Category Archives: Blog Hops

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Scary Books I’ve Recommended and Why

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Black and white sketch of a ghost who is floating through the air with their arms outstretched. They look like a cartoon ghost covered in a white sheet with two eye holes cut into the sheet. Very cute. I feel like I recommend a lot of the same books here over and over again.

In an attempt to break out of that pattern, here are some scary and I’d argue also Halloween-friendly books I think anyone who likes that sort of stuff should read them.

So far as I recall, I have only occasionally talked about (most of?) them on my blog in the past.

 

1. The Lost Girls by Sonia Hartl

Why: If you’ve ever picked up a book about a teenage girl who is seduced by a 100+-year-old vampire and wondered what their lives would actually be like a few decades after they met, you might really like this twist on that trope. Let’s just say it’s not exactly Twilight. 😂

2. Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1) by Toni Morrison

Why: The most terrifying moments in this story have nothing at all to do with the paranormal. To me, that realism and willingness to dive deeply into real-life issues makes a tale ten times scarier!

 

3. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Why: The twist ending is fantastic. If you haven’t seen the Will Smith film based on this story, it was also really well done and is definitely worth watching.

 

4. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

Why: It’s a deeply satisfying ghost story that feels more realistic and tragic to me than many other corners of this genre due to the Woman in Black’s reason for not finding peace after death.

 

5. The Last of What I Am: A Novel by Abigail Cutter

Why:The character development was excellent. Don’t allow the idea of reading about a Confederate soldier turn you off from picking this tale up. This was in no way a defence of racism, slavery, or anything abhorrent like that. Tom was a well-rounded and interesting person who was tangled up in something much bigger than himself and who had grown in all sorts of incredible ways since his death.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Non-Gory Halloween Movies


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

 

A grey background filled with drawings of dozens of pieces of candy corn that are more or less spread out equally. Here are the Halloween posts I’ve written for Top Ten Tuesday in previous years: Free Horror Stories, My Favourite Halloween Treats, Halloween Picture Books,  Halloween Things I’ve Never Done,  Things I Love About Halloween, and LGBTQ+ Horror Novels, and The Best Ghost Stories I’ve Read.

I love this holiday! Happy (almost) Halloween to everyone who will also be celebrating it in a few days.

As I’m really not a big fan of blood or gore, most but certainly not all of the Halloween movies I watch are marketed to younger audiences. I love the fact that there’s such a wide range of options for this holiday. Not everything Halloween-related has to be terrifying, after all.

These were all great films. Some are better for teens and adults while others can be enjoyed by all ages. So much depends on the specific ages and interests of everyone involved.

1. The Nightmare Before Christmas

2. Hocus Pocus

3. A House With a Clock on Its Walls

4. Coco

5. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

6. Monsters, Inc.

7. Beetlejuice

8. Edward Scissorhands

9. The Sixth Sense

10. I Am Legend

11. The Others

12. Get Out

13. The Babadook

14. The Addams Family

15. The Witch

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Things That Scare Me

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

We’ve done this topic before, but I’m once again not looking at my old answers. I think it’s more fun to mix things up and maybe give some responses I didn’t share previously. (Or maybe they’ll all be the same? Someday I may go back and check, but today won’t be that day.)

There are plenty of serious things in real life that scare me, of course, but I’m trying to focus on lighthearted Halloween-themed answers today so that everyone will feel comfortable responding.

Please don’t take this post as a sign that I’m ignoring the troubles of the world because I’m not. I’m just trying to avoid topics that will spark unwanted debates on hot topics in my comment section. Ha!

A brown skinned’s person’s handed holding up a paper sign that has the word “scary” written on it. The words have been mounted on a few decorative layers of purple and blue paper for added effect. The Woods 

There’s no one around to help and no street signs to guide you if you get lost. You’re on your own.

 

Awakening Angry Spirits

No, movie characters, you do NOT need to steal that trinket from the graveyard or ignore the locals’ warnings about staying out of the woods. You will have a much better time in life if you mind your own business and assume that strangers who tell you something is dangerous are doing so for a very good reason.

