and his sister are the only survivors of a Cheyenne Indian attack that kills their parents. Dubbed "Little Big Man," he becomes a member of the tribe for six years before being taken in by the Reverend Pendrake (Thayer David) and his lusty, unfaithful wife (Faye Dunaway). Jack later joins up with a snake oil salesman (Martin Balsam), who becomes the victim of wrath of his unfortunate clients. After witnessing the murder of Wild Bill Hickock, Jack abandons his goal to become a famous gunfighter. He becomes a guide for George Armstrong Custer (Richard Mulligan), and witnesses the massacre at Litttle Big Horn with his adopted Indian father (Chief Dan George). Jack is saved by an Indian brave who owed his life to him, but the native American is plagued by a harridan wife. The plus sized Swedish woman had been married to Jack before she was captured and quickly dominates the life of the unfortunate Younger Bear (Cal Bellini). Robert Little Star provides comic relief as a effeminate Cheyenne. Chief Dan George won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Crabb recalls his past life from a nursing home to a wide eyed reporter. Dick Smith and Terry Miles showed exceptional expertise in make up for all the characters, particularly to make Hoffman look like a 121 year old man. Although historical accuracy of many event depicted is stretched if not shattered into revisionism, Little Big Man has endured to become a classic and depicted native Americans as human beings.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Spooky and Thrilling Fall Reading

Tis the season to be spooky and our most recent Genre Reading Group certainly had some spookiness to offer!  From fall reading classics to proms gone horribly wrong, GRG members brought it all!


The Shining by Stephen King
(Barnes & Noble) First published in 1977, The Shining quickly became a benchmark in the literary career of Stephen King. This tale of a troubled man hired to care for a remote mountain resort over the winter, his loyal wife, and their uniquely gifted son slowly but steadily unfolds as secrets from the Overlook Hotel's past are revealed, and the hotel itself attempts to claim the very souls of the Torrance family. Adapted into a cinematic masterpiece ofhorror by legendary director Stanley Kubrick - featuring an unforgettableperformance by a demonic Jack Nicholson - The Shining stands as a cultural icon of modern horror, a searing study of a family torn apart, and a nightmarish glimpse into the dark recesses of human weakness and dementia.


Carrie by Stephen King
(Powells) Carrie White may have been unfashionable and unpopular, but she had a gift. Carrie could make things move by concentrating on them. A candle would fall. A door would lock. This was her power and her sin. Then, an act of kindness, as spontaneous as the vicious taunts of her classmates, offered Carrie a chance to be normal and go to her senior prom. But another act--of ferocious cruelty--turned her gift into a weapon of horror and destruction that her classmates would never forget.


The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
(Barnes & Noble) The quiet Dutch community of Sleepy Hollow lay in the Adirondack mountains on the western shore of the mighty Hudson River in America’s colonial period. The solitude of the woods was breathtaking, and not even a schoolmaster was immune from the eerie miasma which everyone knew permeated the dense forest. Written in 1820, Washington Irving’s The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow has become a classic of American literature, and has been retold in many different ways.


The Small Hand & Dolly: Two Novels by Susan Hill
(Barnes & Noble)
The Small Hand
Antiquarian bookseller Adam Snow is returning from a client visit when he takes a wrong turn and stumbles upon a derelict Edwardian house with a lush, overgrown garden. As he approaches the door, he is startled to feel the unmistakable sensation of a small, cold hand creeping into his own, almost as though a child has taken hold of it. Shaken, he returns home to find himself plagued by nightmares. But when he decides to investigate the house’s mysteries, he is troubled by increasingly sinister visitations.
Dolly
After being orphaned at a young age, Edward Cayley is sent to spend the summer with his forbidding Aunt Kestrel at Iyot house, her decaying estate on the damp, lonely fens in the west of England. With him is his spoiled, spiteful cousin Leonora. And when Leonora’s birthday wish for a beautiful doll is denied, she unleashes a furious rage which will haunt Edward through the years to come.


