Search

Search only in certain items:

Twelve Nights at Rotter House
Twelve Nights at Rotter House
J.W. Ocker | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book has stuck with me. I read Ocker's non-fiction book @Cursed Objects: Strange but True Stories of the World's Most Infamous Items, the other day, so I decided to try out his novel.

In the first chapter, we find out that the original title of the book was 13 nights, rather than 12. So, obviously, something happened. The main character is a travel writer (like the author), and a skeptic (like the author), who decides to spend 13 nights in a supposedly haunted house.
There were hints, dropped throughout, as to what is actually happening, various movie and book references. Crimson Peak was the most obvious one.

After one night spent alone, the author's best friend comes to visit. There's some unspoken thing that happened a year ago, that's not all that hard to figure out. When things begin to happen, screams, apparitions, etc, the author explains them away. He is a skeptic after all.

The woman character/ghost, has a head that's split down the middle... wonder what that symbolizes.

Towards the end, the author gradually unravels. The end, with the twist... Honestly, I have mixed feelings about it. That's why I just rated this as ok. It was entertaining, and haunted me for about three days,
  
40x40

Julianne Moore recommended A Wrinkle in Time in Books (curated)

 
A Wrinkle in Time
A Wrinkle in Time
Madeleine L'Engle | 2015 | Children
7.8 (37 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"I also loved Madeline L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time.” My introduction to it was by my fifth grade teacher, Mr. Jeness, who read it aloud to us in class, a chapter at a time. Each day I could hardly wait for him to begin reading. I very closely identified with the heroine, Meg Murry, a girl who felt extremely disenfranchised in her world. She was physically awkward – skinny, with glasses and braces and crazy hair – felt socially inept, and was close only to her very brilliant, but very strange baby brother, Charles Wallace. Their father, a scientist, has been missing for some time – and one night the crazy ladies next door (witches, presumably – science fiction witches) prevail upon the children, and their friend, Calvin to “tesseract” through time and space to rescue Meg’s father. When they reach the planet where their father is held captive, they discover that it is a place where there is no free will, and beings are governed by a tyrannical “IT” a pulsing, logical brain that insists on conformity. Meg triumphs at the end, by using her illogical self – her passion for language, her emotional heart, and her tremendous love for her family. She saves them using only her awkward, non-conforming self as a weapon."

Source
  
London's No.1 Dog-Walking Agency
London's No.1 Dog-Walking Agency
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Enjoyable easy read (0 more)
Typos (0 more)
Who doesn't love dogs??!!
This book is non-fiction but at times you would think some of the people were made up characters. There are some strange people out there :)
This is Kate MacDougall's account of setting up a dog walking service in London, before anyone else was doing it. She leaves her office job at Sotheby's after knocking over one too many valuable objects and starts off walking one dog.
As the number of dogs increases, she has to bring in other walkers. We hear about some of the dogs, some of the strange owners, the successes and failures of the walkers, and the stages of Kate's life over a period of about ten years.
I found it entertaining, sometimes funny and there is a bit of sadness of course as dogs don't go on forever. Kate's mum is a bit of a hoot with her expectations of how life should go, and Kate's life is chaotically not living up to that.
The dogs are lovely despite some of their issues, the owners are trying their best for their dogs (although some shouldn't have them as they have no clue!), and it is an enjoyable and quick read.
  
I Am, I Am, I Am
I Am, I Am, I Am
Maggie O'Farrell | 2017 | Biography
9
9.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
I’m going to have to stop saying that I can’t read non-fiction, because clearly I can. This book was a quick, addictive read, and I vacillated between feeling voyeuristic and horrified. Maggie’s encounter with a man whilst she was walking on a mountain path, resulted in me telling my husband all about it, in detail. He asked me why I was reading it, it sounded horrifying (it was, but that’s where I stopped listening to him!). Another encounter whilst backpacking in South America had me holding my breath, and her illness as a child was upsetting in a different way - as all stories involving sick children do now that I have my own. The last story about her daughters serious allergies and many ‘blue light’ dashes to hospital, resounded with me in particular, and I found myself close to tears. Whilst my own child’s medical condition isn’t life threatening, he has certainly been hospitalised, had serious operations, and had his near death experience (luckily just the one). This is traumatic enough, but to have to be ever vigilant must be emotionally and physically exhausting.

I hesitate to use the word ‘wonderful’ when talking about a book about seventeen near death experiences, but I loved reading it, and would definitely recommend it.