Ammie, Come Home ~ Review

Title: Ammie, Come Home
Author: Barbara Michaels (Barbara Mertz, Elizabeth Peters)
Source: Library

Goodreads Summary:

It begins as a lark -- a harmless diversion initiated by Washington, D.C., hostess Ruth Bennett as a means of entertaining her visiting niece, Sara. But the seance conducted in Ruth's elegant Georgetown home calls something back; something unwelcome ... and palpably evil. Suddenly Sara is speaking in a voice not her own, transformed into a miserable, whimpering creature so unlike her normal, sensible self. No tricks or talismans will dispel the malevolence that now plagues the inhabitants of this haunted place -- until a dark history of treachery, lust, and violence is exposed. But the cost might well be the sanity and the lives of the living.

My thoughts:

Barbara Michaels' books are a guilty pleasure of mine.  I love to read them when it is October, or raining in fall and spring.  There is just something cozy about them that you can read under a blanket with a cup of tea.   I own most of her books written as Michaels, and all are well worn and well-loved paperbacks. 

                I did not have Ammie Come Home, so I borrowed it from the library.  The copy I received was a dull gray, library bound without a cover picture.  It was so old looking and the pages so soft.  I think these tactile qualities helped transport me back to the time when this book was first published, in 1968. 

                You could really tell that this book was written and published in the 60s.  There were references to hippies, protests, stereotypical gender roles, miniskirts, and smoking.  I think it was all the casual smoking that really struck me; Ruth is portrayed as a distinguished, demure woman in her 50s or so, and she was always lighting up.  A cigarette here, a cigarette before bed, I am not sure why this seemed so odd to me but it did.  I don’t think I have really read anything lately where the main character smokes.  It just was out of character to me; I feel now smoking is used as a device to show a character is flawed, rebellious, or quirky, and Ruth was none of those things.  Despite all this, I thought the fact that the book was from the perspective of a slightly older woman, and had an element of romance for her too, was pretty forward thinking.

                Like all good ghost stories, this one starts with a séance.  I have an irrational fear of séances and Ouija boards, thanks to the Exorcist.  Ammie Come Home was no different in that regard – a séance served as a doorway for the supernatural.  And this story was pretty “spooktacular”.  There were a few parts where I got the creepy crawlies from reading it even.  There were all sorts of ghostly activity – apparitions, possession (which the book called shadowing), a creepy bodiless voice, and things falling over.  Selling the house was out of the question.  So what to do? Solve the mystery of course!  I love books that are collegiate, with lots of references to classes, people studying classic subjects minutely and specifically, and the characters in this book were college professors and students, and when presented with a mystery, started researching heavily in libraries and books. 

                This book is the first in the Georgetown Series – I have actually read the second and third and really liked them.  It was nice to see the origins of Pat and Ruth, who make appearances in the other books.  I find these books perfect for the blustery weather of fall, when I can get cuddly on the couch and be really lazy. And you will have to read to find out about Ammie.


 

R.I.P. VII

Top Ten Tuesday - FIctional Crushes

Top Ten Rewind :

Top Ten Book Characters I Have a Crush On

I know I am not the only one who develops weird crushes on fictional characters in books. Look at all the Twilight Moms and Christian Grey fans. Right? Or am I weird?  Those are not my particular top picks, but I completely understand the phenomena.  I know a few of my friend's favorites, and I was even talking about one of them with my friend Amy yesterday.  I asked her to read a book and she did, and fell in love with the very character I wanted her to.  It is all in fun.  My husband just laughs, especially when I tell him he is just like the character in the book. ;)

So, without further ado, here are my top faves, in no particular order:

1.  Mr. Rochester ~ Jane Eyre :  Intense, mysterious Rochester. Had I been Jane Eyre I probably would not have cared about his crazy wife in the attic, and just lived in sin.  Something about his big gothic castle and brooding ways is so attractive. 

Michael Fassbender as Mr. Rochester- a perfect casting!

2.  Tom Dabney~ Kings Oak: This character is so crazy, passionate, vital, and wildly romantic.  I could picture living with him at Goat Creek, dancing in the moonlight to Moon River and listening to records of Dylan Thomas reading his poems.  His failing and his greatness would be his devotion to protecting the wilderness, and the wildness.  But it would be fun while it lasted.

3. Jamie Fraser~The Outlander Series: I don't know anyone who has read this series and not crushed on Jamie. A strapping highlander with lots of honor, intelligence, and fierceness, yet vulnerable. And he would do anything to save you if you were in danger.

4.  Jericho Barrons~Fever Series: Another mysterious, tough, bad boy with a good heart deep down.  I apparently have a type. Mary, I am sure you know what I am talking about here! 

