Musings

There's no other way to put it. Over the course of this past week, I read one of the most brutal, violent, and disturbing books I've ever experienced--  The Girl Next Door  by Jack Ketchum. Being my very first Ketchum read, it very well gave me nightmares to a certain degree and made me cling to the life I love, with more determination than I've felt in a long time. In fact, the only other book I've read that gave me nightmares was Stephen King's "IT" (although, it DID appeal to my totally-reasonable fear of clowns...)  The Girl Next Door,  although vile and disturbing, is utterly remarkable... and despite everything, is definitely worth a read. Emphasis on the single "read". Seriously. I don't know how you could want to read it twice, unless you're into having troubles sleeping at night.  After reading the summary on the back of the book and several synopses online, I knew it was going to be intense-- but I was still unprepared, espec

If you're searching for short stories that ultimately tell tales of man-eating monsters and supernatural occurrences, look no further! Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things is a collection of just that, written by Lafcadio Hearn in 1998. These short stories take place all over asian countries-- both modern and ancient, giving readers a unique take on the culture as well as supernatural lore of the time period. While some may be more chilling than others, the concepts as a whole still fit under this week's category in focus: Asian Supernatural Narratives, while telling a story with a convincing and applicable moral to every day life. For example, the  Jinkininki  story focuses on the protagonist Muso Kokushi-- a priest whose immediate conflict seems to be the need for food and lodging. Naturally, he finds himself strangely guided elsewhere by an even-tempered man (who we later find out to be the evil, man-eating spirit). But several questions remain-- why on earth w