Scary Books By Women

 

Just in time for Halloween, this article recommends curling up with some good horror books by women.  The article in the NYT book review is about how rare women horror writers are.  He calls them Shelley’s Daughters, after Mary Shelley who wrote Frankenstein in 1818.   I am not one to read horror books anymore myself, but the ones he pointed out are not conventional horror books, but women “doing some of the most original and freshly unnerving work in the genre,”  Below are some of the books he mentioned.  Do any of them strike your fancy?

In Gran’s first novel, Saturn’s Return to New York, the protagonist struggled to pull her life together to become an adult on her 29th birthday. In this second effort, quite the opposite happens when the main character faces a gradual but steady loss of control over her body to some sort of demon. Or is she merely delusional? Readers must decide, but it’s safe to say that the supernatural is a subject for which Gran has some affinity. From the first tapping in the walls that mark the presence of the “demon” to the shocking conclusion, it’s clear that nothing good is going to come of these characters. Amanda, an architect with a small firm, is married to Ed, who works in the financial department of a clothing corporation. They lead a relatively happy life, with the usual ups and downs of married couples, until Amanda’s inexplicable behavior begins to alienate her from the people in her life. At less than 200 pages, Come Closer is a quick read-but not one that the reader will quickly forget

 

Boston District Attorney Will Sullivan dreams of becoming the next great governor of Massachusetts. He has a beautiful wife, Joanna, an adorable daughter, Sydney, and a name that the citizens of Massachusetts respect. But Will’s plans are shattered the night Joanna discovers a malignant tumor growing in Sydney’s stomach. At that devastating moment, both parents resolve to do anything to save their daughter’s life.  But in the twilight world of Briarwood Medical Center, nothing is as it seems.  Patients on the brink of death are not only surviving, but thriving, while others are withering away. The more time Will spends in the labyrinthine hospital, the more he fears he’s losing his grip on reality. When a mysterious, charismatic counselor appears and starts talking to Joanna, she grows more and more distant, until she hardly resembles the woman that Will married. Yet suddenly, miraculously, Sydney is improving.  As winter closes in around the hospital and his dark suspicions build, Will must gather the strength to confront the evil at hand before he loses his family, his political aspirations, his sanity, and possibly his life.

 

Generation Loss is a crossover novel, difficult to classify, uncomfortable, spiky. Hand is one of those writers who has challenged the restrictions of genre writing. Here, she both fights with and against the conventions of the thriller genre to get at an evil deeper than its mere perpetrator. When the killer is revealed, it’s more a confirmation of dread than a surprise. So although Generation Loss moves like a thriller, it detonates with greater resound. It’s a dark and beautiful novel that should not be read by anyone under the age of 30.

 

 

 

 

Lovely and unsettling, these eight stories by Hand (Maze of Deception) give a sensual and apocalyptic perspective on modern society, with art, death, and sex all swirled together. Lines between human and animal, past and future, and imagination and action become blurred, as in “Cleopatra Brimstone,” in which a young entomologist finds that she may have some traits in common with her research subjects, or as in “The Least Trumps,” in which a tattoo artist discovers a mysterious deck of tarot cards that may be able to alter reality. The stories are beautifully crafted but are not simply an exercise in style-they reveal deeper themes and connections, echoing one another in subtle ways that enhance the collection as a whole. Hand is often classed as a fantasy writer, but this book also belongs in literary fiction collections.

Trick or Treat!

Hi Grandmas and Grandpas and family!  All ready to go Trick or Treating!

McCain-Obama Dance-Off Vote on November 4th!

The time is almost here. No matter what our political views are we all need to remember to vote and then come together and support our new president. God Bless America! Now, have you seen this video of a dance off? Hilarious! Sarah Palin even gets in on the dancing action!  Just click in the middle of the picture to watch.

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Build A Bear Gift Card Giveaway!

