December 2016: Contemporary/modern Gothic

So, Gothic isn't as big a thing these days as it once was, and it has shifted a bit over time, but there are certainly still plenty of authors writing Gothic-style works!
Some suggestions for this month include:
Bellefleur
A Bloodsmoor Romance
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Lulu Incognito
Outer Dark
Interview with the Vampire
The Other
After Me Comes the Flood
The Unicorn
The Priest
Titles of Clive Barker's
Titles of Stephen King's

So what has everyone got planned to send out the year?

Would Daphne du Maurier be considered contemporary or modern enough? She didn't fit any of the other Gothic themes we had earlier in the year, so I was hoping to squeeze her into December.

It's probably toeing the line a bit for "contemporary" but eh, she was still publishing works into the 70s, so sure, she can finagle her way under the line there. ;)

I'm hoping to read The Town That Forgot How to Breathe, which I've heard described as a modern gothic (although not according to the tags on LT). I'm running behind so it depends if I finish November's read :)

I also have a Daphne du Maurier I may get to on my list this month: The Scapegoat. I need to get a copy first but I've been wanting to read more by her. The Bloody Chamber might also be a possibility.

>3 .Monkey.: Thanks. I'll keep looking. I may be able to find something more modern off my shelves, but du Maurier is my back-up if I can't.

ETA: I just remembered that the second book in Kelley Armstrong's Cainsville series, Visions, is on my shelves, waiting to be read. Her own Website refers to the series as "modern gothic", so I guess that fits the bill!

I'm not sure yet what I'll be reading. Most of my Gothic is Victorian or earlier, lol. But I might have a King that fits the bill, or perhaps I will see if one of the later Vampire Chronicles still fit into the "Gothic" realm, since I still have the last couple of those sitting around unread. I will figure out something!

Ahem.

Patrick McGrath people!!! lol

Standouts that hit this category = The Grotesque, Dr. Haggard's Disease and Martha Peake

I do have a copy of A Bloodsmoor Romance though and I should probably read that.

>8 Bookmarque: I second Patrick McGrath, I really thought highly of Asylum when I read it earlier this year.

I've never heard of him, but I guess he's someone who should go on my "list," lol.

He is one of my favorite living authors. Dr. Haggard's Disease is amazing and taught me the word catafalque. That, among many other reasons, is why I love that book and pretty much everything else McGrath writes. Spider is amazing, but not gothic, at least not to me.

>1 .Monkey.: I think I'll try to fit Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice in this month, because I had tried to read it earlier this year, but never got to it. I had pre-selected The New Gothic: A Collection of Contemporary Gothic Fiction edited by Bradford Morrow, et al. and Gothic!: Ten Original Dark Tales edited by Deborah Noyes earlier this year, but I doubt I'll be able to fit all three.

>2 mathgirl40: & >5 sturlington: Best of luck with Daphne du Maurier. I hate to say it, but I've never read anything by her.

>4 Moomin_Mama: Good luck with that one. I like the title. :)

>6 mathgirl40: Oops, I just saw you changed your mind. Either book you go with, I hope you enjoy it! :)

>7 .Monkey.: I'm glad I'm not the only one kind of undecided. :)

>8 Bookmarque: I'm also in favor of Patrick McGrath. I like his writing. :)

>9 Moomin_Mama: Same here: I also liked Asylum.

>10 .Monkey.: Couldn't hurt. ;) Some of his books have been made into movies, if you want to go the lazy route and watch those instead. (I tend to do that sometimes.)

>11 Bookmarque: Too bad it's not gothic, because I'm going through my books tonight, and I stumbled across my unread copy of it.

I'm wondering if I can finagle Garnethill into this, but it probably isn't actually Gothic. But from what I hear it seems like Mina's writing is rather...dark. Oh well, we'll see, I've got to finish Satan in Goray and Invisible Man before I get to anything else regardless!

>12 saraslibrary: The Town That Forgot How to Breathe - it was the title that interested me. It's got a great cover too.

>13 .Monkey.: Well, you could always tell yourself Garnethill's gothic. We won't argue with what the voices tell you. ;) And yes, the book does look dark, but very interesting.

