Small hardcover book.

From book flap: For sheer terror, for the spectral power to fasten itself upon the imagination, stirring and tormenting it, The Turn of the Screw is the apotheosis of the macabre in literature. Without abatement, it arouses the senses and numbs them, clutches at the heart and makes it beat faster, while it unfolds one of the greatest ghost stories of all time.

From Amazon.com:

Before there was Alfred Hitchcock, there was Henry James, and before Psycho, there was The Turn of the Screw. Why is the young governess the only one who can see the ghosts? Are her young charges haunted or evil? Or is the governess herself mad? The book that claims to start out as a Christmas Eve ghost story quickly becomes a tale of psychological horror as the governess struggles-and ultimately fails-to protect the children from the "corruption" that only she can conceive of...but cannot name. Richly wrought in Late-Victorian prose, Henry James' most famous novel is both hauntingly beautiful and a shocking glimpse into the ultimate source of evil...the human mind.

The Turn of the Screw is also No. 789 on the 1001 books you must read before you die list.

I started to read this short novel when I was in high school over 40 years ago. I had always meant to get back to it and finally at Halloween this year, I decided to do so. Well - not sure what to say. The late-Victorian prose of James was, at times, very hard to decipher (probably why I put this aside years ago). The story itself was very unsettling and left you with a lot of ambiguities and unanswered questions. There were hints of homosexuality, pedophilia, illicit love affairs, and other sorts of assorted evils; however, they were only hints - the reader is left to make his/her own interpretations. And then there were the ghosts that presented themselves only to the governess - were these all in her mind or did the children also perceive the spirits as the governess insisted? Like I said earlier, the language was very hard to interpret. I decided to use SparkNotes as I was reading this to make sure I was making the correct interpretations of the text. I would recommend this to other readers. Overall, an interesting short novel (only 134 pages). Since this in on the list of 1001 books you must read, I will see if there is any interest in a bookray.



I would also recommend a very good film adaptation of Turn of the Screw starring Deborah Kerr from 1961: The Innocents. I watched this recently and was appropriately chilled!

Bookray

Starting a bookray for this book. Please PM me if interested. Bookray will remain open until last person has the book.

Participants so far:

. HunterRyu from New Jersey, USA (US preferred - International if necessary)
. ciloma from Idaho, USA (US preferred - International if necessary)
. valerief from New York, USA (International)
. fushmush from UK (Europe preferred - International if necessary)
. Projekt-X from UK (?)
. mazzlestar from UK (Europe only)<----Skipped
. wanderingstar8 from UK (International)<----Skipped
. WigglyWoods from UK (International)
. MarcThomas from France (Europe preferred, International if necessary)
. Gwenindil from Portugal (Europe only)<----Skipped
. nakupenda from Greece (Europe only - Towards end of list)<----Skipped
. AngelaPitcher from Netherlands (International)<----Traveling here

Note: Order is subject to change based on shipping preferences and others joining the bookray.

How the bookray works:
* Someone will PM you for your address, PM them back and provide your address
* When you receive the book, please make a journal entry letting everyone know that you received it
* Put the book at the top of your TBR pile (under other rings/rays that arrived first)
* Read the book (take your time and enjoy the book, don't feel rushed to finish it but try to pass it on within a couple of months - others are waiting!)
* When the end is in sight, check the book's journal and PM the next person to get their address
* Finish the book, make another journal entry and let everyone know what you thought of the book
* Send the book to the next person on the list (please use the cheapest shipping method available), make release notes (Controlled Release) or journal entry to let everyone know that it's in the mail
* END OF THE RAY, The last person on the ray could try and continue the ray or just give/mail the book to someone else who might like to read it, perhaps a RABCK. You could also donate it to the 1001-library

Please feel free to PM me at any time with questions

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to HunterRyu in NJ to start this bookray.

USPS DC# 0308 0070 0000 7892 3766

Received the book today. Will read as soon as I can and send out to next person. I look forward to sharing in this book with all of you! Happy reading and happy bookcrossing!!

I'm about halfway through 'the Turn of the Screw' story, and have decided to not continue onto the Lesson of the Master when I get that far if it is indeed a separate story. There are others waiting for this book and several bookrays all arrived within a couple days of each other! Whoops! Anyway, what I've ready so far has been a bit eerie. It's a little hard for me to follow in some parts because it's written long ago; my English is poor American English and it's phrased very awkwardly for my comprehension. But overall I'm enjoying it. It's a creepy tale, without the gore that accompanies modern horrors.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Mailing this off to ciloma.

I finished the Turn of the Screw story, didn't move on to the Lesson of the Master. It was a bit... wordy. It rambles on in parts and my knowing only the bad English of today it's a bit hard to process what's being said. I hope the other readers have better luck with it!

Received this one in the mail. THANX!! Will get to it next so it doesn't get too much of a pause in it's journey.

I didn't have trouble with the language until I had to put the book down for a day or two before getting back into it - then I had trouble until the end. I did go to SparkNotes to make clear a couple of places that I just didn't get. I enjoyed the story but liked the second one in the book better - "A Lesson From the Master." Thanks perryfran for haring this one with us!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to "ValerieF"

This was waiting for me when I arrived home from Sydney. With the holidays and my Mt TBR for rings having exploded while away, it may take me a few weeks to mail this out. Thanks!

Apologies for the delay, but after finishing the rings ahead of this it took me so long to get through this book. For such a short story, I just couldn't get engrossed in it. Will try to read the SparkNotes to analyze it a bit more. The Lesson of the Master suited me a bit better, but by that point, it was too little too late to convince me to read another work by Henry James.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Off to fushmush

It has arrived. I have 3 bookrays ahead of it.

I'm disappointed. I'm going to have to send this one on without reading it. I've been totally swamped in bookrays and life has been very busy. I'm now going on holidays for a month or so and I don't feel that I can really delay this ray any longer.

The ones that get away make me sad. Until another time little book!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to the next bookcrosser.

Arrived safely, third in my ring/ray TBR list, but they are all very short books, so I should be getting to it very soon...
Thanks!
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I found it a little hard to get into, but they were both good stories.
I've pm'd the next in line :)
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I got no response from Mazzlestar, so I've pm'd the person after her.
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Wanderingstar8 has also asked to be skipped - Maybe I'll be a third time lucky!
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Not getting a response from WigglyWoods either! I'll wait a couple more days before PMing the next person.
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The book will be on it's way to WigglyWoods in the next couple of days! :)

Arrived this morning, many thanks ProjectX - I will read asap and pass along.

It took me a while to get into this book, I did enjoy it though - thanks for the opportunity to read it. Posting on to MarcThomas today.

Got it in yesterday's mail. Thanks perryfran for organising the ray and thanks WigglyWoods for sending the book across the Channel.

I have a couple of ring books I need to read beforehand but I'll get on with this one right next, I promise.

Started reading yesterday.

I finished the book this morning. I must say I couldn't quite get into the first story but I appreciated the second one much better. I guess I didn't manage to get absorbed into the first story for it is probably a bit too fantastic for my taste, whereas the second one much more appealed to me.

An enjoyable read overall.

Pming Gwenindil straight away so the ring goes on.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Gwenindil requested to be skipped and despite three PMs over four weeks I got no answer from nakupenda so the book goes straight to AngelaPitcher.

Happy reading!