Top Ten Tuesday -- Ten of Lauren's Fave Recently Read Horror Novels

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This week's topic is a Halloween related freebie: scary books, favorite horror novels, non-scary books to get you in the Halloween/fall mood, bookish halloween costumes, scariest book covers, scary books on my TBR, etc. 

My go to reading genres have changed a few times since my reading adventures began as a kid, but a couple of years ago I decided to dive into the horror genre and I've never looked back. Here are ten horror books I've recently read that I absolutely loved, in no particular order. Yes... there two books by the same author, but sometimes you just find an author you love and devour all of their books. And no... these are not my all time faves, because I honestly wouldn't be able to narrow it down to ten. Enjoy and check them out if you're ready for a challenge! For a few of these books, the boyfriend caught me reading with one eye open because HOLY SHIT I was scared, ok? Ok.

1 -- A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

2 -- The Troop by Nick Cutter

3 -- Within These Walls by Ania Ahlborn

4 -- A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

5 -- The Ruins by Scott Smith

6 -- The Deep by Nick Cutter

7 -- Ink and Bone by Lisa Unger

8 -- Demonologist by Andrew Pyper

9 -- The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

10 -- House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

Now tell me... what are some of your fave horror novels that I need to add to my TBR list? 

Lauren Reviews The Three by Sarah Lotz

The Three by Sarah Lotz
Published: May 2014 by Little, Brown and Company 
Source: Purchased
Rating: 3 Stars

Four simultaneous plane crashes. Three child survivors. A religious fanatic who insists the three are harbingers of the apocalypse. What if he's right?

The world is stunned when four commuter planes crash within hours of each other on different continents. Facing global panic, officials are under pressure to find the causes. With terrorist attacks and environmental factors ruled out, there doesn't appear to be a correlation between the crashes, except that in three of the four air disasters a child survivor is found in the wreckage.

Dubbed 'The Three' by the international press, the children all exhibit disturbing behavioral problems, presumably caused by the horror they lived through and the unrelenting press attention. This attention becomes more than just intrusive when a rapture cult led by a charismatic evangelical minister insists that the survivors are three of the four harbingers of the apocalypse. The Three are forced to go into hiding, but as the children's behavior becomes increasingly disturbing, even their guardians begin to question their miraculous survival... 

I just can't keep away when it comes to anything that combines a little horror and a little science fiction. I knew when I picked this book up that it would be a toss up... it could be great, or it could fall dangerously short of entertaining. In my opinion, it settled somewhere in the middle.

The book followed a strict timeline, jumping back and forth between the three surviving children and the fanatics of the world that ultimately always pop up when anything happens that is out of the normal. You know all those election memes all over your Facebook newsfeed that makes you wonder what in the world is wrong with your friends? Well... this book actually made me feel the same, but towards all of the U.S. Granted, the U.S. tends to get the short stick when it comes to a society's failures, but damn. This book made me question humanity just by seeing our society's reactions to the three plane crash survivors, rather than questioning the three survivors themselves -- which I can't quite tell which the author was going for. 

Unfortunately, I had guessed the ending of this book in the beginning of the book. It may be because I've read so many books in the same genre as this one, but even with expecting well... what was going to happen, the end was still lack-luster. It was short and unexplained, leaving me not with a cliffhanger, but more like I paid for a $30.00 dinner and left the restaurant still hungry. 

I still enjoyed this book, and I will definitely read more of the author's books in hopes of reading more of the descriptive and basically entertaining character development that the author provides. There is one thing I absolutely HAVE to mention. There is one itty bitty part of this story... when one of the three survivors is acting strange (as they all do), that was all out creepy. I actually sat up in bed and scared the heck out of the boyfriend. I just stared at him... hoping, praying... he could just sense my emotional reaction to what I had just read. But of course he just laughed and said, "What happened this time?" and he paused his video game to listen. Yes. Those are the kinds of creepy you are DYING to find in a book.  