Oh, I had no idea you had two more ahead of that one. But I'm sure you'll find a way! Some of us are like that. Let us wait until the last minute, and we'll speed through half a dozen books on the eve of the new year. ;) Good luck! I'll send you my procrastination mojo your way.

>14 Moomin_Mama: Indeed it does! :) A lot of the different country's covers are beautiful, but I particularly like these two:

Yeah I started Goray back in late Nov but have been doing other things, and Ellison has to go back to the uni library soon. So, their time is up! :P Goray is quite short but quite heavy, which is a big part of the slowness. Only 60 pgs left now though!

Hey, 60's not bad! :) I'm sure you'll fly through the pages. And good luck getting everything else back to the library without late fines (if they do that).

Goray is done, reviewed in my CR 2016 thread. Ellison will go back read or not, since it's the uni library. They charge €1.50 if you're late, no thanks!! So yep need to get off my butt and read these 450pgs! xP

I finished a reread of The Bloody Chamber. Last read, oh, probably 25 years ago. If you like fairy tale retelling, it's a must read.

Oh thaaaanks, like I need more books on my list! xP
I'm guessing Rapunzel from the cover?

There are several stories. Retellings of Bluebeard, Beauty and the Beast, Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, etc. But feminist/sexy.

Nice.

Geez, apparently I haven't checked in since November! (At least not to see the group threads, in general!)

I just started reading:
Vittorio the Vampire by Anne Rice last night for this one.

Oh, I never thought of Daphne du Maurier! Oh, well. Anne Rice it is!

>12 saraslibrary: Ohhhhh, Rebecca is soooo good! :-) You should give it a try!

>25 LibraryCin: I agree, and the movie is just as good!

I read Garnethill, it's as I suspected, not really Gothic, but has the dark and kind of "claustrophobic" feeling associated with them, so, yeah doesn't quite fit, but I'm calling it anyhow, since I won't get to another one before the month is up. :P Great read, though!

Vittorio, the Vampire / Anne Rice
2 stars

Vittorio is telling a tale of his life 450ish years ago, in the mid-15th century in Italy, before he was turned into a vampire. His family was slain, but he was left to live by a beautiful vampire, Ursula.

Not great. Initially I thought it might be ok, but with the angels and such, boring. In fact, I kind of missed when he became a vampire (that is, I thought he had before he actually did). Between this and Memnoch the Devil, I think I'm finished with Anne Rice. At least it was quick and I can get the book out of my house.

>18 .Monkey.: Yikes! That is a hefty fine. Is that per day?

>19 sturlington: Congrats on rereading The Bloody Chamber. It sounds really good!

>23 LibraryCin: No worries. I'm really behind, too. :)

>25 LibraryCin: I think I own an old beat-up copy of Rebecca...somewheres. So I'm sure I'll get to it eventually. :)

>26 mathgirl40: Which movie version of Rebecca? I just realized on IMDb there are several... (Daphne Du Maurier's page)

>27 .Monkey.: I would do the same thing--just call Garnethill your December gothic read. :)

>28 LibraryCin: I'm doing an Anne Rice book, too, for December: Interview with the Vampire, which I've been putting off and putting off for years. I'm about halfway done, and have been alternating between reading my copy of the book and listening to the library's audiobook of it while at work (though I really don't like audiobooks at all). I like that the book and movie are so similar to each other, especially the dialogue between characters. But to be honest, I like the movie a little better than the book, probably because there was more action, etc. Unfortunately, I don't know where I put my IWtV soundtrack; otherwise, I'd be listening to it while reading. :)

Sorry to hear you're finished with Anne Rice though. :(

ETA: I forgot to mention a few small books I also read this month, though they don't fit the gothic bill at all:

1) The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle: The Dark of Deep Below by Patrick Rothfuss - This was the sequel to The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle: The Thing Beneath the Bed (I read that one in Nov.), and, no, you don't have to read them in order. It's a great graphic novel for adults (though kids can read it, of course; there's nothing really inappropriate about it), and is considerably longer than the first book, which I appreciated. I would really love it if a third--and fourth...and fifth, etc--book would come out.

2) In Odd We Trust by Dean Koontz - I haven't read the Odd Thomas novels this manga/graphic novel was based on. Even without doing so, it was fairly easy to get into. Recommended if you like psychic/ghost stories.