Three Quarters Dead by Richard Peck
(Powells) Being the new girl at school is rough. But when the popular girls choose Kerry as the newest member of their ultra-exclusive clique, she thinks her troubles are finally finished. When her three new friends are killed in a horrifying car crash, her life seems over as well. But then the texts begin. . . .Richard Peck returns to his contemporary teen- and ghost-story roots in this suspenseful page-turner with a subtle commentary on peer pressure that fans of television dramas such as Pretty Little Liars and Vampire Diaries will devour.


Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes: TheAuthorized Adaptation by Ron Wimberly
(Powells) Cooger and Darks Pandemonium Shadow Show howls into Green Town, Illinois, at three in the morning a week before Halloween. Under its carnival tents is a mirror maze that steals wishes; a carousel that promises eternal life, in exchange for your soul; the Dust Witch, who unerringly foresees your death; and Mr. Dark, the Illustrated Man, who has lived for centuries off the misery of others. Only two boys, Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, recognize the dark magic at work and have a plan to stop this ancient evil, that is, if it doesn't kill them first.

Something Wicked This Way Comes is Ray Bradbury's incomparable work of dark fantasy, and the gifted illustrator Ron Wimberly has stunningly captured its sinister magic in gorgeously realized black-and-white art. Complete with an original introduction by Bradbury, Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes: The Authorized Adaptation reintroduces this thrilling classic.


The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier
(Powells) This much-anticipated follow-up to Jonathan Auxier’s exceptional debut, Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes, is a Victorian ghost story with shades of Washington Irving and Henry James. More than just a spooky tale, it’s also a moral fable about human greed and the power of storytelling.
The Night Gardener follows two abandoned Irish siblings who travel to work as servants at a creepy, crumbling English manor house. But the house and its family are not quite what they seem. Soon the children are confronted by a mysterious spectre and an ancient curse that threatens their very lives. With Auxier’s exquisite command of language, The Night Gardener is a mesmerizing read and a classic in the making.


Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas manga adaptation by Jun Asuka
(Powells) Jack Skellington's sick and tired of his hometown holiday, Halloween, and is longing for something new. But when his soul searching leads to his good-intentioned kidnapping of Santa, things start getting pretty hairy! In this Japanese manga retelling of one of Disney's most enduring films, fans can read how Jack almost ruined Christmas.


Jeffrey's Favorite 13 Ghost Stories by Kathryn Tucker Windham
(Powells) The 13 stories in this volume are drawn from previous volumes of Alabama, Lousiana, Georgia, Missippi, and Tennessee ghost tales. Those previous volumes, most of them originally published by the University of Alabama Press, are now out of print, except for her first, 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey.- Jeffrey, who features in the introduction to this volume, is the "friendly poltergeist" who haunts the author's family home in Selma, AL. The "Jeffrey" series began in 1969.


Haunted Birmingham by Alan Brown
(Powells) From the eerie vestiges of the Sloss Furnaces to the unexplained (and un-booked) performances in the Alabama Theatre and rather otherworldly room service at the Tutwiler Hotel, Birmingham is truly one of the South's supernatural hotbeds. Renowned author and ghost expert Alan Brown delivers a fascinating, downright spine-chilling collection of haunts from around the city and surrounding neighborhoods such as Bessemer, Columbiana, Jasper and Montevallo. Residents and tourists alike will cherish this exclusive glimpse into the city's inexplicable occupants, and even the skeptics can enjoy the book's historical framework.


Haunted Shelby County, Alabama by Kim Johnston
(Barnes & Noble) Shelby County, Alabama is at the heart of the state. The area is home to Alabama’s forgotten plantations, a deep history of the Creek Indians who died during the Trail of Tears and dark secrets from areas such as Harpersville, Calera, Chelsea, Montevallo and Leeds. From eerie images of Civil War ghosts at Shelby Springs Manor to the downright sinister happenings in the Devil’s Corridor of Chelsea, the scars of the past have left Shelby County a major hot spot of paranormal activity. Author and paranormal researcher Kim Johnston delivers a fascinating collection of haunts and legends from around Shelby County.