Lauren Reviews Brother by Ania Ahlborn

Brother by Ania Ahlborn
Published: September 2015 by Gallery Books
Source: eARC
Rating: 5 Stars

Deep in the heart of Appalachia stands a crooked farmhouse miles from any road. The Morrows keep to themselves, and it’s served them well so far. When girls go missing off the side of the highway, the cops don’t knock on their door. Which is a good thing, seeing as to what’s buried in the Morrows’ backyard.

But nineteen-year-old Michael Morrow isn’t like the rest of his family. He doesn’t take pleasure in the screams that echo through the trees. Michael pines for normalcy, and he’s sure that someday he’ll see the world beyond West Virginia. When he meets Alice, a pretty girl working at a record shop in the small nearby town of Dahlia, he’s immediately smitten. For a moment, he nearly forgets about the monster he’s become. But his brother, Rebel, is all too eager to remind Michael of his place...

It comes as no surprise that I'm a die hard Ahlborn fan, but REALLY?!? She did it again. She has written another relentlessly appalling, yet magnetic book that I adored. 

The Morrow family is the stuff of an old school horror family - all the sadistic tendencies included. One day the baby boy of the family, Rebel, decided he wanted something... kind of like when a kid wants a pet. Except Rebel saw a boy outside. Michael was taken from his front yard at a young age and was raised as a Morrow.

The inner dynamics of the Morrow family are soul-crushing. I'm not talking about Lifetime movie qualities here - more like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre family or one of those messed up stories you glanced at on your social media feed and you thought, "Wow. These things really happen?" That's how this book sucks you in. Just like reading that one sentence news line that catches your eye so you'll click on the link to read the full article. If this book had links, I'd have arthritis from so much clicking. 

This book has a story to tell and I  promise it is one you'll want to hear.

Lauren Reviews Harrowgate by Kate Murayama

Harrowgate by Kate Murayama 
Published: September 2013 by 47North
Source: Gift from Author
Rating: 4 Stars

Michael should be overjoyed by the birth of his son, but his wife, Sarah, won't let him touch the baby or allow anyone to visit. Greta, an intrusive, sinister doula has wormed her way into their lives, driving a wedge between Michael and his family. Every time he leaves the Harrowgate, he returns to find his beloved wife and baby altered. He feels his family slipping away, and as a malevolent force begins to creep in, Michael does what any new father would do... he fights to keep his family together. Kate Maruyama's debut novel, Harrowgate, is a chilling, richly detailed story of love, loss, and the haunted place that lies between.


Holy shit. This was one creepy book. There were several times I thought I had everything figured out, and I was wrong. And then it just gets creepier... 

Michael often travels for work. He gets a message that his wife, Sarah, has gone into labor while he is out of town. He immediately packs and goes home as quickly as possible. He finally reaches the Harrowgate, his apartment complex, and Sarah is there... with his newborn, Tim. In the very beginning, Sarah acted weird... paranoid. Sarah wouldn't even let Michael hold Tim at first. Then Sarah wouldn't allow anyone in the apartment or let Michael leave. Every time he would leave, when he came back, Sarah and Tim were older, different. 

Then here comes Greta... the sinister/hippie/loving mother looking type. Michael immediately dislikes her (as do I), but Sarah is enamored with her. Greta even gives Sarah a special tea to drink that makes Sarah feel a little better, but then Greta gives some to Sarah to secretly give to Michael. What's up with that?! Greta always says, "Everything I do and help you with is so that you can be with your baby and Michael." It's awfully rhetorical... Michael and the baby, Michael and the baby... I was to the point of thinking bad thoughts about Greta by the middle of this book. 

As the story progresses, Sarah's physical condition worsens, Tim just keeps growing, and Michael realizes there is evil in his home. Something that he has to fight. He wants to keep his beautiful family and NOTHING will change that. 

