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Archive for September 14th, 2014

Something never done

September 14th, 2014 | Category: Life,Opinions

So, today I did something I’ve never done before… I read an entire book in one day. I’ve stayed up a few nights to read a few books, but I’ve never read an entire book from early morning to early evening.

I’ve been a fan of Jonathan Carroll for a long time. Way back in 2006ish he was kind enough to send me a copy of one his books, White Apples, when ebooks were kind of, not really, but maybe, a thing. Of the not a bunch of ebooks available, White Apples wasn’t among them, I’m not one to wait around for an industry to catch up with my desires, so I asked and he sent. A few writers have done the same for me over the years, I’m always a little surprised and a lot grateful.

Anyway, this morning I was looking for something just to start reading after finishing Maplecroft (which was spectacular, review forthcoming) last night, and I decided on Kissing the Beehive by said Jonathan Carroll. I went a few pages and I just didn’t stop, I read until it was done. I think part of it was because for Carroll, it was such a strange book, strange in that it had absolutely no elements of magic realism. His books start out real enough, then all of a sudden the main character’s dog starts talking to a ghost, yet the talking dog and some ghost don’t make the story feel any less “real.” He writes with such confidence, the introduction of the weird is so matter-of-fact that you just accept, oh, of course, dogs talk… to ghosts. In Beehive, there’s a found corpse, a grouchy dog, but the corpse’s ghost doesn’t show up to have a conversation with the dog. Some odd things happen, you think, the dead girl’s coming back, just a few more pages… but no. I’m not saying it was a bad book, I was obviously engaged, I was simply surprised that it was really just a small town mystery. A solidly, sometimes beautifully written story about a thirty year-old small-town mystery.

At any rate, if you’re looking for an entertaining Sunday read, try Kissing the Beehive.

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