Good morning book dragons!
How is everyone doing today? I hope you all are doing swell. If youâve had a bad week, donât worry as the weekend is almost upon us and itâs usually a great time to just chill. Grab a beer and chill. Eat some grubs and chill. Read some books and just chill. If youâre one of those folks that donât get a weekend, fear not! Things will get better, I promise you. Just be patient and do something to unwind, even if itâs 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, Iâve turned to writing and hopefully making others feel a bit better, to combat this incorporeal little asshole. I hope thatâs okay. â„
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 Iâm craving in that moment. More oft then not, itâs never a title on my list. So⊠I gave up on them! But this year, Iâm hoping to accomplish two things by creating a TBR for this gloriously pumpkin-flavoured month of scares.
The first is to fight my depression. Iâm 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 canât 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 havenât 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 heâs got planned. So⊠weapons needed forging and Iâve 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). Itâs not necessary âscaryâ in realms of ghosts and graveyards, but I think itâll suffice nicely. Anyhoo, the prattling has reached its peak, haha. The list is below! If youâve got a TBR going for skeletal October, please share! Iâm always searching for spoopy books to read.
Happy reading! â„
- 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 Aliceâs 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 Carrollâs classic. I loved the first and cannot wait to dive into the sequel.
- 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 Meiâs 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.
- 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 Amyâs arrival.
- The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman: From another bestselling British author whoâs written American Gods and The Ocean at the End of the Lane, comes a tale about Bodâa 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?
- The Vault by Sam Sarkar, Garrie Gastonny: A horror comic about treasure hunters who attempt to excavate a dangerous and infamous treasure pitâSabre Island, the Graveyard of the North Atlanticâbefore a massive storm hits. But what they unleash from the vault will leave them horrified and in grave peril.
First, thank you for your supportive opening and I hope you are able to combat the bouts of depression hitting you this week. I am happy to hear about the supportive people in your life and I hope you know you have a supportive online community too!
Great TBR! The Vault and Another sound particularly engrossing and trilling/suspenseful/creepy to me! I hope you enjoy your month of reading!
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Thank you, Brendon. đ Your kind words mean a lot to me. I’m pretty excited for all of the books, and am hoping I can get through most (if not all). The Vault has really good artwork. I’ll have to share some of it when I do a review for it. It’s what caught my eye. đ
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