I finally got a chance to dive into Sarah Waters' work and I am content. I have made a special note that the fall season really is the best time to experience her work, so I'm looking forward to Carl's RIP Challenge this year even more so.

BookLust reviewed the audiobook and as I was coming off audios which really weren't up my alley, I went ahead and downloaded The Little Stranger. This Gothic tale had the right amount of spooky atmosphere, psychological thriller, and bump-in-the-night ghost story tale to wonderfully keep me a bit on edge when I'd listen to it in the car on a cold and dark night.

Dr. Farady has a long history with Hundreds Hall, a rambling and sprawling English manor that has seen better days. When once his mother used to work there in the prime of pre-World War II life, the post-war era certainly has a crumbling result, both to the home and to the family. With only two servants now supporting the house, and the Ayers family living an eccentric life, Dr. Faraday's relationship begins. It's a slow and quiet build-up of eerie tension and with Dr. Faraday building an uncomfortable attachment to the house and family, there is the sense that perhaps he is an unreliable narrator. Although he delivers the events as they happen to him and the family, part of me questioned whether or not I should believe him. Needless to say, that contributed to the success of the disturbing tale.

Simon Vance was a phenomenal narrator, and you may recall that while I didn't like the story of Dr. No, I finished the audio only because of Simon Vance.

Fans of Asylum by Patrick McGrath will be pleased with this story.

Others said:
BookLust
Prairie Horizons

Publisher: Penguin Audio
Release Date: 5/8/2009
Audio Time: 15 hours, 54 minutes
Narrator: Simon Vance

FTC Disclosure: I purchased this book from Audible.com

About the Author

Sarah Waters, a Welsh novelist, is the author of five novels: Tipping the Velvet, Affinity, Fingersmith, The Night Watch, and The Little Stranger. All of them have either already been adapted for television, or the film rights have been optioned.

Visit the Author:

• On her website

People. If there is only one scary audio book that you get this year, make it this one, narrated by Campbell Scott. This actor knocked it outta the park.

Everyone knows the overall story, so I'll give you a quick synopsis. Jack is a failed teacher after a startling incident; struggling with alcoholism and regrets, he agrees to take a winter job overseeing a magnificent and sprawling mountain resort in Colorado to get himself back on track. With his wife and young son in tow, Jack resolves to write a book that will get him back in with society and wipe away his past mistakes. What he doesn't realize is that spending the winter at the hotel might release his own demons amidst the haunting of the Overlook Hotel and with his son Danny still wrestling with his telepathic gifts and near catatonic states, the family faces a catastrophe that is eerily similar to the past caretakers of the hotel.

The thing about Stephen King's books and their subsequent adaptations to film, is that a lot of times it never works out well. There's been a lot of debate about Stanley Kubrick's version (which Stephen King did not like) and the TV miniseries from 1997 that Stephen King wrote (which fans did not like). I've seen both versions and while I get why Stephen King didn't like Stanley Kubrick's version, I do like it a little bit better than the miniseries. I do think Rebecca De Mornay from the miniseries was a better choice for Wendy than Shelly Duvall was, though.

Selecting this story in audio was a little worrisome for me, and not because it's scary. I don't mind that part at all. What I was worried about was whether it would be any good in audio, but I shouldn't have feared it one bit. In Campbell Scott's easy and laid-back voice, the creepy story of Stephen King's The Shining takes shape and is riveting. I was spellbound by the many voices that Campbell Scott easily elicited (especially Jack's inner thoughts) and I soon found myself making every excuse to run, do errands, so I could listen to it, even listening to it while I took a shower. Without question, I would highly recommend this frightening story, but I'd almost feel more confident to suggest this in audio versus printed simply because Campbell Scott was THAT good. Just make sure you either keep the lights on or have a buddy around when you listen. Guaranteed to scare ya.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Release Date: 8/12/05

Audio Time: 15 hours, 54 minutes

Narrator: Campbell Scott

Audio Notes: As I mentioned above, Campbell Scott rocked this. Click here to listen to the Audible.com sample and click here for all the books this talented actor has narrated.

