October has been a bigger haul than I thought it would be, despite the preorders I knew would be coming. This is thanks to my birthday having been on the 9th, which contributed to nearly half of the books I’ve gotten. It’s always fun to get books unexpectedly. I was quite excited about a number of the preorders though, as most of them have made for perfect Halloween reads (though I haven’t been able to get to all of them).
Anyway, onto the books!
New Books
Emotions Explained with Buff Dudes by Andrew Tsyaston is a collection of the author’s web comics (Owlturd Comix). I’ve followed the artist on Facebook for quite a while and when I found out he had a book coming out I decided to show my support. I was a little disappointed with it because I had assumed it would be new material, which is mostly not the case. I’m not unhappy with the book, however. I still enjoy his work and it’s nice to have a physical volume of it.
Alice Isn’t Dead by Joseph Fink is the novel adaptation of the three-season podcast series of the same name. I started listening to that because Fink is one of the co-creators of Welcome to Night Vale. Though I did not like Alice as much, I was curious to see if the change in medium will alter my feelings at all, so I jumped on the preorder. I will miss Jasika Nicole’s narration, but I’m sure I’ll be able to imagine it well enough.
Frankenstein by Junji Ito is another preorder I’d been especially looking forward to. It appeared under Novel Discoveries just last month and I’ve already read and reviewed it. The adaptation of the title story was great, though the remaining stories in the collection left a little to be desired. They weren’t bad, just not what I would’ve wanted.
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton I was able get thanks to a birthday gift of some money. It’s a book that I’ve seen raved about on other blogs a lot throughout the year and the premise intrigued me enough to pick it up.
Bloodborne: The Death of Sleep by Aleš Kot & Piotr Kowalski is the fourth and final of the preorders I was expecting in October, which I’ve also read and reviewed. I believe this also appeared in Novel Discoveries not too long ago. I loved playing the game over the summer, so I was excited to learn a comic book was coming out. It turned out really well, especially for a media tie-in. I can’t wait for the next graphic novel.
Classic Tales of Horror by Edgar Allan Poe was technically a birthday gift; while I was visiting family my mother and I went to a bookstore. They had a deal of 3 books for $10 from a selection and there were only two that jumped out at her, so she offered to get one for me as well. This is what I picked. I’m not especially drawn to Poe’s writing, but I could always stand to read more.
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace is the final birthday book I received this year, which I received from a childhood friend’s father, whom I consider practically family. I actually wasn’t expecting it, so the walk back from the post office had me speculating what was in the box. He recommended this book to me years ago and I’d never really forgotten it, so it actually crossed my mind before I opened the package and confirmed it. I don’t remember a lot of what it’s about anymore, and I think I want to keep it that way until I start it.
Digital purchases have been minimal this month. I only picked up We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. After enjoying The Haunting of Hill House so much and continually haring about this book as well I decided to pick up the 99 cent ebook for my Kindle app.
Novel Discoveries
French Exit by Patrick deWitt is one of the many books this month I added mostly because of the author. I hadn’t been keeping track and did not know deWitt had come out with a new novel. Once I found out adding it was pretty much automatic.
The same goes for The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson. He’s a Canadian author I regularly try to read, having recently enjoyed his book The Troop under his horror pseudonym Nick Cutter. The angle of the paranormal makes this novel sound especially appealing to me.
I think I came across The Dark Eidolon by Clark Ashton Smith on the recommended bar of Amazon while looking at another book. I believe I was looking at something by Lovecraft or Machen, and the linking of this book to them (along with the intriguing title) was enough for me to at least put a virtual pin in it.
Ten Dead Comedians by Fred Van Lente I heard about over at Silver Button Books. Lente was one of the writers on the Marvel Incredible Hercules series, so I liked the idea of checking out his other work, this one seeming to be a dark comedy murder mystery.
Have You Eaten Grandma? by Gyles Brandreth I read about on another blog’s WWW Wednesday post. A humorous take on the rules of grammar, I decided it was worth checking out for a laugh and to re-familiarize myself with rules I may have gotten rusty with recalling.
Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell I put a pin in purely because I had no idea she wrote anything of the sort. I’ve read North and South, which is general fiction, and The Life of Charlotte Brontë, which is biography. I’m curious to see her take on these types of stories.
The Twisted Tree by Rachel Burge is another I learned about on someone else’s blog. I’m a little guilty of being drawn to this book for its cover, but I also find the apparent blending of ghost story and Nordic folklore appealing.
I know nothing about The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall. I mentioned at a book club/mixer that I’m currently reading House of Leaves and someone excitedly recommended this book to me, suggesting it is of similar ilk. Considering how much of an undertaking House of Leaves is I likely won’t get to it for a while, though.
Black Cats & Evil Eyes by Chloe Rhodes is a short book of old superstitions, which is right up my alley. I love knowing where old stories and beliefs come from, and this book sounds like a nice digestible little volume to learn from.
Closing Thoughts
Strangely I found myself a little overwhelmed with how many books I’d simply shelved “to-read” this past month. I was half tempted to cut a few of them and I’m honestly not sure why I felt this way. I’ve actually found whenever I write these lately that I’m relieved when I’ve only added a handful of books to my to-read list. I use it mostly as a means to just remember books that have caught my eye for one reason or another, rather than logging what I definitely meant to get to. Maybe it’s having a weird psychological effect on me. Maybe subconsciously I feel like I’m just giving myself more than I can truly handle. Anybody else feel similarly sometimes?
At any rate, thank you for reading!
Muse with Me 