George of Sylvania

Tag: book-review

  • Ring Shout by P. Déjlí Clark

    Ring Shout by P. Déjlí Clark

    Book 3 of my 25 of 2025 is here.

    I love the horror genre, not the brutal torture and gore of the sake of it, but the jump scare, ghosts, monsters, and whatever in between. In the past few years have really delved into the bookish side. To be honest, I am not sure where the love of it comes from, maybe it was watching Ghostbusters as a toddler?

    Could it have been going to the library with my grandmother and spending all my time looking through the Crestwood House Monster Series books. A series of books where the covers were black and white photos of the Universal Monster movies that captivated my eyes and mind at a young age. Either way, this has been my genre of choice when I find that I am bored, or looking for something familiar.

    It should be no surprise knowing this about me, that when I saw the cover for, Ring Shout, by P. Déjlí Clark, I was captivated and knew this would be on my top of the year list. If like me, you were incredibly angry at the cancellation of Lovecraft Country on HBO, this will fill a sort of gap for now.

    From Clark’s website:

    D. W. Griffith is a sorcerer, and The Birth of a Nation is a spell that drew upon the darkest thoughts and wishes from the heart of America. Now, rising in power and prominence, the Klan has a plot to unleash Hell on Earth.

    Luckily, Maryse Boudreaux has a magic sword and a head full of tales. When she’s not running bootleg whiskey through Prohibition Georgia, she’s fighting monsters she calls “Ku Kluxes.” She’s damn good at it, too. But to confront this ongoing evil, she must journey between worlds to face otherworldly nightmares—and her own demons. Together with a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter, Maryse sets out to save a world from the hate that would consume it.

    American history is rich with the brutal treatment of people of color at the hands of white people, and while Clark does some really creative work with the revamp of the klan, it builds on the true and horrific history. The white legacy is of treating Black and people of color in this country would make you vomit if we taught the truth in school. That is also why this book is so important to read. After all it is easy to ignore that the United States and the way we treated Indigenous Peoples was an inspiration to Hitler and how he treated European Jewish people.

    Not only is the concept brilliant, but the way that Clark weaves many genre’s is so well done. There are so many twists and turns in this book, you really need to pay attention while reading it.

    Highly recommend this one if you are a fan of the genre, even if you’re not, get uncomfortable and read it.

    At least purchase a copy.

  • Top books/series: 2020-2024

    Photo by Element5 Digital on Pexels.com

    I love books.

    Reading them, listening to them, or even collecting, it doesn’t matter. My office is filled with them, and so is our house. It has become a joke among some of the staff, and I have even been at bottom of a few jokes because of it. And you know what? I do not care. By nature, I am dyslexic, and I learned to read via comic books. In fact, I can tell you the first time I remember reading a word by myself.

    For Christmas in 1993 my parents bought me a box of comic books, and my life changed forever. I was already a fan of Batman thanks to the 1966 TV show reruns, but I did not know he was from another media. In that box was Batman 493, aka Red Slash, where serial killer Victor Zsasz take a few hostages and Batman has to rescue them. Well, one of the Gotham Police Officers that Zsasz… does… away… with… had my last name. That week before in kindergarten I was working with someone on spelling it out, and BAM! Right before my eyes, I see the name, I recognize what it is, and it was all downhill from there (except for reading, it took a long time for me to become comfortable with that).

    Over the years, I have spent many hours pouring over books of varying genres, mainly theological and non-fiction. However, in 2021 my wife urged me to pick up some fiction books, and I started to consume more of them. And since I’m one of the people that believes a decade starts in the year that ends in zero, we’re half way through the 20’s. With the over 300 books I’ve read so far this decade, here are my top ten books/series in no particular order:

    1. Operation Hail Mary by Mark Weir
      – Just read it. Incredible science based fiction. 10/10 no notes.
    2. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
      – There is a reason why people love this book. I thought it was going to be overrated, but it just really hit with me.
    3. Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a faith and Fracture a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
      – If like me you have some evangelicalism in your background, have gone through deconstruction/reconstruction and want to know some history pick it up. Also highly recommend The Making of Biblical Womanhood by Beth Alison Barr
    4. Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party by Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin Jr.
      – I grew up conservative and heard about the Black Panthers. Nothing about them I learned about was true unsurprisingly! This book will learning you something you need.
    5. The Inspector Gamaché series by Louise Penny
      – Look, no one should trust the police… unless they’re fictional and written by Louise Penny.
    6. River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candice Millard
      – Do you like Indiana Jones and want a true story? This one floats to the top of all those style books I’ve read recently.
    7. Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women by Kate Manne
      – Required reading if you identify as male. Don’t argue, just read the damn book.
    8. The Holocaust: A New History by Laurence Rees
      – I was going to put The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Israeli author Ilan Pappé but I read it this year. This is neck and neck with that book. Dives into the prehistory of n*zi Germany and is as impactful, plus a nice precursor to Pappé’s book.
    9. We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
      – Incredible horror/mind melt of a book. I read this twice last year, and am still decoding the hidden messages in the book. Highly recommend if that’s your bag.
    10. Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty AND Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
      – Patrick Radden Keefe is an incredible writer/journalist. These two subject couldn’t be more different, and he makes them attainable in such engaging ways.

    Bonus book series: The Exorcist House/Anathema by Nick Roberts; if you like The Exorcist, you’ll enjoy these. Roberts is quickly becoming my Stephen King.