October 2016 Group Read #2 Usher's Passing by Robert McCammon

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥]

Rachel wrote: "I'm still waiting for my book to arrive. Hopefully it's in OK condition - I bought it from thriftbooks. I think I got the pumpkin cover, too. I hope so, anyway. Although that lion moon face is nice!"

Yay! You got from thrift books. They are slow with stuff getting here but you should get it in time because I think I ordered right before you and I got this exact copy of the book. I like those big ole eyeballs. lol

[Andrew✌️]

I started today. I'm at the Prologue, so I can't judge. But this first chapter is intriguing and fortunately there is also the original novel of Poe, so I could refresh my memory. :)

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥]

Okay now, everyone starting early. I'm waiting but I'm reading a bunch of scaries for Oct. That's the plan anyway!

[Rachel]

Melissa wrote: "Okay now, everyone starting early. I'm waiting but I'm reading a bunch of scaries for Oct. That's the plan anyway!"

I haven't started it yet (hven't received it yet) but i'm going to wait until october 1 anyway because i signed up for a bunch of challenges that start on that date, lol.

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥]

Rachel wrote: "Melissa wrote: "Okay now, everyone starting early. I'm waiting but I'm reading a bunch of scaries for Oct. That's the plan anyway!"

I haven't started it yet (hven't received it yet) but i'm going ..."

I did too Rach, I'm going to start then with a bunch of scaries :-)

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥]

John wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Melissa wrote: "Okay now, everyone starting early. I'm waiting but I'm reading a bunch of scaries for Oct. That's the plan anyway!"

I haven't started it yet (hven't received it yet)..."

Lol :-D

[Latasha]

Yay Melissa! I'm from Tn too. About 4 hrs north east of you. I love Chattanooga. <3

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥]

That's so awesome. Well I knew you were from TN when I got the addresses for the exchange! I love two of us TN girls on here :-D

And it's too cool you have been here. I have actually met several people from Chattanooga on here. We talk about our stomping grounds. ❤

[Latasha]

Uh oh...I didn't get your address! Can u send me a PM. I would've remembered seeing it.

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥]

I thought she sent them out to everyone. I got an email with everyone's address on it including mine which made 13. Can you double check with her? I want to make sure I get mail :-(

[Latasha]

I'm up to chapter 10. whoa girls!! Logan sounds like a hottie! I do love a square jaw line <3 (view spoiler)[ too bad he's a freakin psycho! killing the family dog :( my guess is Sandra found out she was pregnant and did not want to continue that family line. nah!! it can't be something that obvious. I feel so sorry for Puddin. just let her go people! (hide spoiler)]

[Crowinator]

I'm requesting it from my library now. There is a total of one copy in the system. (c: These older classics are always being weeded (not that I can blame them; if they don't circulate and are old, they go). I'll add it to my October reads along with my pile of short stories that I want to get through.

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥]

Awesome, Crow! I wI'll start mine later too. And your right about the libraries. It's sad but true.

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥]

I like my physical books more but don't tell that to the million and 5 I have on my kindle. lol

[Latasha]

Chapter 11-
He just dropped my favorite word!! PHANTASMAGORIC. <3

[Andrew✌️]

Finished Ch3. The style is impressive, mostly Gatehouse's description and Walen Usher's conditions. This family remember me a nest of vipers.

[Latasha]

while Usher's Malady isn't a real thing, Usher syndrome is. here's what Wikipedia says...

Usher syndrome is an extremely rare genetic disorder caused by a mutation in any one of at least 11 genes resulting in a combination of hearing loss and visual impairment, and is a leading cause of deafblindness. Usher syndrome is incurable at present.

Other names for Usher syndrome include Hallgren syndrome, Usher-Hallgren syndrome, retinitis pigmentosa-dysacusis syndrome, and dystrophia retinae dysacusis syndrome.[1]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usher_s...

[Kenneth]

Latasha wrote: "while Usher's Malady isn't a real thing, Usher syndrome is. here's what Wikipedia says...

Usher syndrome is an extremely rare genetic disorder caused by a mutation in any one of at least 11 genes ..."

I had no idea that this was anything more than made up in McCammon's mind. Kudos to you, Latasha, for summoning your inner-Sherlock Holmes!

[Chris]

I just couldn't wait until October so I started this a few days ago. Can't wait to join in on the discussions!

[Nancy]

I received an email from the library that my book is ready to be picked up. I won't be able to get it until tomorrow afternoon.

[Katy]

Nancy wrote: "I received an email from the library that my book is ready to be picked up. I won't be able to get it until tomorrow afternoon."

I picked up my copy from the library today. Started it on the way home from work. Great beginning - atmospheric, lots of suspense.

[Latasha]

well, I was reading and thinking, hmmm..i wonder if that's a real thing and that's what I found.

[Graeme]

Just bought the kindle version - so I'm ready to roll with my first Robert McCammon book.

[Kimberly]

It seems like this was quite the popular pick--a lot of early starters! (Although, I have to admit, it's probably my fifth re-read--an absolute favorite, and I seem to "discover" something new every time I read it).

[Graeme]

Hi Kimberly, I'm looking forward to reading a new author for me.

The drawing of 19th C New York on the first page is quite evocative and bodes well.

[Latasha]

I've read swan song- LOVED IT! and speaks the nightbird- it was ok.

