September 2015

45.
Title: [The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Vol 2]
Author: Alan Moore
Genre: Comic
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: August 13, 2015
Rating: ***

Anticipating some future research, I've been advised to read Alan Moore's Victorian-esque work.  I taught the first volume of LXG last semester, and ultimately I found that I don't appreciate Moore's interpretation of Gothic characters.  The second volume is slightly better, as some explanations are given for present representations (Mina, Hyde), but ultimately the books are flat with slap-in-the-face allusions.  I have From Hell and Lost Girls on my shelf, and I have hopes that they'll prove more interesting.

46.
Title: [The Replacement]
Author: Brena Yovanoff
Genre: Fantasy
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: August 17, 2015
Rating: ***1/2

The spine of my library book has a sticker that says "Scary." I found the title on a list of books "scarier than any movie." I was intrigued, and looking for something nice and spooky, so I went for it.  What I found was not a work of horror at all, but a dark fairy tale.  This is not to say that Yovanoff's book is bad, but rather that my impressions have been colored by false advertising, and so while I found the book readable and pleasantly entertaining, I am ultimately unsatisfied.  The story is situated in a small town which has been mysteriously (and ominously?) helped and hindered by a supernatural presence, which exacts its payment in a forcible (yet highly traditional) way.  A boy uniquely involved in both sides of this exchange steps in with a new perspective, and predictable conflict ensues.

The most legitimately frightening (i.e. disturbing) narrative is a local legend of discrimination, and scapegoating. This book would appeal to anyone drawn to "traditional" fairy stories, which represent not plump godmothers but baby-snatchers and things-that-aren't-quite dead, but not one looking for a more traditional horror or ghost story.

47.
Title: [The Killing Joke]
Author: Alan Moore
Genre: Comics
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: August 18, 2015
Rating: ****1/2

Continuing research, which is very Alan Moore-heavy at the moment.  However, as a fan of Batman (or, more accurately, the villains of the Batman universe), I found The Killing Joke much more compelling than others I've read of late.  Having escaped from the Asylum, Joker buys an old amusement park, to use for the expected nafarious purposes.  The book is dark and violent and culture, as I would expect from more modern Batman, and the at is strong.  The afterward of the book expresses anxiety over offering an origin story for The Joker, whose reality is always to be suspect, but then turns around and suggests that even this origin is untrustworthy -that it, too, could be a manifestation of Joker's madness.  I found a great deal of material which would be very useful for my dissertation work, so I have a feeling I'll be returning to this in the future.

48.
Title: [Horns]
Author: Joe Hill
Genre: Horror
Medium: Hardback
Acquisition: Library Book
Date Completed: August 20, 2015
Rating: ****

Horns is a complicated and interesting narrative about the distinction between the perceived self and reality, and the ways in which people invent narratives to explain the lives and events going on around them.  The novel opens a year after Ig's girlfriend Merrin has been murdered, and though he's never been charged, Ig still carries the reputation of a "sex murderer" in his small town in New Hampshire.  With Merrin dies all the joy that Ig ever found in life, and the budding horns which appear on his head one hungover morning are just another example of the emotional difficulties he faces.  When Ig seeks help for his new condition he instead hears secrets, and quickly learns to use the influence of his horns to his own advantage, eventually discovering what really happened to Merrin, and the whole truth of the last night they spent together.  The novel is far from perfect, but I appreciated its philosophical treatment of religion, considering without ever really preaching, and offering some explanations and still ore interpretations.  Characters believe, and ultimately the story is not about faith or religion, but rather a deeper kind of truth - the complexity of humans, and the masks we wear everyday.  There are moments I absolutely hated (overly-grandiose, or downright useless), but as a whole I appreciated the build, and found the conclusion perfectly satisfactory.  This is certainly one I'd recommend.
Class readings have started, and oh, what a joy!  My work semester is off to a solid start, and my classes are proving engaging (which is no surprise, considering one of my two classes is Victorian Gothic.  I swoon!). I have little time for casual reads, but given my familiarity with the reading list of one class I'm sure it'll be easier than previous semesters.  Reaching 75 books, though?  Chances are slim.

49.
Title: [The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner]
Author: James Hogg
Genre: Gothic
Medium: Broadview Paperback
Acquisition: Victorian Gothic
Date Completed: September 1, 2015
Rating: ****

I first read Hogg about a decade ago, for an IS in Gothic literature.  I wasn't as invested then as I am now, so my memory of the novel was poor, and this reading was as if the first, with the exception of an understanding of Gil-Martin.  I found the text engaging, and class discussion went swimmingly.

50.
Title: [Uncle Silas]
Author: Sheridan Le Fanu
Genre: Gothic
Medium: Broadview Paperback
Acquisition: Victorian Gothic
Date Completed: September 9, 2015
Rating: *****

This absolute classic should be read immediately by anyone with even a passing interest in traditional Gothic fiction.  Le Fanu is a leader of the genre, and his psychological thriller of a horror sets the tone for much that is to come.

I won't write at length about these books, since I already have for class, but I will say that I'm only growing more excited for the rest of the semester.

