Thursday, February 13, 2025

Is Your House Sick? Hope Not!

 

TITLE: Sick Houses: Haunted Homes and the Architect of Dread
AUTHOR: Leila Taylor
PUBLISHER: Repeater
PUBLISHING DATE: February 11, 2025
PAGES: 322   
SOURCE: ARC


FROM GOODREADS: The history of horror begins with a house. From Otranto to Amityville, the haunted house story endures because it perverts what is equally the most universal and the most personal of the home. Our home is an extension of our self, a manifestation of our identity, and a repository of our memories. It is a micro-universe of our own creation that we control. It is also where we are the most vulnerable because we are supposed to be the most safe. 
Whether it is a decrepit Victorian mansion, a modernist luxury high-rise, a little cottage in the woods, or a starter house in the suburbs, Sick Houses explores how the horror genre in film, television, and literature uses architecture and the ideology of the home against us. It looks at the mythology of the American Dream and how the lure of homeownership becomes a trap. It celebrates the witch house, the power of the crone, and the fear of aging women who live alone. It explores how concrete utopias became ready-made mise en scene for urban terror. 
From the betrayal of sentient shape-shifting houses to shadow-self dollhouse doppelgangers, Sick Houses examines how the horror genre subverts and corrupts that which is the most sacrosanct.

MY THOUGHTS: I'm not a big reader of non-fiction titles but one sure way to suck me in to give me a supernatural subject matter.  When I saw this book pop up on Netgalley, I knew it was one I wanted to check out and I'm glad I did.

Sick Houses analyzes houses of all kinds.  The chapters are broken down into specific categories and include American Houses, Dead Houses, Doll Houses, and Witch Houses to name a few.  The author has definitely completed the necessary research and used examples and references from houses featured in horror movies, houses built by renowned (and sometimes odd) architects, houses lived in by famous killers and television shows such as The Twilight Zone.  This was a definite plus for both a pop culture and true crime junkie like me.  I learned a lot about what really makes a home evil and why haunted house intrigue so many of us.  In fact, the author basically states that since our home is supposed to be our safe place and our second bodies, haunted house become the most intimate kind of horror.  

My only complaint was at times this book read a little bit TOO much like a textbook.  But even so, it was the best kind of textbook in my opinion (kind of the like the summer in college when I took Deviant Behavior and Abnormal Psychology back-to-back for four hours each morning and became good friends with the guy ranting about cutting his ex-girlfriend up into "itty bitty pieces." Don't worry, he was weird but harmless).  Sick Houses contains photos and movie shots, and I added a few older movies I had never heard of but now want to see to my watchlist.

If topics like this interest you, then you definitely want to pick this book up.  The author also has another book out Darkly: Black History and America's Gothic Soul that I also want to pick up eventually.  

MY RATING: 4 PAWS



Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Feed Your TBR - Fiend

 

Can't Wait Wednesday, which I have adapted to better suit my blog as "Feed Your TBR" is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings to spotlight highly anticipated books.  It is based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme which used to be hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.


September 16, 2025

FROM GOODREADS: Imagine if the Sackler family had a demon at their beck and call.

The Berisha family runs one of the largest import-export companies in the world, and they’ve always been lucky. Their rivals suffer strokes. Inconvenient buildings catch on fire. Earthquakes swallow up manufacturing plants, destroying harmful evidence. Things always seem to work out for the Berishas. They’re blessed.

At least that is what Zef, the patriarch, has always told his three children. And each of them knows their place in the family—Dardan, as the only male heir, must prepare to take over as keeper of the Berisha secrets, Maris’s most powerful contribution, much to her dismay, will be to marry strategically, and Nora’s job, as the youngest, is to just stay out of the way. But when things stop going as planned, and the family blessing starts looking more like a curse, the Berishas begin to splinter, each hatching their own secret scheme. They didn’t get to be one of the richest families in the world without spilling a little blood, but this time, it might be their own.

WHY I CAN'T WAIT: I have a love hate relationship with Katsu (The Hunger, I am looking at you), but the cover of this one caught my attention last week.  This is also Katsu's first foray into a book that is set in modern-day times and not historical.  I'm ready to give her another shot because I really want to love her.

WHAT BOOK CAN'T YOU WAIT FOR THIS WEEK???

