Wow, it's been a while! I'm sorry for that, everyone. Illness and the passing of a family member put a hold on things, but we're back!
The first book I read for the 2015 Reading Challenge was 'Witches and Ghosts, Pirates and Thieves, Murder and Mayhem: Scary Tales from Colonial Williamsburg' from The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation of Williamsburg, Virginia, copyright 2007 and compiled by John P. Hunter.
It may seem odd that a historical society would publish a book of folk tales and ghost stories, but the stories told in this book were stories that were actually told eighteenth-century Virginia. Oral tradition is one of the best way to learn about a society, and offers many ways to better understand their morals and beliefs. After all, almost every fairy tale teaches a lesson to those who listen.
What I found most interesting about the book was that the stories are written as if someone is speaking them, sometimes writing phonetic dialect of the speaker. Nearly all of them are told in first person, and some of them even contain an introduction in the first sentence of the story.
While some of the stories are comical and others rather grim, they are all well researched and included for particular reasons, as the Sources section at the back of the book explains. Each story has a paragraph or two about where it came from, who told it, and any historical documentation that goes along with it. Dark Corners, Black Ink, and The Houseguest are some of my favorites. The Combustible Woman caused me to put the book down and step away from it for a few minutes. As that kind of reaction was probably the goal of the story, I have to say they succeeded.
Rank: A-
I love the stories, the historical significance, and the research done into them. The only thing that dropped it from an A was the writing phonetic writing style, which sometimes drew me out of the book. There is some mild violent content, so I recommend this book for ages 10 and up. If you enjoy scary stories, I highly recommend this book!
No comments:
Post a Comment