What I Read Last Week #2

  

3 poems from Edgar Allan Poe. Not his most famous (I've already read those). I really enjoyed To Isadore, The Village Street, and The Forest Reverie. As I read The Village Street, I kept thinking that this would make an eerie short story. Every so often, I read a bit from Poe's complete works. I enjoy his poetry, but sometimes I can only take so much creepy.

Serpent & Dove was a book I couldn't put down. It definitely did a good job of distracting me from EVERYTHING. I'm very excited to read the sequel, Blood & Honey when it comes out later this year. - I'm hoping the release date doesn't get pushed back.

Wasted Words was my now weekly (?) Romantic Comedy. It was cute and sad, and had a great ending. It's interesting how the events of our teen years can affect us as adults. Even when rationally, we know we're acting "crazy".

I finally read The Search, the second series of graphic novels from Avatar: The Last Airbender. My daughter rewatched the series on Netflix and it was hard to pull myself away when it was on. Reading this book satisfied the itch for more Avatar. If you want to know what happened to Zuko's mother, this is the book you need to read.

Blog post from the Write Practice. It's short. Kind of helpful. Mostly it made me feel better that in my WIP, I occasionally have scenes that are 350ish words.

A reminder to myself that I only need to read so much about Coronavirus and COVID-19.

Top Ten Scariest Books

 

What do I do about this week’s top ten?  The Broke and The Bookish want to know what the scariest books are.  I decided to look for books that induce a feeling of tension/the creeps or have horrifying events, not necessarily "fear-producing".  Here is my top ten, in no particular order.

1. 1984, by: George Orwell – This one actually scared me. The situation, what’s happening to Winston, the lies, the watching, all of it.

2. Misery, by: Stephen King – I mentioned this one in a previous Top Ten list. It’s so creepy that I haven’t even read it yet.

3. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by: Robert Louis Stevenson – Classically creepy and very interesting.

4. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by: Mary Shelley – Also another classic. Mary Shelley really knew how to create a compelling Monster. I think any horror fan needs to read this.

5. The Raven, by: Edgar Allen Poe – I know it’s a poem, not novel, but it’s still one of the creepiest things I’ve ever read.

6. The Turn of The Screw, by: Henry James – Are ghosts driving her crazy or is she just crazy? I’m inclined to think the first.

7. Under The Dome, by: Stephen King – I wasn’t scared by the dome itself, what disturbed me was what the people trapped inside were doing to each other.

8. The Handmaids Tale, by: Margaret Atwood – I know it’s not a horror book, but I was afraid for Offred pretty much all the time.

9. A Series of Unfortunate Events, by: Lemony Snicket – I tried to decide which one was the scariest. Maybe it was number 2, or 1 or 6. Even though they are children’s stories, they are all full of tension.

10. Nightmares and Dreamscapes, by: Stephen King – a collection of scary short stories. “Popsy” has stayed with me for years.

I could have put more Stephen King books on the list, but I thought three was more than enough. I also considered Anne Rice, with The Witching Hour and Interview With A Vampire, but I don’t know if I was actually scared/tense when I read those books.