5.  Luke Wingo~The Prince of Tides:  A lost soul, similar to Tom Dabney in some ways, brave and passionate. This character broke my heart when I was 15. Read the book, never watch this movie.

6. Nick Blue~Remembering Blue: What a beautiful character, you can't help having a crush on him.  I had my book club read this, and they all loved him too.  He is haunted, romantic, dreamy. 

7.  Mr. Darcy~Pride and Prejudice: How can any list of crushworthy book characters not include Mr. Darcy.  He is perfect! 

8.  Ranger~Stephanie Plum Series: Ok, I have to admit this was really in the first books, and not these later ones,  where everyone is terrible and a caricature of themselves.  But I really was Team Ranger. 

These last ones are a stretch! Why did I say I was going to name ten? 

9. Frost~Meredith Gentry Series: Sadness sometimes is attractive to me.  I think it is that nurturing thing.  I am kind of reaching here.

10. Ambrose Weller~ Blue Asylum: Poor tormented beautiful Ambrose!! I was really mad at Iris about him, but then I thought about it and understood.  I guess I don't blame her for what she did, I would have as well. 

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly blog meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey where you list the books you read last week and the ones you hope to read this week. 

Read Last Week:

Ammie, Come Home by Barbara Michaels: This ghost story gave me the creeps!

Deadly Gift by Heather Graham:  I actually didn't finish this book this week; I started reading it and I realized I had read it before, and didn't really like it when I read it the first time. 

Reading This Week:

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater: I am so excited to read this!! 

Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough: Perfectly spooky looking.  

Coming up this week:

Tuesday: Top Ten Tuesday Rewind

Wednesday: Ammie, Come Home Review

Thursday: Possible Raven Boys Review

Friday: R.I.P. VII Review - Peril of the Screen- again!

Saturday: Snapshot Saturday

Have a great week!

            

The Awakening ~ Banned Book Review & Giveaway!

.In celebration of Banned Books Week, I am jumping on the Banned Wagon and participating in a promotion hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Visit her blog atwww.bookjourney.wordpress.com to check out featured posts from bloggers all around the country celebrating the freedom to read books of their choosing!

   

Title: The Awakening
Author: Kate Chopin
Source: Freebooks App

Goodreads Summary:

This story of a woman's struggle with oppressive social structures received much public contempt at its first release; put aside because of initial controversy, the novel gained popularity in the 1960s, some six decades after its first publication, and has since remained a favorite of many readers. Chopin's depiction of a married woman, bound to her family and with no way to assert a fulfilling life of her own, has become a foundation for feminism and a classic account of gender crises in the late Victorian era.

My thoughts:

I loved this book so, so much.  It somehow escaped my reading it, even in college, although my minor is literature.  I was blown away by how much I loved it - usually classics are something I slog through slowly, always feeling a little bored. (I know, this is terrible!)  My experience with this book was different.  Chopin's writing was so elegant and beautiful, that I was never bored. 

 When the book begins, Edna Pontellier is married with two kids, and seemingly content, although slightly reserved and repressed.  They are vacationing on Grand Isle, where she meets Robert Lebrun, who is known to befriend and become an "attendant" to a certain woman all summer.  He chooses Edna, and they spend hours and hours a day together, talking, walking, in companionable silence.   Edna begins to realize her own independence and desires during this time, and falls in love with Robert.  He in turn is in love with her as well, but these are unspoken feelings between the two of them, since she is a married woman.  

At the end of the season, she returns to New Orleans with her family, and Robert leaves for Mexico.  She pines over Robert, realizing she loves him and not her husband. She begins to slowly extricate herself from her old life, and eventually moves into her own little home.  She strikes up a flirtation with another man, Alcee, and has a physical affair with him, although her heart belongs to Robert.  She learns from a mutal friend that Robert is in love with her as well, but staying away out of her best interest and self-preservation.  Finally, he returns home to New Orleans, confesses his love to Edna, and she to him, and you think finally, they are going to be together.  Sadly, this is not the case.  Robert changes his mind, not willing to buck the rules of society and drag her into a scandal.  Edna feels like no one understands her, and that she will never truly be fulfilled. Rather than giving up a part of herself to a life that is false to her own desires, wants and needs, she commits suicide. 

I don't condone extramarital affairs (or suicide!) - but I do think if you are in a bad relationship, then you should not have to be forced to stay in it.  I don't think Edna had any other options in her life - she could stay in a marriage that was loveless, or have an affair with the man she loved, living on her own.  Since the second option was not available to her, she chose not to live a false life, by not living at all.  She was not very maternal, she didn't love her husband, and he really didn't love her too much either.  When he heard that she had moved out, he was not worried that she loved another man, he was worried about how it might ruin his image and hurt him financially.  I don't really blame her for wanting out of that relationship.  


