Dark Forces #11 Waiting Spirits and #12 The Ashton Horror

In Dark Forces #11, Waiting Spirits, Lisa and Carrie are staying with their parents and grandmother in their grandmother's childhood home.  Lisa and Carrie try spirit writing, which summons several spirits to them.  Soon, Lisa realizes that one of the spirits is trying to take over her body.

I like this statement by Lisa's grandmother on pages 96 and 97.

"Your times haven't been so sweet," she said sadly.  "Oh, I don't think it's been all that bad for you.  But the shadows are longer now than they were then.  It all changed in 1945."

Lisa gave her a puzzled look.

"Oh, study your history, child.  That was the year we blew up Hiroshima and learned our planet was as mortal as we are.  I always thought a great dividing line was drawn then.  No one born after that time can understand what it was like to grow up without that shadow."

This resonates with me.  We have now lost even more of our innocence, and the world is very different now than it was when I was growing up in the 1980s.

This is a good book.

In Dark Forces #12, The Ashton Horror, Dennis joins Adrian's fantasy game club.  The club meets in an old cavern that has ancient drawings. Adrian announces that the club will be summoning Mogar out of the past.  The other members think it is all just in fun, but they later learn that Mogar is very real and very dangerous.

The ending of the story is wrapped up way too fast.  Dennis takes some grenades out of his father's weapon collection.  He uses a crowbar to pry the cases open.  I would like to have seen how Dennis would have explained his actions to his father.

I enjoyed this book.

I have created a Facebook group for enthusiasts of vintage teen books such as the ones reviewed in this post.  Please follow this link to join.

Books Read in 2016

As I updated my reading progress this year, a few people had trouble grasping how I read so many books.  Reading is my favorite activity. That should be enough explanation, but here's some more.  I read instead of watching movies.  In fact, I believe that I watched not even one movie in 2016, which may be the first time that has ever happened.  Think about how much time you have spent watching movies, and there you go.  There's nothing surprising about watching lots of movies, and there shouldn't be anything surprising about spending that same time reading lots of books.

I also watch very little television.  That's more time freed up.

I don't read every word of every book.  I don't need to read the obligatory explanation of how Frank is older than Joe, their father Fenton is a detective, and so on in every Hardy Boys book.  I skim or skip over those paragraphs.  That saves time.

I am reading children's books.  Most of them do have at least 150 pages, but they are nowhere near as long as the average book for adults.  This means that I can read more children's books than I could adult books.

In "How to read 462 books in one year," Sarah Weinman explains her reading technique.  "What also seems to happen is that I read a page not necessarily word by word, but by capturing pages in sequence in my head. The words and phrases appear diagonally, like I'm absorbing the text all in one gulp, and then I move on to the next sequence I can absorb by paragraph or page."

I can't do what Sarah describes, but I do sometimes read individual paragraphs diagonally.  It considerably speeds up reading.

Now that I have explained, let's get to the point of the post.

I began 2016 reading the later titles in the original Hardy Boys series.  In the first few weeks of the year, I made the decision to read all of the Hardy Boys Digest, Undercover Brothers, and Adventures books.  This was a rather large commitment, and I did have doubt as to whether I could force myself to read all of them consecutively and in a timely fashion.  Actually, I knew that I could, but I knew that I couldn't allow myself to read much else, if anything, and that I had to stay strong and focused on just the Hardy Boys books.

By April, I was up to around #85 in the Hardy Boys Digest series.  As I just mentioned, I knew that I had to stay focused in order to get through around 150 additional Hardy Boys books.  If I were to continue reading books at the pace I had set to date, I would be able to read 282 books by the end of the year.  I then set a goal to read 300 books by the end of the year, and by the end of April, I had increased my pace to be on track to read slightly more than 300 books by the end of the year.

I set the goal to read 300 books by the end of the year in order to guarantee that I would be able to read through all of the Hardy Boys books by August.  I had to keep on task.

I reached my goal of 300 books in early November.  Not surprisingly, my pace abruptly slowed almost to a halt.  I majorly slacked off during the first half of November, partly because I reached my goal and partly due to many distractions.  I had decided to add several lengthy series to my list of books to read, and all of those books will take me at least 1 1/2 years to read even if I go very fast.  I needed to motivate myself into speeding up again.  Otherwise, I'd never get the books read that I want to read.

I had to set a new goal for myself in order to motivate myself to keep going.  At that time, I appeared to be on track to read around 325 to 330 books by the end of the year. I wasn't sure how much further I could go, so my initial goal was to push as far as I could to 335, 340, or 345 books.  I read fast and furiously in the second half of November and settled on a new goal of 350 books.  Somehow, I would read at least 350 books by the end of the year.

