Book recommendations?

[Carol]

Carol earlier:
> > I like "The Scarlet Letter," bu I could live without "The
Minister's Black Veil" and some of the other short works. And I'd like
"Young Goodman Brown" better if it didn't refer to my ancestor, Martha
Carrier, as "a rampant hag" and "the promised bride of hell."
> 
> Potioncat:
> How long since you last read "Young Goodman Brown"? I just checked
out a World's Classics version of "Young Goodman Brown and Other 
Stories."
> 
> I was quite surprised to learn that the Devil is a Slytherin, and 
that Colonial witches used Portkeys. Or at least, the Slytherin-like
man in question indicated he was the Devil; and the Portkey wasn't
called that, but worked like one.
> 
> Wolf's-bane is mentioned and we're told in "Explanatory Notes" that
it's an aconite. The witches also fly without a broom, which hadn't 
even dawned on me when Snape took flight. That is, it hadn't dawned on
me that there was already a tradition of wizarding kind flying without
brooms.
> 
> As for Martha Carrier, this version makes her "Queen of Hell." Is 
> there a character in "The Crucible" named Martha Carrier?

Carol responds:
It's been quite a while, as you've guessed. I should reread it for the
elements it shares with the HP books--not that Hawthorne could have
borrowed from JKR, obviously, but she could have been influenced by
him, or by the transcripts of the original trial (Hawthorne's
descriptions of Martha Carrier are either verbatim or adapted from
Cotton Mather's assessment of her). Anyway, I don't recall the
references to aconite or anything resembling portkeys, so obviously, I
need to refresh my memory! I still think that the 1692 date for the
Statute of Secrecy (in the earlier books--DH alters it to 1689) could
have been influenced by the Salem Witch Trials, Massachusetts being
owned by England at that time and British witches and Wizards perhaps
not sharing the contempt for "the colonies" that English Muggles may
have felt at that period.

Martha Carrier doesn't appear in "the Crucible," probably because
there's another character (or voice) named Martha Corey. They were
both historical persons but I don't think there was a direct
connection between them unless you count both of them having giving
birth to illegitimate sons before their marriages. Martha Carrier
would have made a great character, though. She refused to confess or
to look at the girls who accused her because "they will dissemble if I
look upon them."

You may be interested in a short and highly readable account of Martha
Carrier's life and personality at

 http://www.iath.virginia.edu/salem/people/carrier.html

I've bookmarked it for future reference.

Carol, proud of her feisty ancestor and wondering whether she forgave
her two youngest children, aged seven and ten, for testifying against
her after their older brothers were tortured