R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril XI takes place from September 1st, 2016 through October 31st, 2016.
There are only two expectations if you want to participate with us:
1. Have fun reading (and watching*).
2. Share that fun with others.
Sign-ups are here, on Stainless Steel Droppings.
Reading, Watching, and, new this year, Playing.*
Mystery. Suspense. Thriller.Dark Fantasy. Gothic. Horror. Supernatural.
The event has run on the same general principles from the beginning, although gradually widening to incorporate other RIP-themed fun as the years have passed. Please visit Carl’s page for more details.
Even back in 2010, I was watching movies as part of the celebrations, but this year I also want to try the newest category, Peril in Play, so that I can lay out some games on the table between the stacks of books.
MisterBIP is going to love this because we usually play a game on Sundays anyway, and now he will have an excuse to suggest new creepy-spooky games to add to our (very small but much-adored) collection.
For Peril of theShort Story, I’m beginning with Ladies of Fantasy: Two Centuries of Sinister Stories by the Gentle Sex (Ed. Seon Manley and Gogo Lewis).
It’s an old-fashioned collection that’s been on my shelf since I was a girl and I’ve not yet read it cover-to-cover. The first story is by E. Nesbit, who also apparently wrote horror stories as well as the gentle fantasies shelved with the children’s classics.
For Peril of the Screen, MisterBIP and I aim to watch 13 horror films together each season, but it feels a little too bright and warm outdoors to begin just yet. Whenever we have made a list, we have scurried in exactly the opposite direction of all our good intentions, so whimsy will dictate here.
For Peril the First, I’ve looked back at my lists from previous events to see what books I’d hoped to read that I didn’t complete. Much of my reading this year has been devoted to filling some gaps, finishing books that have stumped me in the past, reading on with series I’ve enjoyed, and finally following up on recommendations from reading friends.
Most of my past RIP plans were rooted here too, so I’m not going to make a new list, rather look to good ideas on older lists, and then allow for some whimsy along with the excitement of a new publishing season to build some stacks as the weeks pass.
I’m especially keen to see where works by favourite authors (even some of my MRE MustReadEverything authors) might fit thematically). Maybe this is when I will finally restart and finish, at last, Toni Morrison’s Beloved?
And all year I’ve been reading on in series which have languished unfinished for too long; I’ve even finished some! Two series that I’m ready to complete are Kelley Armstrong’s final in the Nadia-Stafford-assassin series (Wild Justice) and the final in her Women of the Otherworld (13). Are there series volumes figuring in your RIP reading this year?
I’ve also been wanting to carry on with Jackson Brodie as well, but I’ve been eyeing Kate Atkinson’s When Will There Be Good News? for so long now, that I wonder if I won’t need to begin again with Case Histories. Perhaps watching the BBC episodes which corespond with the first two volumes would suffice: thoughts?
As for stories that I’ve waited a long time to read, my first official read for this year’s RIP is George Elliott Clarke’s George & Rue, which retells the story of a bludgeoning and a hanging from 1949 New Brunswick, Canada.
Previously, I’ve read his Execution Poems, a set of verses which also consider this murder, and his Whylah Falls, which is preoccupied with another sort of passion. Clarke’s exuberance spills across the page of whatever stories he tells and this one, though difficult, is just as beautiful (but, yes, brutal) as the other works of his which I’ve read.
Next in the stack is Steven Price’s By Gaslight, which was published at the end of August. A novel of “darker selves”, unfolding in a “city of fog and darkness” about “notorious thief Edward Shade [who] exists only as a ghost, a fabled con, a thief of other men’s futures – a man of smoke”. It’s being compared to Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries, which works to draw me in, but it also reminds me of Charles Palliser’s The Quincunx, a book that I struggled to finish for another year’s RIP.
And there is a mystery near the top of the stack: The Hanging by Lotte and Søren Hammer. (My copy is translated by Ebba Segerberg. What a shame to have to look to the copyright page to find this crucial piece of information: why isn’t her name on the cover or, at least, the cover page?(
This duo is new-to-me but I’m predisposed in their favour because I’ve recently read and enjoyed another Danish duo’s collaborations, the Nina Borg mysteries (The Considerate Killer is the most recent). There is now at least one other volume available in English translation: anyone read their work yet?
