The Circular Staircase...

I picked up the book, The Circular Staircase, for a dollar or two at a tiny antique shop in a tiny little town near us, quite a few months ago. It's not my typical fare by any means--i.e. quite a few characters get "knocked off"-- but if I could read it...just about anyone could.

I'm sure you wouldn't find it as deliciously frightening as I did. I'm a big baby when it comes to anything even the least bit tinged with something "scary".

Though I consider Laura one of my favorite movies, I have to admit, I thought I would have a heart attack during the final scene the first time I saw it. *chuckle*

Two cousins were over and we were up very late watching movies. The house was dark and quiet and just as the scariest bits of the movie were flashing across the screen... the creepy-crawliest feeling scampered across the back of my neck. With the dreadful feeling of just knowing someone was stealthfully hiding beneath the dining room table, I took a flying l-e-a-p off of the couch, and landed right between my two surprised cousins who were at the time sitting on the floor. I couldn't bear to watch...so I finished out the movie peeking between my fingertips!

I hate to admit, but The Circular Staircase scared the wit's out of me, too, one night, when I suddenly found myself in my bedroom...alone...in the dark...after "waking" from my engrossed "delve" between its blue covers. *chuckle*

Certainly not one of my beloved favorite books...it is good and ever-so-fun, nevertheless. Here's a short excerpt from the beginning of the book. The author has such a quirky, dry sense of humor...this paragraph quite took me by surprise!

Halsey required less personal supervision, and as they both got their mother's fortune that winter, my responsibility became purely moral. Halsey bought a car, of course, and I learned how to tie over my bonnet a gray baize veil, and after a time, never to stop to look at the dogs one has run down.

People are apt to be so unpleasant about their dogs.