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Posts from the ‘#20BooksOfSummer 2018’ Category

23
Jun

Why Horror Seduces

 

Why does horror work?

  1. Horror engages with psychological mechanisms
  2. …that have evolved over millions of years.
  3. We need fear to stay alert and alive.
  4. As long as we are fearful imaginative creatures
  5. ….there will be a central place for horror in our culture.

 

Does Clasen tell me anything new and interesting about  ‘horror’?

  1. I learned to be alert for…
  2. alpha predators…man-eating shark  in Spielberg’s Jaws
  3. clowns who hide their evil intentions with face paint or masks…in King’s IT
  4. shape-shifting creatures…vampires…in Stoker’s Dracula
  5. inanimate objects infused  with malicious intent to kill… the car in King’s Christine
  6. supernatural agents who act like ordinary neighbors…in Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby
  7. …and there is no way to have a fair fight with a ghost!

 

Conclusion:

  1. Since I read a few horror books this year:
  2. Soon, Who’s Afraid and Aletheia
  3. I wanted to learn
  4. …why horror seduces?
  5. We enjoy make believe
  6. ….want to experience negative emotions
  7. …but only in a safe context!
  8. There are many types of horror: disgust, fear, shock, loathing and dread.
  9. Some books are better than the movie: The Shining by S. King
  10. Some movies are better than the book: Jaws by R. Benchley
  11. Our appetite for horror will not go away anytime soon.
  12. Horror will stay with us and M. Clasen wants to explain why.
  13. Horror is not a genre like a western or crime fiction
  14. ….it is pure emotion!

 

Last thoughts:

  1. After reading this book I have learned  that horror literature
  2. is more than furious poltergeists or chain-saw wielding rednecks!
  3. M Clasen explains why we are drawn to the dark side,
  4. …with sweaty palms, a racing pulse and
  5. …a sinking feeling in the pit of our stomach.
  6. Remember the iconic opening scene in Jaws (1978)?
  7. Remember the music?
  8. …Da-Dum…Da-Dum…Da-Dum-Da-Dum-Da-Dum
  9. I want to read more Horror and Dark Fantasy books
  10. …but don’t know where to find them!
  11. Here is the link for This Is Horror  website.
  12. This website specializes in horror fiction and the craft of writing,
  13. Here are a few notes about
  14. Part 1. ...human fear system. (ch 1-4).
  15. Part 2 is an overview of post WW-II American horror.
  16. Edgar Allan Poe was America’s first horror writer.
  17. “…vision of terror that stalks within us.”
  18. Stephen King is the most successful horror writer
  19. ….selling more than 350 million books since 1974.
  20. Part 3 M. Clasen looks to the future moving from
  21. literature –> film –> interactive horror dimensions (niche market).
  22. Despite a sluggish begin (ch 1-4) the book picks up steam
  23. …and becomes stronger, faster and more insightful with each page!

 

Notes:

Chapter  1  – The tone is very academic ..what horror is and how it is studied. This was nice to know but was not a great ‘hook’ that would keep me reading.  I plodded hoping to find some real interesting remarks.

Chapter 2 – This discusses why fear is our oldest and strongest emotion. Clasen describes the human fear system.  The horror genre targets our fears…still I have not read anything….new!

GOOD – A well constructed  horror story has us anxiously scanning the fictional environment for threats. That is very true! While reading Aletheia I was looking for  foreshadowing or objects that appear in the story that would link  to the ‘lake monster’  that awaits the characters!

Chapter 3  –  This was an interesting chapter about monsters, scary scenes and terrified characters. Included is Stephen King’s personal top 10 terrors! The first one is what we all feel…fear of the dark! I had to laugh when Clasen mentions “…we should be terrified of cars and worry much less about snakes and spiders.” (pg 40).

Chapter 4 – People manipulate fear to produce pleasure. “…being absorbed in a fictional universe and made to feel afraid as a result…” It is the pleasure of feeling strong emotions in a safe context.

 

My top horror movies:

The Tingler (1959) –  shock
An obsessed pathologist discovers and captures a parasitic creature
that grows when fear grips its host.
Can you imagine me….9 years old and watching this?
I’m still traumatized!

 

Psycho (1960)- shock
A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer’s client, goes on the run, and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.
My mother learned her lesson and forbad me to see this movie!

 

Rosemary’s Baby (1968) – fear
A young couple moves in to an apartment only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbors and occurrences. When the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, paranoia over the safety of her unborn child begins to control her life.
My sister and I went to see this movie…a flawless horror masterpiece,
at an afternoon showing…at night was too spooky.

 

The Exorcist (1973) – disgust
When a teenage girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter.
I was just married and felt so grown up
…but this movie brought me to my ‘horror limit’!

 

Jaws (1975) – anxiety, dread …something dangerous is out there but you don’t know where it is or when it will strike!
A local sheriff, a marine biologist and an old seafarer team up to hunt down a great white shark wrecking havoc in a beach resort.
I loved this one. The opening scene is iconic…the music!! 

LISTEN to the film trailer narrated by Orson wells…. link
See the movie….before you go swimming.

