Link This |
Email this |
Blog This |
Comments (1)
Trick or Treat or Stay In with a Book
October 25, 2007
Ever since strangers stopped giving me free candy everywhere I went, Halloween has always been something of a disappointment. Sure, parties are fun, but the pressure to come up with a costume that's cool or clever in a really interesting way is just too much. And besides, with all the stupid celebrity costumes people are into these days, when’s the last time Halloween gave you a really good scare? You know, the kind you got when the big kids spring out of the bushes with their fake knives, and the shock combined with a system full of sugar makes your heart just about explode, and before you know it you’re running for your life hoping your bladder won't bust open?
Well, that’s how it happened to me, anyway. And though it’s been a while since a book made me pee myself, digging into these recent(ish) releases in your favorite shadowy room this holiday season should scare you good:
Will Storr v. the Supernatural by Will Storr (Harper Paperback)
Storr is kind of a British Chuck Klosterman, though less obnoxious than that would imply; he’s a smart pop culture journalist and a pretty adamant skeptic. This look at folks who hunt, study, communicate with, exorcise and/or play host to ghosts is as spooky as a layman’s look at the supernatural should be, as well as funny, smart, fast-paced and informative. In short, everything you want from a good nonfic—plus scares.
The Missing by Sarah Langan (Harper Mass Market)
If you’ve kept up with this blog, you might remember when I declared Sarah Langan the new Stephen King, and that was when I was only halfway through this bloody, disturbed small-town plague-a-zombies epic. Instead of a repeat fawning, I’ll just share one of my favorite paragraphs:
It was business as usual at the Ronnie and Noreen chateau of domestic bliss. He was watching Gilmore Girls in rerun because Noreen had the remote. There wasn’t any food in the fridge. Nothing worth eating, at least. All the meat was gone, so right now he and Noreen were passing a rat between them. It was bleeding all over his chin.
Super Volcano by Greg Breining (Voyageur)
Man, if you’re worried about Global Warming, check out this bad news: Yellowstone National Park, like the whole thing, is a giant volcano that goes off with the force of thousands of Hiroshimas a second every 600,000 or so years. And it’s set to pop pretty much any day now. Along with a fine introduction to volcanology, this book will give the shakes something awful to anyone frightened by climate change.
Scary tidings, everybody. And happy TPing!
Posted by Marc Schultz on October 25, 2007 | Comments (1)
