Theresa's 2011 List

1. Paranormal State: My Journey into the Unknown by Ryan Buell

I kind of cheated; I started this one on Thursday at work, and finished it today, lol.

Anyway, I'm actually NOT a fan of the show (or the team) this book is based on, although my mom watches it religiously. I never really agreed with how things were presented, and thought that the team was a little quick to explain every haunting as demonic--or at the least, malevolent in some way.

I went ahead and gave it a shot, though. Part of my New Year's Resolution is to continue my "education" in the paranormal field, and that includes studying a variety of viewpoints and techniques from others in the field. Plus, if it bombed too badly my mom would still gladly read it, lol.

However, reading this book cleared up some of those misconceptions and prejudices that I harbored. I know its hard to really get the whole picture when we're only seeing days of work being compressed into less than a half hour show. Hearing the author in his own words express some deeper points and point out things that didn't come across clearly in the show's editing gave me a much deeper respect for the team and its work.

2. A Ghostly Guide to West Virginia by James Foster Robinson.

I generally don't like to give negative reviews, but this author seriously needs to be ashamed. I realize that small town/self-published works generally lack a good editor, but the typos, the misspellings of towns and counties, the blatant misinformation, and the jumbled organization made this PAINFUL to read. What surprised me was that the author is allegedly a former journalist and has been published numerous times in various media.

My goal with my personal website is to clear up some of the misinformation about local legends and supposed haunted locations in my state and surrounding areas, and this book goes against everything I've worked so hard against, lol. Luckily, this was a Christmas gift, because it was super overpriced...and even moreso when you realize that you can find the exact same information for free on many different websites, lol. Rant over.

Welcome to the group, Theresa! It's an interesting theme you're tackling this year, it'll be an interesting group of books as well, I hope!

Thanks for the welcome!

3. We Have Always Lived in the Castle--impromptu trip to the library this afternoon resulted in SEVERAL books being brought home. I HAD to know how this one ended, so I ended up finishing it this evening. It was definitely an odd book, but I enjoyed it!

I read that one last year, it was a good book. Not at all what I was expecting - for some reason, I kept on thinking it was going to be British.

I've been hearing a lot about We Have Always Lived in the Castle recently - it might have to bump up my TBR list! I love odd, and I love 'have to know how it ended' for sure.

I think We Have Always Lived in the Castle is her best book. The Haunting is also worth checking out if you havent tried it.

I agree. I loved that book.

It was The Haunting of Hill House that indirectly led me to We Have Always Lived in the Castle, lol. The Haunting has been on my TBR list for about 12 years now, but unfortunately, my local library doesn't have a copy. They DID have the other one, so I thought I'd give it a try before I tried for an interlibrary loan, or going out and buying a copy. Anyway...

4. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy. Anne Rice's ideas on love are very...thought provoking...to say the least. They have a beauty all their own. However, this is definitely not a book for everyone, and quite honestly, the ending got a little boring, lol.

5. Ghosts of War: Restless Spirits of Soldiers, Spies and Saboteurs

I do a little Civil War reenactment, and lead a Civil War history tour, so this book was kind of fun for me.

6. West Virginia's Covered Bridges- I think I learned all that I will ever need to know on the architecture of covered bridges, lol. I find the history fascinating, and the photos lovely...but wow, do I never want to hear the words Burr Arch or Kingspost again, lol.

Unfortunately, this book is out of date, as it was purchased cheaply at a second hand store. Several of the VERY FEW remaining WV covered bridges discussed have since been destroyed, moved to other locations, or refurbished beyond recognition. Its a nice little reference book to have in my collection, though, and I guess I can honestly say I learned a thing or two that may come in handy in my pursuits of historical preservation, lol.

Gosh, that's sad! There's a gorgeous covered bridge just down the road from where I grew up. I think I'd cry if they ever destroyed it!