The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot
(Powells) As Paul Muldoon writes, "It's almost impossible to think of a world in which The Waste Land did not exist. So profound has its influence been not only on twentieth-century poetry but on how we’ve come to view the century as a whole, the poem itself risks being taken for granted." Famously elliptical, wildly allusive, at once transcendent and bleak, The Waste Land defined modernity after the First World War, forever transforming our understanding of ourselves, the broken world we live in, and the literature that was meant to make sense of it. In a voice that is arch, ironic, almost ebullient, and yet world-weary and tragic, T. S. Eliot mixes and remixes, drawing on a cast of ghosts to create a new literature for a new world. In the words of Edmund Wilson, "Eliot…is one of our only authentic poets…[The Waste Land is] one triumph after another."


The Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature: The Essential Guideto the Lives and Works of Gothic Writers by Mary Ellen Snodgrass
(Barnes & Noble) Gothic literature has been described as the expression through story of the deepest human dread. This A-to-Z guide to Gothic literature covers everything from the origins of the movement in the 18th century with novels such as The Castle of Otranto and The Mysteries of Udolpho to the movement's flowering in the 19th century with the poetry and prose of such writers as the Bronte sisters and Edgar Allan Poe to its continuing influence today. The Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature is a must for teachers, students, and anyone who wants to explore this fascinating and enduring literary movement.


The Annotated Supernatural and Horror in Literature by H.P. Lovecraft
(Barnes & Noble) H. P. Lovecraft's "Supernatural Horror in Literature," first published in 1927, is widely recognized as the finest historical survey of horror literature ever written. The product of both a keen critical analyst and a working practitioner in the field, the essay affords unique insights into the nature, development, and history of the weird tale. Beginning with instances of weirdness in ancient literature, Lovecraft proceeds to discuss horror writing in the Renaissance, the first Gothic novels of the late 18th century, the revolutionary importance of Edgar Allan Poe, the work of such leading figures as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ambrose Bierce, and William Hope Hodgson, and the four "modern masters"-Arthur Machen, Lord Dunsany, Algernon Blackwood and M. R. James.

In this annotated edition of Lovecraft's seminal work, acclaimed Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi has supplied detailed commentary on many points. In addition, Joshi has supplied a comprehensive bibliography of all the authors and works discussed in the essay, with references to modern editions and critical studies. For this new edition, Joshi has exhaustively revised and updated the bibliography and also revamped the notes to bring the book in line with the most up-to-date scholarship on Lovecraft and weird fiction. The entire volume has also been redesigned for ease of reading and reference. This latest edition will be invaluable both to devotees of Lovecraft and to enthusiasts of the weird tale.


Hop Frog by Edgar Allan Poe
(Barnes & Noble) "Hop-Frog" (originally "Hop-Frog; Or, theEight Chained Ourangoutangs") is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1849. The title character, a dwarf taken from his homeland, becomes the jester of a king particularly fond of practical jokes. Taking revenge on the king and his cabinet for striking his friend and fellow dwarf Trippetta, he dresses them as orangutans for a masquerade. In front of the king's guests, Hop-Frog murders them all by setting their costumes on fire before escaping with Trippetta.


Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
(Powells) Written by an anonymous 19-year-old, rejected by two publishers, and finally given a printing of only 500 copies, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein would go on to become one of the most influential novels in the science-fiction and horror genres. But Shelley's work is much more than a Gothic tale of terror; it's a classic piece of literature that raised many disturbing questions about humankind that are just as relevant today as when they were written. On October 31, 1831, Shelley published a revised edition that has become the more widely read version, not because of its textural superiority, but for its availability. In fact, it has been argued that the original text, with its darker undertones, may be the most definitive work. Whichever version you read, Frankenstein is a masterpiece!  Recommended by Nate Ashley, Powells.com


Dracula by Bram Stoker
(Powells) "Count Dracula" has inspired countless movies, books, and plays. But few, if any, have been fully faithful to Bram Stoker's original, best-selling novel of mystery and horror, love and death, sin and redemption. Dracula chronicles the vampire's journey from Transylvania to the nighttime streets of London. There, he searches for the blood of strong men and beautiful women while his enemies plot to rid the world of his frightful power. Today's critics see Dracula as a virtual textbook on Victorian repression of the erotic and fear of female sexuality. In it, Stoker created a new word for terror, a new myth to feed our nightmares, and a character who will outlive us all.


Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
(Powells) Lush, romantic, and wildly passionate: Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, the tale of two soul mates separated by class and society, has seduced readers for generations and inspired countless adaptations. Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff--the gypsy boy her father brought home to their estate of Wuthering Heights--have been inseparable since childhood. But as Catherine grows up and becomes a lady, she spurns Heathcliff for the wealthy and genteel Edgar Linton. She never stops loving him, however…with a passion that not even death can diminish. 


The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
(Powells) Haunting readers since its first publication in 1911, the classic story of the disfigured Erik who haunts the Paris Opera House and secretly trains singer Christine Daa, leading to an obsessive love and pattern of fear and violence, remains a riveting journey into the darkest regions of the human heart.


The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
(Powells) Set in medieval Paris, Victor Hugo's powerful historical romance has resonated with succeeding generations ever since its publication in 1837. It tells the story of the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda, condemned as a witch by the tormented archdeacon Claude Frollo, who lusts after her. Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer of Notre-Dame Cathedral, having fallen in love with the kindhearted Esmeralda, tries to save her by hiding her in the cathedral's tower. When a crowd of Parisian peasants, misunderstanding Quasimodos motives, attacks the church in an attempt to liberate her, the story ends in tragedy.


Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice
(Powells) In a remote room in a large city, a young reporter sits face-to-face with his most astonishing subject: a onetime New Orleans gentleman plantation owner who, in vividly terrifying and haunting detail, recalls his centuries of extraordinary life--beginning with his initiation into the ranks of the living dead at the hands of the sinister, sensual vampire Lestat.


Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night by Nicholas Rogers
(Powells) Every year, children and adults alike take to the streets dressed as witches, demons, animals, celebrities, and more. They carve pumpkins and play pranks, and the braver ones watch scary movies and go on ghost tours. There are parades, fireworks displays, cornfield mazes, haunted houses and, most important, copious amounts of bite-sized candy. The popularity of Halloween has spread around the globe to places as diverse as Russia, China, and Japan, but its association with death and the supernatural and its inevitable commercialization has made it one of our most misunderstood holidays. How did it become what it is today?


Doll Bones by Holly Black
(Powells) A doll that may be haunted leads three friends on a thrilling adventure in this delightfully creepy novel from the New York Times bestselling co-creator of the Spiderwick Chronicles.
Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends forever. And for almost as long, they’ve been playing one continuous, ever-changing game of pirates and thieves, mermaids and warriors. Ruling over all is the Great Queen, a bone-china doll cursing those who displease her.

But they are in middle school now. Zach’s father pushes him to give up make-believe, and Zach quits the game. Their friendship might be over, until Poppy declares she’s been having dreams about the Queen — and the ghost of a girl who will not rest until the bone-china doll is buried in her empty grave.

Zach and Alice and Poppy set off on one last adventure to lay the Queen’s ghost to rest. But nothing goes according to plan, and as their adventure turns into an epic journey, creepy things begin to happen. Is the doll just a doll or something more sinister? And if there really is a ghost, will it let them go now that it has them in its clutches?


Antichrist (DVD)
(Rotten Tomatoes) A grieving couple retreat to 'Eden', their isolated cabin in the woods, where they hope to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse. Critics Consensus: Gruesome, explicit and highly controversial; Lars Von Triers' arthouse-horror, though beautifully shot, is no easy ride.


Halloween III: Season of the Witch (DVD)
(Rotten Tomatoes) Halloween 3 has nothing in common with the original Halloween other than its title. Here, a deranged mask manufacturer (Dan O'Herlihy) makes and sells millions of Halloween masks that will kill any child who wears them. When his scheme is found out, he goes on a bloody rampage in order to escape detection.