Have you ever been to a Build-A-Bear Workshop?  They are so much fun for kids and adults alike.  They now even have a great website that little one and I just spent time on building a bear.  It was a little difficult for his age (4) but older kids could easily navigate their bear around the town. 

To see for yourself what a fun time you can have, Build-A-Bear Workshop has graciously given me a $10 Gift Card to gift to one of my readers, I will draw a winner Nov 1st and here is all you have to do to get this great gift:

1. First entry go to the website and come back and tell me which animal strikes your fancy!
2. For a second entry promise me in your comment that you will bookmark or subscribe to Bookroom Reviews and come back for my TWO Big events coming up.  One is the Book Giveaway Carnival from Nov 3-9 where you can enter over 70 different book giveaways and starting November 15- December 15, I will be having a Holiday Gift Giveaway every day for 30 days.  Trust me there are some AMAZING prizes, over 1,000 worth!  I would love to have you come and join in the fun!  This giveaway is part of the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival. Go here to enter more giveaways! 

    

Testimony by Anita Shreve Giveaway!

At a New England boarding school, a sex scandal is about to break. Even more shocking than the sexual acts themselves is the fact that they were caught on videotape. A Pandora’s box of revelations, the tape triggers a chorus of voices–those of the men, women, teenagers, and parents involved in the scandal–that details the ways in which lives can be derailed or destroyed in one foolish moment.  Writing with a pace and intensity surpassing even her own greatest work, Anita Shreve delivers in TESTIMONY a gripping emotional drama with the impact of a thriller. No one more compelling explores the dark impulses that sway the lives of seeming innocents, the needs and fears that drive ordinary men and women into intolerable dilemmas, and the ways in which our best intentions can lead to our worst transgressions.

Bella Sara Online Website

Team Mom sent me some adorable trading cards of baby horses.  They are not only trading cards though, they are cards that can come to life online.  The new line of cards, called Baby Bella debuted on October 7th.  Each pack of seven cards includes a unique code that you can activate the baby horses.  This will offer children the ability to nurture their virtual horses in their online stables, read stories and play games.  The website is www.bellasara.com. Parents need to know that Internet safety is of little concern here, since there’s no way for members to chat or contact each other.         The site also serves as a good launching pad into discussing the concept of money and spending. Families can also talk about horses and what it takes to care for one. What kinds of things do you do in order to care for your online horses and keep them happy? How do you think caring for a real horse would be different?

Each horse comes with a positive-reinforcement message that’s displayed each time you go to its stable to feed and care for it. With each horse added, you get horseshoes, the Bella Sara currency that allows you to “buy” furnishings, decorations, and more for your cottage. The site also has a horse encyclopedia; fanciful, kid-friendly games and online jigsaw puzzles; horse images to color (online or printed out); plus quizzes, wallpaper, and other fun stuff. Kids can even email a question to Sara, the young daughter of the Bella Sara founder, who owns and trains two horses. The only downside is that if a kid is unable to buy a lot of cards and add horses fairly often, he or she may eventually run out of things to do.  But I would agree it is a fun family activity for little cost.

Bethesda Sunscreen Soap Giveaway!

Book Caption Winner!

and the winning caption is:  Got Train?  Congrats to Kim! I e-mailed you. Thanks everyone! That was fun!

Will Ferrell on SNL

I miss Will Ferrell on SNL. He is so funny! Did you see this one?  Maya Rudolph will be back on SNL tonight playing Michelle Obama.

 

 

Win A Book!

Happy Friday!  Do you want to win a copy of this Fantastic book?   Come up with a funny caption for the BAD book cover below (yes, it is a real book!) and the one that makes my hubby and my teen laugh the loudest will win a copy of Testimony by Anita Shreve. I will also be giving away three more copies next week, thanks to Hachette Book Group.  Go forth and write!  Don’t be shy, you never know what will tickle them!This contest closes Saturday (25th) at midnight.   I will announce the winner Sunday Oct.26th.  Can’t wait to read them!

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