It's a new month... time for some new bug fixes!
While Matt is still working on harnessing the book data that we all have contributed to, and making it available for searches, he's also been rather busy fixing other things, and even adding some nifty little features. Read all about it in this Announcements forum post.
The Girl Next Door
2 journalers for this copy...
Touted to be one of the most disturbing books every written because it is based on real life events, this book, written in the 80's, is a classic in the horror world. It was out of print for a very long time and went for mega $$$'s. Leisure books has reprinted the novel along with two short stories in an affordable mass market paperback version and I intend to start it today to see what all the fuss is about.
Book Description:
SOMEBODY'S KNOCKIN'...Suburbia in the 1950s. A nice quiet simpler time to grow up—unless you count the McCarthy trials and red-scares and the shadow of the Bomb and the Cold War, unless you could see the dark side emerging. And on a quiet tree-lined dead-end street, in the dark damp basement of the Chandler house, it's emerging big-time for teenage Meg and her crippled sister Susan—whose parents are dead now, who are left captive to the savage whims and rages of a distant Aunt who is rapidly descending into madness. It is a madness that infects all three of her sons—and finally an entire neighborhood. Only one troubled boy stands hesitantly between Meg and Susan and their cruet, tortuous deaths. A boy with a very adult decision to make. Between love and compassion, and lust and evil.
Book Description:
SOMEBODY'S KNOCKIN'...Suburbia in the 1950s. A nice quiet simpler time to grow up—unless you count the McCarthy trials and red-scares and the shadow of the Bomb and the Cold War, unless you could see the dark side emerging. And on a quiet tree-lined dead-end street, in the dark damp basement of the Chandler house, it's emerging big-time for teenage Meg and her crippled sister Susan—whose parents are dead now, who are left captive to the savage whims and rages of a distant Aunt who is rapidly descending into madness. It is a madness that infects all three of her sons—and finally an entire neighborhood. Only one troubled boy stands hesitantly between Meg and Susan and their cruet, tortuous deaths. A boy with a very adult decision to make. Between love and compassion, and lust and evil.
Ouch, I'm 130 pgs in and can see that this is going to be a very painful book to read. The kids are so real, so apparently normal and are slowly becoming more and more accepting of the brutality forced their way.
This is indeed a disturbing book and a difficult one to read if you know beforehand how it ends (and it's pretty easy to figure out the outcome from the narrator's early comments).
Knowing so much about this book before I picked it up (I read about the case on crimelibrary.com), I figured I'd be able to handle the content but it was so unrelentingly brutal near the end that I had to put it down and watch a silly movie (The 40 Year Old Virgin, if you must know) to help me temporarily forget. This is one of the most tragic books I've ever read.
I can't bring myself to pick it up back up to read the two short stories that follow "The Girl Next Door".
Later:
Okay, I did manage to work up the courage to read the two short stories and of them I enjoyed the last "Returns" (I think?) the most. It tells the story of a dead man's return from the dead for one last visit with his wife and cat. It's a sad story about lack of compassion that'll hurt any animal lover's heart.
The other "Do you love your wife?" didn't move me nearly as much and I can't remember much about it at this point.
This is indeed a disturbing book and a difficult one to read if you know beforehand how it ends (and it's pretty easy to figure out the outcome from the narrator's early comments).
Knowing so much about this book before I picked it up (I read about the case on crimelibrary.com), I figured I'd be able to handle the content but it was so unrelentingly brutal near the end that I had to put it down and watch a silly movie (The 40 Year Old Virgin, if you must know) to help me temporarily forget. This is one of the most tragic books I've ever read.
I can't bring myself to pick it up back up to read the two short stories that follow "The Girl Next Door".
Later:
Okay, I did manage to work up the courage to read the two short stories and of them I enjoyed the last "Returns" (I think?) the most. It tells the story of a dead man's return from the dead for one last visit with his wife and cat. It's a sad story about lack of compassion that'll hurt any animal lover's heart.
The other "Do you love your wife?" didn't move me nearly as much and I can't remember much about it at this point.
Journal Entry 3 by BarkLessWagMore at USPS By Media Mail in -- Paperbackswap.com, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- USA on Monday, July 10, 2006
Released 17 yrs ago (7/10/2006 UTC) at USPS By Media Mail in -- Paperbackswap.com, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
Mailing off to a potential new bookcrosser via
.
Mailing off to a potential new bookcrosser via
.
I only received the book today. I plan to read it in the next week or so, then will most likely release it to my daughters or son to read if I think they will enjoy it. After that I will release it again to be enjoyed by someone else. Read Laurie S. comments and thank her for releasing the book to me.
CAUGHT IN PUEBLO CO UNITED STATES
CAUGHT IN PUEBLO CO UNITED STATES
