Monsters

Posted Oct 27, 2017

Explore your monstrous side with this week’s #Friday Reads:

Broken Monsters: A Novel by Lauren Beukes

Detroit detective Gabriella Versado has seen a lot of bodies, but never one that was half boy and half deer.  And soon thereafter more strange bodies begin to pop up in abandoned warehouses throughout the inner city.  In the meantime, Detective Versado’s daughter, Laybna flirts with an online predator; freelance journalist Jonno is on the prowl for the next big story; a homeless man named Thomas Keen just wants to his family safe; and of course the violent monster who wants to remake the world.  Part thriller and part fairy tale, Broken Monsters is a gritty tale of broken cities, broken dreams, and broken people just trying to put the pieces back together.

Monsters by Vincent Price & V.B. Price

Horror movie legend Vincent Price and his son, V.B. Price, take readers on a journey into the world of haunting, menacing creatures as well as the origins of our unconscious fears.  By unearthing monsters in folklore, archeology, history, literature, and modern media, the Prices explore different types of monsters including, primordial monsters, living monsters, monsters of twilight, creatures of legend and myth, anxiety monsters, created monsters, witches and demons, and lastly man as monster.  From gargantuan, hideous, and uncontrollable unknown beasts to the darker sides of humanity, Monsters is a classic resource guide to horror.     

On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears by Stephen T. Asma

Satan, Frankenstein’s monster, vampires, circus freaks, headless children, and serial killers – all monsters symbolize the dark territory that lurks behind safe and rational thought.  In On Monsters, philosophy professor Stephen A. Asma explores the real, imagined, literal, and metaphorical monsters through conceptual and cultural lenses.  Monsters often represent our fears and vulnerabilities, and Asma also examines how monsters evolved and the functions that they serve throughout eras.  Lastly, Asma asks, “How do we deal with our monsters?,” and offers suggestions as to how we can better live with our demons.  Told from a scholarly perspective, Asma details both our attraction and repulsion to the monsters that inhabit our imaginations.



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