Oldies, Buuuut...Goodies?!

Oldies,...

Last week, I became fascinated with a "drama in poetry" book by Mel Glenn. The title of the book is The Taking of Room 114. A friend of mine, and fellow teacher, came across it in a used bookshop and thought she might find something in it to share for our poetry study at school. After she read it, she knew the content was definitely not for sixth graders. It was geared more towards high school students. Still, she was kind enough to share it with me and thought I'd find it interesting. And I did.

The Taking of Room 114 is a about a history teacher who takes his class hostage one day. Each poem is a different perspective from different people, primarily from students. Every student has their own tale to tell about their own lives before the actual incident takes place. Glenn does an incredible job of saying so much in just a few lines of poetry. The reader completely understands the situation. I found it fascinating that it was a satisfying tale. I liked it enough to seek out a copy of my own and look into what else Glenn has written.

Mel Glenn has written several "poetry dramas," and I've read two, so far, and have another on my TBR shelf. These books are not recent releases (published in the late 1990s). In fact, when I decided I wanted my own copy of The Taking of Room 114, I had to search online for it and purchase a good, used copy from a third party seller through Amazon.

My search also brought me to his award-winning poetic drama, Who Killed Mr. Chippendale?: A Mystery in Poems, which I really enjoyed. A high school teacher is shot on the high school track, early one morning before school, and no one knows who killed him or why. Again, you hear from different characters through poetry. The cast of characters include students, faculty, the police, and a guidance counselor. It really is quite good, and my favorite of the two! (And much easier to get your hands on.)

This type of poetry is a shorthand of prose. I think it's much more difficult to convey a message with a few lines than to write pages of descriptions. I didn't expect to like Glenn's style as much as I do. So, if you're looking for something a little different, but well-written, I definitely recommend Glenn's Who Killed Mr. Chippendale?: A Mystery in Poems for a tasty literary snack.

Buuuut...Goodies?!

Speaking of 'oldies', I just finished reading Flowers in the Attic, by V.C. Andrews, published in 1979. I found a copy of it at a library sale, and I had heard several of my book club friends express how they loved it as teenagers. Now, mind you, they didn't say it like it was a great book. These grown, college-educated women would giggle when they mentioned it and talk of how they used to hide it from their parents and read it. I knew the premise was about children being locked in an attic, but I had no idea what was in store for me when I read this novel. Or why a teenager would feel the need to hide it from their parents. But I found out.

Flowers in the Attic is a horrible and completely fascinating story about four children who are locked in their grandmother's upstairs room and attic, while their mother tries to find her way back into her very rich father's good graces. He doesn't know she has four children, and he wouldn't approve, so the children are hidden away in an unused bedroom on an isolated wing of the father's mansion. Only the mother and grandmother know the children exist in the house.

Seldom have I read a book where I was so mortified and intrigued at the same time. The grandmother is pure evil, hiding behind the guise of a devout, pious, religious woman. (Religious zealot would be an understatement.) She controls the children by telling them God sees everything they do, and He punishes those who disobey. There are even paintings depicting hell and demons in the room, to remind the children to be good. And all this? Is the very least of it.

While I could not put the book down, and devoured it in a couple of days, I don't think I'll read the rest in the series. I considered it, but find that the ending of the first book satisfies me enough to let it go. It was a bit heart wrenching to get through the first one, and I'd rather leave it at that. I'm glad I read it,...I think. I mean, it's written well,...but the content isn't something I'll be able to forget anytime soon.

After I read the novel, I read online that Andrews once said she wanted her books to be fast reads, something you couldn't put down. Well, it certainly was that.

Now, I want to bathe my reading brain in something light and airy and happy. Let's see what I can find on my TBR shelf that suits me...

Happy reading!

Second Post Today?!

What can I say? It's either a drought or a downpour when it comes to me. There's been so much dryness lately, I need a flood of writing for awhile. Perhaps, I want to write more because I know spring break is one week away, and I feel I'm finally beginning to breathe again. Or maybe, just maybe, I've finally decided my priorities need to be adjusted a bit. (Okay, more than "a bit.")

No matter the reason, here is my second post of the day:

I read the classic Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier, and I absolutely loved it! I know, I know,...I should have read it before now. Everyone should have read it by now. I don't know how I missed it all these years - and I mean completely missed it. I had no idea it had been made into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock (which, now, I can't wait to see because I hear it's really good). I didn't know Maurier also wrote a novelette, The Birds, which also became one of Hitchcock's movie - one I've loved since childhood.

