The Houseguest

 

This was a pretty neat horror short story collection from a Mexican writer. I found out about it on goodreads through their Halloween recommendations. I'm surprised that not more has been translated from this writer. The back is right from they say she reminds someone of Poe or Shirley Jackson. My favorite stories in the collection are "The Last Summer" and "The Breakfast." In "The Last Summer" an overstressed woman in her 40's loses it when she finds out that she is having another baby. In "The Breakfast" a woman recalls a frightening dream that she had the last night over breakfast. The thin line between dreaming and reality gets questioned. Mexico has made several amazing horror movies and finding a book like this delighted me. I just wish that people would bother to translate more the cool stuff from their past. 

Sweet Diamond Dust

 

I love Rosario Ferre. She was a great Puetro Rican writer. I loved the soap opera drama The House on the Lagoon and especially her short story collection The Youngest Doll. This was good too. It's a collection of short stories that revolve around a sugar mill. My favorite story was the last one Captain Candelario's Heroic Last Stand about two friends in the military, one is rich and the other one poor. Their relationship is challenged when there are orders to stop the salsa dance. Sadly not many of her works are translated. 

The Bostonians

 

This isn't my favorite Henry James book but it was written well. This book is about suffrage movement. It is obvious that Henry James thinks a woman's place is at home. His attitude makes this book outdated and that's why it took me a couple of months to get through the whole thing. The book centers around a man named Basil and his love for Verena. But Verena is torn between her feelings between Basil and Olive, a feminist who is more or less her teacher. I have to give it to Henry James for daring to write about lesbianism in 1886. There was a movie with Christopher Reeves and Vanessa Redgrave made of this. I need to watch it some time.

A Hero ain't nothin' but a sandwich

 

This was a pretty good young adult book from the 1970s. I watched the movie which was also written by the author but the book is definitely the way to go. You get more involved with the characters. The book is about a teenaged junkie named Benjie. The book separates itself by letting all of the characters say their own perspective on the situation. You hear from the stepfather, the teachers at the school, his friends, and Benjie himself. The book may be on a depressing situation but it's actually a quick read and the characters for the most part are likable. 

The Mists of Avalon

 

I bought this book years ago and put it on my bookshelf. It was one of those books that I told myself that I would get around to. Then a friend told me the plot and I finally took it off the bookshelf. It's a female perspective of the King Arthur stories. The one criticism I would give it is that it was very anti-Christian and I'm religious. But the stories were interesting especially the one about the barren Gwenhwyfar and her relationship with Lancelot. It's one of the longest books I've read. I need to read other books on King Arthur. All I knew before this was The Sword in the Stone so I have a ways to go.  

The Collected Poems Sylvia Plath

 

I've just started getting into poetry. I haven't really given it a try. I've read Anne Sexton and Emily Dickinson. I decided to reread this and then I'm going to do less famous poets. I read this three years ago. Some people on the internet say she's just famous for her life which was pretty fascinating. However, she was an incredible poet. The last 50 poems in the book are from her beginning period. They're all right. It's interesting to see how she developed and became more unique. Her poems became more emotional. My favorite poems here are the ones about her dad who was a beekeeper. He died in Sylvia's youth. I don't really care for the poems where she writes about a famous sculpture. Those are more at the beginning of the book. I heard the movie with Gwyneth Paltrow wasn't that good. I hope one of these days a proper movie is made preferably with a star that doesn't have a name yet. That would be even neater.  

Melancholy Play

 

Tilly, a melancholy girl has three people in love with her a tailor, a lesbian, and a psychiatrist. The play gets really funky in the end by having all of the characters turn into almonds. At first, I thought it was too cutesy but then I admired it for daring to be that eccentric.  I read The Clean House, another play she wrote earlier on this blog. While I liked that play more I still found this play to be a worthwhile read. Ruhl has an interesting style and I'm curious to read her more.