It was particularly hard to review this book without unintentionally including spoilers. Its one of those books like The Exorcist... you want to experience every moment as if it was the first time you're reading it. I recommend this book to anyone who likes creepy mystery/thrillers. I'd have a giveaway for my copy, but my goober wiener dog knocked a glass of water on it so... go buy it for your nook or kindle. 

What's the Scariest Book You've Ever Read?

In the spirit of Halloween (which I can't believe is less than two weeks away...I've already had nightmares about all those germy children ringing my doorbell), let's discuss the scariest books we've ever read!

I read a lot of scary books. I've read at least half of Stephen King's oeuvre, and most of them don't really scare me in the traditional sense. Most of the "scariness" comes more from King's adept portrayal of the human condition, showing how, under the right conditions, anyone can do evil. King isn't afraid to use a good jump scare, of course, but his preference is for those insidious scares that get under your skin and keep you up at night.

With that in mind, one of the scariest books I've ever read—and the book that King says scares him the most—is Pet Sematary. (I've never seen the movie, but I've heard that's pretty terrifying too.) Believe it or not, he never intended for Pet Sematary to be published; after writing it, both he and his wife agreed he had "gone too far," and he put it in a drawer, intending for it to stay there. But when he needed a quick exit from a contract with a publisher, he dug it out and sent it to them, figuring no one would want to read it.

He was wrong, clearly; decades later, he's still surprised about this, but I'm not. Pet Sematary, at least for me, wasn't super scary the first time around; it took me a few reads for it to really sink in, and it's one of those books that really sticks with you. Without giving anything away, the basic idea is this: a doctor moves to rural Maine with his young family. Their road isn't busy, but it's one of those country roads that large tractor trailers occasionally zoom down, and inevitably, their daughter's cat gets run over. An elderly neighbor lets the father in on a secret: beyond an abandoned "Pet Sematary" in the woods behind their house lies the ancient Micmac burial grounds, where the two of them bury the daughter's cat.

The next day, the cat comes back. And this cat is not nearly as cuddly as the one that wears a hat.

It gets steadily more horrifying from there. Perhaps the best way to sum it up is one of the more famous lines from the book: Sometimes dead is better.

Pet Sematary has its share of jump scares, but the scariest part is the way King delves into the deepest reaches of the human heart in the face of tragedy. It's a masterpiece for sure, despite being tough to get through in a lot of ways. But if you want something scary to read this Halloween, give it a try!

What's the scariest book you've ever read?

Lauren Reviews Sweet by Emmy Laybourne

Sweet by Emmy Laybourne
Published: June 2015 by Macmillan
Source: Bought
Rating: 4 Stars

People would kill to be thin. Solu’s luxurious celebrity-filled “Cruise to Lose” is billed as “the biggest cruise since the Titanic,” and if the new diet sweetener works as promised - dropping five percent of a person’s body weight in just days - it really could be the answer to the world’s obesity problem. But Laurel is starting to regret accepting her friend Viv’s invitation. She’s already completely embarrassed herself in front of celebrity host, Tom Forelli (otherwise known as the hottest guy ever!) and she’s too seasick to even try the sweetener. And that’s before Viv and all the other passengers start acting really strange.

But will they die for it, too? Tom Forelli knows that he should be grateful for this job and the opportunity to shed his childhood “Baby Tom-Tom” image. His publicists have even set up a ‘romance’ with a sexy reality star. But as things on the ship start to get a bit wild, he finds himself drawn to a different girl. And when his celebrity hosting gig turns into an expose on the shocking side effects of Solu, it’s Laurel that he’s determined to save.

I honestly didn't think I'd like this book when I picked it up. I thought I was getting into a story about rich kids on a cruise boat trying the latest fad diet (a sweetener in this case), and just acting like idiots. 

But... I was pleasantly surprised. Not everyone was a kid, or an idiot. Laurel is a normal young adult just trailing along with her friend, Viv, on the cruise ship for Solu's launch of it's sweetener that makes you drop the pounds. Fortunately, Laurel gets seasick immediately and doesn't eat anything with the sweetener. Now let's throw in Tom, an adult that is still seen as a child actor. He's on the cruise ship to turn his professional image around and get back in the acting game. Tom is a fitness fanatic and watches what he eats so of course, he doesn't try the sweetener either.