 

Time Travel

Visiting the past doesn’t seem that fun to me. I’d rather stay here where we have antibiotics, the Internet, and air conditioning.

 

Sexy Monsters 

I don’t care if they’re vampires, zombies, werewolves, Sasquatch, ghosts, or something similar. The fact that they’re trying to lure humans closer to them is more than enough reason for me to run away.

It’s sort of like anglerfish who emit light from their antennas in order to attract prey. If they’re irresistibly alluring but clearly not human, this could be a sign that you’re about to be turned into dinner!

(But no offence intended to those of you who like these sorts of stories, of course. I just get danger vibes from this type of character).

 

Curses

You can eventually outrun or outsmart most other foes, but you – or a book character –  can’t possibly fool a curse. It will follow you no matter where you go.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Cozy Halloween Reads


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

An empty spider web that has been woven in a wheat field that looks ready to be harvested. There are a few beads of water in the web, and the sky looks overcast and like it might rain again soon. Jana wants us to talk about cozy stories this week.

Given that we’re deep into Halloween season, I want to talk about scary stories that also have cozy elements to them.

Let’s smash those two ideas and see what I can come up with!

1. Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

2. Cackle by Rachel Harrison

3. The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

4. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

5. The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

6. A Fever of the Blood (Frey & McGray, #2) by Óscar de Muriel

7. Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker

8. Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell

9. Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol

10. Fangs by Sarah Andersen

11. The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

If you like these genres, what are some of your favourite dark fantasy or cozy horror reads?

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Books I Read on Someone’s Recommendation

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

 

Depending on how long the waitlists are at my local library, I might read a book that someone else recommends to me the same week they recommend it, a few weeks, a few months later, or occasionally even much longer than that.

Closeup photo of someone’s hands as they hold open a book with two hands and read it. They’re wearing a wedding ring and have pale skin. Their age and sex isn’t easy to determine. Therefore, I don’t always remember who recommended specific books to me. In order to participate this week, I ended up needing to work on this post a little at a time over the last month or so as folks mentioned books they’re reading that they think I may also enjoy.

These were all interesting reads, and most of them are titles my mom recommended as she’s also a lifelong reader.

A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears) by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hahn

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Let Them Stare Jonathan Van Neese

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari.

 

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Top Ten Tuesday: Halloween Playlist


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Those of you who have followed this blog for a while might remember how much I love Halloween. It’s the most wonderful time of year if you ask me!

A shiny grey pair of over-the-ear headphones against a black background. As this week’s topic is a freebie post that can be about anything other than books, here are some of my favourite songs with Halloween themes or vibes.

1. “This Is Halloween” from The Nightmare Before Christmas

2. “The Addams Family Theme Song”  by Vic Mizzy

3. “Dark Horse” by Katy Perry featuring Juicy J

4. “Bad Habits” by Ed Sheeran

5. “My Oh My” by Camila Cabello featuring DaBaby

6. “Bad Blood” by Taylor Swift featuring Kendrick Lamar

7. “Purple People Eater” by Sheb Wooley

8. “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers

9. “Bad Moon Rising” by Creedence Clearwater Revival

10.” Werewolves of London” by Warren Zevon

11. “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC

12. “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr.

 

Fellow Halloween fans, which songs would you add to this list?

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Famous Books I Don’t Plan to Read

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Photo of a road closed sign that has been erected in the middle of a road that looks like it’s headed toward the beach. Everyone has different tastes, of course, but none of these famous books have ever piqued my interest:

1. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

2. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

3. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

4. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

5. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

6. Watchmen by Alan Moore

7. A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks
8. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
9. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
10. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
(Isn’t it hard to list books you don’t want to read? Normally, I’d focus on the ones I do want to read and quietly never mention the rest!)

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Top Ten Tuesday: Book Series I Hope Will be Satisfying


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Several bunches of lilacs lying on or next to an opened hardback book that’s laying on a wooden porch or bench. The original theme for this week was “Satisfying Book Series,” but it’s been a long time since I read a series that I was quite happy with. So many of the series I have read start off fantastically but then fizzle out in the end.  