My Story by Elizabeth Smart with Chris Stewart
(Powells) For the first time, ten years after her abduction from her Salt Lake City bedroom, Elizabeth Smart reveals how she survived and the secret to forging a new life in the wake of a brutal crime
On June 5, 2002, fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart, the daughter of a close-knit Mormon family, was taken from her home in the middle of the night by religious fanatic, Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee. She was kept chained, dressed in disguise, repeatedly raped, and told she and her family would be killed if she tried to escape. After her rescue on March 12, 2003, she rejoined her family and worked to pick up the pieces of her life.

Now for the first time, in her memoir, she tells of the constant fear she endured every hour, her courageous determination to maintain hope, and how she devised a plan to manipulate her captors and convinced them to return to Utah, where she was rescued minutes after arriving.  Smart explains how her faith helped her stay sane in the midst of a nightmare and how she found the strength to confront her captors at their trial and see that justice was served.

In the nine years after her rescue, Smart transformed from victim to advocate, traveling the country and working to educate, inspire and foster change. She has created a foundation to help prevent crimes against children and is a frequent public speaker. In  2012, she married Matthew Gilmour, whom she met doing mission work in Paris for her church, in a fairy tale wedding that made the cover of People magazine.


Finding Me: A Decade of Darkness, a Life Reclaimed, a Memoirof the Cleveland Kidnappings by Michelle Knight with Michelle Burford
(Powells) Michelle was a young single mother when she was kidnapped by a local school bus driver named Ariel Castro. For more than a decade afterward, she endured unimaginable torture at the hand of her abductor. In 2003 Amanda Berry joined her in captivity, followed by Gina DeJesus in 2004. Their escape on May 6, 2013, made headlines around the world.

Barely out of her own tumultuous childhood, Michelle was estranged from her family and fighting for custody of her young son when she disappeared. Local police believed she had run away, so they removed her from the missing persons lists fifteen months after she vanished. Castro tormented her with these facts, reminding her that no one was looking for her, that the outside world had forgotten her. But Michelle would not be broken.

In Finding Me, Michelle will reveal the heartbreaking details of her story, including the thoughts and prayers that helped her find courage to endure her unimaginable circumstances and now build a life worth living. By sharing both her past and her efforts to create a future, Michelle becomes a voice for the voiceless and a powerful symbol of hope for the thousands of children and young adults who go missing every year.

George Romero Quadrilogy Zombie-Thon:

A group of people hide from bloodthirsty zombies in a farmhouse.

Following an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia S.W.A.T. team members, a traffic reporter, and his television executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.

A small group of military officers and scientists dwell in an underground bunker as the world above is overrun by zombies.

The living dead have taken over the world, and the last humans live in a walled city to protect themselves as they come to grips with the situation. 

(Amazon) Enter the bleak existence of a call girl haunted by the atrocities of her childhood. In the spring of 1997, Shelley Hansard is a drug addict with a heroin habit and crack psychosis. Her desirability as a top London call girl is waning. When her client dies in a suite at The Lanesborough Hotel, Shelley’s complex double-life is blasted deeper into chaos. In her psychotic state, the skills required to keep up her multiple personas are weakening. Amidst her few friends, and what remains of her broken family, she struggles to maintain her wall of lies. 


Hostel (DVD) ​
Three backpackers head to a Slovak city that promises to meet their hedonistic expectations, with no idea of the hell that awaits them.


​​Hostel II (DVD)
Three American college students studying abroad are lured to a Slovakian hostel, and discover the grim reality behind it.


Suspiria (DVD)
​A newcomer to a fancy ballet academy gradually comes to realize that the school is a front for something far more sinister and supernatural amidst a series of grisly murders.


​​The next GENRE READING GROUP meeting will take place on Tuesday, November 25th at 6:30pm and the topic will be Native & early Americans. Mark your calendars and join us!