oh, the horror!

 

The next Books & Beyond meeting will be on Tuesday, November 25 at 6:30pm in the Library’s Conference Room.  The topic up for discussion is forensic sciences.  There are many topics within forensics, but I have invited the Jefferson County Medical Examiner to the meeting to speak about that aspect in particular. 

In October, Books & Beyond met to chat about all things horror.  If you aren't ready to give up those spooky books quite yet, read on!

Horror: A Thematic History in Fiction and Film by Darryl Jones

As Darryl Jones shows, the horror genre is huge. Ranging from vampires, ghosts, and werewolves to mad scientists, Satanists, and deranged serial killers, the cathartic release of scaring ourselves has made its appearance in everything from Shakespearean tragedies to internet memes. Exploring the key tropes of the genre, including its monsters, its psychological chills, and its love affair with the macabre, this thematic history discusses why horror stories disturb us, and how society responds to literary and film representations of the gruesome and taboo.

The Elementals by Michael McDowell

After a bizarre and disturbing incident at the funeral of matriarch Marian Savage, the McCray and Savage families look forward to a restful and relaxing summer at Beldame, on Alabama's Gulf Coast, where three Victorian houses loom over the shimmering beach. A haunted house story unlike any other, Michael McDowell's The Elementals (1981) is one of the finest novels to come out of the horror publishing explosion of the 1970s and '80s.

Frankie’s Funhouse: Animatronic Horror Romance by Beatrix Hollow (This title not available via the JCLC, but some of the author's other work is available on Hoopla)

Desperation for cash has led me down a rainbow painted hallway to Frankie’s Funhouse—a children’s gambling casino. Or as my boss likes to call it, a pizza arcade. The coworkers are strange, the patrons are disturbing, and the animatronics are possessed. Which I was willing to put up with until my boss died. Well, he was murdered, actually. Now I have to serve pizza and birthday cake while thinking about burning down the mall to hide a body for an animatronic that keeps hitting on me.

The Guy Sure Looks Like Plant Food to Me by Santana Knox (This title is not available via the JCLC, but it is on Amazon.)

This is a killer rom-com, feel-good, magical short story homage to Little Shop of Horrors about fated love blooming in the most unexpected of places.

Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Griffin

After losing her job and her fiancé and moving back from the city to live with her parents, Shell Pine needs some help. And according to the sign in the window, the florist shop in the mall does too. Shell gets the gig, and the flowers she works with there are just the thing she needs to cheer up. Or maybe it’s Neve, the beautiful shop manager, who is making her days so rosy?

But you have to get your hands dirty if you want your garden to grow—and Neve’s secrets are as dark and dangerous as they come. In the back room of the flower shop, a young sentient orchid actually runs the show, and he is hungry . . . and he has a plan for them all.

The House with a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs

When Lewis Barnavelt, an orphan. comes to stay with his uncle Jonathan, he expects to meet an ordinary person. But he is wrong. Uncle Jonathan and his next-door neighbor, Mrs. Zimmermann, are both magicians! Lewis is thrilled. At first, watchng magic is enough. Then Lewis experiments with magic himself and unknowingly resurrects the former owner of the house: a woman named Selenna Izard. It seems that Selenna and her husband built a timepiece into the walls--a clock that could obliterate humankind. And only the Barnavelts can stop it!  Adapted to a movie, starring Jack Black as Uncle Jonathan.

Whales on Stilts by M. T. Anderson

Sure, Lily Gefelty is just an average twelve-year-old girl. But her dad—a normal-enough-seeming guy—just so happens to work for an evil genius who plans to unleash an army of extremely cranky, stilt-walking, laser-beam-eyed whales upon the world.

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

When a young woman clears out her deceased grandmother’s home in rural North Carolina, she finds long-hidden secrets about a strange colony of beings in the woods.

The Witch (2015, rated R)

In 1630 New England, panic and despair envelops a farmer, his wife and their children when youngest son Samuel suddenly vanishes. The family blames Thomasin, the oldest daughter who was watching the boy at the time of his disappearance. With suspicion and paranoia mounting, twin siblings Mercy and Jonas suspect Thomasin of witchcraft, testing the clan's faith, loyalty and love to one another.

Guillermo del Toro, At Home with Monsters: Inside His Films,Notebooks, and Collections

In 2016, a new exhibit on the work of visionary director Guillermo del Toro debuted at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. This book focuses on del Toro’s creative process, including the well-defined themes that he obsessively returns to in all his films, the journals in which he logs his ideas, and the vast and inspiring collection of art and pop culture ephemera that he has amassed at his private “man cave,” Bleak House. This book delivers an engrossing look into the mind of one of the great creative visionaries of our time.

Crimson Peak (2015, rated R)

After marrying the charming and seductive Sir Thomas Sharpe, young Edith (Mia Wasikowska) finds herself swept away to his remote gothic mansion in the English hills. Also living there is Lady Lucille, Thomas' alluring sister and protector of her family's dark secrets. Able to communicate with the dead, Edith tries to decipher the mystery behind the ghostly visions that haunt her new home. As she comes closer to the truth, Edith may learn that true monsters are made of flesh and blood.