About the Author

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty novels, including The Stand, The Dark Tower series, It, The Shining, oh...what more can be written that one doesn't already know. So here you go, click here to visit this wicked cool author's official website.

The Stephen King Project. My education (and others') continues! The Shining is another selection for the challenge Kathleen and I are hosting. The site can be found (with other participants' reviews) here.

Have you ever read anything so deliciously unsettling that you wish you could go back in time so you could read it when it was first published?  So that you could experience it at the height of its newness?

Quite disturbing and uncomfortable feelings occurred while reading this week.  I attribute it to Daphne du Maurier's Classics of the Macabre that I received from the library, which features quite a creepy collection of short stories that were released with illustrations by Michael Foreman in 1987 to celebrate Du Maurier's 80th birthday.  I didn't read the short stories in order, but instead trounced around and first started with "The Apple Tree," which was so fiendishly enjoyable that I wrote a separate review for it.

I also kept thinking of how Tim Burton should really select a Daphne du Maurier short story for his next film, particularly one of my favorites below...

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A quick overview of all stories in this collection along with a sample of the wonderful illustrations:

Don't Look Now.  A husband and wife vacationing in Venice and trying to move on from the death of Christine, their young daughter, are told by a psychic that she is actually sitting with them at the table.  Although the husband thinks it's all a ruse, the wife believes.  When the psychic delivers a warning message from the dead daughter that to stay in Venice will not bode well for them...

Frightening and unsettling.

The Apple Tree.  A tree in the backyard begins to prey on the guilty conscience of a widower's mind and reminds him of his dead wife.
I think my absolute favorite, and the first one I read.

The Blue Lenses.  A woman undergoes eye surgery to correct her vision, and her eyes remain covered for six weeks.  When she finally has the bandages removed, she encounters all the people she's been speaking with during her recovery in the hospital have the body of a human, but the head of an animal, one that truly represents them.
A very, very twisted ending.  Maybe this instead is my favorite?  While reading this, I kept thinking that Tim Burton should pick this as next film project.

The Birds.  Alfred Hitchcock selected this short story to make his famous 1963 film of the same name starring Tippi Hedren, Suzanne Pleshette, and Rod Taylor.  Rumor has it that Du Maurier wasn't pleased with this film, and after reading the short story, I can see why.  Nothing quite captures the complete horror and eeriness of the freakish assault of thousands of birds on humans like setting it in the cold and dreary landscape of an English village by a beach, the crashing waves in the background.  Hitchcock's movie was set in California.
Although I enjoyed it, it wouldn't rank in my favorites of the other selections, surprisingly.

The Alibi.  An older married man finds that he's not pleased with his life and he decides that he shall select someone for murder.  A stranger, someone undetectable back to him, and selected in a most unusual way.  Pick this random street, then the 8th house down, perhaps this door...doing so, he comes across a wife and her small son.  He decides to rent a room from her apartment to use as his place to paint during the day, as he's fashioned himself to be an artist. While seeking to draw out his excitement of building trust with his future victim, could they have imagined how this would truly play out?
A very disturbing story, and one that gave me quite a shudder.

Not After Midnight.  A British teacher is vacationing in Greece at a chalet facing the sea.  The chalet apparently once housed a guest who unfortunately drowned and the hotel employees are a bit superstitiously hesitant around this room.  The teacher is a bit more curious than he should be, and slowly begins to investigate the circumstances of the previous guest's death, and the curious association that the victim had with another couple vacationing in the same resort.
Although frighteningly good, it wasn't my favorite, and I wish there had been one more story after this one, or if it instead ended with either Don't Look Now or The Blue Lenses.

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I haven't read Daphne du Maurier before, so this collection of short stories was a brilliant introduction, and one that I read to participate in the Daphne du Maurier Challenge hosted by Chrisbookarama.  I found Du Maurier to be a bit like a twisted O. Henry -- the endings were never quite you imagined them to be, only much darker and haunting.  The writing was beautiful and truly set the atmosphere.  Now, I'm looking forward to picking up Rebecca, yet another creepy story, and the one that etched the author's name in literary history.

Happy Reading!
Coffee and a Book Chick