Gothic | Raging Biblio-holism

Mr. Splitfoot

October 28, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Sometime in the 1990s, Ruth and Nat, two orphan children raised on a farm of other orphans, meet a mysterious stranger who begins to manage their budding career as psychic mediums. In the present, Ruth’s niece Cora is unexpectedly pregnant – and meets Ruth late one night, when she convinces Cora to leave on a trek with her. The two tales will intertwine in far upstate New York, across time and space… The Review: I knew next […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: A Visit to October Country, Book, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, Ghost Stories, Ghosts, Gothic, Indiespensable, Literature, Mr. Splitfoot, Religion, review, Reviews, Samantha Hunt

The New and Improved Romie Futch

October 14, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Taxidermist Romie Futch is middle-aged, divorced, and nearly bankrupt. So when he sees an ad for a well-funded neuroscience research study, he signs up. The study downloads a broad swath of knowledge and he becomes a better man… but what to do with all that knowledge on the outside? Get his wife back? Hunt down the near-mythic Hogzilla? Keep on keeping on? The Review: What a wild novel. There’s something wonderfully unkempt about it, like the way unkempt wilderness is […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Advance Review, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Brains, Fiction, Genetic Engineering, Gothic, Indiespensable, Julia Elliott, Literature, Reviews, Science, Southern Gothic, The New and Improved Romie Futch, Tin House

Northanger Abbey

October 13, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: Catherine Morland loves reading the most pulpy Gothic novels of the day – and as she runs around Bath, avoiding the advances of one suitor and furthering those of another, everything seems pretty wonderful. But when she goes to Northanger Abbey with the Tilneys, her imagination starts to run away with itself. The Review: I first read this novel in my first semester of college – and I use the term ‘read’ rather loosely here, although I […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: A Visit to October Country, Austen 2013, Classics, Coralie Bickford-Smith, Fiction, Gothic, Jane Austen, Literature, Northanger Abbey

Night Film

June 14, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: After a misguided attempt to take on reclusive filmmaker Stanislas Cordova, Scott McGrath’s journalism career is verging on washed-up. But when Cordova’s daughter turns up dead several years later (an apparent suicide), McGrath gets pulled back into the strange and unsettling world of Cordova and his films – sending him on a journey that will shake the foundations of everything he believes in. Rating: 6 out of 5. It is so rare anymore that a reader can walk […]

Categories: Horror, Literature, Mystery • Tags: 6, Advance Review, BEA13, Fiction, Film, Gothic, Horror, Literature, Marisha Pessl, Mystery, Night Film, Suspense

Broken Harbor

December 10, 2012 by Drew

The Short Version: Detective Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy is the straightest arrow on the force. He’s the one you call when you want a solve and he does it by the book, 100%. When his boss hands him a major case in order to make up for his… shortcomings during a previous case, it looks like it’s the slam-dunk return to form he needs. But nothing seems to add up correctly about this case and Scorcher finds himself questioning the very […]

Categories: Fiction, Mystery • Tags: Broken Harbor, Dublin Murder Squad, Fiction, Gothic, Literature, Mystery, Tana French

Your House Is on Fire, Your Children All Gone

October 29, 2012 by Drew

The Short Version: The village of Hemmersmoor feels like something vaguely out of time, held back by superstition. Four children come of age shortly after World War II in a small society full of death and distrust, complete with witches, ghosts, curses, a house on the hill, and murder most foul. The Review: First things first, the cover. You can’t see it, unfortunately, in any proper cover image put out by Penguin, but there’s a light overlay on the picture of […]

Categories: Fiction, Horror, Literature • Tags: A Visit to October Country, Fiction, Gothic, Horror, hurricanereads, Literature, Stefan Kiesbye, Your House Is on Fire Your Children All Gone

The White Devil

October 26, 2012 by Drew

The Short Version: An American student sent to England to finish his education at Harrow finds himself pulled into the archaic and strange universe of British boarding school – and to make matters worse, the ghost of Lord Byron’s schooltime lover may well be killing off Sixth Formers who get too close to Andrew. How coincidental that he (Andrew) looks so much like Lord Byron… The Review: There’s something mythic about British boarding school life. American boarding schools don’t come close […]

Categories: Fiction, Horror • Tags: A Visit to October Country, Fiction, Gothic, Horror, Justin Evans, Mystery, The White Devil

The Keep

October 10, 2012 by Drew

The Short Version: Danny is a wired-in New Yorker who, when he runs out of luck, accepts a slightly mysterious invitation from his cousin to join him in refurbishing a castle in Europe. Things go sideways from the moment he arrives and not everything is what it seems – about the castle, about his cousin, about the people working with them, or about this story. See, Danny’s story is also being written by a prison inmate named Ray in order […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature, Mystery • Tags: A Visit to October Country, Fiction, Gothic, Jennifer Egan, Literature, Mystery, The Keep

Hemlock Grove

October 7, 2012 by Drew

The Short Version: In the town of Hemlock Grove, PA, a young girl’s body is found mutilated. A classmate of the girl might be a werewolf – but they don’t exist, right? Meanwhile, the first family of the town hides several secrets of their own, including mysterious experiments at the Godfrey biotech facility. As the scions of the Rumancek and Godfrey clans join together to discover the identity of a rogue, murderous werewolf, all sorts of secrets come to light […]

Categories: Fiction, Horror • Tags: A Visit to October Country, Brian McGreevy, Fiction, FSG Originals, Gothic, Hemlock Grove, Horror

Raging Biblio-holism

The overwhelming urge to collect, consume, and consider books

Tag: Gothic