Planned Reads for October.

Boys and girls of every age...

Wouldn't you like to read something strange?

That's right folks, Halloween month is upon us and as a result, I am dying to read some spooktacular stories! I think this might be my favourite time of the year actually purely because I love the horror and mystery genres so much! So without further ado, here are my picks for this month!

'A Sudden Light' by Garth Stein is officially my oldest Netgalley request. I honestly, truly don't understand why it has taken me so long to read. I've actually already started it and it is so good so far, and contains everything this month needs - ghosts, atmosphere, mystery and a big, old house. Perfect.

I have been hankering for some poetry, which two years ago is something I never thought I'd say. But I like the look of Gerard Manley Hopkins 'As Kingfishers Catch Fire' as far as old school poetry goes. I'm hoping for some real appreciation of nature here, and another good input from Penguin's Little Black Classics collection.

I love reading horror, especially if it's set in the Victorian era. Something about that time period really works for the genre. 'The Corset' by Laura Purcell looks absolutely terrifying for that reason and it focuses on a serial killer which makes it even more intriguing to me. I've heard so many good reviews of this book and Purcell's previous book 'The Silent Companions', so I can't wait to get stuck in!

I love mysteries and adore Sherlock Holmes, so I've had my eye on 'A Study In Charlotte' by Brittany Cavallaro for a long time. I received it as a gift for my birthday and was so excited to get round to reading it! Autumn, for me, is the best time of year to read mysteries and I'm looking forward to this reimagining of one of my favourite detectives.

Ghost stories are my favourite thing to read of all the paranormal stories. Especially in the classic setting of an old, haunted house. I have great faith that 'A House Of Ghosts' by W.C. Ryan will be perfect for me, purely based on the title! Also, the cover is gorgeous.

As soon as I saw YA Nordic Horror, 'The Twisted Tree' by Rachel Burgeons had my attention. I've actually played a couple of video games that are horrifying and based around norse culture/folklore, and I think that this will give me those vibes. I like the cover a lot too, and the MC is blind which should be an interesting POV.

I remember really loving the poem 'The Highwayman' by Alfred Noyes, and 'Glimpse' by Kendra Leighton is a novel based on that poem. It certainly has the right Halloween-filled vibes on the front cover, and I'm hoping that the read itself will be just as enjoyable.

Witches are probably my next favourite thing to read about at Halloween. 'The Hawkweed Prophecy' by Irena Brignull looks fantastic and I love the synopsis for it! It does look pretty creepy too. Covers are important for me at this time of the year (you might have noticed) and this certainly hits the spot.

The Halloween Book Tag!

Hooray! It's Halloween! That means it's time for a bit of spooky fun! I didn't have much time to come up with a post of my own, so I thought for today I'd do this fairly simple tag I've seen a few other Bloggers doing: The Halloween Book Tag.Without further ado...here goes!

1) Favourite Horror book?

Oooh this is a tough first question! I'm going to go with the first book I ever read for this Blog: 'A Tale Of Raw Head & Bloody Bones' - Jack Wolf. 

This book really stands out in my mind as being something special, most notably because it reminds me so much of Victorian Gothic novels, which I adore. It covers Mental Illness in an age where it wasn't fully understood, gives the Main Character a Jekyll & Hyde like personality making you route for and be repulsed by him, has a great romance sub-plot and draws from British Folklore which also really intrigued me. I just loved the battle between superstition and science that it portrayed and Wolf is a masterful writer!


2) Scariest moment in a book you've read?

This has to be from a recent read of mine: 'More Than This' - Patrick Ness.

This choice may surprise a fair few people, as the book itself is not particularly scary. However I've chosen it because while reading the first chapter (in which a young boy droning is vividly described) I actually ended up having a panic attack on the London Underground. I'm Aquaphobic, meaning I'm frightened of being in the water, and particularly the idea that I might drown...hence the strong reaction! This is quite a personal choice and I'm sure that other people who have answered these questions will think of better ones that everyone can agree on.

3) Would you or have you ever dressed up as a Book Character for Halloween?

I'm afraid to say for Halloween: no. I have in the past dressed up as various characters, and I distinctly recall posing as Moaning Myrtle from Harry Potter for a Sixth Form Rag Week dress-up day. I would love to dress up as a book character for Halloween at some point though! I think my choice would have to be Karou from 'The Daughter Of Smoke & Bone' series because I think she looks really cool!

4) What do you think your favourite character would dress up a for Halloween?

This is tricky because I have a fair few characters from books and some interesting ideas for all of them I'll choose two: Tyrion Lannister from the 'A Song Of Ice & Fire' series and Hermione Granger from the 'Harry Potter' series. Tyrion would straight up go as a Demon Monkey to be ironic because that, much to his utter disbelief, is how people seem to view him. Hermione I think would make an awesome cat because she has actually half turned into one before (thanks to a Polyjuice potion mix-up) and she adores her own pet cat Crookshanks so much!

5) What is your favourite kind of Horror?

Definitely the Supernatural kind! I'm not a huge fan of Psychological thrillers, I find them pretty predictable. I like haunted houses, schools, asylums, forests, the lot! I've always found that the Paranormal scares me far more than anything else, particularly ghosts.

6) If books were as cheap as candy, which would you give out to trick or treaters?

I'm too big a fan of Fairy Tales not to choose them with an opportunity like this. It's difficult to choose one of course...but if I had to it would probably be 'Cinder' - Marissa Meyer.

I always feel that people who don't like to read just haven't read the right story yet. Perhaps they should go back to story-telling roots (Folklore and Fairy Tales) to really get them back into reading (or even further their love of it). 'Cinder' certainly managed to reawaken my love for the classic 'Cinderella' with a fresh new Sci-Fi spin, and Sci-Fi is certainly a popular genre that people can't seem to get enough of these days. I think a lot of people would love this book and want to read more!

7) Halloween to-read list?

Well I'll just quickly list the spooky reads I've chosen for October as a whole. 'Mary Hades' by Sarah Dalton is the one I'm actually reading on Halloween this month, but the others were also there in honour of the spookiest day if the year!

'Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children' - Ransom Riggs
'The Other Lamb' - Katie Young
'Horns' - Joe Hill
'Mary Hades' - Sarah Dalton

8) Recommend some Halloween reads!

Okay, I guess I have a few to choose from...

'Dracula' - Bram Stoker
'Cuckoo Song' - Frances Hardinge
'The Woman In Black' - Susan Hill

And that marks the end of this fun little tag! I hope you guys enjoyed reading my answers as much as I liked writing them.

Life Of A Blogger: 'Halloween'.

I really love Halloween and get so excited at this time of year because it just feels so Autumny! However, I've never really done anything very special to celebrate it. I've never been trick or treating for starters which might shock some people. My parents never really saw the point, and much preferred to hand out sweets to the children that came to our house. I really used to enjoy doing that too though!

As I grew older, I found myself really enjoying watching Horror movies and so spent a fair few Halloweens with friends doing just that! Also, a good friend of mine would regularly hold a Fireworks party at her Gran's farm and it used to be so much fun to freak ourselves out wandering the Gardens. Especially as they live in Pluckley, the most haunted village in England! Whenever I do something, I love to dress up! Last time, I chose Mrs Lovett from Sweeney Todd as my costume idea and had a great time!