Wylding Hall Buddy Read - May 9, 2021

[Lisa]

Hi everyone! Looking forward to reading this with you all :)

[Kimberly]

YAY!

[Latasha]

Hi!

[Melanie]

Thanks Lisa :-)

[Lisa]

Melanie wrote: "Thanks Lisa :-)"

You bet!

[Latasha]

i'll be reading it this time. As always, i like to share this folk song mentioned in the book. no spoilers, you can listen to it now.
https://youtu.be/wVSivbADNes

[Zen]

I listened to this back in November, so I'm going to be lurking in this thread as it has been a bit since I finished it.

[Kimberly]

Latasha wrote: "i'll be reading it this time. As always, i like to share this folk song mentioned in the book. no spoilers, you can listen to it now.
https://youtu.be/wVSivbADNes"

I love that you found this!!!!

[Latasha]

Thanks! I love it very much.

[Melanie]

I'm listening to this out in my garden today and it's fab! i thought I might get a bit confused with all the characters but not so far. Thanks for the folksong Tosh, I've paused the book and listening to that now instead!

[Lisa]

I just listened too, thanks for sharing it, Latasha!

[Latasha]

Your welcome.

[Kimberly]

My most re-read book to date, I believe! I love the multiple POVs in this one...

[Melanie]

I have to go off on a bit of a road trip this morning so I'll probably finish it. I'm about 73% through and I'm getting (view spoiler)[ some Machen's The White People and Other Weird Stories vibes. (hide spoiler)]

[Melanie]

I finished it today. I really liked it but it's not my favourite for the year. The audio version was excellent though. What do others think? (view spoiler)[ was she a ghost or fae? (hide spoiler)]

[Latasha]

My thoughts are (view spoiler)[ that she was/is fae. (hide spoiler)]

[Melanie]

Latasha wrote: "My thoughts are [spoilers removed]"

Yeah, I think so too, and I think (view spoiler)[ she was royally pissed that he'd found a way to summon her. (hide spoiler)]

[Latasha]

(view spoiler)[ I never thought she was pissed at him. But I could be forgetting something. What gave you that impression? (hide spoiler)]

[Kimberly]

(view spoiler)[I got the impression that she searched him out--he was somehow a beacon to her with his willingness to believe, and all the references to singing... (hide spoiler)]

[Lisa]

I’m only about halfway through and dying to read everyone’s spoilers. I’m enjoying the picture that this book is painting of the folk music genre and culture - something I don’t know anything about. Moving a little slow so far, I’m eager to see what’s to come.

[Melanie]

Latasha wrote: "[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I thought at first she was just surprised to be summoned, as they all said she seemed so vague when she first appeared at the pub, but then there were tiny spatterings of blood on the walls of his bedroom and in the photos that the band saw later, they said her eyes were all black, her hands were like claws and she had 2 rows of teeth in her mouth.
I think he was trying to find a way to summon/call a fae, and he succeeded with something he found in the old books he read and with his music. (hide spoiler)]

[Latasha]

https://youtu.be/ExTWRaJlWEs

Unquiet Grave. One of the songs Les & Ashton sing in The Wren. This is hauntingly beautiful.

[Melanie]

Thanks tosh, that was just beautiful.

[Latasha]

Melanie wrote: "Latasha wrote: "[spoilers removed]"

I thought at first she was just surprised to be summoned, as they all said she seemed so vague when she first appeared at the pub, but then there were tiny spa..."

I don't know. I'm still trying to decide.

[Latasha]

Melanie wrote: "Thanks tosh, that was just beautiful."

your welcome.

[Kimberly]

Melanie wrote: "Latasha wrote: "[spoilers removed]"

I thought at first she was just surprised to be summoned, as they all said she seemed so vague when she first appeared at the pub, but then there were tiny spa..."

No matter how many times I read it, I still speculate...

[Latasha]

This book just enchants me so! Don’t read this til your done reading.

(view spoiler)[
Thrice Toss These Oaken Ashes
BY THOMAS CAMPION
Thrice toss these oaken ashes in the air,
Thrice sit thou mute in this enchanted chair,
Then thrice three times tie up this true love's knot,
And murmur soft "She will, or she will not."

Go burn these pois'nous weeds in yon blue fire,
These screech-owl's feathers and this prickling briar,
This cypress gathered at a dead man's grave,
That all my fears and cares an end may have.