My pace in the first half of December was short of what I needed, but once I was off work for the holidays, I had the necessary time.  I read books as fast as I could, on some days completing two books.  By Christmas Eve, I had read 342 books altogether. I had one week to go.  My goal was so close that I could almost touch it.

At about 11:30 PM on December 31, I finished my 355th book of the year.  Obviously, I don't party on New Year's Eve, unless you consider reading to be the same as partying.

Next is a list of what I read by month and in the order I read the books.  I sometimes had to read out of order while I waited for books to arrive in the mail.  For the Hardy Boys Digests, I drove around to local stores purchasing what I could over a several week period as I awaited my complete set in the mail.  This resulted in me reading a random assortment of the entire range of titles.

January:  26 books

Hardy Boys #46-58
Hardy Boys Revised Text #4-7, 9, 10, 12-17, 19

February:  21 books

Hardy Boys Revised Text #20-23
Hardy Boys Digests #64, 81, 59, 123, 136, 168, 71, 173, 176, 131, 178, 154, 159, 164, 180, 187, 90

March:   22 books

Lance Todd #1, 2
Hardy Boys Digests #61, 60, 62, 63, 65-70, 72-80, 82

April:  36 books

Morgan Bay Mysteries #5
Hardy Boys Digests #83-89, 91-107, 109-119

May:  31 books

Hardy Boys Digests #120-122, 124-129, 132-135, 137-151, 153, 156, 157

June:  45 books

Hardy Boys Digests #158, 160-163, 165-167, 169-171, 174
White Princess by Elva Ditmann
Hardy Boys Digests #175, 177, 179, 181-186, 188-190
Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers #1-20

July:  42 books

Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers  #21-37, super editions #1, 2
2007 Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Mysteries #1, 2, 3, 4
Nancy Drew Diaries #11, 12
Hardy Boys Adventures #1-12
The Seventh Hour by Tracey Ward
Morgan Bay Mysteries #1
Ashfall Trilogy #1, 2, 3

August:  27 books

Morgan Bay Mysteries #2-4, 6-8
Wynn and Lonny #1-6
Brains Benton, The Case of the Crossed Wire
Jenny Dean #1-4
Twilight Where Darkness Begins #1, 3, 4, 6, 10, 13, 8, 2, 11, 5

September:  21 books

Twilight Where Darkness Begins #7, 9, 12, 14-26
Dark Forces #1-5

October:  24 books

Dark Forces #6-12, 14, 15
Lois Duncan, I Know What You Did Last Summer
Lois Duncan, Killing Mr. Griffin
Nancy Drew Diaries #13
Hardy Boys Adventures #13
A.S. Maxwell, Secret of the Cave
Lois Duncan, Don't Look Behind You
Lois Duncan, Summer of Fear
Lois Duncan, Stranger with My Face
R. L. Stine, The Baby-Sitter
Lois Duncan, Down a Dark Hall
Lois Duncan, Daughters of Eve
R. L. Stine, The Baby-Sitter II
Lois Duncan, The Third Eye
Merivale Mall #1
Richie Tankersley Cusick, The Locker

November:  25 books

Lois Duncan, The Gift of Magic
Lois Duncan, Locked in Time
Lois Duncan, They Never Came Home
Lois Duncan, Ransom
Lois Duncan, Gallows Hill
Sweet Dreams, Love by the Book
Nightmare Hall #2 The Roommate
Merivale Mall #2-12
Lois Duncan, The Twisted Window
Richie Tankersley Cusick, Fatal Secrets
Richie Tankersley Cusick, The House Next Door
Richie Tankersley Cusick, Summer of Secrets
Richie Tankersley Cusick, Someone at the Door
Richie Tankersley Cusick, The Drifter
Diane Hoh, The Accident

December:  35 books

Richie Tankersley Cusick, Silent Stalker
Richie Tankersley Cusick, Overdue
Mysteries in Our National Parks #1-8, 10-13
Girls of Canby Hall #2-13    
Mysteries in Our National Parks #9
Mystery Solvers #4, 1-3    
Girls of Canby Hall #14-17                                  

The very first book I read in 2016, Hardy Boys #46, The Secret Agent on Flight 101, was the only book I read in 2016 that I had already read before.  Of the 355 books I read in 2016, 354 were for the first time.  That's quite an accomplishment.

In 2017, I expect to read quite a few books for the second time, based on what I intend to read in the near future.  I also expect to read at least around 300 books in 2017.

They Never Came Home, Ransom, and Gallows Hill

In They Never Came Home, Dan and Larry disappear during a hiking trip in the mountains. Joan is Dan's girlfriend and Larry's sister.  Frank is Dan's brother.  Joan is threatened by a man who claims that Larry owes him money.  She confides in Frank, and soon, the two young people find themselves caught in the middle of a smuggling ring.

