The Dunwich Horror and Others by H.P. Lovecraft

It is true that I have sent six bullets through the head of my best friend, and yet I hope to show by this statement that I am not his murderer. At first I shall be called a madman--madder than the man I shot in his cell at the Arkham Sanitarium. Later some of my readers will weigh each statement, correlate it with the known facts, and ask themselves how I could have believed otherwise than I did after facing the evidence of that horror--that thing on the doorstep.

-"The Thing on the Doorstep," from The Dunwich Horror and Others 

November is the hardest month for me to update the blog, since I'm trying to conserve all my word power for NaNoWriMo. This year I'm pretty far behind, but that's all the more reason that I feel like I shouldn't have time to update here. But my book is inspired by the work of one H.P. Lovecraft, and The Dunwich Horror and Others is too great of a book to go so long neglected.

My mom sent me The Dunwich Horror for All Hallows Read, which was quite the fun surprise. Although I'm sure it would be absorbing any time of year, it was a particularly good fit for October, of course. I'm sure it goes without saying, but Lovecraft was just a master of horror.

I had only read one story of his prior to starting this book, which happened to be the first story in this collection, "In the Vault." It's marvelously creepy stuff, and interestingly one of the few stories in this book that does not deal with Lovecraft's mythology. Oh yes, the crazy, awesome Cthulhu* mythology.

It turns out I love the mythology angle, which I guess shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Things just get bananas in these stories.  I mean, the end of "The Rats in the Walls"? Whoa. The end of "The Thing on the Doorstep"? Whoa. Lovecraft doesn't do twist endings, but he does have the habit of offering one last piece of information right at the end of the story, and that information is usually crazy. That's why "In the Vault" made such an impression on me when I first read it, years ago.**

Prior to reading this entire book, in fact, I would have named "In the Vault" as the scariest story I'd ever read, simple as it is--but now it has some stiff competition. Definitely looking forward to reading some more Lovecraft in the future. For now, I'll just happily rip him off for NaNoWriMo. Not sure exactly what's going to happen, except there's something lurking at my character's house. Something very, very old, living somewhere very, very deep.

Up next: Finally caught up on blog entries! Currently reading The Complaints by Ian Rankin.

*How cool is it that spell check recognizes Cthulhu? Very cool, my friends.

**Oddly enough, I just checked the book's table of contents to make sure I was capitalizing the title correctly, and the story's not in the table of contents, it's just there. Creeeeepy.

The Pyramid by Henning Mankell

In the beginning, everything was just a fog.

Or perhaps it was like a thick-flowing sea where all was white and silent. The landscape of death. It was also the first thought that came to Kurt Wallander as he slowly began rising back to the surface. That he was already dead. He had reached twenty-one years of age, no more. A young policeman, barely an adult. And then a stranger had rushed up to him with a knife and he had not had time to throw himself out of harm's way.

Afterward there was only the white fog. And the silence. 

-The Pyramid 

When readers first met Kurt Wallander in Faceless Killers, he was already middle-aged and divorced, well on his way to becoming the sad sack that we know and love. Glimpses of his past have always been interesting, but few and far between. With The Pyramid, a collection of short stories by Henning Mankell, we finally get a better look at how Wallander became the detective and the man that he is.

In the first story, which I excerpted above, Wallander is still a beat cop in the very early stages of honing his instincts when he stumbles upon his first homicide investigation. By the last, he's within a month of embarking upon the Faceless Killers case. Needless to say, there's a lot that goes on in the meantime. As a pretty big fan of the series, I found it utterly absorbing to watch the way he grew, both as a person and as a detective. He makes mistakes--big mistakes, potentially fatal mistakes--and both learns and doesn't learn from them. I think that by reading these stories, I really began to appreciate the continuity in Mankell's work. Both Wallander's flaws and strengths were apparent pretty early on, and it's neat to see the way Mankell returns to and builds upon them, especially given what we already know of Wallander from the novels. I am more eager than ever to read the novels that I've missed so far.

I particularly found the evolution of Wallander's relationship with his father fascinating. In seeing the progression of his father's dementia from Wallander's point of view, we share his anger and frustration, but also his fears. This is captured especially well in the title story, in which Wallander's father fulfills the dream of a lifetime in going to Egypt, which has unexpected ramifications in Wallander's life as well as in the development of his case. I think I will be more tuned in to their relationship as I continue to read the series based on what I now know of their history. 

Interestingly, despite the fact that the events in this book proceed all other Wallander stories chronologically, I think it is best enjoyed after having at least one of the novels. This is not meant to be an introduction to the character; it's more of a reflection, with themes that will most resonate with readers who are already familiar with the series. I do think Mankell perhaps went a little heavy on emphasizing the Swedish anxiety theme--which he also makes a note about in the forward--but I can't actually disagree with him as to its importance to the character and the series. I could have probably done with one fewer pointed aside from Wallander or another character on the subject, though. That having been said, I enjoyed this book thoroughly and accordingly raced through it pretty darn fast. I have a lot of books in the lineup now, but surely another Wallander book will have to pop up in the near future.

Up next: Finally tracked down Dracula, which has been an interesting reread so far.

A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris

"Have you ever seen It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown?"

I stopped in my tracks. "Sure," I said. "Have you?'

"Oh, yes," Pam said calmly. "Many times." She gave me a minute to absorb that. "Eric is like that on Dracula Night."

-A Touch of Dead

A Touch of Dead is a small collection of short stories by Charlaine Harris, all centered around her most famous heroine, Sookie Stackhouse. These stories fill in gaps in Harris's novels, providing us with background information and some important plot detail, along with a fair amount of fluff.

There are only five stories, which makes this quite a quick read. In "Fairy Dust," we learn more about the fairy siblings Claude and Claudine as Sookie is brought in to investigate their triplet Claudette's death. "Dracula Night," which I quoted from above, describes Fangtasia's annual celebration of Dracula's birth. The third story of the collection, "One Word Answer," was the most interesting one in terms of its impact on Sookie. In my review of Definitely Dead, I wondered if there was a story that dealt with Sookie learning of the death of her cousin, Hadley, as well as her introduction to Queen Sophie-Ann Leclerq. "One Word Answer" is that story.

"Lucky" gives Sookie a chance to team up with her witchy roommate Amelia to solve a mystery, and "Gift Wrap" details an interesting Christmastime adventure for Sookie. Both stories are amusing, and the latter provides more insight into the supernatural world—for us, though interestingly not for Sookie.

In general, the stories are diverting, and worth reading for a Sookie Stackhouse fan—particularly "One Word Answer." I think it would probably be best to read them in between the novels in the order they were written —Harris indicates the proper sequence in her introduction—but I assume most readers, like me, will read these stories after finishing the rest of the series (save one, in my case). In any case, they're enjoyable, but I didn't get quite the satisfaction I've gotten from the novels, probably because there simply isn't so much space for dramatic arcs or character development in this format. Still, it was a pleasant way to spend an hour or so.

Up next: I think The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan, but that could change.