What Am I Reading – Chapter Twenty

Hi Everybody!

I hope you all had a great September so far! I sure have ! I’ve read a ton during this month, especially the titles that I mentioned in the last chapter.

In the meantime, I finished up A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers and On the Come Up by Angie Thomas. The funny thing is that Bahni Turpin narrated the latter’s audiobook as well as the one for this title!

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix is about a women’s book club trying to protect its Southern suburban community from a mysterious and handsome stranger who turns out to be a vampire. Patricia Campbell’s life has become smaller and smaller after she gave up her job as a nurse to marry an ambitious doctor and become a mother. Luckily, she has her book club to look forward to. They consist of Charleston mothers who love to read true crime and suspense novels. When an artistic and sensitive stranger moves into the neighborhood, Patricia is initially attracted to him. However, once some children go missing, she begins to suspect that the newcomer has something to do with it. She starts her own investigation, yet what she discovers is far more terrifying than she could imagine. Soon, she and her book club are the only ones standing between the monster they’ve invited into their homes and the unsuspecting community they’ve sworn to protect.

I wasn’t sure what I was getting into when I popped in the first disc, but I’m glad to say that boring would be the last thing that I would describe it. Where should I start? It got me feeling a whole bunch of emotions. It made me feel happy and supported when the book club had Patricia’s back as well as angry and frustrated when certain people like their husbands didn’t believe them. Patricia’s husband Carter evens prescribes her Prozac! Such gaslighting! It all felt too real. Since this is a horror, it shocked me plenty of times so far. Let’s just say an earlobe gets bitten off and rats come into the house.

I totally bought Patricia’s frustrations as a housewife and mother. Her husband is distant, and her kids would rather do other things. I can understand her need to seek out something interesting, even dangerous. When nobody believed her about her theory about the stranger and the missing children, I understood her anger and the actions that led into her low point even though I though disagreed with what she did to cope. I’d love to see how she turns it around.

As I mentioned before, Bahni Turpin narrates the audiobook. I’ve mentioned her in the last chapter when I had talked about On the Come Up, and she has impressed me even more. Turpin has such a wide vocal range. She’s able to voice a proper white Southern lady, a sassy one from New Jersey with a sad past, and a black one frustrated with the community not doing enough for them. Even the men sound fairly distinct with the seemingly reasonable Carter Campbell and the stranger as a modern Dracula. After a little break, I look forward to listening to the rest of the story!

We have now come to the end of the twentieth chapter of “What Am I Reading?”

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