Joys of Reading
Posted Saturday, 10/12/19
I love reading any time of day, but I seem to do it mostly at night after going to bed. Some nights I fall asleep after reading a few chapters, other times I can stay awake for at least an hour. I'm one of those people who can fall asleep at the drop of a hat, even after consuming a pot of coffee, so I consider myself lucky if I can keep my eyes open for an hour after hitting the hay.
My current book reading stack includes Anne Boleyn: A King's Obsession by Alison Weir, and No Cats Allowed by Miranda James, part seven in the "Cat in the Stacks" mystery series.
During a recent trip to Barnes & Noble, I also picked up two "classic" volumes that I can hopefully dip into before the holidays begin in earnest. One is Penny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of Terror, and the other is A Treasury of Irish Fairy and Folk Tales. Both books were released by Sterling Publishing/Barnes and Noble in 2014 and 2015, respectively, and are beautifully designed with thicker than usual paper, gold edges and individual ribbon place markers attached to the spines. Each volume contains classic stories by a multitude of different authors.
Book descriptions from Barnes & Noble:
Penny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of Terror: Body-snatching! Premature burial! Cannibalism! The original Victorian-era penny dreadfuls entertained the masses with shocks, thrills, and lurid horrors. This terror-packed anthology includes two novels—The String of Pearls, which immortalized Sweeney Todd, the demon-barber of Fleet Street; and the original 1918 edition of Frankenstein—as well as tales by Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, Stoker, Alcott, and Conan Doyle.
A Treasury of Irish Fairy and Folk Tales: Collect more than 200 stories from the rich folk legacy of the Emerald Isle. Its pages are animated with colorful tales of the fairy folk in all their many guises: the changeling, the banshee, the headless dullahan, the leprechaun, the merrow, and the ever-mischievous pooka. In addition, this volume includes tales of ghosts, witches and fairy doctors, priests and saints, encounters with the devil, titans of Ireland's historical past, as well as popular treasure legends. A Treasury of Irish Fairy and Folk is one of Barnes & Noble's Collectible Editions classics. Each volume features authoritative texts by the world's greatest authors in an exquisitely designed bonded-leather binding, with distinctive gilt edging and a ribbon bookmark.
Another recent and marvelous find was the Secret of Bramble Hill by Sue Owens Wright. Sue happens to be a longtime acquaintance of mine, so it was a pleasure to read her work. Known for her Beanie and Cruiser Mysteries, Sue's take on gothic fiction with Secret of Bramble Hill was flawless in its execution. I thoroughly enjoyed the book from start to finish, and highly recommend it to anyone who fancies the original gothic genre.
And last, but not least, my next read will be Love's Legacy by T.L. Davison. I also know this author quite well as she also happens to be my editor/publisher (aka Terrie Balmer and Club Lighthouse Publishing). The blurb alone fascinates me: "In the year 1799 in Cornwall, England at Cardon Hall, four people are intertwined in a hopeless situation that ends in murder." I'm looking forward to reading Terrie's novel, just in time for Halloween.
As with most aspects of reading and writing, the old saying truly goes: "So many books, so little time!"
Happy reading indeed . . .
Tags:
Books & Reading