Top Ten Tuesday: Books/Movies To Read Or Watch To Get In The Halloween Spirit

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.


This week's topics is about stories that get us in the Halloween spirit

I loooove Halloween, even though we don't celebrate it here! I've always loved spooky and creepy things (I read my first vampire book when I was 8 and my favorite stories were about ghosts and witches), so here are 5 books and 5 movies to get you in the spooky mood :)

Books

Nevermore, by Kelly Creagh
It's Poe-inspired and incredibly eerie! Also, Varen is one of my favorite book boyfriends.

Anna Dressed in Blood, by Kendare Blake
Murdering ghost. Ghost-hunting teenager. With a knife. And plenty of snark.

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, by April Genevieve Tucholke
Modern-day gothic including a small town, an old manor, haunted mines, and a boy who is not what he seems.

The Shining, by Stephen King
I don't think this one needs any introduction. But the book scared me even more than the movie. I think the nest of wasps and those hedge animals in the  labyrinth were some of the creepiest parts.

Blackbirds, by Chuck Wendig
Great mixture of gross and psychological horror. Miriam Black is one tough cookie.

I've highlighted many of these before but I just can't help myself when it comes to a great creepy or eerie story...

Movies

The Nightmare Before Christmas (duh)
This one is a classic. And you can watch it on both Halloween and Christmas! The music is so beautiful and I just love Tim Burton's style. I also wanted to include Corpse Bride on this list but since Sleepy Hollow is another Burton movie, I thought that'd be a bit overkill.

The Lost Boys
Sleep all day. Party all night. It's good to be a vampire! It has music by Bauhaus. It's funny. It has young Kiefer Sutherland. It has the Frog Brothers who steal holy water from a baptism to fight off evil vamps (as seen above). This movie may be two years older than me but it's pretty awesome.

photo found here

American Horror Story
I've seen Murderhouse, Asylum, what's out for Freak Show so far and the first few episodes of Coven. So far, I like Murderhouse and Asylum best. And I was definitely plenty freaked out during both of them! Mostly though I just think the actors and the storytelling are amazing. I also love how each season is completely independent from the others but since you've got part of the same cast, you automatically draw comparisons between the different characters an actor has played.

Donnie Darko
This one's a classic. It's not just eerie, it actually features Halloween. And the idea of costumes. And time travel. Sleepwalking. The end of the world. I really need to watch it again.

Sleepy Hollow
Great mixture of creepy and funny. I just love seeing Johnny Depp faint in this one and bumble his way through Ichabod Crane's investigations XD When I read the novella this is actually based on, I was really disappointed. The movie is so much better.


So what do you guys think of my picks? Have you seen/read any of them? I'm also curious about your picks so that I can discover more creepy reads and movies :) Anything that makes me feel like this on Halloween would be great:

Spooktacular Giveaway Hop! (INT)

Heys guys, it's October which means the leaves are turning red and gold and you wake up for your jobs and school in pre-dawn darkness (at least where I live). It also means Halloween is near! Unfortunately, we don't celebrate it here but that doesn't stop me from getting into the spirit and feeling like reading and watching creepy stuff (I'm looking at you, American Horror Story)
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This is my third year participating in this hop and I hope it'll be fun this time around, too! The rules are simple and explained under 'Terms & Conditions' in the Rafflecopter. In short: the giveaway is open internationally wherever Book Depository ships, cheaters will be disqualified and all their entries deleted.
Since this is a themed hop, I've got some suggestions for you below (click to cover to get to goodreads). You can always choose another book in the same series (no preorders). If none of these appeal to you, you can pick one between 10-15$ (as seen from my location) as long as it's somehow creepy and/or Halloween related.




Note: the cover shown here may differ from the one of the edition I will eventually order for you if you win.

Okay, now fill out the Rafflecopter and have fun hopping around the other blogs! Go out and enjoy the spooky season, or curl up with a creepy book and a cup of whatever makes you happy :)


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Waiting on Wednesday: Insanity, by Susan Vaught

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine to spotlight upcoming book releases that we're excited about.


This week's pick

Release date: February 18, 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Format: Hardcover, 300 pages

Goodreads description:
Never, Kentucky is not your average scenic small town. It is a crossways, a place where the dead and the living can find no peace. Not that Forest, an 18-year-old foster kid who works the graveyard shift at Lincoln Hospital, knew this when she applied for the job. Lincoln is a huge state mental institution, a good place for Forest to make some money to pay for college. But along with hundreds of very unstable patients, it also has underground tunnels, bell towers that ring unexpectedly, and a closet that holds more than just donated clothing....When the dead husband of one of Forest's patients makes an appearance late one night, seemingly accompanied by an agent of the Devil, Forest loses all sense of reality and all sense of time. Terrified, she knows she has a part to play, and when she does so, she finds a heritage that she never expected.

