Saturday, October 17, 2015

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

I finally got a book for book club read. This year hasn't been my year for the book club.

I started off reading this but decided to download an audio from Librivox instead since I had to spend a good portion of the day in the car. I recommend the version read by Chip. It was about 1.5 hours long and quite well done.

Sleepy Hollow is a short story that was published in 1820. I knew of the story but still know it best from the current TV show and the 1999 movie with Johnny Depp. Give me those Ichabod Cranes any day.

Sleep Hollow is set in a Dutch settlement called Tarry Town back in the 1700s. There are rumors and tall tales of the Headless Horseman, a Hessian soldier who lost his head to a cannon and now spends nights riding around trying to find it. Crane is a schoolteacher who has fallen for the 18 year old Katrina Van Tassel and attempts to woo and marry her. Unfortunately, also in the picture is Brom, who sounds like a douchebag, and who wants Katrina for himself.

Crane encounters the Headless Horseman one evening after being spurned by Katrina. He's never seen again. Irving left the story fairly open to interpretation: was there really a Headless Horseman or was the ghost that Crane encountered really Brom playing a prank?

Who knows......


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