Everyone on the cruise ship starts dropping weight. They're happy and stuffing their faces with pastries, desserts... anything that Solu puts the sweetener in. A few days later, and the shit hits the fan. People are losing too much weight, are showing clear signs of addiction, and are starting to become violent. Solu ends up giving a set amount of sweetener packets to each passenger. One passenger during an act of defiance, grabs a few sweetener packets and pops them in her mouth.. eating the paper container and all. 

Eventually Laurel and Tom realize something weird is going on and they try to get help while all hell breaks loose on the cruise ship. Passengers aren't just acting like strung-out addicts, they are extremely violent and completely insane. Laurel and Tom have nothing less than an impossible task of getting help while staying alive. 

I won't spoil anything for you, but the ending was what really made me enjoy the book. Many authors sugar-coat (pun intended) their endings, and this author did not. It was refreshing and honestly... I felt trapped and a little claustrophobic while reading this book. Which only upped the creep factor, which is exactly what I need from a horror book. 

Cross-posted at The Tattooed Biblio

Lauren Reviews Insylum by Z. Rider

Insylum by Z. Rider
Published: June 2015 by Dark Ride Publishing
Source: eARC
Rating: 3 Stars

The Last Ones In... Never Come Out

A.J. changed in boot camp, coming out all straight-backed and short-haired. His best friend Nate hardly recognizes him anymore, especially when it comes to the way he acts. His priorities. Now he’s about to ship out to Afghanistan, and despite the rift growing between them, the two decide to have one last hurrah—at Insylum, the extreme traveling funhouse they’ve been waiting for a chance at for years.

They're last in line on the last night of the show. They are the last two to go in. And they may never come back out. Warning: Some tentacular activity. (Also body horror. And maggots.)


A.J. and Nate are out for their last hurrah before A.J. is deployed to Afghanistan. To celebrate, they go to a new scare funhouse that they've waited years to attend. The online reviews say they can do anything to you in there and that the last people in don't come back out. They are, of course, the last two people to go in. My immediate reaction..

They have to change their clothes and get into well worn hospital shirts, pants, and paper slippers. Then the fun begins. There are some crazy real looking asylum rooms with crazy real looking people in them. The guys are semi scared, but mask it by acting tough and laughing. They truly panic when they are soon separated and each suffer their own fates. 

This novel is very fast-paced and takes place in one night. I read the first chapter and set it aside. Tonight, I picked it up and read the rest in one sitting. I was on the edge of my seat and I annoyed the hell out of the boyfriend during several scenes when I haphazardly tossed my glasses off. 

This novel is NOT for anyone squeamish. And I don't mean there's a little violence and gore. I mean one part literally made me nervous and I dealt with some lingering anxiety after putting the novel down. Remember that I warned you.

Cross-posted at The Tattooed Biblio

Lauren Reviews The Deep by Nick Cutter

Title: The Deep
Author: Nick Cutter
Published: January 2015 by Gallery Books
Acquired: Purchased ebook from Amazon
Rating: 5+ Stars

From the acclaimed author of The Troop—which Stephen King raved “scared the hell out of me and I couldn’t put it down.…old-school horror at its best”—comes this utterly terrifying novel where The Abyss meets The Shining.

A strange plague called the ’Gets is decimating humanity on a global scale. It causes people to forget—small things at first, like where they left their keys…then the not-so-small things like how to drive, or the letters of the alphabet. Then their bodies forget how to function involuntarily…and there is no cure. But now, far below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, deep in the Marianas Trench, an heretofore unknown substance hailed as “ambrosia” has been discovered—a universal healer, from initial reports. It may just be the key to a universal cure. In order to study this phenomenon, a special research lab, the Trieste, has been built eight miles under the sea’s surface. But now the station is incommunicado, and it’s up to a brave few to descend through the lightless fathoms in hopes of unraveling the mysteries lurking at those crushing depths…and perhaps to encounter an evil blacker than anything one could possibly imagine. 