51.  
Title: [The Coldest Girl in Coldtown]
Author: Holly Black
Genre: YA Vampire Romance
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition: Free download
Date Completed: August 2015
Rating: **

Holly Black's The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is unremarkable and flat - so much so that I had forgotten I finished it several weeks ago.  In the swollen genre of vampire romances, Black's lackluster narrative of quarantine and ancient-vampire-falling-for-American-teen adds nothing, and is thoroughly forgettable in its lack of originality and largely two-dimensional characters.  It's as silly as the title suggests, and certainly had no place on the list of "Books Scarier than Any Movie," where I found the citation (along with Horns and The Replacement, above).  In the end, it serves to prove one thing: no list on the internet is to be trusted.

52.
Title: [The Lifted Veil]
Author: George Eliot
Genre: Gothic
Medium: Penguin Classics
Acquisition: Victorian Gothic
Date Completed: September 16, 2015
Rating: ***

George Eliot is highly regarded for her skill as a realist novelist, and so her place in a gothic lit course is at first curious. The Lifted Veil, though, shows that even Eliot's foray into the uncanny is grounded in her realist talents.  In class tonight my colleagues and I agreed that the protagonist does not necessary possess the powers he professes, but rather manifests his beliefs out of his own desperation to prove himself special, unique, and more extraordinary than his brother (to the surprise of our instructor!).  In the end, the story is far more grounded in science and reality, and I would argue is more engaging than a reading of the supernatural (especially in light of much stronger supernatural narratives).

53
Title: [Carmilla]
Author: J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Genre: Gothic
Medium: Broadview
Acquisition: Victorian Gothic
Date Completed: September 16, 2015
Rating: *****

Oh my, how I love Le Fanu's novella, and the complicated and awkward relationship of Laura and Carmilla.  Most of my thoughts are directed towards my term paper, but I wanted to remark on the original illustrations, included in this edition. David Henry Friston and Michael Fitzgerald provide the original artwork, with wildly differing styles - the later seemingly inspired by the Romantics, and the former marketing for the salacious.  The visual rhetoric is charged and curious and worthy of its own in-depth consideration.

"Carmilla" is an essential read for anyone invested in vampire mythology and the narrative history of the character.

54.
Title: [Narcissus in Chains]
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: Too long to remember
Date Completed: September 21, 2015
Rating: ***

I managed to sneak in a junky read, so I jumped back into my in-order Anita Blake resolution.  Anita is trying to lead the pack of wereleopards she left alpha-less, but riding in on her white hose leads to a series of Unfortunate Events, culminating in bodies on the ground and in her bed, solutions founds and problems complicated. This installment introduces Micah into the mix, and those with Issues continue to have Issues.  Narcissus in Chains wasn't nearly as engaging the second (or was it third?) time around, but I'm also neck-deep in great research, so it may be hard to compete.  My favorite character is the titular werehyena, although he/she makes only the briefest of appearances.  A hermaphroditic lycanthrope who presents male and dresses femininely?  How could I resist?!

55.
Title: [Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
Genre: Gothic
Medium: Broadview
Acquisition: Victorian Gothic
Date Completed: September 22, 2015
Rating: *****

I'm not including a cover photo because a) the Broadview I read isn't available, and b) I'm slightly bothered by the use of the article "the," which Stevenson does not use in his original.

Stevenson's tale of a person divided comes to him in two feverish dreams, and is hastily scrawled while the author is confined to his bed.  The first version he wrote, however, is lost to the ages; Stevenson's wife criticized the early draft, saying he "missed it completely." His stepson describes Stevenson's fury, during which he threw the entire manuscript into the fire.  The second draft of the narrative is much better received, called a work of genius by the same stepson, and is popularly published in 1886.  Stevenson didn't care much for its popularity, assuming it mean it wasn't a very good work after all, although he wrote in a letter to a critic friend that he did enjoy the income of publishing successfully.

Three years ago I included this novella in a reading of alternative maternity, and a year ago I taught it as part of a course on "missing" stories.  Class conversation was lively and thoughtful, and I left my own re-reading struck by how amoral Dr. Jekyll remains throughout the text, and found a renewed consideration of inheritance to be very useful to my earlier thesis.

56.
Title: [She]
Author: H. Rider Haggard
Genre: Gothic
Medium: Broadview
Acquisition: Victorian Gothic
Date Completed: September , 2015
Rating: ***

H. Rider Haggard's She is awkward prose saturated in brooding and claustrophobic descriptions of surroundings. Though the adventure gothic is initially popular (selling 20,000 copies in its first month), I found it difficult to invest myself in the narrative, and often grew frustrated.  The consideration of Victorian death culture, exemplified by the burning of mummies for light, of course caught my interest, but these fleeting moments of grotesque horror are not enough for me to rate this novel highly for enjoyment.  It's certainly worth reading for a better consideration of the breadth of the genre, and can incite interesting discussion, but isn't one I'd pick up again for personal enjoyment. I was so excited to read this tale, and was sorely disappointed.

As usual, Broadview wins for useful editions, and fantastic covers.