The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale

This was one of the books from NPR's Best Books of 2021. This book main follows Nandor Fodor as he grows up, moves from Hungary to England, and becomes one of the main researchers of psychical happenings around the country. It is this research that brings him into the life of Alma Fielding. 

It seems that there are some very mysterious happenings occurring around Mrs. Fielding. The newspapers are calling it a poltergeist. So Fodor and his friends are sent to investigate.

Summerscale takes us through the laborious process that the Institute would take to ensure that people were not faking their paranormal phenomena. We also hear the stories of some other people who claimed to be able to talk to spirits or produce objects from thin air.

This was an interesting story but it did take me quite a long time to slog through some parts.

Three and a half stars

This book came out October 1, 2020

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Book of Phobias and Manias by Kate Summerscale

I got this book because the cover was neat and the title was even more interesting. I wish that I had read a little bit more because this really was an alphabetical list of many phobias and manias with blurbs about each. It seemed well-researched though the footnotes weren't included in the audio version and there seemed to be a LOT of references to Freud (toward the end I was really wondering if there were no other people worth referencing.) 

Three and a half stars

This book came out September 27, 2022

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own