October's my month for all things creepy, spooky and that go bump in the night. A good bunch here for the most part.
Book 51: The Shining - Stephen King
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I started last year to tackle the King canon from the start having only read a few of his books as a kid and really enjoyed
Carrie and
'Salem's Lot. Just one this year but one that I thought I knew really well having seen the movie several times. How wrong I was. The novel is really significantly different from Kubrick's treatment (unlike De Palma's Carrie which I found almost verbatim), so this was nice to have an almost totally different story with way more character history, more supernatural fantasy elements but I thought King captured less tension in the violence that Jack exhibited to his family than Kubrick and Nicholson. I've often heard 'too much description' said as a criticism of King's works. I wouldn't consider the heavily descriptive writing a problem, but I did find some of the digressions a little draining at times.
Book 52: Helter Skelter - Vincent Bugliosi & Curt Gentry
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Not strictly speaking horror but as horrific as anything else I read this month. Having really enjoyed
In Cold Blood and
The Executioner's Song last year, I did a google search of 'Best True Crime Books' and this one seemed to frequently appear in the many online lists. This is definitely different in being written by a lawyer as a historic document rather than a professional writer as a novelisation. That being said, the book really captures the procedural aspects of law enforcement including its many failings. It highlights Bugliosi's fastidious and at times repetitive investigation that paints a vivid and pleasingly unglorified picture of the crimes and the perpetrators for his jury and to us, the readers. Long, but worth the effort.
Book 53: The Vampire Lestat - Anne Rice
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Another follow-up from last year's start with
Interview with the Vampire. Unlike that first novel which I found to be an excellent, mature take on the vampire mythos, I found this second outing to venture a little too close to the YA style at times. Still, it wasn't wholly a wash, the story is after all told from a different narrator so I could accept the different voice used even if I didn't like it as much. Lestat tells a fascinating history, both personal and of the vampires who've come before him. The juxtaposition between ancient Egypt being worshipped as gods and appearing in a modern-day rock band being worshipped by a legion of teenage followers is kind of clunky but not altogether ineffective at expressing the relationship between vampires and mortals. I enjoyed it enough to consider book 3 for next year's reading list.
Book 54: Hex - Jenni Fagen
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With only a few days left in the month, I decided to squeeze in this 90-page beauty of a novella from Scottish author and poet, Jenni Fagen. I loved her
Luckenbooth which I read last year to coincide with my trip to Edinburgh. I enjoyed this one even more. Through a series of seances, astral travel and dreams, a 21st century Iris dialogues with an imprisoned 16th century Geillis Duncan on the night preceding her fate with the executioner for crimes of witchcraft. Iris sympathises with the teenage Geillis, victim of sadistic torture and rape by her male interrogators and jailers while detailing a 21st century world where misogyny is still strong and finds women vilified for wearing certain clothes, for going out alone after certain hours, utilising well publicised instances such as policeman posing for selfies with murdered sisters. Her examples may seem heavy-handed, but these extremes seem both warranted and necessary. Well worth a few hours of your time.
