Book Review: The Phantom Coach, edited by Michael Sims

This post modified from a review that originally ran in Shelf Awareness for Readers. Reprinted here with permission.

It's that time of year again: spooky stories and ghost tales abound, and we've all changed our Twitter names to something Halloween-appropriate. In the spirit of Halloween-reading, The Phantom Coach couldn't be more appropriate; for those of us also trying to read more classics, it's a double-whammy: Sims has curated a collection of Victorian ghost tales that celebrate the genre as much as the writers featured.

In the introduction to The Phantom Coach, editor Michael Sims (The Dead Witness; Dracula's Guest) explores why modern readers are still so entranced by classic tales from beyond the grave, writing, "the protagonists face the great chilling fact of human life: that it's brief, linear, and moves toward the grave as swiftly as an arrow. Ghost stories permit us to peek behind the shroud." Sims's chosen Victorian works do just that, ranging among topics such as lost children, lingering family spirits and haunted boating expeditions.

Sims's collection features a dozen authors, including Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling and Amelia Edwards, with many lesser-known and infrequently anthologized pieces in place of more commonly known works from the era. Sims introduces each story with a brief background on the author, notes about how the ghost story fits into the author's oeuvre and, where relevant, how the story relates to the others in the collection (Dickens, for example, edited several of the tales found here for his periodicals Household Words and All the Year Round). The pieces, arranged in chronological order, span the Victorian era, pulled from as early as 1852 and as late as 1907. Combined into one volume, these 12 stories give readers an excellent entry point into the spooky literature of the Victorian era--a time marked by a fascination with death and dying.

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A copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review.

The Phantom Coach: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Ghost Stories | ed. Michael Sims | Bloomsbury | September 2014 | Trade Paperback

Book Review: This House Is Haunted, by John Boyne

This review originally ran in the Friday October 25th issue of Shelf Awareness for Readers. If you don't already subscribe, sign up here to receive a bi-weekly dose of readerly goodness in your inbox.

John Boyne's This House Is Haunted is a ghost story steeped in the Dickensian tradition. As Eliza and her father journey through a typically cold, wet night in London to see Charles Dickens read in a nearby pub, he falls ill from the weather and soon dies, leaving her with no parents, no siblings and very little money.

Seeking a change, Emma responds to an advertisement for a governess at an estate in the country. But when she arrives at Gaudlin Hall, she is startled to find no adults present; her two new pupils present themselves to her with no explanation. From her first night at Gaudlin, Eliza is haunted by an unseen spirit. As the attacks become more violent, threatening Eliza's life, she sets out to find the secret that lies at the heart of Gaudlin.

With The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Boyne proved his ability to immerse himself in the innocent and naive perspective of a small boy; in wholly embodying Eliza in This House Is Haunted, he further proves his narration skills. This strong voice gives the story an added layer of intrigue, as we are treated not only to a 19th-century ghost story, but also to a heroine coming into herself as a woman and an individual. Though those looking for true horror and gore may be disappointed by the subtle buildup, This House Is Haunted is ultimately a compelling story of the supernatural and an ode to the Victorian-era ghost story.

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Thanks to the publisher for providing an e-galley of this title for review.
This House Is Haunted | John Boyne | Other Press |  October 2013 | Trade Paper | 204 pages

Septemb-Eyre: Roll Call!

After years of owning but not reading Jane Eyre, I'm finally taking the plunge. Like the good little blogger I am, I've managed to (somehow!) find 15 fellow bloggers and reviewers to read it along with me. So, here goes nothing!

First things first, it's not too late to sign up.
New readers, re-readers, Classics Club members, non-CC members... the more the merrier.

Schedule
September 2nd: Kick-off post, introductions, why you're reading, etc.
September 9th: Chapters I-XI
September 16th: Chapters XII-XXI
September 23rd: Chapters XXII-XXIX
September 30th: Chapters XXX-End

In my edition (the Penguin Classics Deluxe paperback), that works out to about 110 pages per week. We can so do this. Since there are some of us who haven't read the novel yet, please try to avoid spoilers past the section we're talking about each week.

And Introductions
Since there are so many new and new-to-me bloggers participating in this event, I'm hoping we can kick off with a little introduction -- who are you, where can we find you on the interwebs, why are you reading (or re-reading) Jane Eyre?

I'm all over social media myself, but of late, am most active on Twitter (@ofabookworm) and Tumblr (ofabookworm.tumblr.com). I'll be tweeting my reading with the hashtag #SeptembEyre.

I've owned Jane Eyre for years, and when my husband and I merged our book collections, we realized that we owned no less than four different editions of the novel--despite the fact that I've never read it and he hates the book. I decided to finally read it after approximately 1.2 million people on the Twitter were horrified that I hadn't read it, and told me all the reasons I should. It's also one of the books on my Classics Club list, so I consider this one of those multiple-birds-one-stone situations.

Besides some vague rumors (something about a man named Rochester, and someone living in an attic, I think?), I actually know very little about the book, so I'm hoping to go in with an open mind and see what all the fuss is about.

Here we go...

If you're participating, link up to your intro post here, and happy reading!

Book Review: The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde

This book is one of my three Victorian novels read for A Victorian Celebration, hosted by A Literary Odyssey. I am woefully behind in my reading already and haven't even selected my next two reads, let alone read them. I'm thinking probably The Warden by Anthony Trollope, and... maybe some Dickens.

The Picture of Dorian Gray has long lived on the periphery of my reading consciousness. I knew enough to know it was a novel about a painting, but not enough to stop confusing it with A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. When I drew it off the shelf for A Victorian Challenge, I was startled to learn that this was the only novel written by Oscar Wilde. And that it was short (my Penguin paperback edition weighed in at a mere 256 pages, and they were small pages). And that it was fascinating.

Wilde's deft pen brings Dorian Gray to life in ink, just as, I suppose, Basil Hallward's brush brings Dorian Gray on canvas. But while Hallward's portrait captured the beautiful innocence of the young Gray, Wilde's novel captures the self-centered, narcissistic soul of Gray--a soul hidden from the world. For when Gray wishes that he can stay young and beautiful forever, while his painting bears the brunt of all the age and wrongness in his life, his wish is, mysteriously, granted.

While Gray lives a life of duplicitous dealings and slow ruination, his face remains untouched by the scars of the years, of his guilt, of his buried selfishness. All the while, his painting sits buried in an attic at the top of his house, changing with each flippant action taken by its subject.

Terrifyingly, Gray's company continues to accept him as his is, despite the havoc he wreaks around himself; the disgraced ladies are sent away, and shamed gentlemen disinherited, as polite society morphs itself around Gray and his perpetually lovely face. Gray never takes responsibility for his own actions--nor is he asked to. He is under the eternal influence of others, and of his own obsession with himself. He is a puppet in a mass charade, and anything that stands in his way and in the way of aestheticism overall is simply set aside.

Wilde's only novel is so excellently crafted that it left me wishing he had written more in his lifetime. The Picture of Dorian Gray reveals Wilde's ability to peel back the layers of society, and of individual action, to reveal the truth that lies hidden beneath appearances. Most notably, and controversially, Wilde questions the importance of appearances at all, when what lies behind them is of little value and even less importance.

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Thoughts from other bookworms (and Celebration participants, at that!)
Fanda Classiclit
Literary Stars
Haphazard Hollingsworth

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The Picture of Dorian Gray | Oscar Wilde | Penguin | Paperback | February 2007 (originally published 1890) | Buy from an independent near you (Penguin Clothbound Edition)