Wednesday, October 7, 2015

October Reads: What I Recommend

I love that October allows for themed reading! So, if you are making your own October themed TBR this month, I've got a few suggestions for you, and you can see what I plan to read this month here.

The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters
Review 
Cat Winters is the Queen of October reads. She writes historical fiction with paranormal and supernatural elements, and her novels have black and white photos and advertisements from the time period she is writing about inside. The hardcover of this book is stunning, especially without the dust jacket on. This one takes place during the suffragette movement, and has to do with hypnotism. 
  
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson 
Review
This book is both creepy and hilarious. It is the first book in the Shades of London series, and is a really great October read. It's about an American girl who goes to a British boarding school, and receives the ability to see ghosts. She stumbles upon a division of the British police who deal with ghosts that commit crime, like the Jack the Ripper knock-off they face in this novel. I've read all three books in the series that are out so far, and this is my favorite one by a long shot. This series is a lot of fun, but still creepy. 

The Diviners by Libba Bray 
Review
This massive novel is creepy, set in the 1920's, and about a group of teens with supernatural powers. I really need to reread this one, as the sequel just came out and I need to reread this one before diving in, and I'm looking forward to revisiting it. I love the 1920's New York setting, and the villain in this one sent chills up my spine.

The Grave Yard Book by Neil Gaiman 
Review
This is a fun October read with great illustrations. It is a retelling of The Jungle Book but set in a graveyard. It has a cast of ghosts and paranormal creatures, and a very creepy villain. 

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Review 
This one is a more serious read, but it is extremely beautiful. The story is accompanied by black and white illustrations that are breathtaking. It is a story about monsters and grief, and how your own feelings can be even scarier than any monster you ever have to face. 

White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick
Sedgwick is one of my all-time favorite authors, and all of his works would work for October reads, but this one in particular. It explores the age-old question: is there life after death? This has a mix of magical realism, stories in different timelines that cross over, and mythology and legend. 

Gris Grimly's Frankenstein 
Review 
I love Grimly's art and his taste for the creepy. This graphic novel adaptation of Frankenstein is beyond gorgeous. It is a mix of Shelley's original text and abridged text, but the emotions of the story and creepy, dim tone are captured perfectly. 

Gris Grimly's Poe Stories 
Grimly and Poe are a match made in heaven! The stories in this volume are some of Poe's lesser known stories which was great because some of them were new to me. One story in here had me quite creeped out! 

Dracula by Bram Stoker
Review
I enjoyed this classic way more than I was expecting to! I listened to it on audiobook while driving back-and-forth from my apartment at school to my parents house, and when I was driving at night, I got quite spooked a few times. This novel is the most popular vampire novel, but it is about so much more than vampires, there are a lot of themes going on here related to when the novel was written, and the history of the novel, and its themes are quite interesting. 

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
I just read this short story for school and quite enjoyed it. It is an American spooky classic, and surprisingly humorous. After you read it, be sure to watch the Disney short animated version of this story as it's fantastic (Bing Crosby narrates and does the music.)

Anything you want to add to my list?  

No comments:

Post a Comment