Some side books...I originally wasn't going to count children's books in this challenge--having a 16 month old, I read a TON of children's books, many over and over and over again in the course of a day, lol. However, since I also have to lead story-time at work every once in awhile, I think I'll go ahead and list those books just for my own benefit...although I will NOT be counting re-reads--just new to us books.

a. Norma Jean, Jumping Bean--Read this for story-time yesterday at work. Due to the snow, we only had one kid and his baby brother show up, but it was fun. The story had a lot of repetitive rhyming that kept BOTH their attention, plus interesting animal characters that we imitated, lol. Afterwards, we did Kid Zumba, and got to jump around...just like Norma Jean.

b. Frosty the Snowman-boardbook featuring the lyrics to the popular song.

c. Mimi's Toes-a Baby Einstein book about a little monkey getting a bath. My son and I read this one with our socks off so that we could tickle some toes, just like Mimi's mama does in the story.

d.Whose Eyes are These-A lift the flap book about the eyes of some interesting animals, lol.

e. My Colors/Mis Colores-excellent board book teaching colors and simple vocabulary. What I loved about it was that it was written in both Spanish AND English. This was a library book, but I'll be looking into purchasing it, and the others in the series.

f. Moo, Baa, La La La-My Luke liked this one a lot. I couldn't get him interested, so I just started reading it aloud while he played. When I got to the La La La part, he "la la la'ed" right after me...and then turned around and paid attention to the rest of the book, lol.

7. Classic Toys of the National Toy Hall of Fame--this was awesome! It was an encyclopedia featuring the backgrounds of some of our most popular toys. The only thing I didn't care for was that they sort of copped out by adding "cardboard box" and "stick" to the list, lol.

I started this last week at work, and read a few entries whenever I was stationed in the Toy Tech exhibit. Luckily, I finished with about 3 days left on the exhibit!

As a side, this exhibit also allowed me to read several other toy books, but those were read before the beginning of the new year, and thus, are on last year's challenge!

8. Hans Holzer's America's Mysterious Places

This was really quite interesting, and featured a lot of sacred, mystic, and sometimes just plain strange locations! Gave me a couple of ideas for places to feature on my website's Weird History section!

Still chugging through The Shining...reading it in snippets during slow times at work.

However, did finish:

9. Bad Bridesmaid--I am NEVER going to be a bridesmaid, and quite frankly, will NOT have bridesmaids when I get married myself, lol. I had already come to these conclusions, but this slightly hilarious book confirmed those choices for me.

10. Bear Hollow Tales by local author, Forrest Alford.

Bear Hollow Tales is a collection of true tales about ghosts and the supernatural. Some were experienced by the author himself, while others were related to him by friends and family. All took place in an area of the state I'm rather familiar with. This is actually a follow-up to a similar work that I also own.

I loved it...can't get enough of these old stories. They remind me so much of the ghost stories and family legends that my own grandparents passed on to me.

11. The Shining! I finally finished it. That was a REALLY good book, lol. I think I can say with confidence that it was my favorite King novel to date.

I read The Shining over Thanksgiving and was surprised by how much I loved it! It's really striking, and it stuck with me for a long time.

I'm working our Carnevale event tonight at work...I'm resisting the urge to yell "Unmask!" Hehe, but yeah, it was striking. I'm so glad I finally got around to reading it. I've been meaning to for ages.

12. Images of America: Point Pleasant (WV)--really interesting book. Its odd how so little about the downtown area has changed in the last 100 years, lol. Anyway, the Silver Bridge Disaster photos really got to me for some reason. I've seen my fair share of carnage, and for some reason, I get physically ill when looking at photos from the Silver Bridge collapse.

13. Guide Book to Historic Edenton and Chowan County (NC)--loved the photos of the old houses, but this book was really boring. It read like so much of the research that I come across doing my own title searches...not a lot of interesting, people-based stories.

14. Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Hotties--one of the "Emily" books by Katie Maxwell. Not as good as some of the others I've read, but a quick, silly read nonetheless. It was nice to revisit some of the characters again--The Year my Life Went Down the Loo is one of my all-time favorite YA books.

15. Images of America: Italians in Chicago-not entirely sure why this interested me so, lol. I'm not Italian, nor do I live in Chicago.