Therefore, I am going to list some series that I have not yet read but hope will end on a high note. If you can confirm or deny that they have great endings (at least so far if they’re still ongoing) without sharing spoilers, I’d love to know your thoughts on anything on this list.

1. Howl’s Moving Castle (Howl’s Moving Castle, #1) by Diana Wynne Jones

2. The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, #1) by Robert Jordan

3. The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1) by N.K. Jemisin

4. Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children, #1) by Seanan McGuire

5. Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles, #1) by Anne Rice

6. Dune (Dune, #1) by Frank Herbert

7. The Magicians (The Magicians, #1) by Lev Grossman

8. Six Crimson Cranes (Six Crimson Cranes, #1) by Elizabeth Lim

I wasn’t able to make it to ten answers this week, but my fingers are crossed that some of you will have great suggestions.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Classic Books I Would Reread

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

A vintage brown leather bag sitting on a white rock carved into the shape of what appears to be a low fence.The original topic for this week was “Books I Would or Wouldn’t Reread and Why.” As I’ve recently done blog hop posts about mostly contemporary books I wouldn’t read and have another one ready to go for next week’s WWBC theme, I decided to tweak this one a little and talk about classic novels I would like to reread someday. 

From what I recall about their storylines, they were all memorable tales filled with characters that I found relatable or interesting in some way.

1. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

2. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

3. The Color Purple by Alice Walker

4. The Good Earth (House of Earth, #1) by Pearl S. Buck

5. Dracula by Bram Stoker*

6. The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

7. Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1) by Toni Morrison

8. Beowulf by Unknown

9. The Plague by Albert Camus

10. Calvin and Hobbes (Calvin and Hobbes, #1) by Bill Watterson**

*Well, other than the fact that the protagonist brushed off the stern warnings he was given from locals about venturing in Dracula’s territory. You’d think he would have taken them seriously when they told him not to go there. Ha!

** If there is such a thing as a classic comic strip, I’d argue that Calvin and Hobbes deserves to be counted as one. They somehow become funnier and more meaningful every time I reread them.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Book Covers that Give off Fall Vibes


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Closeup photo of yellow autumn leaves still on the branch. After a long, hot, humid summer, autumn is such a relief.

No more heat waves.

No more forest fires.

No more air quality warnings (hopefully).

My seasonal allergies will rapidly improve after the first overnight freeze.

Pumpkin-flavoured stuff is everywhere.

Soon the leaves will change colour and be beautiful for several weeks.

And Halloween is only about a month away!

In honour of that, here are ten book covers that give off fall vibes:

Book cover for oncakes by Suzanne Walker. Image on cover shows a drawing of a witch holding a steaming pie and a young man standing next to her as he easts something out of a bowl with a content expression on his face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker

 

Book cover for To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Image on cover is a drawing of a tree that has yellow autumn leaves. The sky is orange, oddly enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

 

Book cover for Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell. Image on cover shows two friends lying in a pumpkin patch and gazing at each other with joy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell

 

Book cover for Squashed by Joan Bauer. Image on cover shows pumpkin as well as the imprint of lipstick on the pumpkin and cover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Squashed by Joan Bauer

 

Book cover for Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert. Image on cover is of countless red and yellow leaves lying on top of each other in a large pile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert

 

Book cover for The Cider House Rules by John Irving. Image on cover shows a drawing of a red apple growing on an apple tree branch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. The Cider House Rules by John Irving

 

Book cover for A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner. Image on cover shows four marigolds painted against a sky-blue background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner

 

Book cover for The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Image on cover shows an old mansion bathed in yellow and orange light. There are bare tree trunks framing this eerie scene as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

 

Book cover for The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. Image on cover shows a drawing of a young Asian girl wearing a loose blue tunic. Her hair is blowing back as she stares at a bird in front of a large full moon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

 

Book cover for Pumpkin Spice Up Your Life (Wish, #10) by Suzanne Nelson. Image on cover shows a small maple leaf falling next to a pumpkin spice latte that is piled with whipped cream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. Pumpkin Spice Up Your Life (Wish, #10) by Suzanne Nelson

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