Books I Read in October 2022

I only read two books last month, one of them being Stephen King’s 600-page Fairy Tale. For October I read one fantasy reference book and shorter horror books that have been on my to-be-read pile.

 

The Complete Guide to Middle Earth (1979) by Robert Foster

An excellent reference book for the world of the Lord of the Rings. Entries are listed alphabetically. I didn't read every entry, but I used it quite often while watching The Rings of Power.

The Haunting of Hill House (1959) by Shirley Jackson

A classic gothic horror novel. This started out pretty slow then got really interesting. My full review is here: 

We Learn by Writing: The Haunting of Hill House: The Book by Shirley Jackson and the Series by Mike Flanagan

Hammers on Bone (2016) by Cassandra Khaw

Lovecraftian cosmic horror meets hard boiled noir. Private investigator John Persons is hired by a ten-year old boy. The boy says his stepdad is a monster. As the reader soon learns, John Persons knows all about monsters. 

Like most crime noir, things aren’t always as they seem. Things don’t go as planned and our P. I. has to deal with them. It’s a dark story in that it’s cosmic horror but also in that the story comments on domestic violence and abuse. It’s all well done and very creepy. 

While I enjoyed the Raymond Chandler-like hard boiled prose and 50s slang, at times it seemed like it was too much. Also, there’s a reveal in the Interlude that threw me off and made me wonder how reliable the narrator was going to be for the rest of the book. 

I’m up for reading more stories about John Persons. The epilogue seems to set up things to be explored in future stories. I see there is a second book in the series, but John Persons isn’t the central character.

Nothing But Blackened Teeth (2021) by Cassandra Khaw

Five thrill seeking friends rent out an old Japanese mansion for a wedding. It was chosen by the couple getting married because it’s supposedly haunted by a ghost bride.  

I liked the setting and all the references to yokai. Unfortunately, I didn’t really care for the characters. While I liked some of the descriptions and metaphors that were used, there were times where it felt too wordy.

Mapping the Interior (2017) by Stephen Graham Jones 

A modern ghost story that explores loss, grief, and memory. Junior, a young Native American boy, lives with his younger brother and widowed mother in a small house. Junior begins to believe that the ghost of his father is walking through the house wearing full Blackfeet regalia and tries to catch glimpses of him. 

Great opening line. I liked the narration by Junior throughout. The prose was smooth, and the story flowed well. Starts out atmospheric and haunting then moves to creepy.

Night of the Mannequins (2020) by Stephen Graham Jones

A teen prank involving a mannequin doesn’t go as planned. Then the bodies begin piling up. This fast-paced novella was like an 80s horror movie with dark humor. 

This is the second book I’ve read by Stephen Graham Jones and the second time he’s gotten my attention with a great opening line. He then kept my attention with engaging narration from the protagonist even though the story got as crazy and dark as it did. I’m looking forward to reading more of this author’s work.

The Hellbound Heart (1986) by Clive Barker 

A man seeking ultimate pleasure opens a puzzle box that summons beings called Cenobites. Things get bloody. 

Fast paced and creepy. I liked the writing. For example, there are some paragraphs where Barker describes the passing of the seasons that were just lyrical. An interesting contrast to the darker parts of the story. 

This novella was made into the 1987 film Hellraiser. 

Cycle of the Werewolf (1985) by Stephen King 

Each chapter covers one month of a year in which a werewolf is terrorizing a small town. This was originally planned as a calendar with illustrations by Bernie Wrightson and short vignettes by King, but King decided to expand it into a novella instead. 

The first few chapters set up the story and then as the months pass, we get to know more of the townspeople. The story really gets going in July when we meet young Marty and his uncle. I really liked the interaction between the two. Things get wrapped up rather quickly in the last three chapters, but I enjoyed it. 

Each chapter has three illustrations by Wrightson: a black and white double page spread, a color illustration, and a small b&w spot illustration. The double page spreads that open each chapter are gorgeous. The details are outstanding.

A Night in the Lonesome October (1993) by Roger Zelazny 

Thirty-one chapters of mystery, adventure, horror, and humor, narrated by Snuff the dog. Snuff is the companion to a knife wielding gentleman named Jack. Together they are players in “The Game.” As the story progresses day by day, the reader discovers more players (The Count, the Doctor and his Experiment Man, and the mysterious Larry Talbot being some examples) and more details about “The Game,” leading up to the final confrontation on October 31st. 

This is one of my favorite books. After I discovered it I learned that many people re-read it every October. This was my third read. 

The Haunting of Hill House: The Book by Shirley Jackson and the Series by Mike Flanagan

 “No living organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”

— Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House (1959)

The Book:

Four people stay at an old mansion hoping to gather scientific evidence of the supernatural. 

I found the first half unbearably slow. We spend a lot of time getting to know Eleanor, one of the people invited to stay at the house and I was beginning to think that I just wasn’t going to like this book. But then I found the second half so compelling that I finished it in one sitting. As I got further into the book, the dialogue and the complex relationships between the characters drew me in. Then it got genuinely terrifying. Now I want to reread it someday and pay more attention to the first half.

I have mixed feelings about the writing style. I thought that some sentences and paragraphs went on too long. On the other hand, sometimes the writing was a sheer joy to read. While it took its sweet time to get going, in the end it was a fascinating read. 

After finishing I found myself still thinking about it days later. I decided to watch the 1963 movie adaptation The Haunting, directed by Robert Wise. I liked it a lot. It’s well-done and follows the book pretty closely. Next, I watched the 2018 series, The Haunting of Hill House directed by Mike Flanagan. Wow.

The Series:

The ten-episode series is not so much an adaptation of the book as a new story that’s strongly inspired by the book. A couple moves into Hill House with their five children and plan to spend the summer renovating it. Unlike the book we get to the spooky stuff pretty quickly. The series jumps back and forth between two timelines, the events at the house and events years later when the children are grown up. 

The series takes lines, scenes, names, and a couple of characters from the book, and tells a new story about family, grief, and trauma. It’s all very well done and while you don’t need to have read the book to enjoy it, if you have read the book, there are details that will add a lot to your enjoyment. 

I liked how each episode built upon the next. I liked how scenes were often revisited from a different perspective which gave the viewer new information. The jump scares were well done (one in particular actually made me jump out of my chair!) but the best scares came when slowly realizing that there was a ghost in the background of a scene. 

I liked the mix of family drama and spooky stuff. It was similar to what Shirley Jackson did in her book but with a larger cast. Once again, the relationships between characters drew me in. The cast, both the child actors and the adults were amazing. 

Three episodes really stood out. First, episode five. The way the previous episodes led to this episode and the reveal at the end blew me away. 

Next, episode six. It’s a great story but it’s also amazingly directed. About ten minutes in I noticed something. The camera hadn’t cut away. It eventually does but the entire episode is done in five long shots, moving effortlessly between a funeral home in the present and the house in the past. The story and the direction work so well together. It was the perfect next step after the events of the previous episode. 

Finally, episode ten, “Silence Lay Steadily.” Everything comes together and the final revelations are heartbreaking.  But the story still finds a way to end in an uplifting way. I had some mixed feelings about how things played out but then came the final lines. And because of one word, having read the book will make those closing lines all the more meaningful. 

Absolutely brilliant storytelling and direction. This and Midnight Mass (2021) have made me a big Mike Flanagan fan. 

Now I’m even more motivated to re-read Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. And when I’m finished, I’ll be re-watching the Mike Flanagan series. I believe both are worth revisiting.