Seeking Some Literary Recommendations: I'm Wanting To Expand My Horizons~

[Musicman408]

Alright, I know a lot of you all feel that I have really bad taste in literature (Danielle Steel and whatnot) . So I have decided that I really want to expand and read something a bit more challenging, because I will admit that every once and awhile the simplicity of Ms. Steel's style gets a little monotonous.

Sooooo...I am asking for recommendations. I am wanting something creepy. Maybe involving a house with a very very dark past or something.

If any of you all have suggestions on something kind of dark and creepy, or just something of a more intellectual value that you think would be a good read, I would love to hear your suggestion.

Thanks So Much,
Ethan

[CharmedHour]

Hi Ethan,
I have a friend on myspace who is an author of mysteries. Her name is Evelyn David. If you type in her name on myspace search, her page should come up.

[sywlindseyfan]

hey I have never read this book but...Stevie has once said, I think it was her fav movie or book..."House on Haunted Hill" correct me if I am wrong, please, haha

[paleshadow]

Originally Posted by Musicman408

I am wanting something creepy. Maybe involving a house with a very very dark past or something.

Try "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James. You've got a creepy house, 2 creepy children and a governess who believes the children are being manipulated by ghosts only she sees. Is she really seeing them, or is she just crazy?

[Musicman408]

Oooh thanks guys. These all sound great. I'll have to research them and definately check them out.

[Chrislit18]

Have you ever read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte?
I had to read it as my extra book for Soph. Eng. last year, and I loved it. [The movie SUCKS though, too bad, cause Laurence Olivier is in it... ]

I could give a plot sympnosis, but its a love story [kindof], and its not very straightfoward.
It was a challenge for me to read, so you may enjoy it.

[Musicman408]

Originally Posted by Chrislit18

Have you ever read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte?
I had to read it as my extra book for Soph. Eng. last year, and I loved it. [The movie SUCKS though, too bad, cause Laurence Olivier is in it... ]

I could give a plot sympnosis, but its a love story [kindof], and its not very straightfoward.
It was a challenge for me to read, so you may enjoy it.

We actually read it in my AP English class this year, and you know, seeing as how it was a "school" book, I probably didn't enjoy it as much as I would've if I were reading it for pleasure.

[CharmedHour]

Originally Posted by paleshadow

Try "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James. You've got a creepy house, 2 creepy children and a governess who believes the children are being manipulated by ghosts only she sees. Is she really seeing them, or is she just crazy?

Ooh that sounds good! I like stuff like that. The Ghost Whisperer is one of my favorite shows.

[paleshadow]

Originally Posted by CharmedHour

Ooh that sounds good! I like stuff like that. The Ghost Whisperer is one of my favorite shows.

Me too! Though it took me a little while to warm up to it, since I blamed that show for Joan of Arcadia getting canceled.

[Musicman408]

Originally Posted by CharmedHour

Ooh that sounds good! I like stuff like that. The Ghost Whisperer is one of my favorite shows.

Sounds like I need to watch Ghost Whisperer. I'd probably love it.

Any of you all ever seen the show "A Haunting". Kind of cool~

[gretchen]

The Sussex Vampire by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

[KarmaContestant]

Originally Posted by Musicman408

Sooooo...I am asking for recommendations. I am wanting something creepy. Maybe involving a house with a very very dark past or something.

The Witching Hour by Anne Rice. The story centers around a family haunted by a dark past - and to boot they live in a creepy New Orleans mansion that much of the story takes place in. The book is nearly 1000 pages, but don't be intimidated by that - it's a quick read that will have you enthralled.

"The Witching Hour," Anne Rice's 1990 foray into witchcraft and the occult, is not really a change of pace for the uniquely gifted author more than it is a better realized creation emphasizing her strengths and obsessions. As most readers know, Rice cut her teeth with the enormously successful Vampire Chronicles including "Interview with the Vampire" and "The Vampire Lestat." With "The Witching Hour," Rice has taken a well-deserved break from the immortal lives of her witty vampire clan, creating a fascinating legend of a family of witches stretching back four centuries and two continents.

The witches, known as the Mayfairs, are connected by the haunting thread of the mysterious spirit Lasher, appearing ghost-like to a selected few, standing within the shadows of ominous trees and forming within mirrors, tears streaking his pale face. Lasher forms an eerie, if not erotic bond with the women of the Mayfair clan, providing untold riches and eventually amorous damnation. But Lasher, much like the legacy of the Mayfair family, is an exotic mystery waiting to be solved, and this intimidating responsiblity falls into the modern-day hands of Michael Curry and Rowan Mayfair. This appealing, love-struck couple, set out for New Orleans to solve the mystery and reclaim the souls of the Mayfair family.

