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Reading Rescue, October 2009:
All Types of Horror
 By Anne Allen and Mary Anne Fulmer
We all have different ideas of what constitutes horror,
from a losing season for the Steelers to the latest zombie gore fest,
from romantic vampires to survivors facing nuclear winter. In honor of
the Halloween season, The Reading Rescuers (no boring books here!) have
recommendations, somewhat loosely classified as horror, that will amuse,
challenge, or just plain entertain you. Or as we like to say: plenty of
treats and no tricks!
When astronomers predict that an asteroid with collide
with the moon, high school student Miranda regards it as just another
excuse for her teachers to assign homework. But when the collision
unexpectedly moves the moon closer to earth, schoolwork becomes the
least of her worries. Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life As We Knew It
focuses on a Pennsylvania family's struggle to survive after an
apocalyptic event, as seen through 16 year-old Miranda's diary.
Initially concerned with typical teenage thoughts of dating and getting
a driver's license, this journal reflects not only the changes in her
life, but also those in Miranda. Although shelved in the young adult
section, this is a thought-provoking book for adults as well. Tense,
engrossing, and well written, author Pfeffer ends the book on a hopeful
note. A companion novel, The Dead and the Gone, takes the same
event and examines its effect on a 17 year-old Hispanic boy, Alex,
living in New York City with his family. Alex's father has gone to
Puerto Rico for a family funeral and his mother has taken the subway to
work when the trouble begins. Surviving a disaster in a big city poses
its own problems and Alex has two younger sisters depending on him.
There are a lot of fans of Charlaine Harris's Sookie
Stackhouse “Southern Vampire” series and you can count us among them.
The latest entry, A Touch of Dead, is a collection of five short
stories that previously appeared in seasonal anthologies. If you are
among those who have been reading every book in order and are curious
about fairy Claudine's first appearance or the story of cousin Hadley's
murder, these stories will fill in the gaps. Harris explains where each
tale fits in the series, and the book itself is a quick fun read. And,
yes, the library has the whole series of books and season one of the HBO
series based on it, “True Blood”.
Another young adult book that has us excited is The
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. In a not too distant future the
United States has collapsed and been replaced by Panem, a country
consisting of twelve Districts and the Capitol. Every year each district
is compelled to send a pair of teenagers to the capital to compete in a
televised reality game, a brutal game with only one survivor. When
Katniss's younger sister Prim is chosen by lottery as the female
representative for District 12, Katniss heroically volunteers to take
her place. Collins does a wonderful job of pulling the reader into the
world of Panem as the contestants are prepared for the games, strategies
are planned, and Katniss finds romance with her fellow representative,
Peeta. Or does she? This is the first book in a planned trilogy, and the
second, Chasing Fire, continues the story of Katniss and Peeta,
and the consequences of their actions. A rebellion is brewing and
Katniss with her mockingjay pin has become its symbol. These are
gripping, suspenseful, and violent books and we are warning you that
you’ll probably want to read each one in a single sitting.
The seventh son of a farmer, twelve year-old Thomas Ward
has had trouble finding someone who will accept him as an apprentice.
Old Gregory, the resident Spook, has had a lot of bad luck with his
apprentices and thinks he has just enough time, and energy, left to
train one more to be his successor. Thomas himself is the seventh son of
a seventh son (always a sign of magic) and a little scheming by Thomas’s
mother (who seems to have a bit of magic herself) brings the two
together. With that, Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney is
off and running. The Spook is a firm but fair master and Thomas is a
good pupil, until he runs into young Alice. Alice is the daughter of a
witch, and she tricks the unsuspecting Thomas into releasing Mother
Malkin, a witch imprisoned by Old Gregory. And what a witch she is.
There's a surprising adventure in the basement of a haunted house, a
cranky house boggart, and a host of monsters, ghasts, and ghosts. Thomas
gets some help from a surprising place (well, we knew there had been
other apprentices!), and there is more than a hint that Alice will be
back to cause trouble. With great illustrations by Patrick Arrasmith and
Thomas's own notebook reproduced in the back, this book is humorous,
frightening, gory, and a delight to read. It is the first book in the
series “The Last Apprentice” and you will want to read more!
Nuclear winter has fallen on the land, and a man and his
young son are on the move. In Cormac McCarthy's disturbing novel, The
Road, few are still alive in a dead world and those who are are
mostly to be feared and avoided. Cannibals roam the countryside, the
crops have withered and died, no animals seem to have survived. Written
in sparing and poetic language, McCarthy wraps a spell around the reader
with his story of a man desperate to protect the son he loves, even as
his humanity and compassion fade away. This is a world where having a
gun with two bullets mean you can kill yourself and your loved one to
escape a horrible death. Often repeating their mantra that they are “the
good guys”, the two journey south along the Road, following a tattered
map, pushing an old shopping buggy, and hoping to find a better place.
Is the ending happy or sad? You’ll have to decide for yourself and you
can expect to spend some time pondering it.
Don't forget to register for the Adult Winter Reading
Program (hint: horror is one of the categories), running from now until
December 7. There are some great prizes, so hurry to the library to sign
up, start reading, and collect those raffle tickets. As always, you can
reach us at 724-744-4414 or
mfulmer@pennlib.org.
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