As Hallowe’en draws closer, it’s only right that we dig into our back catalogue for some spooky reads to delve into. Read on for a selection of weird and wonderful tales about graves and grave tidings…
Finding the Plot: 100 Graves to Visit Before You Die by Ann Treneman
Essential reading for those not yet dead, this tour of 100 graves in Britain explores the subterranean actors, painters, poets and victims of gruesome crimes. Bill Bryson claimed it was the ‘most fun I have ever had with dead bodies’. Not only a fascinating travelogue, this part biography, part social history provides insight into the British rituals associated with death.
Grave Tidings: An Anthology of Famous Last Words by Paul Berra
‘In the midst of life, we are in death’, this book begins. The exclamations of those in close proximity to death seem to reflect this, sometimes with grace and wit, and often with irony and despair. These figures – made famous in life as in death – certainly did not choke on their final utterances.
And for some real-life spooky…
Cleaning Up the Mess: After the MP’s Expenses Scandal, by Ian Kennedy
We couldn’t resist a political entry, and here it is. In 2009, news broke that MPs had been claiming taxpayers’ money to pay for such excesses as a floating duck-house, moat-cleaning services and 550 sacks of manure. The revelations shook Westminster and compromised the voters’ trust- and ten years on, Ian Kennedy discuses his time as chairman of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), cleaning up the mess that politicians had left behind.
Spooky reads not taking your fancy? Don’t worry: we’ve got something for everybody. Simply visit our New Releases page to find out more…