This book reminded me of the movie Sphere with Dustin Hoffman, except this book actually was terrifying. I couldn't tell if things were real or not, and if/when I did.. it was too late for the character. I was sucked into the mind of the narrator and his worst nightmares (some of which were real turned out to be real) come to life and just scare the hell out of you. The world-building aspect of this novel was on par for me. Not too much detail, not too little. We get a sneak peek of the world slowly being consumed by the 'Gets, which was terrifying in itself, but we also got to go eight miles under the sea to cramped labs and living quarters. 

As for the scare factor... an example, (and I don't think this qualifies as a spoiler), but millipedes. MILLIPEDES. They freaked the narrator out his whole life and then he would imagine them (or were they real?) and the detail of them... the scratching noises their legs make, the squishy noise of their bodies sliding and curving to push forward. The imagery Nick Cutter created seriously made my skin crawl.

Besides the scare factor and world-building, the plot kept me fixated completely. I was rooting for the narrator the entire time and there never was a dull moment. The narrator honestly want to help his brother, who would in turn help the world by curing the 'Gets. But still.. the creep factor is what held this novel together for me. 

I mostly read at night in bed and I literally got up a few times and flipped my sheets up because my legs itched. I really enjoyed this book, but I'll be honest and tell you now it was a complete mind-bender. I'm still waiting for nightmares from reading this. I'm sure it'll happen soon enough and I'll update you all with the juicy details!

Movies You Didn't Know Were Books, Part III: Horror Edition

Hi there, everyone. I think it's time for another roundup of movies you didn't know were books, don't you? I've recently discovered some good ones, this time all in the horror genre. But first, make sure you check out the first two posts in this series here and here.

1. The Birds, based on The Birds by Daphne du Maurier.

 

Yep, that famous Alfred Hitchcock movie was based on a novella by the one and only Daphne du Maurier, whom you might know better as the author of the classic novel Rebecca. This pretty much blew my mind. Also, have you seen The Birds? It's nuts.

2. Rosemary's Baby, based on Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

Another famous horror movie based on a book by an apparently famous horror author. I only recently discovered Ira Levin wrote horror books, including this one. I guess he also read a sequel, which was not as well received because... well, just don't read it if you like the first one. I read the synopsis and it's pretty weird.

While we're on Ira Levin...

3. The Stepford Wives, based on The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin

 

There's also The Stepford Wives, first made into a movie in 1975, then again in 2004, which is the one I know. Man, look at that first movie poster though, huh? Creepy. The Nicole Kidman one looks kind of dumb next to it. I haven't seen or read any of these, but I feel like "Stepford wife" has become part of popular culture and people refer to it regardless of their knowledge of its origin. So, good job Ira Levin.

4. Psycho, based on Psycho by Robert Bloch

Back to Hitchcock! Psycho is based on a novel by Robert Bloch, first published in 1959.

I'm sure there are a ton of other books that were made into movies. What are some of your favorites or hidden gems?

Paula's short review of A Short Stay In Hell

 

A Short Stay In Hell by Steven L. Peck

Strange Violin Editions  

Lent to me by a friend

4 stars

A few months ago my friend was over for dinner and saw that I was reading On A Pale Horse by Piers Anthony. The cover of my edition was a great illustration of Death riding in a Cadillac and prompted a discussion of how we both adore books that take on different views and discussions of death (and capital D personification Death). Her immediate recommendation was the novella A Short Stay in Hell. 