"The Witching Hour" was eventually followed by two sequels, but it stands alone as one of Rice's greatest novels, an enthralling, complex epic filled with gothic mystery, dancing ghosts and heartbreaking irony. Her descriptions of the decayed mansion on First Street, situated in the Garden District of New Orleans, a moody, ancient home owned by the Mayfairs for over 100 years, provides some of this novels most sensual and memorable passages. This house is indeed haunted by spirits and the hovering mysteries of past tragedies, but like Shirley Jackson's classic "The Haunting of Hill House," what is lurking within the home is much more than just crying spirits of the dead.

Rice's body of work has always had an old fashioned taste for the finer things in life, from exquisite bottles of wine to antique furnishings and dusty historic paintings. She caresses these lush trappings, much like a lover embraces an old flame. And her descriptions of these tasteful adornments - clothes, artwork, china, food and even New Orleans culture, all glowing within the flame of yellow candlelight, are examples of her sensual writing style. Granted, the passages leading up to the novel's final conflict, in which Michael and Rowan begin renovating the ancient Mayfair home, move slowly, perhaps providing more architectural detail than the reader is interested in. But Rice is strategically building a growing sense of dread. Horror is going to pay a visit to this young couple, and when it eventually does, the reader's mouth will be agape.

"The Witching Hour" is a mesmerizing novel, combining comfortable elements of the English ghost story with a feather-touch dash of erotica, witchcraft and the occult. As in all Anne Rice novels, the dead will simply not go away. They lurk in the shadows of history, as they have for centuries. Time may have passed these pseudo banshees by, but their power is far reaching. Even within the shadows of skyscrapers, automobiles and computers, these timeless supernatural fears are hiding. In Anne Rice's fascinating worlds, ancient legends live and wait, and our imagination is entranced.

[Musicman408]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

The Witching Hour by Anne Rice. The story centers around a family haunted by a dark past - and to boot they live in a creepy New Orleans mansion that much of the story takes place in. The book is nearly 1000 pages, but don't be intimidated by that - it's a quick read that will have you enthralled.

"The Witching Hour," Anne Rice's 1990 foray into witchcraft and the occult, is not really a change of pace for the uniquely gifted author more than it is a better realized creation emphasizing her strengths and obsessions. As most readers know, Rice cut her teeth with the enormously successful Vampire Chronicles including "Interview with the Vampire" and "The Vampire Lestat." With "The Witching Hour," Rice has taken a well-deserved break from the immortal lives of her witty vampire clan, creating a fascinating legend of a family of witches stretching back four centuries and two continents.

The witches, known as the Mayfairs, are connected by the haunting thread of the mysterious spirit Lasher, appearing ghost-like to a selected few, standing within the shadows of ominous trees and forming within mirrors, tears streaking his pale face. Lasher forms an eerie, if not erotic bond with the women of the Mayfair clan, providing untold riches and eventually amorous damnation. But Lasher, much like the legacy of the Mayfair family, is an exotic mystery waiting to be solved, and this intimidating responsiblity falls into the modern-day hands of Michael Curry and Rowan Mayfair. This appealing, love-struck couple, set out for New Orleans to solve the mystery and reclaim the souls of the Mayfair family.

"The Witching Hour" was eventually followed by two sequels, but it stands alone as one of Rice's greatest novels, an enthralling, complex epic filled with gothic mystery, dancing ghosts and heartbreaking irony. Her descriptions of the decayed mansion on First Street, situated in the Garden District of New Orleans, a moody, ancient home owned by the Mayfairs for over 100 years, provides some of this novels most sensual and memorable passages. This house is indeed haunted by spirits and the hovering mysteries of past tragedies, but like Shirley Jackson's classic "The Haunting of Hill House," what is lurking within the home is much more than just crying spirits of the dead.

Rice's body of work has always had an old fashioned taste for the finer things in life, from exquisite bottles of wine to antique furnishings and dusty historic paintings. She caresses these lush trappings, much like a lover embraces an old flame. And her descriptions of these tasteful adornments - clothes, artwork, china, food and even New Orleans culture, all glowing within the flame of yellow candlelight, are examples of her sensual writing style. Granted, the passages leading up to the novel's final conflict, in which Michael and Rowan begin renovating the ancient Mayfair home, move slowly, perhaps providing more architectural detail than the reader is interested in. But Rice is strategically building a growing sense of dread. Horror is going to pay a visit to this young couple, and when it eventually does, the reader's mouth will be agape.

"The Witching Hour" is a mesmerizing novel, combining comfortable elements of the English ghost story with a feather-touch dash of erotica, witchcraft and the occult. As in all Anne Rice novels, the dead will simply not go away. They lurk in the shadows of history, as they have for centuries. Time may have passed these pseudo banshees by, but their power is far reaching. Even within the shadows of skyscrapers, automobiles and computers, these timeless supernatural fears are hiding. In Anne Rice's fascinating worlds, ancient legends live and wait, and our imagination is entranced.

I will definately give this a look. I'm thinking a trip to Barnes and Noble is warrented.

[JWS]

I highly recommend "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy.

[Tango]

http://www.oprah.com/obc_classic/obc_main.jhtml