Book Chatter

This week is Fall Break for my kids. This used to mean a week off for all of us but now that The Boy is in middle-school, he only gets two days off. So, we aren’t going anywhere. But, I decided to take Friday off (just for me) and spent the day reading. I have a stack of library books that are due soon, so my goal is to get through at least half of them.

I finished A Reliable Wife. Wow! What a book. This is the book that I bought twice, by the way. I’m not even mad that I bought it twice anymore.

I am about 100 pages into The Night Circus. It was slow going for me in the beginning but I’m enjoying it now. I love the striped end papers!

I am also reading The Map of Time with Patty. We got this ARC at the same time and decided to save it for October. Should be good!

On a side note, I pulled We The Animals off the library shelf which surprised me, because I had no plans to read it and hadn’t really given it much thought, but I read the first page and got sucked in. So…I am reading it along with the others.

So this time off of mine has been spent doing what I love…reading! I feel quite happy and content over it. I have the next few days off and then I am back to work mid-week but then off again on Friday to celebrate The Girl’s 8th birthday.

Oh, and I almost forgot, The Boy and Girl received callbacks for the roles they tried out for (Alice in Wonderland). The Boy got called back for one role and he auditioned again last week. The Girl got called back for a role too but blanked out. According to her, she stood there with her mouth hanging open and said nothing. This surprises me because she is very chatty and animated and knew those lines. But for whatever reason, she froze. I won’t have an update until Thursday. I didn’t want to get all stage mom over it, but she KNEW those lines. I felt really bad for her. She was really upset. Poor kid.

As for tonight, I just had a really nice dinner that I slaved over and will settle down with a nice cup of coffee, and continue with The Night Circus. Hope you all had nice weekends. It was over 90 degrees both days for us here in So. Cal. I am ready for some cooler weather. Can anyone spare some of theirs?

The Night Strangers
By Chris Bohjalian
(Crown, Hardcover, 9780307394996, October 4, 2011, 400pp.)

The Short of It:

One of the most frightening opening scenes I’ve read in a long time. I am still haunted by those images.

The Rest of It:

Chip Linton, an experienced pilot, is forced to make a split decision which results in the death of thirty-nine of his passengers. Although the accident itself was caused by a flock of geese flying into both engines, Chip finds himself reliving the moment over and over again. What could he have done differently? Overwhelmed with grief and wanting a new start, Chip purchases a rambling Victorian and moves his family to New Hampshire. Emily, his wife, is at first pleased with the move. Their ten-year-old twin daughters, Hallie and Garnet aren’t so sure.

This is a ghost story and these ghosts are not subtle. They appear often and know exactly what they want. Because of this, you don’t get the atmospheric creep factor that you do with most ghost stories because you know right away who they are, and what they want. However, there is no escaping the dread that you feel while reading this story. This little town that they’ve moved to has its own secrets and the inhabitants are weird and cult-like and when you begin to understand what they have in mind for those twins, you can’t help but be disturbed by it. It’s unsettling and I was absolutely shocked by the ending.

There is no denying the fact that this book is incredibly hard to put down. Bohjalian’s writing is gripping and the opening sequence took my breath away. I was sitting in my car, out in the middle of parking lot, just me and my Kindle and I swear I held my breath the entire time.

But…

I wanted more of the ghost story and a little less of where the story went. I won’t go into details for those who haven’t read it yet, but Bohjalian had me with the house…nothing else was needed. Give me a creepy house with secrets and a set of strange, yet likable twins and I’m more than happy.

I haven’t read a ghost story in a long time, so I really enjoyed this one even though I had a little quibble with where it went in the end.

Source: Net Galley