The premise of the book is simple. Our main character, Soren Johansson, has died. He led a simple Mormon life and died young of health reasons. He finds himself in Hell- because all along Zoroastrianism was the true religion. The great thing about this religion? Hell isn't eternal. The downside... it can still last a very very very very very very very long time. (We're still talking millions of years). Soren gets cast into a specific hell based on The Library of Babel. He is told that as soon as he finds the book that contains his life story he is allowed to leave. Being cast into a library for awhile- that sounds awesome right? Soren quickly finds out that is not the case. This library contains every book that has ever been written and Soren can't leave until he finds his own....

Guys. This book is so good. It reminds me (in the best kind of way) of that Twilight Zone episode Time Enough At Last where the bookworm's glasses break. Clocking in at just over 100 pages - it only took me an hour or so to read. I devoured it. Each event that happened was perfectly chosen and needed to be in the story. This book presents a lot of different ideas on death and eternity and isolation. But in a way that doesn't feel forced or "REALLY IMPORTANT" like a lot of literature tends to do. 

Unfortunately since it is such a small release- it might be difficult to find a copy at a big box store. But it should be available on Amazon. http://amzn.com/098374842X so if you are looking for something quick to read that will still fill your mind with amazing thoughts. I highly suggest you click that link.

Bridget Reviews Bag Of Bones by Stephen King

Title/Author: Bag of Bones by Stephen King

Publisher/Year Published: 1998 by Simon & Schuster

How I got this book: Probably bought it at a train station...

Why I read this book: It's Stephen King, and he's awesome.

Rating: 4/5

Bag of Bones is my favorite kind of Stephen King novel: chunky (at least six hundred pages), with several different intertwining storylines. It’s reasonably recent, published in 1998, and as usual has a unique and haunting premise.

Four years after the untimely death of his beloved wife, Jo, from a brain aneurysm, novelist Mike Noonan is still in mourning—and suffering from writer’s block. He decides to leave his Derry, Maine home for Sara Laughs, the lakeside cabin his wife loved. In the unincorporated, rural part of Maine known as TR-90 (called “the TR” by the locals) that Sara Laughs is part of, Mike becomes involved in the plight of the young and beautiful but poor Mattie Devore, whose young daughter is in danger of being taken away by Mattie’s spiteful father-in-law.

In the meantime, Jo’s presence in Sara Laughs continues to haunt Mike—in more ways than one. Mysterious messages appear in magnetic letters on the fridge, and Mike hears screaming and crying in the night. He begins to poke into what Jo was doing during her last few months of life, and discovers some old secrets about the TR that the older residents of the town would prefer remained buried.

Bag of Bones is not really historical fiction, but King definitely shows his talent for it in this novel. While all the “history” in Bag of Bones is made up, the research that must have been involved in writing the segments about Sara and the Red Tops is considerable. Even the supernatural, ghostly elements seemed shockingly real because they were so cleanly interwoven with the more realistic, “historical” stuff.
It was really impressive that the ghostly interference in Mike’s life—both by Jo and later by Sara Tidwell—seemed totally, well, realistic. Also, King is always talented at character development, but his ability to develop Jo’s character almost entirely through her ghostly interludes is pretty amazing.

The most touching and tragic character in Bag of Bones, at least for me, was Mattie. Though only 21, already a widow, and nearly destitute and living in a trailer, she truly strives to rise above her situation in life. She loves her daughter, Kyra, with a fierceness borne not only of being a single mother but of defending her baby from the clutches of her greedy father-in-law, Max Devore. She belongs to a local book club and strives to enrich herself with literature and art. Mike’s initial judgments of Mattie and Kyra are proved completely wrong when he learns more about them, and he is understandably drawn to them—not only to their physical beauty (3-year-old Kyra is just as beautiful as her mother), but to their inner beauty: their joie de vivre, their intelligence, their kindness.

Bag of Bones was actually just recently made into a miniseries with Pierce Brosnan as Mike Noonan, but I haven’t seen it yet and probably won’t; as soon as I saw that James Bond was going to play Mike, I was immediately turned off. Mike Noonan is definitely not the James Bond type, and using Pierce Brosnan to play him just seems completely wrong. Not that Mike isn’t supposed to be handsome in his way, but not in the chiseled-cheekbones, brooding James Bond way. But if you do happen to see it, let me know how it is!