3) Goosebumps: HorrorLand #3: Monster Blood for Breakfast! by R. L. Stine - Definitely for the kiddies. Another series that doesn't have to be read in order to understand. Each book is a stand-alone story.

>29 saraslibrary: They actually do it a bit different than public libraries. It's a flat rate, for being one day late it's €1.20 (my bad), and if you don't return that day, then your second notice it's a €2.50 fee, and the third notice is €5. In addition is 10cents per volume after the first day. The uni library does not mess around! xP

I love the first two Odd books, and the third was still great but he was starting to change the established rules so I was a little irked, but the story made up for it. The next two, though, started completely throwing out all the rules he had set out in the beginning, so while I still enjoyed them, I was pissed that he changed things up. He should have figured out a way to do it while sticking to what he had written, and done the other stuff in a different series. YOU set the world's rules, buddy, you stick to them! Grr. I will read the rest, eventually, though, because I adore Odd.

>29 saraslibrary: I remember liking Interview with a Vampire 20ish years ago, but it's been a long time! Hard to say what I'd think now, I guess.

To add re: library fines... At least here in Canada (? Alberta? Calgary?), for post-secondary libraries, $1 per day is pretty standard. It's much more than public library fines.

>15 saraslibrary: I have the copy with the doll's head on the front. Based on the cover I thought it'd be darker - but I'm only a couple of chapters in, so we'll see.

>19 sturlington: A must read indeed - I'll be reading The Bloody Chamber next year. Have never read it before, or anything by Angela Carter, but love 'The Company of Wolves'.

>29 saraslibrary: >31 LibraryCin: Interview with the Vampire is, and will be, my only Anne Rice read. I hope you enjoy it better than I did, Sara!

>29 saraslibrary: Sorry, I forgot to say that I meant the 1940 Hitchcock version of Rebecca with Joan Fontaine and Sir Laurence Olivier. I recently rewatched this with my teenage daughter and she thought it was really good too, proving that some classic films can compete with the non-stop action and incredible special effects of current popular films. :) Judith Anderson is so wonderfully creepy as Mrs. Danvers.

>30 .Monkey.: Woah! :D That is one library I wouldn't want to mess around with.

I'll definitely keep the rule-changing in mind with the Odd Thomas books when I get around to them. That would drive me absolutely insane, too!

>31 LibraryCin: I know what you mean. I have some books I've given 5 stars, and then when I've gone back to them, I go, "Wth was I thinking??" But so far, I'm still liking Interview With the Vampire. I have maybe 100 pages left, but with Christmas coming up, I expect I won't finish it for a few more days.

>32 LibraryCin: Ouch! :o

>33 Moomin_Mama: LOL! IWtV was that disappointing, huh? It's certainly not my favorite vampire read, but I'm still liking it. Have you tried her erotic books? Those are pretty good, imho.

>34 mathgirl40: No worries. :) And thanks for letting me know which one. I'll have to see if we have that one at work so I can watch it. Thanks! :)

I finished another one that definitely fits here: House of Echoes by Brendan Duffy.

A young family moves into a rambling, isolated house with the intentions of fixing it up as an inn but immediately encounter all kinds of weirdnesses. Duffy basically stuffs every possible element of gothic horror into this one. Ramshackle old house with a history -- check. Creepy woods hiding someone (or something?) who watches -- check. Small village filled with ornery, suspicious villagers -- check. Old chapel with angel statue AND morbid art -- check. Naive family in over their heads -- check. Winter storm -- check. Catholic priest -- check. Despite that, this story grabbed me and kept me reading. A fun potboiler, good for a vacation read, just don't take it too seriously.

>36 sturlington: Ooh, sounds good! :) And thank you for your review and synopsis. (I thumbed you, btw.) It'll certainly be one I'll keep my eyes out for.

>35 saraslibrary: Isn't there an erotic trilogy by Anne Rice based on Sleeping Beauty? I might look into that at some point, but I wouldn't try her horrors again.

>36 sturlington: House of Echoes sounds a good read! Yet another to look out for :D

>38 Moomin_Mama: You are correct about the Sleeping Beauty series. Just recently, though, she published a fourth book to it: Beauty's Kingdom. I haven't read that one yet, but I'll probably get to it in 2016. :) Even if you never read her horror novels again, her erotica's pretty good, imho.