Monday, February 10, 2025

"I See Dead People"

 

TITLE: A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer (S.C.Y.T.H.E. Mystery #1)
AUTHOR: Maxie Dara
PUBLISHER: Berkley
PUBLISHING DATE: October 1, 2024
PAGES: 352   
SOURCE: Library


FROM GOODREADS: Kathy Valence is forty-two, mid-divorce, and pregnant with her ex's baby. She's also a modern-day grim reaper employed by S.C.Y.T.H.E. (Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences), but frankly that's the easiest part of her life right now. Or at least it was, until her latest client's soul goes missing. 
When she finally tracks down seventeen-year-old Conner Ortiz, he angrily denies he died of natural causes, despite what his file says. He insists that someone at S.C.Y.T.H.E. murdered him, and he demands Kathy find out who and why. 
Kathy has only forty-five days to figure out what happened to Conner and help him move on before the boy's soul is doomed to roam the Earth as a ghost forever. She’s forced to rely on the help of her retired mentor, her almost ex-husband—and some sneaky moves by Conner himself. This is the wildest case of her career. . .and one wrong move could cost Kathy her job, not to mention her life.

MY THOUGHTS: This book took me forever to read but it isn't a reflection of how much I enjoyed it.  I think because it was a physical library book, I just kept picking other things up instead.  I made myself sit down this weekend determined to finish it and I'm glad I did.  Now I am excited about the next installment.

Kathy is a grim reaper for S.C.Y.T.H.E.  When someone dies, she collects their souls and makes sure they move on to processing.  It's usually fairly uncomplicated until she is dispatched to the death scene of 17-year-old Conner.  Conner's death was described as a medical condition but when she arrives, his soul is nowhere to be found.  Kathy needs to find him stat because after 45 days of limbo, Conner is destined to be a restless ghost for eternity.  When she does finally find him, he tells her he was murdered, and he thinks someone from S.C.Y.T.H.E. did it.

Kathy is a really fun character.  She believes everyone in her family is cursed and that being a grim is the only thing that she is good out. She cannot tell her husband anything about her job, so she has shut him out and filed for divorce, even though she "accidentally" ends up pregnant after they separated.  She also has a great friend sidekick, Jo, who was a former S.Y.C.T.H.E. employee and who has lived a wild and eventful life.

The mystery in the book was a fun element but what I loved most was the relationship between Conner and Kathy.  Throughout the book they work together to find Conner's murderer and learn a lot about each other, and themselves, along the way.  I would consider it a "found family" trope but with a ghost.  

If you love cozy mysteries with less emphasis on the cozy part, then this book is one you might want to consider.  It's a solid opening to a new series and I can't wait to see what supernatural fun lies ahead!

MY RATING: 5 PAWS



Thursday, February 6, 2025

2 Bloggers 1 Series - Proven Guilty (Dresden Files #8)

 


I can't believe I have been going strong with this series for eight months now.  Thank goodness I have Stormi to motivate me.  This one really knocked it out of the park and is probably one of my most favorites so far.  So read on to hear my thoughts and then hop over to Stormi's at Storm Reads for hers.  

 

TITLE: Proven Guilty (Dresden Files #8)
AUTHOR: Jim Butcher
PUBLISHER: Doubleday
PUBLISHING DATE: February 6, 2017
PAGES: 547   
SOURCE: Library


FROM GOODREADS: There's no love lost between Harry Dresden, the only wizard in the Chicago phone book, and the White Council of Wizards, who find him brash and undisciplined. But war with the vampires has thinned their ranks, so the Council has drafted Harry as a Warden and assigned him to look into rumors of black magic in the Windy City. 
As Harry adjusts to his new role, another problem arrives in the form of the tattooed and pierced daughter of an old friend, all grown-up and already in trouble. Her boyfriend is the only suspect in what looks like a supernatural assault straight out of a horror film. Malevolent entities that feed on fear are loose in Chicago, but it's all in a day's work for a wizard, his faithful dog, and a talking skull named Bob....

MY THOUGHTS: As I just mentioned, Proven Guilty is one of my favorite installments in this series yet.  Harry is now a designated Warden which brings on new responsibilities.  The beginning of the book opens up with a dramatic scene (let's be honest, what Dresden book doesn't open with a dramatic scene) which really foretells the direction the book is heading.  

There are no baddies invading Chicago who take the form of horror movie monsters and feed on someone's fear. Someone has summoned these creatures, and Harry needs to figure it out before more people die.  Along the way, Harry ends up getting help in some form from about everyone we have encountered previously, including Michael, Murphy and Thomas.  My beloved Mouse plays a big role and even though there is a scene where he gets hurt, I will assure you Mouse does not die (if he ever does, I'll probably stop reading).  We also get a lot of Molly, Michael's daughter. There are quite a few new developments and reveals in this book and Molly is at the center of both of them.

This book had it all - action, character development, strategic reveals and of course, Mouse.  I loved it when Harry and Murphy work together and seriously, just kiss already guys.  This book contains very little romance, which is fine, but I seriously need these two together stat!  I also enjoy seeing Thomas working with Harry and am loving seeing the brotherly love between these two grow.

