Supernatural Fiction Readers discussion

Here you go: What Are We Going To Read In This Group?

Alice, to update you (and some of the members who may be new to the group), everyone who's commented so far is in favor of doing another common read; and at this point Ghost Story leads the polling with 4 votes. (The other title suggested, Wings in the Night by Robert E. Howard, has only one vote as yet. I envisioned this as a read for February (though you can start earlier), and January being a time for deciding what to read --but we can reach a decision earlier than that if the rest of the group wants to. At this point, the floor is still open for more people to weigh in on the subject, and we're open to new suggestions as well. With the holidays soon to be behind us, probably more people will have time to focus on the discussion.

Thanks for starting this thread! If (as seems likely) Ghost Story is our next common read, we'll already have a thread ready to discuss it on!

Well, I committed myself to start reading Mr. Midshipman Hornblower this month (once I return the book I'm on now to the library), in the hopes of getting some people in the Classics group to discuss it with me. (It looks as though nobody will, but I still need to follow through.) And it will take me a little time to either get Ghost Story from the local public library, or borrow it through interlibrary loan. So I expect I could start it by the end of month or so, if we go that route. The book we choose will be the "February" read, but we can keep discussing it as long as people want to (Ghost Story is a 560-page book, and may not be a quick read!). And, of course, once we nail our selection down, the discussion can always start early, especially if some folks have already read it.

On that note, Ghost Story has four "votes" for common read already, and in the interests of consensus, I'll make it five. Wings in the Night, the only other suggestion still on the table at the moment, only has one. Of course, I'm surmising that up to now, some people may have been too busy preparing for and celebrating the holidays to follow the discussion closely. But now that the holidays are past, does anyone have a different suggestion? Or would everyone be willing to choose Ghost Story for this time, by acclamation? Now's your chance to weigh in!

I don't have the unabridged audio book of it, as I thought I did. I guess after trying it several times, I gave up on it & got rid of it when we moved. I will try to give it one more shot, just to read it with the group.

Well, since we haven't heard from anybody that objects to the idea, and I think we have a couple of people who want to get started, it's official: Ghost Story by Peter Straub will be our next common read. So, anybody who's reading it now, or has already read it, can feel free to start commenting --though it will probably be February before some of us get to it.

"Horror" literature scholar S. T. Joshi has a long article on Straub's novels, with a couple paragraphs about this one, in the St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic Writers. If any of you have access to that book, the article might be of interest; but his comments about this book do constitute a partial "spoiler."

I am on page 43 now and so far very interesting. I am wondering what YPSL means tho? I seem to have missed something. Does anyone know what this is an abbreviation for? (page 42, thanks)
Alice

YPSL = Young People's Socialist League

How many of you all have started Ghost Story so far? (I've requested it through interlibrary loan, and hope to have it in hand soon!) Of course, it's a while until February, so there's plenty of time.

For anyone who's new to the group, those of us who want to are planning to read and discuss Peter Straub's Ghost Story as a common read for (roughly) February. But that's strictly voluntary!

Thanks Steven!

Well, I started it but didn't read fast enough and it had to be turned back into the library today but I will request it again. Amazing that they only have one copy.

I read it not long ago and liked it tremendously (if curious, check out my review, which contains a few spoilers, btw).

I will not be reading the story for this "monthly reading", but it's still so vividly in my mind that I hope it's okay that I chime in with a word or two when the discussion starts;-)

Yes, Henrik, that's absolutely okay! If anyone's already read a book we're discussing and remembers it well, that's as good a qualification for commenting as any --I did the same thing with Interview with the Vampire. :-)

Did anyone else (who's that far into Ghost Story as yet) feel that Sears James' Chowder Society story about his experience as a school teacher was deeply influenced by The Turn of the Screw? The two plots have a lot of similarity: Sears' role is much like that of the governess (and I'm among those readers who believe that she was NOT hallucinating!), while Gregory parallels Peter Quint, and Fenny Bate and his sister are analogs of Miles and his sister. (Sears' last name might even be a subtle homage to the earlier writer!) And I've always personally believed that Henry James hinted subtly that the children in his tale were sexually abused by the two evil servants while the latter were alive; if Straub did indeed have that novella in mind as a model, he apparently shared that view.

Of course, there are differences in the two works; in Sears James' narrative, the allusion to sexual abuse is made explicitly, and the childrens' abuser is a sibling, making the betrayal even more extreme. In place of the genteel Gothic atmosphere of an English country house, here we have the bleak, anything-but-genteel atmosphere of a joyless, narrow, backward New York village in the 1920s, which makes an even grimmer setting for a haunting; and the much shorter length of Straub's story gives it a much more concentrated emotional impact, IMO. All in all, a very effective use of the "story-within-a-story" technique!

Ghost Story is a classic in the horror genre. This is one of the very few that was made into a movie and the movie spooked me too!
Not nearly as much as the book, but well enough. this should be required reading for anyone serious about reading horror and about hauntings.

I didn't realize it was a movie too. Thanks for pointing this out.

@ Werner - I've reached that point in the book, but I'm ashamed to say it's been so long since I read "The Turn of the Screw" that I can't remember much more than the basic plot. I think I'll take a break from Ghost Story before I read Sears James' story and go read it again.

Laura, that's probably not a bad idea. Comparing the basic similarities of the two stories, and teasing out and appreciating some of the contrasts, definitely added to the reading experience for me.

Brett, I'm nowhere near finished with Ghost Story, but I'm coming to share your high estimate of it! Can you elaborate on some of the qualities that you feel make it so much of a must-read?

Just when the discussion on this thread might become more active, as we move further into February, I have to put my reading of Ghost Story on the back burner! The library where I work received a donated copy of The Shack ; and since I'm the collection development librarian, the decision as to whether to put it in the regular stacks or the Christian fiction collection falls into my lap. With most books, that call is obvious; but there's no way to make it in this case without reading the book. But since it's only 248 p., hopefully I'll be able to get back to Ghost Story before long (I'll be champing at the bit!). Meanwhile, I'll be avidly following the comments here, as others share their thoughts and impressions, questions, etc.

A lot of times, it's hard to discuss a novel without talking about the ending, or about surprises that are revealed some way into the story. But for readers who aren't that far into the book, that can tend to spoil the full effect of discovery that the author intended --and probably most of us aren't anywhere near done reading Ghost Story, February not even being half over yet! In another group I'm part of, we're doing a mystery as our common read, and we have a separate "spoiler thread" for those who are ready for "no-holds-barred" discussion. Would anyone like us to have a "spoiler thread" for Ghost Story?

That sounds good.

Well, I'm back to reading Ghost Story (and champing at the bit to finish so I can read Laura's new comment on the "spoiler" thread! :-)). In the meantime, am I the only reader (who's still not done reading it) who's beginning to suspect that Sears James' experience as a young school teacher has a lot more significance for the plot here than simply to furnish an interesting Chowder Society story?

Well, the library just emailed me that I can pick up Ghost Story again! So I am glad to see the discussion is still going on. My husband tells me we have a copy of the movie! (and I have seen it!!) So he is going to hunt it out for me too. The library closes at 4 and is not open tomorrow so I had better get going.

Ghost Story really spooked me the first time I read it. I need to do a re-read of it as it has been a long time since I read it.