20
Jun

A Very Expensive Poison

 

Finished: 20.06.2018
Genre: non-fiction (true crime)
Rating: B

 

Conclusion:

This book reads like a Le Carré espionage thriller!
Major theme is the death of Alex Litvineko 2006
and the final results of murder inquiry in London 2016.
Many names of Russian dissidents, double spies and ousted Russian oligarchs are mentioned. Victims were killed in drab suburbia (Alexander Litvinenko), often out in the open, on pavements (Boris Nemtsov), sometimes as the target was out walking their dog, or going shopping, with passers-by watching on in abject horror. (Sergei Skripal)
There seems to be a trend

…but who is the one giving the orders to kill?

 

Alexander Litvinenko – British naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian FSB secret service who specialised in tackling organised crime in Russia.
(dead 2006, poisoning with radionuclide polonium-210)

 

“Badri” Patarkatsishvili – behind some of the most successful companies in today’s Russia (oligarch)
(dead 2008, collapse at his home, compounds known to be used by the former KGB can induce heart failure, but leave virtually no trace)

 

Boris Berezovsky – oligarch, agitator in Russian politics. He and Putin were sworn enemies.
(dead 2013, found in bathroom – death as “unexplained”)

 

Boris Nemtsov – outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin and his authoritarian, undemocratic regime.
(dead 2015, assassinated on a bridge near the Kremlin in Moscow, with four shots fired from the back.

 

Sergei Skripal – former Russian military intelligence officer who acted as a double agent for the UK’s intelligence services
(March 2018, poisoned with a nerve agent…survived)

 

 

 

16
Jun

Deep South: Shortlist Stanford Travel Book 2017

 

Finished: 16.06.2018
Genre: non-fiction travel writing
Rating: A+++

Conclusion:

  1. Flyspecks on a map….
  2. …forgotten towns with a creek or running stream
  3. …they were all backwaters literally and figuratively.
  4. Deep South by P. Theroux surprises me with every page.
  5. From North Carolina through Georgia,
  6. Tennessee and Alabama to Mississippi and Arkansas….
  7. in his first book to focus on his homeland,
  8. the veteran travel writer and novelist finds segregation
  9. still thrives in the old Confederate states.

 

Strong point:

  1. Paul Theroux is more interested in
  2. conversationthan sightseeing
  3. …the heart an soul of family narratives…the human wealth.

 

Strong point:

  1. Theroux captures the essence of the Deep South.
  2. At the moment in The Netherlands ( where this ex-pat lives) the news is
  3. all about the elderly who are becoming  very lonely.
  4. People are living longer and must cope with a
  5. type of isolation due to physical health and mobility.
  6. NOT once in Theroux’s book is the word loneliness mentioned.
  7. Why?
  8. Because it is ‘the Southern way‘ to always be of
  9. assistance regardless of class, color or creed.
  10. …or  if you aree a stranger from the North taking notes (Paul Theroux)
  11. ” Kin Ah h’ep you….in inny way?  is the motto of the Deep South.

 

 

Last thoughts:

  1. Sometimes I don’t want a book to end….this is that kind of book!
  2. Theroux is a traveler but also a lover of literature.
  3. He explores Southern Fiction (especially Faulkner) to give the reader
  4. access to the reflective interior of southern states
  5. …so passive….so mute.
  6. #ExcellentRead

 

11
Jun

#20BooksOfSummer 2018

  • I must stop buying books…and start reading them!
  • What to do?  Make a list for…
  • #20BooksOfSummer hosted yearly by Cathy  746 Books
  • I selected books that
  • …I REALLY REALLY want to read.
  • List of Challenges 2018
  • Monthly reading plan
  • #20BooksOfSummer

 

  1. Deep South – Paul Theroux – (NF) – READ
  2. A Very Expensive Poison – Luke Harding (NF) – READ
  3. Why Horror Seduces – M. Clasen (NF) – READ
  4. Islander: Journey Around Our Archipelago – P. Barkham (NF) – READ
  5. From the Edge: Australia’s Lost Histories – M. McKenna (NF) – READ
  6. Flowers For Algernon – Daniel Keyes (novel)  – READ
  7. The Redemption of Galen Pike – Carys Davies (short stories) – READ
  8. The Serious Game – Hjalmar Söderberg (novel) – READ
  9. The Judge and His Hangman – F. Dürrenmatt  (CF) – READ
  10. Rice – Michele Lee (play) – READ
  11. Hunting the Wild Pineapple – T. Astley (8 short stories) – READ
  12. Down These Green Streets – Declan Burke (NF) – READ
  13. The Sun Also Rises – E. Hemingway – READ
  14. View From the Cheap Seats – N. Gaiman – READ (essays)
  15. The Deerslayer – James Fenimore Cooper – RE-READ – classic
  16. Like a House on Fire – C. Kennedy – READ (15 short stories)
  17. The Dispossessed – U. Le Guin – READ
  18. Women in Love – D.H. Lawrence – READ – classic
  19. Berthe Morisot  –  D. Bona – READ (french edition)
  20. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich – W. Shirer – READ
  21. Nation – T. Pratchett – READ

FINI !!

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