The Seance is an absolutely delicious read! A novel set in the Victorian era of the late 1800's, it is the story of a girl whose mother never recovers from the death of her beloved second daughter. The plot is complicated, yet readable, one of those "keep you up all night" page turners. Many delicious plot turns and twists and the inevitable surprise ending will keep you reading until the wee hours.
The character development in the The Seance is excellent and I enjoyed the format. The story is told by several different characters and their individual points of view. The only negative to the story is that if you don't pay attention, you can quickly lose the threads of the various plots.
This is a simply scrumption gothic horror story complete with a haunted suit of armor, a creepy castle-like mansion and many intriguing characters.
I give it 4 stars, only because I thin the complexity of the story may be difficult to follow for some readers.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Introduction and Mentally Ill in Amityville
Hi! I am Granny and I've created this blog as a way of reviewing books that I've read, movies I've seen and discussing some of the top news of the day. I will use the old standby system of stars for rating with 5 being the best, not too original, but it works for me!
I am an avid reader. Throughout my life, I have read literally thousands of books. I average 3 or 4 books a week, more if they're paperbacks. Reading is my addiction!
I favor the horror genre, although I read many other types of books. My favorite authors are Stephen King, John Saul, Joe Hill (who is Stephen King's son, in case you didn't know), Greg Iles and Dean Koontz. My absolute favorite author and book of all time is We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. I've read it many, many times. I also enjoy True Crime, as I admit to a certain degree of morbid curiousity!
The first book I will be reviewing is Mentally Ill in Amityville: Murder, Mystery and Mayhem at 112 Ocean Avenue by Will Savive.
This book attempts to debunk the many myths about the house in Amityville that we all know so well. It is factual based and presents many previously unknown facts about the DeFeo family, as well as the Lutz's and families that have lived in the fable home since.
The book does have some positive qualities. It presents a lot of previously unknown facts and has the absolute scariest picture that I've seen to date from the "Amityville Horror House". Unfortunately, the book is so rife with grammatical and spelling errors, that it is hard for me to read. These are not just the absence of a commas here and there, but are glaring errors that really distract from the content of the book. I find it difficult to believe that a journalist could make such mistakes, and even harder to believe that any editor worth their salt would allow a book to be published like this!
There are many word misusages such as "passed" for "past". One chapter has two paragraphs repeated one after the other, and the spelling is, in places, horrendous. This author and editor are surely not "smarter than a fifth grader"!
Overall, the book is entertaining and interesting with some good research. I just wish it were better edited. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
I am an avid reader. Throughout my life, I have read literally thousands of books. I average 3 or 4 books a week, more if they're paperbacks. Reading is my addiction!
I favor the horror genre, although I read many other types of books. My favorite authors are Stephen King, John Saul, Joe Hill (who is Stephen King's son, in case you didn't know), Greg Iles and Dean Koontz. My absolute favorite author and book of all time is We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. I've read it many, many times. I also enjoy True Crime, as I admit to a certain degree of morbid curiousity!
The first book I will be reviewing is Mentally Ill in Amityville: Murder, Mystery and Mayhem at 112 Ocean Avenue by Will Savive.
This book attempts to debunk the many myths about the house in Amityville that we all know so well. It is factual based and presents many previously unknown facts about the DeFeo family, as well as the Lutz's and families that have lived in the fable home since.
The book does have some positive qualities. It presents a lot of previously unknown facts and has the absolute scariest picture that I've seen to date from the "Amityville Horror House". Unfortunately, the book is so rife with grammatical and spelling errors, that it is hard for me to read. These are not just the absence of a commas here and there, but are glaring errors that really distract from the content of the book. I find it difficult to believe that a journalist could make such mistakes, and even harder to believe that any editor worth their salt would allow a book to be published like this!
There are many word misusages such as "passed" for "past". One chapter has two paragraphs repeated one after the other, and the spelling is, in places, horrendous. This author and editor are surely not "smarter than a fifth grader"!
Overall, the book is entertaining and interesting with some good research. I just wish it were better edited. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
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