Why was this book banned?

I read online on the Kate Chopin website, that this book was called morbid, vulgar, disagreeable, trite and sordid.  And this is when it was published in 1899!  It has also been challenged twice that I can find in recent years.  

This was on Amazon, from the publisher: 

First published in 1899, this beautiful, brief novel so disturbed critics and the public that it was banished for decades afterward. Now widely read and admired, The Awakening has been hailed as an early vision of woman's emancipation. This sensuous book tells of a woman's abandonment of her family, her seduction, and her awakening to desires and passions that threated to consumer her.

That is what gets me- I can see how in 1899 this book would have caused a havoc.  The idea that a well born, high society woman with a husband and family, could just one day start having an affair and leave their family must have been shocking.  But now? Not so much, especially when the wife is only valued as property, stuck in an unfulfilled marriage without love.  But too risque for today? I hardly think so.  This book is beautifully written, about a woman who defied the expectations of women in her era.  I couldn't help rooting for Edna and Robert.  


I love this book - and I hope you will too! I am giving away one hardcover copy to one lucky commenter.

Please comment on the post, tell me anything about banned books at all, whether you have read this book, what you think of it, and leave your email address to enter the giveaway.  Must live in the US, and comment before October 13th.  Winner will be chosen using Random.org. 

R.I.P. VII ~ Peril of the Screen~Ghost Hunters

So, this is my first post participating in the R.I.P. VII Challenge from Stainless Steel Droppings.  I should have known my first post would be a "Peril on the Screen"! It is probably no secret I love scary stuff, and I watch it on television, movies, read, whatever. I don't do Haunted Houses though. Lol.

I am a fan of Ghost Hunters on Syfy.  Sometimes I fall asleep to their hushed voices (its perfect naptime tv!) and sometimes I actually watch it.  I have actually watched the past four episodes, and one of the episodes really creeped me out!  I have no idea if this is the middle of the season, beginning, ending, or what.

*Episode - Serial Killer's Revenge:  In this episode the crew investigated The Old City Jail in Charleston, S.C.  The Old City Prison had once housed a mixed group of prisoners, men and women, sane and psychotic and criminal.  The reports were people had been scratched, bitten, and seeing a white dress and hearing a woman's voice. People believe it is the ghost of Lavina Fisher.  While the crew were investigating, a camera woman kept getting scratched up pretty badly! It made me kind of think something was in there scratching her. No one else really had an experience like hers, other than Jason who was a little scratched up.  My verdict: Who knows if it is Lavinia Fisher or not, but it did seem like something might be in there assaulting people!

*Episode - Camp Fear: Part I:  This time the crew visited a camp, where there were numerous reports of hearing voices, seeing eyes, watery footprints in the dining hall.  The TAPS team did see glowing red eyes in the woods,  but I was still skeptical.  Do the blue eyes of animals reflect red sometimes? Like red eye?  They re-enacted the watery footprints, walked around listening - meh.  The creepiest thing was when a member commented that they had not seen or heard any wildlife at all, even during the day. No birds, squirrels, chipmunks, etc.  My verdict: I wasn't feeling it.

*Episode- Camp Fear: Part II:  This was the second investigation during this episode.  And it was the creepiest one I have watched so far!!  The team investigated a private home, where a toddler kept saying she could see a man in the corner of her room.  Oooo even typing that gave me chills, making me think something is right behind me, over my shoulder... Anyway, the team captured a voice on an audio recording that said pretty clearly "I didn't mean to scare Sophie" which was the the little girl's name! The girl's mother said the voice sounded like her deceased stepfather's voice, who had recently passed away, and whose dresser was in Sophie's room! My verdict: If anything was going to make me believe there were ghosts, this part would do it!

*Episode- French Quarter Massacre:  New Orleans, LA! I have been to New Orleans several times, and every time I go, I go on a ghost tour.  I can't help myself.  There are so many good ghost stories there! This time the crew was investigating a fire at the Jimani Lounge.  In June 1973, an arsonist set fire to the bar, killing 32 men.  Even more tragically, since some of the men were part of the gay community, their families were too embarrassed to claim their bodies. This makes me really sad for them. How awful.  The arsonist was never caught.  The reports were seeing ghostly hands on the windows from outside, smell of fire and burning, footsteps.  My verdict: The team didn't seem to get much evidence, but at least the story of this tragedy was told, and more people know about it now.