16. The Discreet Pleasures of Rejection-strange little novel about a man who gets dumped...by a woman he can't remember dating.

17. How to Land Your Dream Job--not the greatest book. It was a hodge-podge of "chapters" that seem haphazardly thrown together. Luckily, I've got a great job that will be a great stepping zone while I finish the education needed for my own dream job.

18. The Historian I actually really liked this book, lol. Not a big fan of vampire fiction, but as a researcher, I appreciated the "journey."

I liked The Historian for the description of the research, too.

19. Me Talk Pretty One Day In spite of myself, I actually laughed a bit out loud at this one, lol. Hilarious collection of short stories/essays...not exactly laid out in chronological order.

Oh, I was introduced to David Sedaris at the Sydney Writers' Festival some years ago - a friend of mine couldn't make it, and gave me his ticket. It was brilliant, and I've kept an eye open for his books ever since. (And I just got Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk for my birthday, woohoo!)

I have Me Talk Pretty One Day on cd; I downloaded it onto my ipod to listen to at school... but had to rethink that when I caught myself cackling as I walked from class to class. People were staring. :)

And I love The Historian for the research images too- something so intriguing about a life in search of information. And that octagonal room with the tea in Turkey (?)... actually, much of that book sticks in my memory.

20. The Ghost Hunter's Survival Guide I got a jump on myself and posted this one last year before I had finished it. I began from the beginning and finished it this week, and although it was a little dry and not necessarily in line with my own beliefs, I think its a valuable resource. Much of the discussed energy work and protection rites rely on mind over matter and faith...something I stress to my clients whether or not I feel as if I personally share those same beliefs.

21. Sizzling Sixteen These books are my guilty pleasures.

22. Possessed Possessions All about haunted antiques...very interesting, albeit outdated (it was written in the mid-90s and has been on my TBR list since then, hehe).

23. The Lost Symbol Dan Brown is another one of my guilty pleasures, lol. At a little over 600 pages, this had the potential to be a chunkster, but it went by super-quick...although the last 75 pages or so dragged on forever.

I confess to not having read The Lost Symbol but I did read the first two in the series and was rather bemused by the firestorm of criticism this series evoked... it seems that we love to hate the things we love. 40,000 entries for the Da Vinci Code here on LT, ~4000 reviews on Amazon... I'm sure that Dan Brown is taking all that criticism very seriously ;-)

24. The Uninvited: The True Story of the Union Screaming House Eh. I need to do a little more research on this supposedly true story. I've heard some not-so-flattering claims against the author.

25. David Sedaris' Holidays on Ice

Pretty hilarious, especially the chapter "Six to Eight Black Men." Despite the cover art, not all chapters were about Christmas...and I was pleased to see the Jesus Shaves essay in this one (a group of French language students try in vain to convey the concept of Easter to a fellow student.)

26. "I Never Knew That!" Fun collection of trivia facts, a few of which I can use for work...and a few I learned BECAUSE of my work (at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences).

Got a few more mostly finished non-fiction works...just haven't had much time, nor motivation lately.

27. Possessed Possessions 2 A follow-up to volume 1 that I read in April. This one was a little better...but although I like the author, I can't help feel he's a little condescending to the people he writes about, lol. Again, don't look for any hardcore theories or scientific analysis on this one; just enjoy the stories for what they are.

28. A Skeptic's Guide to the Paranormal. This could have been much better...I really had some high hopes, but it was sort of a let down. It felt like the author just kept spewing out the same information and same arguments over and over. It got to the point where it was tedious to read.

29. Sophie Pitt-Turnbull Discovers America
This was a fun YA book I picked up at Dollar General. An English girl trades places with another girl and spends the summer in New York. Things don't work out as planned...

30. Found: The Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World

Not as funny as I was hoping, but still quite enlightening...people will write some pretty strange things, and leave them just about anywhere, lol.

31.Help! I'm Married to a Homeschooling Mom
Granted, I wasn't the intended audience for this book, but I found it at Goodwill and thought I'd give it a read--I'm still weighing the possibility of homeschooling my son. This book, however, was uh...yeah. It was very religously-based and had the holier than thou mindset running through it.

