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.

Daily Shenanigans, 18/06/2014: Borrowing books!

So I have returned from spending time with my lovely friend, Rosie. Seriously guys, I've had such a nice time and it was so great to get the chance to just spend time with someone I haven't seen for a while. We played a few more Horror games (we are both huge fans of the genre) and she gave me the birthday present that she never got to give me before. I actually almost had a cry when I saw it. It was a picture of Tom Hiddleston as Loki, signed. She had bought it for me because she knew he was my favourite actor and it looks really great. I think it might have to take pride of place somewhere in my room! As well as revealing that, I also had a really big nose around her book stack (she's an avid reader like me) and she let me borrow a few despite my insistence that I had so many to read already. The books look so good however and in the end I couldn't bring myself to say no! Firstly, she's given me 'Burial Rites' by Hannah Kent. Oh my goodness how I've wanted to get my hands on that one! Secondly she let me borrow two Holly Black books, 'Red Glove' and 'White Cat'. I don't know when I'll get round to them, but I definitely will at some point.

Tomorrow, I'm off to look at a house in London with Mat! I'm really excited and a little nervous, but hopefully it's a nice one. The advert certainly makes it look lovely so I'm rather excited! Right now though I'm going to continue with a bit of 'One Hundred Years Of Solitude' before sleep.

Daily Shenanigans, 17/06/2014: A long awaited reunion.

Well I won't make this too long! My morning was spent writing my 'Top Ten Tuesday' post. I found today's topic really hard actually, I'm looking forward to reading a lot of books this Summer! I persevered and managed it however,  then immediately got dressed and ready to see my friend Rosie. I haven't seen her for a really long time, we have both been so busy at Uni until now! It was really nice to finally find time to meet up again! We mostly played Horror games (which we both love) and watched films! In fact we just finished watching 'Mama' which has me scared witless, so I probably won't sleep tonight. Not my wisest move...

Tomorrow I'm back home and busy being productive because I really need to be.