Picked up a nice hardback of THE MURDERER'S COMPANION by William Roughead. This particular edition (1946) has a foreward by Alexander Woollcott.

How about a moderator starting a thread devoted to book purchases and not just books read as I'm sure more members than me are collectors and have a collection they are always building, and making it sticky?

Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill

Let me know what you think of it. I really enjoyed it.

Will do. I'm liking it so far.

Haven't started anything new yet, still reading CRYPTONOMICOM and THE DELIGHT OF GREAT BOOKS, but as Charles Dickens's 200th birthday is coming up early in February, the 7th I believe, I may interupt my current batch and read something by him. Haven't decided what yet.

What would you consider as Dickens best, besides the obvious ones.

Anyone read anything from Joyce Carol Oates?

I recommend Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque and Zombie. She also has a lot of great work in various anthos. I saw her read in person once. Even at 70, she is chillingly beautiful and her charisma is electric.

Not sure, I haven't read that much by him. GREAT EXPECTATIONS in high school, which I really liked, and a mystery story I found in an anthology devoted to Victorian Detective stories. I'm leaning toward some nonfiction like SKETCHES BY BOZ or AMERICAN NOTES FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. I also found my copy of TALES OF TWO CITIES which sort of started tugging at the pocket my reading glasses were in.:)

Haven't read her but I do have CHILDWOLD which I always meant to get to.

Haha, this might sound a bit silly, but I'm reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It's pretty much a young adult novel, but I quite like it. Also, a compilation of H.P. Lovecraft short stories.

Yeah you're exactly rright I think Koontz is great to read after you have read something with unusual or poetic language like Poe or Lovecraft that's how I read most of the ones I've read so far. I'm edging towards occult non fiction at the moment though so may be quite some time before I get around to door to december.