The spirit of Halloween informs this week’s “What We’re Reading” column, with spooky and not-so-spooky book blurbs from the ghouls and ghosts who prowl the hallways of LJ and School Library Journal. An extra treat for you goblins out there: a field trip to the Theatre Library Association Awards ceremony at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.
Mahnaz Dar, Associate Editor, SLJ Reviews
There’s nothing like a tale of terror. Short stories are some of my favorite Halloween reading. Though Roald Dahl’s adult fare isn’t generally paranormal, it’s still truly disturbing; he really taps into what I like to call the perversity of the mundane. “Lamb to the Slaughter,” “The Landlady,” and “William and Mary” are among some of the more frightening tales; no one who calls themselves a horror fan should miss them. Then there’s Richard Matheson. Though he’s best known for his novel I Am Legend, which was among the first to explore the post-apocalyptic zombie setting, he’s also got some great short stories under his belt. His “Dance of the Dead,” about a truly macabre practice, spawned a wonderful episode (directed by Tobe Hooper) of the TV program Masters of Horror. I’m also partial to Daphne du Maurier. Readers may remember the 1973 Nicholas Roeg film Don’t Look Now, which starred Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, but the short story is equally brilliant.
Kristen Droesch, Editorial Assistant, LJ
I’m gearing up for Halloween by rereading (as I do about every other month) The Haunting of Maddy Clare (NAL: Penguin) by Simone St. James. Sarah Piper, a young woman in post–World War I England, is contracted as the temporary assistant of paranormal specialist (aka ghost hunter) Alistair Gellis as he investigates the haunting of a young servant girl, Maddy Clare, who committed suicide in the barn of the family she served. They are joined by Alistair’s assistant, Matthew Ryder, an enigmatic former soldier, and together they must discover the truth behind Maddy’s death as the vengeful spirit enacts her revenge on the people who caused her so much pain in life. The Haunting of Maddy Clare remains one of my all-time favorites in no small part because it gives the reader just the right kind of thrills and chills. It swept several 2013 awards, and for good reason. It is wonderfully dark and spine-tingling, with just enough moments of humor and heart (as well as a couple of saucy-good-fun scenes) to keep the pages turning.
Liz French, Senior Editor, LJ Reviews
Since moving from Hipsterville, USA, where the only trick-or-treaters I ever saw were bar-hopping 20-somethings who weren’t interested in candy (liquor is quicker, ya know), to a more family-friendly Queens neighborhood, I have a rekindled interest in Halloween. This year I will be sitting on my stoop dispensing treats to the kiddies dressed as Notorious RBG, thank you very much, and I have Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Dey St.: HarperCollins) coauthors Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik to thank for this. I might have to do some explaining, but I figure the medallion of Notorious RBG I’ve fashioned out of the book’s cover image might help. So will the crown and jabot!
As for holiday reading, I do have a basic spooky go-to author for this time of year: Edgar Allan Poe is my man for all things melancholy and macabre. It’s hard to choose just one story (or poem), but “The Raven” is a good option, as is “The Black Cat.” Both would be color-appropriate for my judge’s robe (actually my friend Sherri’s graduation gown)!