Anyway, I would definitely recommend Bag of Bones to any fans of the general thriller/horror/sci-fi/supernatural genre. It stands out from other Stephen King books for me because it seems different in a way that I can’t quite define—perhaps because it does fit into all of the above genres. It’s a book that I always find myself being drawn back to—the characters and the storyline are so engaging and well-developed. Definitely give this one a try.

Rating: 4 stars

PS: If you're a Stephen King fan, check out my Stephen King Project on my blog--I'm slowly making my way through all his published works!

Jessi Reviews The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Title/Author: The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Publisher/Year: Riverhead Trade, 2009
Where I Got It: I picked up a copy from my library's used book sale
Why I Read It: Any book blurbed by Stephen King is a must-read for me!


Synopsis (from Goodreads): 



With The Little Stranger, Waters revisits the fertile setting of Britain in the 1940s - and gives us a sinister tale of a haunted house, brimming with the rich atmosphere and psychological complexity that have become hallmarks of Waters's work.

The Little Stranger follows the strange adventures of Dr. Faraday, the son of a maid who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor. One dusty postwar summer in his home of rural Warwickshire, he is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for more than two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in decline - its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable yard permanently fixed at twenty to nine. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become entwined with his.

Abundantly atmospheric and elegantly told, The Little Stranger is Sarah Waters's most thrilling and ambitious novel yet.


Review: 


This book came as a surprise to me in many ways.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

I was surprised by how quickly the pages flew by.

I was surprised by how good it was.

I mean, Sarah Waters can really write. When I first picked this up and saw that it was 500 pages long, I was wary. I thought it would take me forever to get through. After the first 40-ish pages, though, I was hooked. I felt like I was hypnotized. I'd sit down for what felt like ten minutes, and here it'd be hours later and I'd be hundreds of pages down the road. Even when I wanted to be doing other things, like blogging or whatever, I couldn't bring myself to put the book down. And like I said, Sarah Waters writes really well. Her prose is beautiful, but at the same time, I wasn't even really aware that I was reading. I was able to picture everything perfectly clear, and her story is one of the most atmospheric I've ever read. Hundreds Hall was so sinister, it was like I could feel it oozing off the pages. I was genuinely creeped out at parts, particularly that nursery scene.

I did have a few frustrations, though. By the end, Doctor Faraday made me want to scream, which I'm guessing was Sarah Water's intention. I get it. You have to play the rational card. But seriously--how much has to happen for you to start thinking that maybe something weird is happening that can't be explained rationally? Also, without wanting to give anything away, I found him to be too forward and definitely too persistent without having any reason to be so. Crazy obsessive stalker, much?

And finally, the ending just didn't really do it for me. I thought it was terribly anti-climactic. It was like, "Oh man, all this stuff is happening!" and then all of a sudden: "Oh...well...okay, I suppose that's it." Part of my frustration with the ending, too, is that Sarah Waters leaves it with one of those open-ended endings for the reader to decide what happened. Personally, I'm not a big fan of those, so it didn't work for me.

All things considered, though, it was an awesome read. Gothic, subtle, creepy, atmospheric, hypnotizing. I would definitely recommend it.

Tahleen's Top Ten Books for Halloween

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND sign Mister Linky at the bottom to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Don't worry if you can't come up with ten every time...just post what you can!


Hi everyone! This week I wanted to do a Top Ten Tuesday in honor of Halloween, so I've picked out my top ten 10 spooky/creepy/scary books for the season. And, okay, some of them might not have actually scared me, but they are appropriate for Halloween.


1. Dracula by Bram Stoker: Gotta pay homage to the guy who made vampires scary and brought them into pop culture. Plus this book is pretty creepy, what with the dead coming back for the blood of the innocent and all.


2. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: This is not so much scary as, again, a work that has influenced countless others. I would argue that this is the first real science fiction novel, though if you can think of an earlier one let me know!