Are you joining or have you joined this event? If so, what are you most looking forward to for this year’s celebrations?
If not, are you reading something creepy-spooky in the wings? Either way, woudl you care to recommend a sinister tale for my stack?
[…] know, I know: you know about this #RIPXI thing. My sign-up post is here and the event’s page is here. Are you reading with it in mind, too? Have you read any of […]
[…] already know about this #RIPXI thing, right? My sign-up post is here and the event’s page is here. Are you reading with it in mind […]
Oh! Watch Jason Isaacs (sp?) as Jackson Brodie. So, so good!
This always looks like fun, but I’ve never joined. Right now I feel like I’ve almost filled my quota of mystery-types books for the year after reading The Fortunate Brother, The Couple Next Door, Three Years with the Rat, and The Hidden Keys. None of them were very scary, though – it might be fun to scare myself!
Are you curious about Steven Price’s By Gaslight, longlisted for the Giller? It would certainly fit. Maybe Emma Donoghue’s new one as well, but I’m not sure just how strong the creepy/mystery element is there? Were you still planning to read Memento? An old favourite of mine is Joey Comeau’s One Bloody Thing after Another, which is a very quick read and more disturbing that quintessentially horror-y, but it’s a small-press pub and I’m not sure how readily you could find a copy. Not that I should be adding to your TBR! 🙂
All of those sound good! I was forgetting about The Memento – our library actually has that one. Rumor has it that it will be open by the end of September, so that would be in time…
You have some great goals with this challenge! I plan to join but need to work on my list of potential reads. Have fun!
I can only imagine all the mysteries that you might have to list, Iliana. GL with your plans!
Happy RIP reading, playing and watching 😀 I have enjoyed several of E Nesbit’s charming children’s novels this year, and had no idea that she had wrote horror stories!
Thanks, Jessica. I have The Enchanted Castle on my TBR as well, but I think it’s supposed to be charming not chilling too. She wasn’t a favourite of mine when I was a girl, but I’m still curious about her short fiction.
It’s a long time since I participated in such a reading challenge.
Maybe you’ll be inspired to join in! 🙂
I’ve read the first three Jackson Brodie novels and I don’t think it would matter too much if you went straight to the third without re-reading the others, although watching the BBC series might be a good idea. You’ve reminded me that I still need to read the fourth one – I forgot about that when I was putting my RIP list together. The short story collection you mentioned sounds interesting. I wasn’t aware that E. Nesbit wrote horror stories!
Do I remember reading that the fourth volume is the final one in the series? You can always add to your list, right? So many good books to choose from and seeing other readers’ lists certainly reminds me of that as well!
Have great fun with your RIP perils! 😀
Thanks for stopping by, Darren. It is a perilous journey, isn’t it!
I highly recommend watching the Jackson Brody series – it was fab. I read the books all out of order, which disappoints me, but still loved that series.I’d watch the shows and then read. (but i’m not a big re-reader)
Even though I love rereading when I’m actually doing it, the idea of doing it when there are so many fresh new books taunting me (especially this time of year) is a whole nother. There are some mysteries that I’ve found do hold up to rereading, and I suspect KA’s would fit that bill, but I’m leaning towards picking up with the third book instead…
I added my name to the sign-up. I’m contemplating a Barbara Vine mystery (never read her before, not even under her real name, Ruth Rendell). I also am curious to watch the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies movie, and maybe also Shutter Island. As far as other spooky things I do, I usually participate in a zombie walk every October. Last year I dressed up in a orange jumpsuit costume with the zombie make-up and carried a sign that said “Zombie is the New Zombie.”
That sounds like such fun, Christy! I’ve watched those walks (love the make-up) but have never dressed up for them. I thought “Shutter Island” was delightfully spooky; I haven’t seen the P&P Zombie film yet, but the trailer looks like great fun. Do let us know how you find them! And, oh, Vine/Rendell? I’m sure you’ll find a new favourite there!
I always think this sounds so much fun and I really should join in. But I have a problem with reading scary stories at night, so maybe I should just go for a mystery or two!
Surely there are some quaint little Penguin editions that would fit the bill on your shelves, or in a local shop looking for a new home?