Lisa Peet, Associate Editor, News & Features, LJ
I had been thinking this time of year called for a good lightweight scary read, and had a couple lined up that I thought might fit the bill (The Library at Mount Char [Crown], The Girl with All the Gifts [Orbit]). But because my reading habits tend to be governed by some perverse logic that I don’t understand, I started an e-galley of a debut collection that’s not out until February by an unknown-to-me author with no spooky bona fides whatsoever: Amy Parker’s Beasts and Children (Mariner)—which is actually turning out to fit the bill in some very unexpected ways. The beasts and the children here—every story features at least one of each—are not in good places. The children are at the mercy of self-absorbed and narcissistic adults—misled at their best, and often cruelly negligent—and the beasts are at the mercy of children and adults alike. Anyone who knows me knows that I have little stomach for children in peril, and even less for endangered animals (I know it should be the other way around, but that’s how I’m wired). And there were a number of points early on in the book where I just thought I’d have to put it down. But the writing is strong and interesting, and the stories feed into each other in a way that ramped up my attention, not so much linked as braided, a few strands that come together as the book progresses. The publisher’s blurb invokes Lorrie Moore, Claire Vaye Watkins, and Rebecca Lee—which, along with the fabulous cover, is certainly why I picked up the galley in the first place—and some of Parker’s bemused, slightly sad children’s voices remind me a bit of early Ellen Gilchrist. It’s a bit of a painful book and yes, scary in ways that are less haunted-house and more about how much, exactly, I can take in the name of good literature. But seeing as I’m a good three-quarters of the way through, I guess I’m more tenacious than I’d thought.
Meredith Schwartz, Executive Editor, LJ
The closest thing to a scary book on my TBR pile is Chuck Wendig’s Blackbirds (S. & S.) and its sequel Mockingbird. The titles are described as horror, which I don’t usually do, but also as so very many other fascinating things, I’m willing to chance it.
My plans for the holiday are laid back. I’m going to celebrate my first Halloween as a Brooklynite by taking some out-of-town friends to see the Park Slope Halloween parade, and then for a drink at the Waystation, a geek bar which inexplicably seems to have fallen down on the Halloween programming job. But it’s got its own Tardis, so I expect at minimum the occasional Weeping Angel weeping into its beer… I’m still unpacking the costume closet, so I doubt there’ll be much of a get-up this year, but vampire fangs make any outfit a costume, right?
Henrietta Verma, Edtior, LJ Reviews
This morning I heard my kindergartener asking for Room on the Broom (Dial) by Julia Donaldson (text) and Axel Scheffler (illus.) as his bedtime book later, so that will be my Halloween read. In the picture book, a witch takes off on her broom and proceeds to drop things from on high—her hat, her wand, etc. Each time a different animal helps her to find what she dropped, and then asks, “Is there room on the broom?” Cute-spooky fun ensues as it gets more and more crowded.
In my grown-up life, we’re reading for best books of the year right now, but I’ve taken a break here and there to read other titles. A while back I saw Amy Cuddy’s TED talk on using powerful physical postures to get testosterone flowing in the body and thereby feel more powerful. Before tackling something difficult—public speaking, let’s say—she advises readers to go somewhere private and put their arms up in the air for two minutes. (Think of the stance you might make after you win something.) The book that grew out of the TED talk’s success, Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges (Little, Brown), is my commute reading right now and I’m enjoying the observations and tips that mention everything from animals to Montgomery Burns (of Simpsons infamy). For financial advice, I’ve been reading Cheryl Lawhorne-Scott and Don Philpott’s Military Finances: Personal Money Management for Service Members, Veterans, and Their Families (Rowman & Littlefield). No, LJ has not started a boot camp (yet), but the book came across my desk and piqued my interest. Some of the commentary would work for anybody, but the best part of the book for public or military base libraries is that it offers very specific advice and plenty of understanding of the unique situations faced by military families.
Ashleigh Williams, WWR emerita
My Halloween-iest (I realize that’s a questionable term at best) read so far has been Horns (Morrow) by Joe Hill. It’s the twisted, darkly funny, and frequently depressing journey of the unlucky Ignatius Parrish, who goes to sleep monstrously drunk and wakes up with horns. Hill bears the intimidating legacy of being the son of horror legend Stephen King; though I haven’t read a lot of King’s work, I can see the literary resemblance. Horns is long; really long, and more importantly, too long for the story it’s framing (in my opinion), but Hill’s writing is solid, and most of his characters are engaging enough to make it worth the literary trek.