Btw, I did finish Interview with the Vampire (phew! just in time!). I gave it 4 stars, because it wasn't the easiest to read. In fact, I switched between the audiobook and my own copy of the book to get me through it. As I mentioned somewhere above, I loved how close the book and movie are to each other, right down to many lines between the characters. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but I'm glad I finally finished reading this one after nearly 20 years. :D

I finished Visions by Kelley Armstrong, the second in the Cainsville series. It was so-so, not great but not bad either. It definitely had a gothic feel to it.

>39 saraslibrary: You did it! 4 stars is a lot more than my 2 - out of interest what did you think were the book's strong points?

I'm getting to the end of The Town that Forgot How to Breathe but itching to get into my January reads....

>40 mathgirl40: I'm glad you were able to finish it. :) I haven't read a Kelley Armstrong book in forever. *wonders if she can fit one in this year*

>41 Moomin_Mama: Yeah, I'm just as surprised I finished it before the end of the year. :) Oh man, big question. It's only been about four days since I finished it, but I can't think of any major strong points offhand. I liked some of the characters, no matter how evil they were (even Claudia I was mesmerized by). And can I count the movie as a strong point? :D Honestly, I saw the movie in my head as I read it and listened to the audio than creating my own versions of what the characters looked like, their homes looked like, etc. What was it that made you decide to rate it a 2? (One minus for me was how long-winded Louis was. That bored me at times; and I think that's why I stopped reading it years ago.)

Best of luck finishing The Town that Forgot ow to Breathe. :) I'm eager to start my January read, too, but I got sidetracked with a I-should've-read-this-years-ago Early Review book: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith.

>42 saraslibrary: I thought Interview with the Vampire was too long-winded as a book, with too much time spent on Claudia's relationships with Louis and Lestat (it was uncomfortably paedophilic as it was; it didn't need to go on and on). Shorter with less emphasis on Claudia's unnatural relationships? I would have given it 4 stars. I liked the lushness of the writing at first, before it became overbearing; some scenes were pretty scary and stuck with me, such as Lestat dancing around with the dead mother, ichor dripping out of her mouth, and an unnaturally white hand slipping out of the costume during the vampire play (as the reader knows, it's not that white due to stage make up). The short part in the middle that was based in the Carpathians was my favourite part, and was very well done; if only the rest of the book had the same pace. Unfortunately it didn't fit well with the parts before and after it (which dragged).

>43 Moomin_Mama: I totally agree on it being long-winded. And you picked up on the pedophilia, too? All I remember people mentioning to me was how gay the book was, nothing about the pedophilia aspect, though, thinking back, I do remember that much-talked-about-scene in the movie where Claudia kisses Louis.

Oh yes! Lestat dancing with the dead mother was pretty nasty, and I'm "glad" the script included it, just to prove how unfeeling he was. The same with the prostitute scene where Louis "plays with his food."

I forgot about the Carpathians! I can't believe I've forgotten so much of it so fast. *shrugs* But I loved your review of the book. :) Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it!

Before I forget, one of Anne Rice's erotic novels, Belinda, kind of falls into that pedophile category again. (You mentioned not liking that in IWtV.) I believe Belinda is in her mid to late teens, and the guy she has an affair with is old enough to be her dad. Just a heads-up. I don't remember any of that in the Sleeping Beauty series, just that the SB books were more along the sex trade line. That was the only reason I gave the first three SB books 4 stars. It bothered me nobody had consented to be sex slaves. Anyway, sorry for derailing a bit there. :)

>44 saraslibrary: I'd still be prepared to give Belinda a read, but probably not this year as I'll be fitting in too much horror :)

And yes, the prostitute scene was a good one, too.

The Town That Forgot How to Breathe is sloooowww! It's not bad but I just can't seem to finish it. The book will probably be finished between my January reads, and when it is I'll wrap up my 2015 thread.

>45 Moomin_Mama: I know how that goes--trying to fit too many books in in one year. :)

>46 Moomin_Mama: That's too bad about The Town That Forgot How to Breathe. :( But hopefully you'll finish it this month. I have one like that from last fall's category (I forget which one): Skin by Kathe Koja. I'm still struggling to finish that between books.