The Woman in Black — by Susan Hill

Rarely does a person ever say that the movie adaptation is better than the original book. And while I haven't actually seen the movie yet, the trailers for the latest Daniel Radcliffe flick "The Woman In Black" (an original book circa 1983 "The Woman in Black" by Susan Hill) looks SOOOOOOOO creepy good.


I first saw the trailer while on the Goodreads website immediately requested a copy from the library, which of course took months to get to me. Compared to other books currently on the market, the 164 pages was less-than-intimidating, and I looked forward to a quick, creepy read with a good plot. Instead, the book was a huge disappointment.

For example, the main character Mr. Kipps (played by Daniel Radcliffe in the movie) hears an unusual sound coming from a room, which the author describes as "bump bump, pause, bump bump, pause, bump bump..." (p. 116). I'm not sure if it was from the trailer (which I had seen months previously) or just my supreme intellect, but I immediately knew the sound was a rocking chair.

Now don't those trailers look great??!

In my opinion, the author took too much time setting up the story line in the beginning of the book, which is actually more of a flashback to something that occurred 20 or so years previously to the beginning of the book. In the introduction the main character is so deeply disturbed by what has happened, and has not ever told anyone about it, that he decides to write out what happened in an attempt to rid himself of the alleged daily remembrance of what happened.  Throughout the book the writer brings the reader back into the "present" by referring to how the main character is recounting the events and that it wasn't actually occurring at this point in time — pointless in my opinion. The author also uses odd word choices too, writing things such as that the character "decided" to do something, and then telling us that he did it. On first reading the passages I thought the character was completing the action twice. For these reasons, I sadly rate this book 1 star out of 5.

After viewing the trailers again for this post, I still want to see the movie. Especially since so much has been changed about the story (for example, in the book Mr. Kipps is single, but engaged) and apparently in the movie he is married with a child that I can't help but think that idea would have made a greater impact on the book itself. I also get the impression that in the movie we see more of "The Woman In Black" and her effects on the town and house inhabitants. This time it looks like "Hollywood" got it right, if not better, than the original!

Texas Gothic- by Rosemary Clement-Moore

If you are looking for a book filled with mystetry, intrigue and a spunky main character, you've GOT to read the book 'Texas Gothic' by ROsemary Cement-Moore.  Known for her great prose and strong lead characters, this book takes readers to small-town Texas Ranch, with sisters Amy and Phin and a boat-load of other college-age kids. When Amy and Phin agree to take care of their Aunt's farm while she's away on a vacation they expected to water plants and feed the ghoats. What they didn't expect, was to dig up bones and meet some ghosts!

Once again, Rosemary brings characters to life with great narration, witty word-choice and vivid details. While I haven't reviewed Clement-Moore's other books on this blog (although I've read everything she's written so far) I whole-heartedly recommend the books and am excited to award my first 5 stars on this blog.

I particularly liked Clement-Moore's description of Amy's body language when she first meets Ben, and the way Amy names people she just meets, such as "Dumb" and "Dumber" "Boots" and "Truck".

Keep them coming, Rosemary! Readers need more clean (yet spooky and fun) books to read!

For more information on the author, visit her website www.readrosemary.com

The Secret Life of Damian Spinelli- by Carolyn Hennesy

As a life-long long fan of the soap General Hospital and fan of the characters Spinelli and Diane Miller, I was excited to hear about the book "The Secret Life of Damian Spinelli: As told to Diane Miller" by Carolyn Hennesy.

After a long wait on the library queue, I finally received a copy of the book this week, just in time for Christmas vacation. While I knew that the story was written in a noir-style and was prepared for some of the eccentricities of the classic Spinelli character, I wasn't prepared for so much interaction in the telling of the story from Spinelli to Attorney Diane Miller. Too often, in my opinion, the story was broken up by the Diane Miller character questioning the Spinelli character on his word choice or use of a metaphor; it seemed to break up the flow and bring me as the reader out of the story and back into real life.

While I was initially excited to read the book, I gave up reading it, frustrated that the writer, Henessy, was bringing the reader too much into reality and out of the storyline. While the GH characters were for the most part true to form, despite the noir genre, this reader felt that some of the tendencies of the characters were too excentric, even for Spinelli's vivid imagination.

I'm giving the book 2 1/2  stars out of 5. If you're an avid GH lover, or a noir fan, you may enjoy the book more though.