[Kimberly]

Latasha wrote: "I've read swan song- LOVED IT! and speaks the nightbird- it was ok."

I actually liked SWAN SONG better than THE STAND--maybe because I read it afterwards, but the characters just stood out to me more.

[Casey]

I actually liked SWAN SONG better than THE STAND--maybe because I read it afterwards, but the characters just s..."

It's because Swan Song is a much better book! Everyone is relatable, there not any giant chunks of novel that serve no purpose, and you don't have to wait for hundreds of pages before you get a grasp of what the story is.

Of course, I have a huge bias against Stephen King, so there's that.

[Casey]

As far as McCammon goes; thus far I have read Swan Song, Boy's Life, and Mine. While Swan Song is absolutely my favorite, they were all quite good. Hopefully my copy of Usher's Crossing will get here soon.

[Quentin]

Wow we have a lot of early birds on this read! I'm starting today, and I have the first edition hardcover as well, although mines seen better days I'm afraid lol. This one has been sitting on my shelf for years so I'm glad to finally have an excuse to get to it.

[Latasha]

I like swan song better. I read it first and turned right around and read the stand.

[Casey]

I think that if I had to pick a single, most over-rated book out there...it would be The Stand.

[Char]

I loved both books and both authors. Still do. :)

[Kimberly]

Charlene wrote: "I loved both books and both authors. Still do. :)"

I enjoyed the STAND, but SWAN SONG resonated more with me. But then, I honestly can't think of anything I haven't loved (that I've read) by McCammon to date.

[Rachel]

my copy came in yesterday!! going to start it this weekend. the back of the jacket is a pic of the author. he was a cutie!!!! :P

[Graeme]

Hi Rachel, good to see you in this read.

[Casey]

my copy is leaving from las Vegas. I am I'm in Austin. the post office's first move was to send it to Illinois. they sent it 5 hours further away then I am, in the wrong direction. I loathe the post office.

[Graeme]

Hi Casey,

Apparently the people who work at the post office agree with you

[Crowinator]

Just got my copy from one of the libraries in my system. For the 1984 original hardcover, and a library book, it's in pretty good shape. I'm excited to start - I've tried so many new (to me) classic authors since joining this group.

[Kimberly]

I had a little too much "doctor office" time this week and finished my re-read last night..... Looking forward to joining in the conversations when everyone else gets started, though!

[Andrew✌️]

I like the way McCammon makes grow the horror in this novel. Usher are the object of the story, but till now is not clear the history of the family and what they hide. There are many references to the house on an isle, in the center of a lake, but few explanations about what make it so horrible. And there is the "pumpkin man", a tale, in the beginning, but ever more real with the progress of the novel.
I have the chills reading and I look forward to continuing.

[Char]

Andrew wrote: "I like the way McCammon makes grow the horror in this novel. Usher are the object of the story, but till now is not clear the history of the family and what they hide. There are many references to ..."

Glad you're enjoying it so far, Andrew.

[Dennis]

Just listened to the late , great Christopher Lee reading "The Fall Of The House Of Usher". Very chilling.I would recommend everyone to at least read the story before starting "Usher's Passing".

[Crowinator]

I'm really enjoying this so far. Just got to the early scene with New and the brambles. Oooh, somethin' bad is gonna happen to him...

I admit, the brief description of the Pumpkin Man surprised me. I was sorta expecting this.

[Crowinator]

Dennis wrote: "Just listened to the late , great Christopher Lee reading "The Fall Of The House Of Usher". Very chilling.I would recommend everyone to at least read the story before starting "Usher's Passing"."

Good idea. It's been a long time since I actually read that story. I remember hearing Vincent Price narrate Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" in junior high in a class, and that started my love for Poe at the time. That's another one to look for too!

[Holly]

Does the house in this book remind anybody else of the Biltmore estate in North Carolina?

[Latasha]

Kinda. I wonder if that was his inspiration?

[Latasha]

For the house*

[Hunter]

Yes, it was. He discusses it in this 1985 interview in The Horror Show.

THS: I'm extremely fond of your latest novel, Usher's Passing. How did you conceive such a brilliant work?

McCAMMON: "The Fall of the House of Usher" was one of my most favorite Poe stories as a kid. I really liked the dark, chilly atmosphere and the sense of nightmare-in-reality that Poe had created. Well, I'd been kicking this idea around about doing a family saga of the Ushers for a couple of years, but the plot didn't click into place until I visited a huge estate called Biltmore, near Asheville, North Carolina. The house is just totally unreal, with all these magnificent rooms and banquet halls, libraries with hundreds of volumes of leather-bound books---the whole aristocratic trip! But tourists only get to see a small portion of the Biltmore house, because the basement, the upper floor and the attic are closed off, and those alone would make another huge mansion!

I did get to see the servants' quarters, which are these tiny cubicles in one of the basements---and I'm told there are many basement levels---and my mind started working. The house was built around the turn of the century by the Vanderbilt family, whose patriarch constructed Grand Central Station in New York City; they owned other showplace estates around the country, and I thought, Yes, the Usher family would be wealthy too! They'd be staggeringly wealthy, and naturally they'd be in a business that would reflect something of their tastes and attitudes.

So, it took off from my visit to the Biltmore Estate.

Hunter

[Latasha]

Yay! I visited it a few years ago. It's nice but hot & expensive.