*Episode-Don't Feed the Apparition: Louisiana again. TAPS investigated a zoo (which was really pretty!)  The former zookeeper, a man named Les Whit, enacted huge positive changes in the zoo. He loved his job and was known as a prankster.  The activity reported was prankster like - tickling ears, fooling around, kind of stuff.  The team did catch on video a shadow moving across the gift shop that really was in the shape of a man! They also recorded a voice saying yeah, when Les was asked a direct question. My verdict: Maybe? I am not sure if I believe in ghosts or not, honestly.  It seems like a weird thing to say, that you believe in them.  But this episode really did make me think that maybe there are ghosts out there. This one didn't get me like the stepdad one, but it definitely made me wonder.

I do love this show - it is entertaining, and it freaks me out sometimes!! I also like how the TAPS team is scientific about what they do - they try to debunk before believing.  And with that said, I am going to go watch my DVR'd episode from last night!

What about you? Do you believe in ghosts?

Ghost Story - Review

Title: Ghost Story
Author: Jim Butcher
Source: my own book

If you haven't read this far in the series and don't want to know what this book is about, stop reading here. :)


Goodreads Summary:

When we last left the mighty wizard detective Harry Dresden, he wasn't doing well. In fact, he had been murdered by an unknown assassin.

But being dead doesn't stop him when his friends are in danger. Except now he has nobody, and no magic to help him. And there are also several dark spirits roaming the Chicago shadows who owe Harry some payback of their own.

To save his friends-and his own soul-Harry will have to pull off the ultimate trick without any magic...


My thoughts:

I didn't want to read this book at first.  I had been putting it off for a year, and my husband kept bugging me to read it. I just didn't want to read a Harry Dresden book where Harry Dresden was dead! But, Billy kept telling me to read it. I decided if I was going to do it, now would be the best time.

It was difficult for me to read at first.  It had been some time since I entered Dresden's Chicago, and it was nice to see all these characters again - Dresden, Murphy, Butters, Molly, Lea.  But everything was so different!!! Dresden was a ghost, the timeline was six months later in Dresden world and he had been in limbo, Murphy wasn't a cop anymore, and worst of all, all manner of supernatural creatures were wreaking havoc upon Chicago.  Before Dresden became a shade, they had stayed away from his town.  But you know the saying - while the cat's away, the mice do play..

So Dresden finds his world a mess.And is a mess himself! He is a ghost, and limited by his own lack of magic or actual physical body.  His death has changed things and people, and he has a timeline of his own to meet.  I don't want to give too much away, so I don't want to say too much more.  But the things you learn about the characters in this book is worth the length of this book. You even learn about what really happened that night between Harry and Justin Du Morne. And the end of this book? It was a surprise, and now I can't wait to read the next book!!

 

Top Ten Tuesday

A weekly meme from The Broke and The Bookish!

This week's theme is:

Top Ten Older Books You Don't Want to be Forgotten

I tried not to include many classics, because I figured they wouldn't be forgotten.  Hopefully.  But I did pick books that were written decades ago. I wasn't sure what was considered older. :)

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle: Now that I have reminded myself of this book, I need to reread it! I am such a fan. I remember watching this movie too, when I was younger over and over.  Did anyone else see it? Wasn't that old harpy scary!! I love this book. 

Why this book should not be forgotten: we don't want magic and fantasy to just fade away, do we? :)

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin: This is such a great book too. I think I love books that have a lot of characters because of this book. 

Why this book should not be forgotten:  Just fun

Hawaii by James Michener: I love all of Michener's books. 

Why this book should not be forgotten: pure enjoyment

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein:  A beautiful love story

Why this book should not be forgotten: unconditional love 

Cape Cod by William Martin:  I love to read this book in the summer.  I love the books that span generations, and this one is a fiction book that follows two families from the time of the Mayflower.  

Why this book should not be forgotten: pure enjoyment

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood: If you haven't read this you need to! 

Why this book should not be forgotten: the feminist themes

Watership Down by Richard Adams:  My favorite book ever

Why this book should not be forgotten:  the politics, governments, bunnies are cute but deadly

Harriet the Spy by Lousie Fitzhugh: I loved this book when I was a kid!  Harriet was kind of BA.

Why this book should not be forgotten: Harriet was not like all other girl book characters when I read this. She was smart, and kind of quiet, and a little sneaky!

The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy: This book is to military schools the way Platoon is to movies about Vietnam. I am sure they are not all like this all the time, but I am positive it is like this sometimes. Like in all of Conroy's books, I sobbed my eyes out. I loved it.   

Why this book should not be forgotten:  a not so pretty look at military institutes, free thinking and individualism

Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau: I have my very own meaningfully marked up copy, with passages I love underlined. 

Why this book should not be forgotten: its amazing.