Gad’s Hall/ The Haunting of Gad’s Hall
By Norah Lofts
AKA
“Five Kids, 0 Happiness”
Or
“Oh Terror, Where art Thou?”
Summary: A family of a hard-headed wife, disabled husband, and 2.5(read: 3) kids finds a cheap house in great condition, the prior owner of which is rather fond of it as his childhood/family home, and helps them settle. The book then delves into the tale of the family of the prior owner’s grandfather. The older family is that of a wife, an early-dead husband, 5 kids, and, later, 3 husbands to some of those kids.
Rating: Don’t read unless you’ve got nothing better.
As strange as it may sound, I rather liked this book. But then Wikipedia kindly let me know that not only was Lofts a rather prolific author, but her preferred genre was historical fiction. Unlike Ken Follett, she just didn’t do that great of a job switching genres. The core story was great, the fact that I could actually remember everyones' names (she had maybe twice the number of core characters from that of World’s End) at every point was nothing short of amazing.
But it was not scary.
At all.
If you are going to write about a precocious child, chosen to be Satan’s bride, than killing herself and the resulting child right after delivery, at least make it seem –substantial-. The intertwining stories of the child’s siblings as they grow up carry more emotional weight than the actual ‘haunting’, though it is rather apparent that the author at least tries to insinuate some creepiness in there somewhere.
With that said, I wouldn’t mind reading Loft’s Suffolk series, if time and the increasingly insurmountable to-read list will someday allow.
Currently reading
The Forest Lover
By Susan Vreeland
An audiobook that Elrin’s kindly selected for me on the impartial basis of “It’s long, therefore it must be good”. So far, the voice actor is trying to be way too passionate, and the story itself is plowing along like a very determined turtle in a months’ worth of an unmoved lawn. Not exactly annoying, but not exactly making one want to sit and listen for eight hours straight, either.
Plain Tales from the Hills
By Rudyard Kipling
Have just started that one, and it –might- get replaced by one of the books listed in here , if the local library carries them.
Websites of note
Urban Dictionary - … Like dictionary! For –urban people-!
Good reads - … Like facebook. For –books-!
Bookins - I used to be a part of this swapping service, gotten some Thieves World series books off of it. The shipping charge, if I remember, is something like 4$, but it’s actually not a bad way to get ‘em, if you’re into the entire ‘trade resources’ thing.
Horror Movie A Day - A listing and opinions of one person on many movies. Worth glancing at, if you’re not sure whether or not the latest “Nightmare on Elm Street” is worth it. (Hint: It’s not.)
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