Good morning book dragons!

How is everyone doing today? I hope you all are doing swell. If you’ve had a bad week, don’t worry as the weekend is almost upon us and it’s usually a great time to just chill. Grab a beer and chill. Eat some grubs and chill. Read some books and just chill. If you’re one of those folks that don’t get a weekend, fear not! Things will get better, I promise you. Just be patient and do something to unwind, even if it’s just for a few minutes, like chasing kitties.

Contrary to my opening paragraph, this post is not about support. But people have good days and bad days, and I wanted to show some love before I prattle about spoopy books for the month of October. My depression has been quite the lively beast this week. So, I’ve turned to writing and hopefully making others feel a bit better, to combat this incorporeal little asshole. I hope that’s okay. ♥

Anyhoo, weird and random introduction aside, I have decided to try my hand at creating (and hopefully sticking to) a TBR, or to-be-read list. While I have tried many times in the past to create such reading lists, whether by month or by season, they never seem to work for me. A lot of that has to do with my moodiness as a reader. When I finish a book, whatever falls into my hands next is heavily reliant on what kind of story I’m craving in that moment. More oft then not, it’s never a title on my list. So… I gave up on them! But this year, I’m hoping to accomplish two things by creating a TBR for this gloriously pumpkin-flavoured month of scares.

The first is to fight my depression. I’m hoping that by being proactive it will assist me in being positive when everything else tries to bring me down beneath the surface. Think of it as my donut-shaped floaty for waters I can’t swim in. The second motive behind this TBR is to help put me into a celebratory mood for my birthday, which also happens to be in October. This holiday season for me is a very difficult time of year. I lost my brother a few years ago and things just haven’t been the same. But I have this fantastically amazing boyfriend who is working his ass off to make my birthday memorable. I want to enjoy every second, and savour every moment of whatever he’s got planned. So… weapons needed forging and I’ve decided to soak mine in the oils of my passion for reading.

I tried to choose books that have spooky, creepy elements to them to tie them to Halloween to the best of my ability. One of the titles is more of a dark and gritty psychological re-telling of a fairy tale classic (more a continuation of the re-telling really). It’s not necessary “scary” in realms of ghosts and graveyards, but I think it’ll suffice nicely. Anyhoo, the prattling has reached its peak, haha. The list is below! If you’ve got a TBR going for skeletal October, please share! I’m always searching for spoopy books to read.

Happy reading! ♥

1. Red Queen (The Chronicles of Alice #2) by Christina Henry: The sequel to Alice, which was a phenomenal book. You can check out my review here. Red Queen takes us back into Alice’s world as she embarks on a journey to help her companion Hatcher with a quest of his own. This is an extremely dark and gritty, supremely adult re-telling of Lewis Carroll’s classic. I loved the first and cannot wait to dive into the sequel.
2. Another S/0 by Yukito Ayatsuji: This is the prequel to the novel Another written by the same author, which is a psychological horror mystery (you can check out my raving review here). The events in this novel describe Misaki Mei’s trip with her parents to their seaside vacation home, where she encounters someone who seeks her help with recovering their memories. I highly recommend that you read the first one so that certain details in this prequel will make sense to you.
3. The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School by Kim Newman: From bestselling British author of Anno Dracula, comes a story about a young girl named Amy Thomsett who finds herself at Drearcliff Grange, a boarding school in Somerset, that houses the daughters of all sorts of dark and dangerous parentals. Some girls even have mysterious, supernatural abilities, which are put to the test when girls start to go missing shortly after Amy’s arrival.
4. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman: From another bestselling British author who’s written American Gods and The Ocean at the End of the Lane, comes a tale about Bod—a young boy who was raised by ghosts and is now the sole resident of a graveyard. Being raised by ghosts, werewolves, and other supernatural denizens, Bod has acquired many customs and a couple of abilities relating to the outdated ways of these creatures. One of his abilities takes him to the world of the dead. Can he navigate both of the worlds of living and dead, and come out alive?
5. The Vault by Sam Sarkar, Garrie Gastonny: A horror comic about treasure hunters who attempt to excavate a dangerous and infamous treasure pit—Sabre Island, the Graveyard of the North Atlantic—before a massive storm hits. But what they unleash from the vault will leave them horrified and in grave peril.