32. Eerie Series 3: Ghosts
Quick read about some famous ghost stories and "real" ghost photos. I don't think there was anything in there that I wasn't at least somewhat familiar with, unfortunately.

33. Soiled Doves: Prostitution in the Early West

This was pretty interesting. It was a quick read and I did learn a thing or two about Soiled Doves. I also liked the fact that there were plenty of historical photos, lol. I picked this up, plus a similar book, at Goodwill for fifty cents so I'm guessing I'll be reading up a little more on this subject in the near future!

34. Great American West Collectibles

Some pretty interesting stuff. In addition to the photographs and pricing information, there were tons of background information and western "trivia."

35. Haunting Museums

I work at a museum...and I'm a paranormal investigator. Therefore, I thought this was THE book for me. I did like it quite a bit, but it wasn't necessarily what I thought it was going to be. Instead of concentrating on haunted museums, the chapters were based on just really WEIRD items, collections, and stories featured at various museums. There were a few ghost stories at the end.

For the most part, this was a fun book--easy to read a chapter or two here and there when I had some free time at work. However, I can't help thinking that it needed some major editing, lol. Plus, a lot of the entries (such as the Hope Diamond, Bog People, etc.) were about things I already knew about. It got a little boring in places as no real new information was presented.

36. Strangely Enough!--lots of fun, short anecdotes about ghosts, UFOs, buried treasure, strange disappearances, and all other manner of oddness. Perfect reading for gallery time between guests!

37. Eight Little Faces...eh. Found this at Dollar Tree tonight, so I bought it with the intent of putting it on PaperBackSwap, lol. Something odd about going through someone else's family photos, especially since we all know how THAT story ended.

38. The Book of Blunders This came out in 1974...so half of the people mentioned in this book, I had NEVER heard of. Still pretty funny, though.

39. Images of America: Elsmere and Erlanger (Ky). This were two Kentucky locations I wasn't really familiar with, but definitely some interesting insight!

40. Ghostly Tales and Legends Along the Grand Strand of South Carolina

My sister and mom took my son to the beach...while I had to stay here and go to work : ( This book was my consolation prize, lol. It was a good book, though!

41. West Virginia Reader: Stories of Early Days

An excellent addition to my WV History collection! Compilation of many early WV folklore and other stories.

42. Naked by David Sedaris

I REALLY needed this book. Hilarious! And, I found out through a co-worker that the woman from Strangers With Candy is his sister...I had no idea!

43. Dawn and the School Spirit War I needed some nostalgia with a series I loved when I was young...

44. The Road Wow, very depressing, lol.

Most depressing book ever, maybe.

I do find it harder to think of a book that depressed me more than The Road.

45. Mothman: The Facts Behind the Legend Picked this up at the Mothman Festival and got it signed by the authors. Whoo! Lots of transcribed interviews with eyewitnesses and newspaper clippings--great reference material.

46. Sucker Bet Not a big one for paranormal romances, but I needed a change of pace. I actually enjoyed this to an extent. The key words to enjoying it, however: suspension of disbelief, lol.

47. The Marge Book I'm such a sap for Simpsons stuff.

48. Ghosts of West Virginia by Geoffrey Foster

I was really excited about this one...but didn't really find anything new within it, and once again, found some glaring misinformation about popular haunted sites. Still, it was a fun read. The first part of the book was from the author's own paranormal experiences; I always love to hear others' ghost stories!

49. Circus of the Darned

Another literal laugh out loud. Oh, how I relish in suspension of disbelief. Quick, fun read to get me through the hellacious day I'm facing tomorrow.

50. Bringing up the midway mark with Carrie. I've read a lot of Stephen King novels, and this one was pretty darn good...I think because it was shorter than most I've read, lacking in the 200 or so pages at the end where everything is just flung together, lol. I'm still going with The Shining as my favorite, though.

51. What Style is It?

An American architectural primer. I had to read this for my Historic Preservation class....it was fun, and I learned a great deal that can be applied to my other historical endeavors, lol. Although, I do find myself driving through neighborhoods analyzing the architecture now, which gets on even MY nerves.

