Get Lost in Literature

Today's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl , was listed as Halloween Freebie, so I present to you my Top Ten Favorite Horror Stories. 1. Dracula by Bram Stoker 2. Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist 3. The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty 4. Summer of Night by Dan Simmons 5. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 6. Devolution by Max Brooks 7. The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe 8. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix 9. Leech by Hiron Ennes 10. Little Star by John Ajvide Lindqvist What's your favorite horror novel?

  There will be no review today, as I spent last week reading Carving Shadows into Gold by Brigid Kemmerer  (publication date set for January 28, 2025), and I have to be within a month of posting my review. My review is scheduled for January 6, 2025 so don't forget to stop by.

Book Beginnings on Fridays by Rose City Reader -  Share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now. "The blaze of sun wrung pops of sweat from the old man's brow, yet he cupped his hands around the glass of hot tea. He could not shake the premonition." The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty The book was great, and the movie stayed close to the source material. Book Blogger Hop Q: Which horror-themed book or novel is your all-time favorite? Which one made you shiver or made you feel like it was Halloween? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer) A: These are actually two different books, but I would consider them both horror classics. My favorite horror novel is actually Dracula by Bram Stoker. And the one that makes me feel like it's Halloween is The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty .

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl . Today's topic is: How My Reading Habits Have Changed Over Time (submitted by Lydia @ https://lydiaschoch.com). But today's answer couldn't be shoved into a neat and tidy list; instead, I offer a paragraph or two of then and now. When I was a kid, I read over a hundred books a year. It was a hobby that drove my teachers crazy as they tried to shove textbooks into my hands while removing the novels from them. I could read anywhere: the car, the beach, my bed, the backyard. I'd read on the bus, the playground, sit down on the floor of the grocery store (no lie), and at parties. I'd carry a book everywhere with me... and I do mean everywhere, which might be how I read so many books in a year. Now I'm lucky if I read 12 books a year, although this year I'm doing pretty good hitting the 20s so far. I read less than everywhere now, still in the backyard, sometimes in the car, most often in my rocking chair. We can...

"It's almost impossible for her to believe what's happened, that she's living both a nightmare and a dream." Forensic pathologist, Dr. Kay Scarpetta has just moved her practice to Charleston, South Carolina when she gets called to help with the investigation into the grisly murder of a young tennis star.  October, for me, is all about spine-tingling literature, and I knew I had a book in my TBR-bag that was covered in blood spatter. Which brought me to the Book of the Dead.  In some respects, I wasn't disappointed. First it wasn't short on violent imagery, at times being a little too graphic... I'm not really a slasher fan so some of that was tough to get through. But the violence is what fueled the dark suspense of this mystery. It's part of what made the murders so chilling. I read this as a standalone novel and it was fine to read a such, but it's actually Book 15 in a series. The characters are solid for a serial mystery, once you accept th...

Book Beginnings on Fridays by Rose City Reader - Share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now. "You will rejoice to hear no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings." - Frankenstein by Mary Shelley  In a book that's all about disaster, let us open with a joke. Book Blogger Hop Q: What novel would you recommend that blends characteristics of your favorite genre with horror concepts, and why? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer) A: I'm going to have to go with Frankenstein Or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley  It's a science fiction and horror in one. I love the history behind it, that it was basically written on a whim. Even more so, I love that it portrays the hubris of man, the flaws in a patriarchal society, with feminist undertones....

Today's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl , is all about Books I Was Assigned to Read in School. I've been a lifelong avid reader, but I was always that student that once a story was assigned, I was unlikely to want to read it. Like accidental reverse psychology, I can count on one hand the number of books assigned that I actually liked... three of which made today's list. 1. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - I've read 2 Steinbeck novels, this one, and The Red Pony  and I hated them both. I don't get the fascination with him. 2. Animal Farm by George Orwell - This is about communist pigs, if you like that sort of thing which I didn't. 3. The Outsiders by SE Hinton - I know a lot of people absolutely love this book, I'm just not one of them. 4. The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings - I was too young to be reading a story this upsetting. 5. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls - This was also upsetting. 6. The Eye in the Door by Pat ...