The way the story develops is intriguing, and I love how Joan and Frank end up being pulled into the mystery.

This is an excellent book.

In Ransom, five students are kidnapped while riding home on the bus.  Most of the students are from wealthy families, which is why they were targeted.  The teenagers are taken to an abandoned cabin up in the mountains while their families are contacted for ransom.

For me, the most interesting part of the plot is how four of the five teenagers experience personal growth during the story.  One teenager does not, and I somehow knew as I read the book that this teenager would not change.

This book is also excellent.

In Gallows Hill, Sarah and her mother move to Pine Crest so that Sarah's mother can be with her new boyfriend.  Sarah doesn't understand what has gotten into her mother, and soon Sarah finds the entire town is against her.

Gradually, Sarah realizes that something more important is at play and forces unknown to her are the reason why Sarah and her mother moved to Pine Crest.

This book is a bit depressing.  Everyone is against Sarah, and she can't catch a break.  When other students play pranks on Sarah, neither Sarah's mother nor her boyfriend believe her.  I found it quite annoying, especially since the text is excessively wordy during many of the scenes. The concept of "less is more" would have made this story better for me.

While I overall enjoyed the book, it's probably my least favorite Lois Duncan book.

I have created a Facebook group for enthusiasts of vintage teen books such as the ones reviewed in this post.  Please follow this link to join.

Dark Forces #9 Eyes of the Tarot and #10 Beat the Devil

In Dark Forces #9, Eyes of the Tarot, Bonnie is told by her grandmother to put the deck of old tarot cards back in the trunk.  Bonnie disobeys and takes the cards home.  She learns to use them and finds that she is an expert.  Bonnie has dreams in which the characters shown on the cards interact with her.  Soon, Bonnie realizes that she is in grave danger and that an evil magician is using Bonnie and the cards to return to power.

I enjoyed this book.

In Dark Forces #10, Beat the Devil, Doug loves video games.  One night, Doug wanders into a new video store in a deserted part of town.  The owner has only one game to sell, Beat the Devil. In the game, the player must beat the devil or have his soul consumed by the devil.  Doug quickly becomes obsessed with the game as the devil begins to take control of his soul.  Doug's only chance is to finally win the game—to beat the devil.

The cover of this book is fun.  It shows an old 1984 computer.  The game icons are displayed above the computer and are so delightfully accurate as to how lame game icons looked in 1984.

This story plays off of the belief many people have that video games are bad for children and teenagers.  In this book, a video game is actually bad, so bad that it is evil.  I love it!

Doug describes the colors in the game as brilliant and much more impressive than what he has ever seen in a video game.  I was thinking about how games looked in 1984, and somehow, I don't think it would take much to impress someone from 1984.  That is, I don't think a game from 1984 with "brilliant" colors would come close to what we have now.

This is an excellent book.  I always enjoy the ones that feature dated computers and applications.

I have created a Facebook group for enthusiasts of vintage teen books such as the ones reviewed in this post.  Please follow this link to join.

Third Eye and Locked in Time

In The Third Eye, Karen has the ability to see what has happened to missing children.  At the insistence of a young policeman, she agrees to find a missing girl.  Karen is devastated about what she learns and vows never to use her talent again.

Later, Karen once again agrees to find some kidnapped children, but the toll the experience takes may be too great.

This is an excellent book.  The book is quite suspenseful, and I found that I cared greatly about what happens to Karen and the others. This might be my very favorite Lois Duncan book.

In Locked in Time, Nore goes to live with her father, new stepmother, and new stepbrother and stepsister.  Soon, Nore notices strange behavior between her stepmother and her children.  Eventually, Nore realizes that they want her dead, because she has the ability to uncover their deception.

I don't have any particular comments to say about this book, but I enjoyed it greatly.  This book is also one of my favorite Lois Duncan books.

I have created a Facebook group for enthusiasts of vintage teen books such as the ones reviewed in this post.  Please follow this link to join.

Dark Forces #7 Unnatural Talent and #8 The Companion

In Dark Forces #7, Unnatural Talent, Andrew wants to be an excellent basketball player. Andrew's father is the coach of the high school team, and he is under intense pressure to be the best.  Unfortunately, Andrew has no basketball ability—until he performs a spell from a book he purchased.

The spell summons a demon, who gives Andrew what he wants.  But  Andrew  soon learns that the demon wants payment, and the payment is more than he can handle.

I enjoyed this book but not as much as other titles in the set.