52. Mr. Fooster Traveling on a Whim

I know this was supposed to be a feel-good spiritual type book...but it just read like a bad acid trip. Oh well...it was a Dollar Tree find, so it was worth the investment.

53. Smokin' Seventeen

I'm not entirely sure how much longer these books can last, using the same exact formula and situations. Still, fun, quick read for a stressful week at work. There were still a few laugh out loud moments, but not nearly as many as with previous books in the series.

54. Marshall Memories: A Pictoral History of Marshall University 1837-1987

This was one of my antique store finds today....and I had to finish it before I went to bed! Lots of great information and history on my alma mater. Lots of wonderful photographs, too!

55. Haunted Theaters

Really fun book about theater ghosts, with lots of stories that I wasn't familiar with!

56. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever Not as funny as some of the others in the series, but remains a series that I can read along with my nephew and have a lot of fun with.

57. 365 Ways to Live Cheap...a Dollar General find. I needed inspiration, but there was nothing in there that I didnt' already know, so I guess the two bucks I paid for it defeated the purpose : (

58. Colorado Curiosities-I don't live in Colorado, nor do I plan on visiting any time soon...but I found this book and thought it looked interesting. It was filled with lots of awesome things that I had to do some additional research on. I even got a few ideas for my website!

Enjoying your reviews!

Thanks, judylou! I'm still trying to chug through to the very end, lol. This year just proved too busy for me, what with the being a mommy, the promotion at work, school, etc.

59. Jenkins of Greenbottom This small-time publication was AWESOME! It chronicled the life and military career of Gen. Albert G. Jenkins. This book honestly provided additional insight into two different local haunted locations that my group has investigated--the Jenkins plantation itself, and the Ramsdell House in nearby Ceredo--but also some additional information on Jenkins' raid on Guyandotte. My paranormal investigation group conducts haunted history walking tours, one which focuses exclusively on Civil War era ghosts and legends, of Guyandotte.

This book really did offer some insight that I previously just didn't think about...and it even mentioned a ghost story from the plantation house that was "debunked" in 1901!

oh well, there's always next year . . and the one after . . and the one after that . . and . .

60. The Shack

I was reluctant to read this one, but I'm really glad I did.

Now, I'm busy working my way through Paranormal Obsession.

61. Explosive Eighteen--I don't know why I keep doing this, lol. Anyway, when I was buying my copy of this book, I saw that the first in the series is being made into a movie for sure! I had heard the rumor before, but now it looks pretty definite! Of course, I'll have to go see it, lol.

62. The Weiser Field Guide to the Paranormal--ho hum. Had some interesting entries, and was fairly short. Well written and easy to understand.

63. Ghosts Caught on Film 3--another collection of ghost photos, except this edition had many author acknowledged fakes and false positives, lol. A few really interesting pieces, however, just might find their way onto my website in the near future.

64. The Virgin Suicides-I think I love Jeffrey Eugenides, lol. This was a pretty powerful novel.

65. Paranormal Obsession Interesting look at how reality TV has influenced the paranormal field and the country's perception of it.

66. Monsters Caught on Film

67. Miners and Medicine: West Virginia Memories

68. Haunted Hotels I've read several books by this author in this series. As always, excellent stories!

69. The Poltergeist Phenomenon I was finally able to finish this one, after finding it behind the couch today!

70. Destination Truth by Josh Gates. This was my first Kindle book! Excellent "memoir" type book on the monster hunting travels of the Destination Truth host.

71. Another Kindle book: Haunted Ground: Ghost Photos from the Gettysburg Battlefield. I wasn't necessarily impressed with all the "orb" photos, but the history was amazing.

72. My Man Jeeves- I liked it, but it didn't live up to what I expected.

Did you get a Kindle for Christmas? :)

I've got the first Jeeves book somewhere, yet *another* one I must dust off...

Hahaha, yup!

73. Scary Mary-An interesting YA book about a high school girl who can see ghosts...and my last book of 2011, finished while waiting for the ball!