BOOK REVIEW By Laura Cummings, White Birch Books Haunted Hiking and Reading There are so many ways to tackle the hikes of the White Mountains and beyond. You can attempt the 4,000-footers, go for the 52 With a View, take the hikes geared for kids or for dogs, or just look for the ones that guarantee views or waterfalls. It seems that there is something for everyone … and yet, there is still room to fill a niche. Marianne O’Connor does just that with her book, Haunted Hikes of New Hampshire. This guide is great fun because it is part local history and part ghost story with the reward of a great hike or two. It’s one thing to know about elevation gain and difficulty level, but it’s also cool to add in hermits, UFOs, and ghosts. Each chapter in the book begins with the haunted story and then finishes with the hikes that are available in that same area. Once your haunted hike is done for the day, it would only be appropriate to continue the theme with a good book when you are relaxing by the campfire or
This guide is great fun because it is part local history and part ghost story with the reward of a great hike or two. It’s one thing to know about elevation gain and difficulty level, but it’s also cool to add in hermits, UFOs, and ghosts.
back at home. There are many books that would fit that bill. Practically the whole Stephen King canon would do the trick, but that’s too easy. A perfect book for the times that would freak anyone out while enjoying the great outdoors is Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay. In Survivor Song, Tremblay imagines a rabies-like virus that has transferred to humans. Spread by saliva, this insidious disease has a very short incubation period of an hour or less. Those infected lose their minds and only want to bite other people to spread the virus as much as possible before they succumb. At eight months pregnant, Natalie has been bitten. Autumn 2021
She has an hour to get the vaccine to possibly save her baby. She reaches out to her friend, Dr. Ramola Sherman, and asks for help to journey through the now hostile suburban landscape to reach the hospital. The two women must dodge infected people, government roadblocks, and an armed militia taking the law into their own hands. It is quite plausible how quickly society falls apart, making this a very current horror story. Switching gears entirely, Plain Bad Heroines by Emily Danforth is the perfect book for those who get their scares from curses and hauntings. In 1902 at the Brookhants School for girls, two students— obsessed with each other and with scandalous writer Mary MacLane—start the Plain Bad Heroine Society to show their devotion. When they are killed by yellowjackets in the school orchard, the curse begins. The death of another student and a teacher follow before Brookhants is shuttered for good. Fast-forward to the present day, when an enterprising director decides to make a movie on the site of the old school. Featuring the hot young actress of the day, Harper Harper, the film is designed to be a movie within a movie. But things start happening on set. How much is production and how much is curse— and why is there always a persistent buzzing? Plain Bad Heroines is dark, haunting, and ghostly, but also funny at times as the narrator talks directly to the reader. But there is no doubt that there is a lingering feeling of malevolence once the last page is turned … and readers will never view yellowjackets the same way again! Both Tremblay and Danforth are New England-based authors, and their works are set in New England as well. Combining their books with a nice, haunted hike is a perfect recipe for a fall day.
Laura Cummings owns and operates White Birch Books, an independent, full-service bookstore serving the Mt. Washington Valley and beyond.
Celebrating 25 years! (603) 356-3200
PO Box 399 • 2568 White Mt Hwy North Conway Village, NH 03860 Just south of the park
info@whitebirchbooks.com www.whitebirchbooks.com
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