In Dark Forces #8, The Companion, Jeff has had a secret friend since childhood.  Jeff's secret friend is Kim, a little green man who insists on coming with Jeff to his new boarding school.  Jeff soon learns that Kim has been using him to gain control of his soul, and Jeff can do little to stop him.

I had trouble getting into this story.  I might have enjoyed it more if I could have understood how Jeff came to like Kim to so much that he kept Kim as a companion for so many years.  Since I wasn't able to read about the early years, I had trouble accepting the premise.

I did not enjoy the first two-thirds of the book very much, but I greatly enjoyed the last one-third of the story.

Stranger with My Face, Daughters of Eve, and Gift of Magic

In Stranger with My Face, Laurie begins having problems with her boyfriend, who thinks he saw her on the beach.  Soon, others report seeing Laurie when Laurie knows she was not present.  After Laurie finally sees the mysterious figure, she realizes that she has a double—a double only present in spirit form. Later, Laurie learns that this mysterious person is planning to take over her life.

The story is quite suspenseful.  The reader gradually realizes what the mysterious person is planning and sees the mistakes that Laurie makes that place her in danger.

This is an excellent story.

In Daughters of Eve, several girls become new members of a secret society known as the Daughters of Eve.  Faculty sponsor Ms. Stark insists that women are treated unfairly in society and that the girls must seek revenge.  Some of the girls are uncomfortable with what Ms. Stark wants them to do.

This book introduces too many characters too fast and with minimal description.  I never could keep some of them straight, and this did reduce my enjoyment of the book.

Lois Duncan revised this book by stating several times throughout the text that the small town is stuck in a time warp where men treat women like they did 100 years ago.  In spite of those statements, the text still reads just like a book about feminism written in the 1970s.  Not enough was revised to change any of that.

In this book and in Killing Mr. Griffin, I find it curious how easily the teenagers are able to avoid discovery while perpetrating criminal acts on school property.  The books were revised in 2010, but modern books would have considered the prevalence of security cameras which most all schools now have.  Cameras should have been taken into consideration in the revisions.

This is a very good book, but it would probably not appeal to many male readers due to how negatively most males are portrayed in the story.

In A Gift of Magic, Nancy and her siblings were each given a gift by their grandmother. Nancy's gift allows her to read other people's minds and influence their behavior.  Nancy begins to use her gift to force others to behave the way she wants.  Ultimately, Nancy learns a lesson about life.

On page 174, the phone would have had caller id in a modern book, so that's a flaw in this revised modern edition.  Of course, the scene would not have worked the way it was written if the change had been made.

In the interview section in the back of the book, Lois Duncan mentions that readers tend to skim so she avoids using multiple names that begin with the same first letter.  I wish other authors would realize that all names in books should begin with different letters.

I enjoyed this book.

I have created a Facebook group for enthusiasts of vintage teen books from the 1980s to the present.  Please follow this link to join.

Dark Forces #5 The Bargain and #6 Swamp Witch

In Dark Forces #5, The Bargain, The Coastals is a struggling rock group.  The members are high school students who want nothing more than to become famous.  One night at a club, Chort introduces himself to the group.  He promises the members instant fame if they will enter into a bargain with him.  He assures them that they will be able to pay his fee.  What the members do not realize is that the fee will be their souls.

This book moves very slowly and is quite detailed.

I enjoyed this story.

In Dark Forces #6, Swamp Witch, Linda stays with her best friend, Heather.  The housekeeper, Tubelle, thinks Linda is trying to steal a boy away from Heather.  Unknown to Linda, Tubelle casts spells to bring about Linda's destruction.

I hate it when authors imply something without coming out and stating it.  If an author is going to use racial stereotypes, then the author might as well be upfront.  I was unsure about Tubelle's race.  That is, I made an assumption about Tubelle's race and then wondered if I was being racist.  This really bothered me.

On page 3, Tubelle states, "I is getting her breakfast ready."  On page 7, Tubelle states, "Made some extra for mah baby."  Nobody else in the book speaks this way, and Tubelle's race is not mentioned.  I assumed that Tubelle is African American and was surprised to see the dialect in a young adult book from 1983.  I then worried about whether I was the one who was guilty of racial stereotyping, even though I was pretty sure I was correct.  This worried me for a good portion of the book.  I couldn't decide for sure how to picture Tubelle.

Finally, on page 100, we learn more about Tubelle's grandson, Ben.  "Ron knew that Ben was sensitive about his background.  To bring up the superstitions that many of the blacks in the area still lived with was a delicate matter.  Even among friends."  This is an indirect statement, but it does make clear that Ben and his grandmother are African American.  At least I finally knew that I had not misinterpreted the intent of the dialect.

This book reads like a book from the 1950s or before because of the racial stereotypes.

I enjoyed this book.