Librarian Love at the TLA Book Awards
Earlier this month, I attended the Theatre Library Association Book Awards ceremony at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. It was a lovely location and an excellent celebration. The award recipients thanked librarians in profusion—not in the throwaway manner that some authors do when speaking to librarians, but on a much more personal and occasionally heartfelt level. Author Scott Eyman, who won the TLA’s Special Jury Prize for his 2014 biography John Wayne: The Life and Legend (S. & S.), spoke about a favorite librarian in California who regularly sends him boxes of special documents and information. Eyman also singled out John Calhoun, Librarian III, Billy Rose Theatre Division at the NYPL for the Performing Arts, who presented the award to him, for finding a cache of letters written by actress Margaret Sullavan, which gave him a fresh perspective on her relationships with actors Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart.
Karen Nickeson, recently retired curator at the Billy Rose Theatre Division at NYPAL, and winner of the Louis Rachow Distinguished Service Award, harkened back to her high school librarian, a Mrs. Bausch, for steering her toward a long and illustrious career. Mark Harris, recipient of TLA’s 2014 Richard Wall Memorial Award for his amazing (and LJ Best Books 2014 winner) Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War (Penguin), also thanked Calhoun for his help. He then went on to tell of how he and his high school classmate, the son of legendary set designer Ming Cho Lee, cut class to hang out in the NYPL Performing Arts Library.
Ming Cho Lee and his wife Betsy smiled benevolently at Harris’s story, and both smiled even wider when Arnold Aronson, winner of the 2014 George Freedley Award for his gorgeously illustrated Ming Cho Lee: A Life in Design (Theatre Communications Group), recounted many afternoons and evenings spent discussing the designer’s long and illustrious career at the Lees’ apartment.
After the awards were given and the speeches were made, I buttonholed attendees to ask what they’re reading.
Arnold Aronson, author of Ming Cho Lee: A Life in Design, likes to read classics in his “down time” when he’s not researching or writing (or teaching theater at the Columbia University School of the Arts). Currently, Saul Bellow’s 1964 novel Herzog is top of his classic returns list.
David Callahan, Principal Librarian of the Reserve Film and Video Collection, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, just began Spinster: The Making of a Life of One’s Own (Crown) by Kate Bolick.
Scott Eyman, author of the best-selling bio John Wayne: The Life and Legend, is contemplating his next showbiz subject: Leonard Bernstein. He quite enjoyed David Shields’s Still: American Silent Motion Picture Photography (Univ. of Chicago).
Nancy Friedland, Librarian for Butler Media, Film Studies and Performing Arts at Columbia University and TLA President, is reading a winner of the 2013 TLA Book Award, Alisa Solomon’s Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof (Metropolitan).
Maria Goodavage, author (Top Dog, Soldier Dogs), is deep in a Civil War memoir by Bowdoin College professor and president and the 32nd governor of Maine, Lawrence Joshua Chamberlain, titled The Passing of the Armies. Among other things, the war memoir details the surrender of Robert E. Lee’s troops to Chamberlain and was published 100 years ago, a year after Chamberlain died (in 1914).
Michael Jacobs, Supervising Analyst at New York City’s Independent Budget Office and spouse of NYPAL librarian John Calhoun, is reading Harris’s multiple award-winning tome (see above), Five Came Back.
Diana King, UCLA Film, TV, and Theater Librarian, is really into action figures, so she liked the book Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts (New York Univ.) by Jonathan Gray. (For all you head-scratchers out there, “paratexts” refers to movie and TV “extras” —hey, I had to look it up.)
Karen Nickeson, recipient of the Louis Rachow Distinguished Service Award (see above), is an avid birder in New Jersey, where she lives, and she is especially keen on raptors. Helen Macdonald’s H Is for Hawk (Grove: Atlantic) is hitting that spot for her.
Karl G. Ruling, technical editor and spouse of TLA member Marti LoMonaco, was carrying a copy of Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being (Viking) in a plastic bag so it wouldn’t get spilled on. He said he tried to read it slowly so as to savor the multilayered story, but wasn’t able to do that so he’s going to read it a second time.