I'm a little bit miffed at Typepad at the moment. Of late the service has had a lot of annoying little bugs that seem to take forever to be worked out, and some of the problems have been ongoing for many weeks. The one that has been perturbing me most is an inability to update my books lists on my right sidebar. So, you see those books I am reading? Well, I might or might not be reading them at the moment. If I remove titles from the lists, I can't put in anything new as they will not update. There have been a couple of workarounds, but I don't like either of them--I can either add an Amazon widget (but I don't like the idea of ads on my sidebar) or add HTML and manually incorporate the books, which sounds like a lot of work (and a large part of the reason I am paying to have Typepad is the idea that this will all be made easy for me and work seamlessly). The problem has been occurring for at least three weeks now, but it was likely around earlier since I was on vacation before that. Then there is the small issue of the spell check turning off a second after I click on it rendering it all but useless, and the weird formatting that has been going on within my posts that I have to mess about with to set to rights.
Okay. Mini rant over. I know these glitches happen and I am sure Typepad is working on coming up
with proper solutions, but whenever I check the 'Help' page to look for updates, the only update seems to be "we know it's an issue and are working on it, no date yet for a fix". So tell me to be patient. Okay, I'm going to try and continue to be patient, but when you have a book blog you really do like updating your books!
Instead, let me tell you about what I am currently reading. And I am reading some very good books (and wish I could have them displayed in my sidebar). Most of my reading at the moment is revolving around RIP VII. The book stack I put together has offered some really good choices. I've finished my first book, and am reading my second, third, and what might be considered a fourth. And actually am contemplating a fifth (as yet to be determined, but half the fun is thinking about reading something new, right?). My weekly ghost stories have been fun and I am always looking for something new to read and write about on Sundays. Do you have a favorite ghost story (short story that is) that you can recommend?
I've been thinking about what makes a ghost story scary. Most of the time I just go with the flow and enjoy the atmosphere, but there have been a few cases where I actually have been a little scared by a book. Susan Hill's The Woman in Black rarely fails to raise the hairs on the back of my neck. Sarah Waters's The Little Stranger did give me a shiver or two. Cliff McNish's YA novel, The Hunting Ground,
is the tiniest bit disturbing and I can see why there is a warning on the book that it is not suitable for younger children. Had I not been reading it in the bright lights of the gym I might be looking over my shoulder when I hear a noise or sense a movment behind me (I think I could apply the laundry test to it and it would pass--I'd skip getting that last load out of the dryer until morning).
It's Peter Straub's Ghost Story, however, that is giving me chills even in the light of day. I think it is the ordinariness of the story that makes it scary--the events are so plausible and creepy that it's not so far fetched to imagine them actually happening. Also Straub knows just how to tease his reader. He gives just enough information to make you interested, a little doubtful, and very uncertain as to the character's motivations. Is a character doing something not just illegal but sinister as well? And then cut to another group of characters. You know the stories are going to tie together eventually so you keep reading out of curiosity, maybe against your better judgement even, since there are unnerving substories being told as well. All good stuff and it hangs together well.
I'm also reading Anne-Marie MacDonald's The Way the Crow Flies in tandem with Buried in Print, and we've decided it actually fits in well with the RIP reading that is going on at the moment. I'd been looking for a book that had a more substantial and complex story than the sorts I'd been reading of late (keeping in mind how much I love my comfort reads, but I like an occasional story where you have to slow down and read more closely, too), and I think I've found it here. It's substantial in more ways than one as it is a chunkster of a book, weighing in with over 800 pages. Still, it's the sort of story where you don't really feel bogged down by those pages since they are turning so rapidly. It reads almost like
a coming of age story, but there is more to it than that, something darker and more complex since there is a murder involved. But let me save this one to talk about more in depth later.
A few other quick mentions. I've been reading a little of Roger Deakin's Notes from Walnut Tree Farm every day. It's a book, since it is in diary format, that really calls for steady dipping into rather than flat out gulping to finish in one reading session. I could just breeze through it, but there is too much there to savor. I'm also working on my latest postal reading group book, which I know I mentioned once before. I think nature writing in general is going to be my next reading project since I am learning so much and have discovered that I really like this type of writing.
I've been 'trying out' some other nonfiction books, since I am looking for a new nonfiction read (the last one having had to be returned to the library unfinished). Do I pick a new nature book, a memoir, something entirely different? My problem is there are too many books I want to read and have a hard time deciding just what exactly I am in the mood for. And one last note--the Slaves of Golconda have picked Rose Macaulay's Crewe Train as their next read. I'm quite excited since I really liked The World My Wilderness when I read it last year. I've wanted to read more of her work since and am finally being given the excuse. We won't be discussing it until November, so there is plenty of time to get a copy of the book and read along if we can tempt you.
So just mentally add these books to my sidebar and you'll have a pretty good snapshot of what I'm reading (and enjoying) at the moment.