I know there is more to learn about this wonderful authoress, but I hesitate to research her any further for now. I enjoy her style of writing and look forward to reading more of her work. I've already bought Frenchman's Creek and My Cousin Rachel. I'd like to read those before I delve into who she was as a person. I hate to admit this, but learning about a writer sometimes taints my view on their writing. I'd rather love the work first, learn about the author second.

As for the novel Rebecca, I loved everything about it. I love the way the story unfolds, the reader not knowing anything more than the narrator knows. I found myself questioning whether the narrator was reliable or not. I didn't know if things were really as they appeared to her on the surface or was she just being overly dramatic. And, trust me, there is plenty of drama in this novel. Drama, suspense, thrills, chills, and love - they're all there in perfect portions.

Reviews have told me that Frenchman's Creek is closest in style to Rebecca, which is why it's the one I'm beginning tonight. I hope I've found another writer whose literary works are the kind I can soak my brain in and enjoy the mental rollercoaster rides. If they are anything like Rebecca, I'll be riding with my hands in the air and screaming for more. :)

Going Goth

Goth has been around since the 1700s, so I guess it's about time I jumped on the bandwagon, eh? I am talking about the genre, not the subculture that started in the 1980s (ah, the years of my youth...). It isn't that I didn't have an appreciation for gothic literature before now, I just didn't read it in regular rotation with other genres.

Most of my experience with gothic literature has been the classics: Mary Shelley, Edgar Allen Poe, Henry James, Charles Baudelaire, and Washington Irving. I didn't really delve into modern goth until a few years ago when I became entranced by Dean Koontz's Frankenstein books. I highly recommend them, I enjoyed them immensely, but I know those types of books aren't for everyone. I wouldn't have thought they were for me, but I couldn't get enough of the series. I was not a Dean Koontz fan until I read those and, truth be told, I haven't read any others by him since. Too many other authors to read and experience, and there's just too little time, you know. Reading Koontz's series, though, gave me a renewed taste for gothic literature, and I began to seek out more novels in this genre,...which leads me to talk about the book The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson.

Doesn't look like a ghost story, eh?

 

I was first drawn to this book because of the cover, which showed an old house in a huge field of lavender. There is a place in France I long to visit and see those fields of lavender, so when I found this to be the very setting of the novel, I was interested enough to preview the book a little more. I also have to admit that I can be a sucker for books with a deckle edge (uneven pages at the edge). What I see and touch affects my attraction to things and my desire to possess them. This explains why I love real books more than ebooks. Ebooks are for convenience and instant gratification, while real books are treasures.

The Lantern is about a woman who meets a man, falls in love hard and fast, and gets married. Simple enough, right? Not quite. Once they buy a house in France, and the honeymoon period is over, she begins to wonder if the man she married isn't all he appears to be. She begins to suspect there's something sinister lurking beneath this gentleman's charm and odd things begin to happen.

This novel also has more than one story going on. While the married couple is in the present with their problems, there is another story (with more problems) from the past that occurred in that same house in France. Both stories are intriguing and both are mysteries that are slowly unraveling. The author does a good job of telling both stories and making connections between what is going on in the present and what happened in the past.

I only have one complaint about this book: the title. Is there a tie-in to the title in the book? Yes. But it's almost like the author had to find a way to stick it in there. In other words, in the big scheme of things, I just didn't think the lantern was that big of a deal. It would be like calling Hitchcock's movie "The Shower Curtain" instead of "Psycho." Was there a shower curtain in the movie? Yes. Did it play a role in a major scene? Yes. Should the curtain get top billing in the title? No. (You get my point.)

OK, enough about bad title choices.

I enjoyed the book, and it gets a good bit of respect from me because I couldn't figure out the end by the time I was halfway through it. I liked the characters, it kept me interested, ...and I did hear a few things go bump in the night while I was reading it.

 I thought I should show you the other book cover for the novel. I didn't know this one existed until after I'd read the book. As book covers go, this one would not have attracted me and, with the lame title, I might have passed it by. I'm so glad I didn't.

I do actually LOVE that neither of the covers look gothic or scary or creepy. It just goes to show you, things aren't always what they seem...