"Night Stranger" by Chris Bojalian ~ Wonderfully Wicked and Scary!

WoooHoooo! An Up-Date~Even if I had to stay up all night to get it!

The band is playing on in my trek today to read my wickedly wonderful witchie book for the read-a-thon. So far I'm lagging behind because the book I wanted to read next, "The Dark Glamour" expired from my netgalley ebook and now I can't read it. Unless!! One of you has a Kindle or ebook copy you can loan me, that is.

If, or until that time, here's a review of "Night Strangers."

What others said:

The Washington Post - Keith Donohue

Bohjalian has been a reliable bestseller of literary and historical fiction, earning praise from critics and a large audience, but The Night Strangers represents a more sinister turn. It boasts all the trappings of a classic Gothic horror story…Bohjalian turns the screw right up to the unexpected ending and an epilogue that's truly shocking. That thump thump you hear as you read is only your heart leaping from your chest.

What Can I Say!

Can I say, "Unexpected!" This is not your Chris Bojalian of "Midwives." Oh, no! This is a Stephen King-ish Chris comin' out of the New Hampshire woods on a dark, isolated winter to claim his place as a demented dreamer living in a wreck of an old house too far away from citified people.

Taking your psyche in your own hands, read this book over Halloween because it is so freaky and spooky. I loved the involvement of the main character, Chip, a pilot who's his own fearful failure for crashing his plane and killing many passengers; and his young, strange twin girls. First of all it's scary right off the bat when Bojalian describes a cellar door secured with 32ish bolts that's the size of my osteopathic granny! I knew right then and there we were in for some trouble and it wasn't going to be sweet and enchanting, either.

This is a book for vegans and those who enjoy herbal tea, maybe. :] This is also a book for those who like things that go "bump in the night."

I was held captive by this book...loved it all the way through to the shocker of an ending. The characters are fabulous and freaky. The narrating voice is nearly invisible making for a feeling of voyeurism that made the book even more haunting. And, the plot, while some of it may have not been entirely unfamiliar in parts, was very well put together--suspenseful, scary, leading and misleading, horrifying. All the good ingredients for a perfect "tincture." Pull up a big, over-stuffed chair and a cup of herbal tea for this one.

 5 stars a spectre-ing

Deb/TheFanciful and Freaky Speed-Reading Wickathoner

Keeping me company right beside me today is "Pixie"...such a sweet little thing. She's a living dead darling, just a tiny problem in that she likes to lure children away, but she really doesn't know any better. I'm going to be watching her closely so she'll be just fine...I just hope my tiny Clara (my Yorkie) is okay...

"Dead Celebrities Cookbook..." by Frank DeCaro~Deathly Hallows Never Tasted So Good!

Title:  Dead Celebrities Cookbook: A Resurrection of Recipes from the More Than 145 Stars of Stage and Screen

Published by: HCI

Pages:  385

Genre:  House & Garden, Cookbooks

Book Summary :



If you've ever fantasized about feasting on Frank Sinatra's Barbecued Lamb, lunching on Lucille Ball's "Chinese-y Thing," diving ever-so-neatly into Joan Crawford's Poached Salmon, or wrapping your lips around Rock Hudson's cannoli – and really, who hasn't? – hold on to your oven mitts!
  
In The Dead Celebrity Cookbook: A Resurrection of Recipes by 150 Stars of Stage and Screen, Frank DeCaro—the flamboyantly funny Sirius XM radio personality best known for his six-and-a-half-year stint as the movie critic on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart—collects hundreds of recipes passed on from legendary stars of stage and screen, proving that before there were celebrity chefs, there were celebrities who fancied themselves chefs.
 
Their all-but-forgotten recipes—rescued from out-of-print cookbooks, musty biographies, vintage magazines, and dusty pamphlets—suggest a style of home entertaining ripe for reexamination if not revival, while reminding intrepid gourmands that, for better or worse, Hollywood doesn't make celebrities (or cooks) like it used to.

Starring
Elizabeth Taylor's Chicken with Avocado and Mushrooms
Farrah Fawcett's Sausage and Peppers
Liberace's Sticky Buns
Bette Davis's Red Flannel Hash
Bea Arthur's Good Morning Mushroom Tomato Toast
Dudley Moore's Crème Brûlée
Gypsy Rose Lee's Portuguese Fish Chowder
John Ritter's Famous Fudge
Andy Warhol's Ghoulish Goulash
Vincent Price's Pepper Steak
Johnny Cash's Old Iron Pot Family-Style Chili
Vivian Vance's Chicken Kiev
Sebastian Cabot's Avocado Surprise
Lawrence Welk's Vegetable Croquettes
Ann Miller's Cheese Soufflé
Jerry Orbach's Trifle
Totie Fields's Fruit Mellow
Irene Ryan's Tipsy Basingstoke
Klaus Nomi's Key Lime Tart
Richard Deacon's Bitter and Booze
Sonny Bono's Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce

And many others from breakfast to dessert.


Your Dame's Spicey Review:

"The Dead Celebrity Cookbook" makes you wish you were at a banquet of the dead.  Honestly,  Frank DeCaro tells tales of celebrities and shares their secret, homey recipes in such a way that you want to go "down under" with them.  Alas, it's impossible--to most of us!  For cookbook readers everywhere...this is one for your library.

Mr. Decaro is a funny character, and a gifted writer.  His characterizations and talent for focusing on perfect highlights that show us the nature of famous celebrities, brings a certain bubbly brightness to his cookbook.  When you read his quips and synopses of such celebrities as Johnny Carson and Joan Crawford you can't help feeling they are people you could spend time with over dinner. 

Let's talk about the recipes.  Man, oh, man!  There are sooo many to try!  As a Southerner, I have to try Johnny Cash's fried okra.  There are pies galore, lots of fish and casseroles.  Yum!  These celebs knew how to cook and entertain friends;  I suspect the gatherings were like family times.  Interestingly enough, many were health conscious; probably in order to keep those beautiful figures.

Set into categories, such as:  Batman Capers, I Lunch Lucy, and Watching A Detective (Cook), just to mention a few, and to give you an idea of how much fun this cookbook is.  The tidbits of information about cast members of famous shows brings back memories!  I loved being reminded about Dinah Shore, Merv Griffin and others... And, having a Bette Davis recipe is practically like gold for a fan like I am.

When all's said and done, I'd kill (die) for this cookbook.  It's a dance with the dead that will stick with you and will offer friends a ghostly conversation at a dead celebrity-based dinner party.  What fun to know so many details of the actors we grew up watching, believing in and loving.  Here's to Frank DeCaro for bringing us this wonderful book...and here's looking at all our beloved celebrities.

How about a Halloween Dinner Party using this crazy cookbook this year!?  Fabuloso!

5 stars for this cookbook keeper!

Deborah/TheBookishDame