Then come, you fairies! dance with me a round;
Melt her hard heart with your melodious sound.
In vain are all the charms I can devise:
She hath an art to break them with her eyes. (hide spoiler)]

[Latasha]

(view spoiler)[ I think the whole story is connected to the hunting of the week but I can’t figure out how unless She is the personification of the wren And Wylding Hall was her nest. By the group coming there they ran her out of her nest and she got revenge by taking Julian but I don’t know, I think she was mesmerized by him. One of the band remembers said she had feathers stuck to her feet that night at the pub.
I sure would love to talk to the author about this book!
What do y’all think? Am I reaching or over thinking? (hide spoiler)]

[Latasha]

https://youtu.be/V9u2Een2oA0

My favorite version of John Barelycorn.

[Lisa]

Finished this a couple of days ago, and I’m hesitant to say so, but it was just OK for me, on the whole. The atmospheric elements were great, and there were certain parts that really gripped me, and I thought that we’d turned a corner, and that things would really start to ramp up, but I didn’t feel like those points ever came to fruition. Like when (view spoiler)[ the girl showed up in the pub, it was great, and creepy, and I felt fear descending on the story, but then it fell a little flat. I did love when the pictures came out with the girl in them. (hide spoiler)] Just too few scares stretched across the story, in my opinion. I also found the individuals, particularly the male characters, a bit hard to keep straight. I had to keep popping back to see who the narrator was, as the POV changed. I do love Liz Hand, and there were solid elements here, so maybe I should give this one another try sometime. I thank you all for reading, and I welcome comments/discussion on my criticisms.

[Latasha]

Aww, that’s ok Lisa. I definitely understand what your saying. The horror is mild & not really jump out and get ya. I hope your next read by her will be better.

[Latasha]

i finished this tonight. I love it just as much this time as the 2 previous times. The folklore is a big part of why i adore this book so much and i don't mind that the end isn't wrapped up neatly. I like that if you ask 5 people what they think happened, you'd get 5 different answers.

[Lisa]

I’m on board with (view spoiler)[ The idea that the girl was conjured by Julian. I’m trying to decide why she came to the pub, rather than “getting” him at Wylding Hall. Possibly because he disrupted her and she wanted to return the favor? I also wonder how/why they came to be out on the street in later years, seen by Jonno. Were they apparitions? Why/how did they leave Wylding Hall? (hide spoiler)] Any thoughts?

[Latasha]

(view spoiler)[
I think he did summon her. I don’t why she approached him at the pub, maybe there was more energy for her to pull from there. I think she is some type of Fae folk and I think Julian, maybe with her help, learned how to manipulate time. I think it has a lot to do with that mound he & Nancy went out to in the woods. I think she appeared to Nancy cause she was more in tune like Julian. (hide spoiler)]

[Lisa]

Latasha wrote: "
I think he did summon her. I don’t why she approached him at the pub, maybe there was more energy for her to pull from there. I think she is some type of Fae folk and I think Julian, maybe with he..."

(view spoiler)[ I like the thought on the energy of the pub. Or perhaps she was just summoned to wherever he was; maybe his performance summoned her. Do you have thoughts on the dead birds/beaks connection? She seemed to have physical characteristics of a bird that were seeping through her form. (hide spoiler)]

[Latasha]

The only thing I can think of is she was (view spoiler)[ the personification of the wren and Julian was hunting her. Did you read one of my other spoiler up about the hunting of the wren? (hide spoiler)]

[Lisa]

Latasha wrote: "The only thing I can think of is she was [spoilers removed]"

Ah, yes, just read that…I’m rereading all the spoilers this morning. I like that idea. I think I’ll go back to the book and reread whatever I can find about the (view spoiler)[ wren hunt (hide spoiler)] That’s one nice thing about reading a Kindle version :)

[Latasha]

Yes! I think I made like 30 some highlights 😂

[Melanie]

Lisa wrote: "Finished this a couple of days ago, and I’m hesitant to say so, but it was just OK for me, on the whole. The atmospheric elements were great, and there were certain parts that really gripped me, an..."

I felt a bit the same Lisa, but I think that was more my expectations of it being a 'scary' horror rather than a quiet folk horror. I'll probably read or listen to it again some time and it will be a completely different experience.

[Lisa]

Melanie wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Finished this a couple of days ago, and I’m hesitant to say so, but it was just OK for me, on the whole. The atmospheric elements were great, and there were certain parts that really g..."

I agree. It did have a good overall vibe. I might check it out again around Halloween :)