MobileRead May 2009 Book Club Nomination Thread

[lilac_jive]

Hey everyone! It's that time again (two days late, sorry). For May we are reading a book from the horror genre. This book can be from anywhere (including the MobileRead library).

After three nominations it'll go up for vote. Nominations end in 7 days (April 24th). I will attempt to put all nominations in this post for easy reference.

Nominations:
Dracula (3)
Frankenstein (3)
Duma Key (3)
Afraid by Jack Kilborn (3)
Four and Twenty Black Birds by Cherie Priest (3)
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (3)
Frankenstein: Prodigal Son by Dean Koontz (3)
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz (3)

The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson (2)
The Boneman's Daughter by Ted Dekker (2)
The King In Yellow by Robert William Chambers (2)

Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker (1)

[JSWolf]

I'll nominate Duma Key by Stephen King

No more than a dark pencil line on a blank page. A horizon line, maybe. But also a slot for blackness to pour through...

A terrible construction site accident takes Edgar Freemantle's right arm and scrambles his memory and his mind, leaving him with little but rage as he begins the ordeal of rehabilitation. A marriage that produced two lovely daughters suddenly ends, and Edgar begins to wish he hadn't survived the injuries that could have killed him. He wants out. His psychologist, Dr. Kamen, suggests a "geographic cure," a new life distant from the Twin Cities and the building business Edgar grew from scratch. And Kamen suggests something else.

"Edgar, does anything make you happy?"

"I used to sketch."

"Take it up again. You need hedges... hedges against the night."

Edgar leaves Minnesota for a rented house on Duma Key, a stunningly beautiful, eerily undeveloped splinter of the Florida coast. The sun setting into the Gulf of Mexico and the tidal rattling of shells on the beach call out to him, and Edgar draws. A visit from Ilse, the daughter he dotes on, starts his movement out of solitude. He meets a kindred spirit in Wireman, a man reluctant to reveal his own wounds, and then Elizabeth Eastlake, a sick old woman whose roots are tangled deep in Duma Key. Now Edgar paints, sometimes feverishly, his exploding talent both a wonder and a weapon. Many of his paintings have a power that cannot be controlled. When Elizabeth's past unfolds and the ghosts of her childhood begin to appear, the damage of which they are capable is truly devastating.

The tenacity of love, the perils of creativity, the mysteries of memory and the nature of the supernatural — Stephen King gives us a novel as fascinating as it is gripping and terrifying.

[Moejoe]

In the Public Domain: Dracula or Frankenstein.

And in the non-public domain, Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in) by John Ajvide Lindqvist. The only novel I've read in the last 10 years that deserves the tag "Horror" and the film was a cracker too

[JSWolf]

I'll second Dracula.

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I'll nominate Duma Key by Stephen King

A worthy read indeed.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pghaworth

A worthy read indeed.

So can we take that as a second?

[Fledchen]

Is Let the Right One In available as an ebook? I can't find it. (not a nomination, just a question)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Fledchen

Is Let the Right One In available as an ebook? I can't find it. (not a nomination, just a question)

If it's not available as an eBook, it cannot be nominated.

[Fledchen]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If it's not available as an eBook, it cannot be nominated.

That's why I wanted to make it clear that I was not trying to nominate it

[JSWolf]

Come on people, we need more nominations!

[pilotbob]

Nomination 1...

I have already read this, it was a TOR freebee way back when... but it was such a good book I am going to nominate it here...

Four and Twenty Black Birds by Cherie Priest

Although she was orphaned at birth, Eden Moore is never alone. Three dead women watch from the shadows, bound to protect her from harm. But in the woods a gunman waits, convinced that Eden is destined to follow her wicked great-grandfather--an African magician with the power to curse the living and raise the dead.

Now Eden must decipher the secret of the ghostly trio before a new enemy more dangerous than the fanatical assassin destroys what is left of her family. She will sift through lies in a Georgian ante-bellum mansion and climb through the haunted ruins of a 19th century hospital, desperately seeking the truth that will save her beloved aunt from the curse that threatens her life.

BOb

[Moe The Cat]

I will second Cherie Priest's Four And Twenty Blackbirds.

And I'll nominate a couple of freebies:

• The Lair Of The White Worm by Bram Stoker
  The Lair Of The White Worm (also known as The Garden Of Evil) is a horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, who also wrote Dracula. It is partly based on the legend of the Lambton Worm. The book was published in 1911, the year before Stoker's death.
• The King In Yellow by Robert William Chambers
  The King In Yellow is a collection of short stories written by Robert W. Chambers and published in 1895. The stories could be categorized as early horror fiction or Victorian Gothic fiction, but the work also touches on mythology, fantasy, mystery, science fiction and romance. The first four stories in the collection involve a fictional two-act play of the same title.

[Mrgauth]

Ted Dekker's new book The Boneman's Daughter. Sounds like a creepy serial killer kind of thing.

[acprinter]

I would like to nominate “The House on the Borderland” by William Hope Hodgson.


Manybooks.net description: A classic novel that bridges the gap between late 19th century British works in the supernatural or fantastic vein, and modern horror fiction. Listed as one of H.P. Lovecraft's favorite works.

It has been reviewed 4 times at manybooks and given a 5 star rating by each person.

[Seabound]

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Kidding. Carry on.