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

Meet Jane. Newly arrived to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates––a gated community full of McMansions, shiny SUVs, and bored housewives. The kind of place where no one will notice if Jane lifts the discarded tchotchkes and jewelry off the side tables of her well-heeled clients. Where no one will think to ask if Jane is her real name.

But her luck changes when she meets Eddie Rochester. Recently widowed, Eddie is Thornfield Estates’ most mysterious resident. His wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend, their bodies lost to the deep. Jane can’t help but see an opportunity in Eddie––not only is he rich, brooding, and handsome, he could also offer her the kind of protection she’s always yearned for.

With delicious suspense, incisive wit, and a fresh, feminist sensibility, The Wife Upstairs flips the script on a timeless tale of forbidden romance, ill-advised attraction, and a wife who just won’t stay buried. In this vivid reimagining of one of literature’s most twisted love triangles, which Mrs. Rochester will get her happy ending?

City of Masks by Daniel Hecht

When Lila Beauforte takes up residence in her ancestral home, the 150-year-old Beauforte House in the Garden District of New Orleans, she is terrified by ghostly apparitions. The family reluctantly calls Cree Black for help. Based out of Seattle, Cree, a parapsychologist with a degree from Harvard, is a "ghost buster." But as Cree gets closer to the truth, the proverbial skeletons in the closet of the prestigious Beauforte family come crashing down on her, and she must struggle to keep her own ghosts at bay.

Diavola by Jennifer Thorne

The gorgeous, remote villa in tiny Monteperso seems like a perfect place to endure so much family togetherness, until things start going off the rails―the strange noises at night, the unsettling warnings from the local villagers, and the dark, violent past of the villa itself. Beautifully unhinged and deeply satisfying, Diavola is a sharp twist on the classic haunted house story, exploring loneliness, belonging, and the seemingly inescapable bonds of family mythology.

Camino Ghosts by John Grisham

Mercer Mann, a popular writer from Camino Island, is back on the beach, marrying her boyfriend, Thomas, in a seaside ceremony. Bruce Cable, infamous owner of Bay Books, performs the wedding. Afterward, Bruce tells Mercer that he has stumbled upon an incredible story. Mercer desperately needs an idea for her next novel, and Bruce now has one. The true story is about Dark Isle, a sliver of a barrier island not far off the North Florida coast. It was settled by freed slaves three hundred years ago, and their descendants lived there until 1955, when the last one was forced to leave. Something about the island seriously clouds the dollar signs in the developer’s eyes: the island is cursed. It has remained uninhabited for nearly a century for some very real and very troubling reasons. The deep secrets of the past are about to collide with the enormous ambitions of the present, and the fate of Dark Isle—and Camino Island, too—hangs in the balance.

GENERAL DISCUSSION

One of our members saw a fun (and funny!) production of Dracula put on by the Bell Tower Players at East Lake United Methodist Church. Find more information about their performances here: https://www.eastlakeunitedmethodist.org/btp/

We discussed a novel we couldn’t remember, told from Bertha’s (Jane Eyre) perspective.  Perhaps it is Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys?  

With Wide Sargasso Sea, her last and best-selling novel, she ingeniously brings into light one of fiction’s most fascinating characters: the madwoman in the attic from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. This mesmerizing work introduces us to Antoinette Cosway, a sensual and protected young woman who is sold into marriage to the prideful Mr. Rochester. Rhys portrays Cosway amidst a society so driven by hatred, so skewed in its sexual relations, that it can literally drive a woman out of her mind.

If you want a long-term, self-paced fun deep dive into literature, explore the Youtube channel of the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia.  There are multi-week, multi-episode explorations of Dracula, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, Pride & Prejudice, and Sherlock Holmes.  Explore here: https://www.youtube.com/@RosenbachMuseum/playlists

We also discussed how sound effects and music are an integral part of horror movies.  Lots of fun discussion on this topic!

Every Frame a Painting on Youtube is no longer active but was a series of video essays about film form.  The episode we discussed in the meeting was The Marvel Symphonic Universe.  Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vfqkvwW2fs

Films with music, sound effects, or lack thereof:

The Birds (1963, rated PG-13)

Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) meets Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) in a San Francisco pet store and decides to follow him home. She brings with her the gift of two love birds and they strike up a romance. One day birds start attacking children at Mitch's sisters party. A huge assault starts on the town by attacking birds. This was adapted from a short story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier.

Zone of Interest (2023, rated PG-13)

The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.  This was adapted from a book of the same name by Martin Amis.

Paranormal Activity (2009, rated R)

Soon after moving into a suburban tract home, Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat) become increasingly disturbed by what appears to be a supernatural presence. Hoping to capture evidence of it on film, they set up video cameras in the house but are not prepared for the terrifying events that follow.

Item descriptions pulled from Amazon and Rotten Tomatoes. Photo by Stefano Pollio on Unsplash