  "This is all you need, isn't it? Just one good friend. Somebody you can be stupid with. Somebody who'll peel you off the ground, prop you against the wall." Ricky, Lewis, Cass, and Gabe have been friends for a long time, but the ten-year anniversary of a hunting trip gone wrong is upon them and no one wants to talk about it. And now an entity is stalking them, like a shotgun blast from the past. This book was okay but I wasn't wowed. I liked the characters; they were all a little rough around the edges and it gave them an air of realness because they weren't perfect angels. Sometimes it's the imperfections that matter most. The book blurb on GoodReads states, "... a novel that is equal parts psychological horror and cutting social commentary on identity politics and the American Indian experience."  And I know when it came out it was one of the best horror novels of 2020. That's how it got added to my TBR list. Now it's officially been...

Book Beginnings on Fridays  by  Rose City Reader  -  Share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now. "Horror and fatality have been stalking abroad in all ages. Why then give a date to this story I have to tell?" -  Metzengerstein by Edgar Allan Poe Feuding nobles and a haunted horse. You really can't go wrong with Edgar Allan Poe. Book Blogger Hop Do you have a favorite book or author you turn to every October to celebrate Halloween? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer) I can't really narrow it down to just one author there are too many good ones out there. As repetitively stated, I absolutely love John Ajvide Lindqvist and have re-read his stories multiple times. But Bram Stoker and Edgar Allan Poe are also on the list of re-readables. But October is the one month I'm not likely to re-read, preferring instea...

I've been a longtime fan of The Wicked Years and, because of Wicked , I have picked up as many as Gregory Maguire's books as I could. After I applied for the ARC, I sat in front of the computer screen chanting, "They'll never approve me, my blog is too small, they'll never approve me, my blog is too small..." Then a week later I got approved. Needless to say, I was pretty excited. The story starts in Quadling country with Elphie as a toddler, her mother still alive and her father trying unsuccessfully to start a mission. Like the title says, it follows her childhood as she grows up. I really liked most  of this book. The tone is sarcastic, almost playful, and sometimes a bit jaded. Elphie is portrayed as morally ambiguous, the same as when she's an adult so the evolution of Elphie rings true. She has a vicious sibling rivalry with her sister and watches on as her brother raises havoc everywhere he goes. Her curiosity is insatiable, and it runs alongside a...

  Happy Sunday and welcome to my Sunday Post. The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer . I will be posting on the first Sunday of every month and I hope you'll join me. My weather report for the month of September is 'delightfully sunny.' But there's been a chill in the evening air that wasn't there before, leaving an undeniable truth: Summer is over. My posts were few for the month. My cable provider wants us to update the boxes and our punishment for failure to comply is that our internet doesn't work as often as it should. The company is living life old-school with a, "You want it, come and get it." I'm just not desperate enough...yet. The reviews I did manage to get posted were: Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey (available 2/11/2025) The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty My reviews for the month of October will include and ARC of  Elphie by Gre...

Book Beginnings on Fridays by Rose City Reader - Share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now. "BIGFOOT DESTROYS TOWN. That was the title of an article I received not long after the Mount Ranier eruption. I thought it was spam, the inevitable result of so much online research." Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Ranier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks  It's October! Okay, this book is a little out there, but it delivers on chills and thrills, which is what I'm after this month. Book Blogger Hop Q: Are there any books that you find particularly creepy or unpleasant, even if they aren't horror novels? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer.  A:  Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice.  The movie and the tv show introduce this super intense relationship between Louis and Lestat but the book makes them come of...

Today's Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl) subject was supposed to be Books I Read/Avoided Because of the Hype , but I couldn't really think of more than two. So today I've decided to post my own list, Books That Should Be TV Shows , because sometimes you think, "Yeah, I'd watch that." The Unidentified by Colin Dickey.  - This book is a paranormal documentary, and while I'm sure some of the stories and subjects in this book have been covered by other paranormal documentaries, this is the first one I found that was trying to explain why we hold on so tightly to things that in all probability, just aren't real. It deserves to be a mini series at least. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue  by VE Schwab  - A book about a girl possessing the gift of immortality and the curse of forgettability.  Wanderers by Chuck Wendig . - A dystopia about a mysterious pandemic; I'm don't think a movie could do it justice... I'm not a hundred percen...