With her deep knowledge of mental illness and mental institutions, Susan Vaught brings readers a fascinating and completely creepy new book intertwining the stories of three young people who find themselves haunted beyond imagining in the depths of Lincoln Hospital.

I love how creepy this one sounds! It's perfect for the season ;) The cover image is haunting, and I love stories set in old hospitals or asylums. The Devil's agent makes it even more intriguing. February is suddenly very far off...

Top Ten Tuesday: scariest looking book covers

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.



Hey guys! This week's topic is supposed to be about scary book covers, but to be honest I don't know if any of my picks are downright scary. I think it's closer to creepy or ominous. But whatever, I really like them! They're in no particular order.



Girl of Nightmares, by Kendare Blake
While the cover for the first book is also scary, this one is even more so. Anna is reaching out... to Cas? The reader? To be pulled out of hell? To pull you in? And do you see those fiery demons at the bottom reaching for her leg?

Lost Souls, by Poppy Z. Brite
Now this is definitely not YA. But if you want some early 90s feeling with vampires who are bloody monsters, some voodoo, and intriguing characters and writing, you should go for it! It's very explicit though.



Asylum, by Madeleine Roux
I haven't read it (yet) but it looks and sounds awesomely creepy! The picture looks like an old, worn-off photographs (there are photos in the book) or a tapestry that has been peeled off to reveal another layer. It reminds me a bit of the photographs that Francesca Woodman did inspired by Gilman's Yellow Wallpaper.

In the Shadow of Blackbirds, by Cat Winters
Creepy, ghostly, ghastly, amazing. It's a wonderful story, but there were moments when I seriously felt a bit paranoid and very alone.



Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, by April Genevieve Tucholke
The cliffs, the waves, the pines, the figures. I really like it. It's dark and romantic, but there's a definite sense of impending danger. It suits the story very well.

Blackbirds, by Chuck Wendig
Again, definitely not YA! Lots of cussing, violence, sex. Which is perfectly okay for a horror novel. This cover isn't just awesome graphically - look at it more closely (make it bigger) and you can spot tons of tiny details in there that are from the story. Yes, a lighthouse, motel signs, hands... the more you look, the more you see.



Pretty When She Dies, by Rhiannon Frater
I admit I haven't read it yet, but I own it. What makes it creepy to me is mostly the colors, enhanced by the teeth and smeared lipstick/blood. It's simple but effective because it makes it clear that this is a vampire novel but that the focus won't just be on some sappy romance.

The Drowned Forest, by Kristopher Reisz
This one isn't out yet but the cover and description (girl jumps into pond and never resurfaces... but something else does) make me anticipate goosebumps!



Fiendish & The Replacement, by Brenna Yovanoff
She is blessed by the cover fairy, isn't she? These too aren't openly scary but definitely ominous and haunting. I loved The Replacement (never mind that it tore my heart out) and I hope Fiendish will be among my favorites as well once I've read it :)


This is it! I think there are most definitely scarier covers out there, but I like it if they're still somewhat aesthetic and I wanted it to be mostly books I've actually read. What do you think? And please link me to your post! I want to find some new scary books :)

Spooktacular Giveaway Hop (Int)!

Hey everyone and welcome to my stop on the Spooktacular Giveaway Hop! Though it's not widely celebrated in my part of the world, I love Halloween and all it entails! I love the pumpkins and the candy and the creepy. And in autumn, what's better than curling up with a good book and a cup of coffee while the wind's howling outside?

You don't have a good book to keep you company? No matter, if you're lucky you can choose one from the list below, just click them to find out more about them :) If there's nothing to your liking, you can pick another spooky read around 10$ from The Book Depository. Just enter below and make sure to read the rules! This giveaway is open to wherever The Book Depository ships for free.

Also, don't forget to check out all the other awesome blogs participating! Check the linky below :)

Rules

• Open wherever The Book Depository ships for free
• Only ONE entry per person/household
• Cheating on one entry results in disqualification. I check ALL the entries before picking.
• I will email the winner and they have 48 hours to respond. Otherwise I will pick someone new
• You must be at least 13 to enter, 18 if you choose an adult book like Blackbirds or Blood Rights
• I am not responsible for damaged packages or books lost in the mail. Once I've ordered it, it's out of my hands
• No preorders
• I will order whatever version is available to me for cheap, so covers may vary

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