3. In the Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan: I usually hate zombie anything, but this was so character-driven and the writing was so wonderful that I completely overlooked that. It was only afterward that I started to get the heebie jeebies, but it was totally worth it. Definitely a good Halloween-time book if you can handle the scary factor.


4. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer: This is a different kind of scary: the end-of-the-world scary. No post-apocalyptic book has made me so grateful for the life I lead and that our moon is staying put. After putting this one down I had to remind myself that I didn't need to squirrel away incredible amounts of canned goods.


5. Sunshine by Robin McKinley: Not necessarily scary, but one of the best vampire books I've ever read, ever. And I've read a lot. But this is certainly for the more mature reader, and not little kids (language and sexual content and whatnot). But seriously, READ IT.


6. The Road by Cormac McCarthy: Again, the post-apocalyptic scariness. Add to this the cannibals roaming the land in search of any flesh, but mostly human. Terrifying to think about a world where there is no order except the strong turning against the weak... and eating them.


7. Coraline by Neil Gaiman: The button eyes! THE BUTTON EYES. It's creepy, but also, what an awesome character. Coraline rocks.


8. The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z by Max Brooks: I admit, I didn't read these because of my fear of anything zombie. I did own them, but I got too scared to read them and just ended up donating them to my local library's book sale.


9. The Bailey School Kids series by Debbie Dadey and Marcia T. Jones: So yes, not scary. But so clever and fun! I love this series, and always will. Especially Werewolves Don't Go to Summer Camp, probably because I believe it was the first one I read.


10. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and sequels by Alvin Schwartz: We listened to some of these one tape in the third grade, and the one about the head falling down the chimney scared me for YEARS. No lie. But it was more the pictures in these that really make them scary. The old ones that I grew up with are TERRIFYING. Just look at this:

Yeah. Good luck getting to sleep tonight.

What are your top ten scary books? Or just favorite ones to read near Halloween?


Next week the topic is: Top Ten Books That Made You Cry

Jessi Spooked By "The Shining"

Title/Author: The Shining by Stephen King
Publisher/Year: Signet, 1978
How I Got This: One of my own!
Why I Read It: Stephen King is my favorite author, and this is one of his classics!
Rating: 5 Stars!

For those who don't know, here is a quick little summary of the story:

What of the penetrating cold terror of an old hotel, a haunted place of seductive evil with a malevolent will of its own--and a five-year-old boy of innocent beauty whose mind mirrors the nighmarish secrets of its past? 

Behind every door of the Overlook's 110 empty rooms there is a chamber of horror. Little Danny knows of these things because he has the terrible power--the shining. 


My review: 



Oh man was I creeped out reading this book! It got so bad that I had to put the book down from time to time, and I had to pick up another book to lighten the mood. I felt like Joey from Friends. Once again, Stephen King is a genius. My favorite part about this book is that the scare factor doesn't come from any monsters or anything that goes bump in the night (well...kinda), but rather the emotional horror that the characters are put through.

I'm not usually one for scary movies. Anymore, I think they're cheesy and overdone. The Shining is one of very few movies that officially scares the hell out of me. That being said, I think the book scared me worse. In the movie, you can't really delve into the psyches of the characters, whereas in the book, especially with Jack, we get to see how torn he is and then eventually his demise. Speaking of Jack, he is officially one of the creepiest mf-ing characters out there. But that's what was so great about the book. You really get a chance to view his inner demons that ultimately tear him apart.

Comparing the book to the movie even further, I enjoyed Wendy's character much more in the book. Her motherly instincts are right-on. I thought she was just whiny in the movie. And Danny probably ranks as one of my all-time favorite characters.

As I've said before and will probably say many times again, I think the reason why Stephen King rocks at what he does is his characters. Besides probably Harry Potter, I have never read better hashed out characters in my life.

So if you're looking for superb character development along with a good (HUGE) scare, I highly recommend this.