I am so glad Stormi convinced me to read this series and am looking forward to what the next one has to offer.  I can now see why so many people love this series.

MY RATING: 5 PAWS


Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Feed Your TBR - Sour Cherry

 

Can't Wait Wednesday, which I have adapted to better suit my blog as "Feed Your TBR" is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings to spotlight highly anticipated books.  It is based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme which used to be hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.


April 1, 2025

FROM GOODREADS: In a mysterious apartment filled with ghosts, our unnamed narrator attempts to explain this to her child - how do I talk about this? she wonders.

The truth must become something beautiful. We must begin with a fairy tale.

And so she begins to construct a beautiful fairy tale for her child - one that begins with a strange baby boy whose nails grow too fast and whose skin smells of soil. As he grows from a boy into a man, a plague seems to follow him everywhere. Tragedy strikes in cycles - and wife after wife, death after death, plague after plague, every woman he touches becomes a ghost. These ghosts call out desperately to our narrator as she tries to explain, in the very real world, exactly what has happened to her.

And they all agree on one thing, an inescapable truth about this man, this powerful lord who has loved them and led them each to ruin.


WHY I CAN'T WAIT: I initially fell in love with the cover and after reading the synopsis, I grew a bit confused.  I need to read this one to learn more. It sounds really weird and sometimes I just love a weird story!

WHAT BOOK CAN'T YOU WAIT FOR THIS WEEK???

Sunday, February 2, 2025

Farm News - February 2, 2025

 


Can I express how happy I am that January is finally over!  We had lots of snow and frigid temps.  The coldness led to frozen pipes because when we had plumbing done over the summer, they didn't replace the heat tape.  We got it unthawed after three days.  

Then my husband's contractor friend needed some money because he had been out of work for three weeks due to the weather and called and asked if we had any projects we wanted done.  Normally we wouldn't have done anything in January, but we wanted to help him out.  He came and insulated our basement ceiling and thus the pipes that had recently unthawed, insulated a wall beneath the chair rail in our dining room, replaced out bathroom floor and put down new laminate, and replaced out toilet.  Then came disaster. He was replacing the sink and vanity and broke the shut off valve.  Our house is 125 years old, and he tried and tried but after three days, couldn't get anything in the bathroom to run without massive leaks.  And because the sink shut off valve was broken, we had to turn off the water to the entire house.  We finally gave up and contacted a plumber, but they were booked until Wednesday.  However, they were able to come over and get us up and running but it ended up being an additional five days without water.  I kept reminding myself how blessed we were compared to some, but it was frustrating to say the least. 

Then to top it off, that same Wednesday, my mom fell and fractured her pelvis in several places.  She is currently in the hospital, but surgery is not needed. They are managing her pain and getting her used to using a walker to get around.  She will need 4-6 weeks to heal but at least she doesn't live alone, and her boyfriend is around to help.

All of this interfered with my desire to read, and I didn't read as much as I wanted in January.  I have to catch up in February somehow.  I did obtain some great arcs the past two weeks though and can't wait to share them here.






Something I Keep Upstairs: J.D. Barker
Mayra: Nicky Gonzalez

I have picked up a few books on sale for my Kindle so I will save them and share the during my next update.  I hope you were able to catch my new feature, Coming Attractions, which I posted Friday.  I hope everyone is staying safe and enjoying lots of good reads.

Thanks for visiting Booker T's Farm!


Friday, January 31, 2025

February Coming Attractions

 


Today, I'm starting a new feature here at Booker T's Farm.  I am not a strict TBR reader, but I do like to have an idea of what I am reading for the month.  So, I thought I would use this space to give you a brief wrap-up of the prior month's reading and then a look at what you might see in the upcoming month.  This was the best title I could come up with, so I hope you enjoy this new feature!

The month of January, I only read seven books.  This is kind of low for a month that seemed to last forever, but check in Sunday for some more news on that.  I do have three carryovers which I am more I am hoping I can finish early, and which will add to the February stats.


I have a few February review books that I really have to, as well as want to, make time for this month. Sick Houses is a non-fiction which sounds really interesting, Hollow Ground is the start to a new series (and look - a dog!) and I've heard good things about Listen to Your Sister, a new horror being blurbed as for fans of Jordon Peele. 

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I have three buddy reads with Stormi this month.  White Night will be our 9th Dresden File book, Deep Midnight is the third book in the Alliance Vampires series, and Ghost Walk is the third book in the Harrison Investigations series.

And finally, I have two "twisted romances," My Funny Demon Valentine and Butcher and Blackbird because after all, it is February and a cannibal book, The Reddening, for my online horror book club.


Have you read any of these books?  I'm sure I won't get to them all but a girl can hope right?