Top Ten Tuesday: Creepy Books

The "Top Ten Tuesday" meme is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish, and this week's topic is scary books, in honour of Halloween coming up!

I tend to not read scary books, so I had a bit of trouble with this list. Some of the books on here frightened me when I was a kid, but probably wouldn't so much if I read them again now. And several of them I took from my post "Children's/YA Books that Creeped You Out" here.

 1.) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Okay, the book probably didn't scare me that much, but the movie (with Zelah Clarke and Timothy Dalton) sure did! I think I must have seen it first when I was about 11 or so, and I always hated the parts with the mad woman's laughter echoing about all over the place. Also the scene where she comes into Jane's room and we see her purple, bloated face. *shudders*

Jane getting scared at the very thought of mocking, crazy laughter.

2.) Wizard's Hall by Jane Yolen

There's a very weird secret at the wizard's hall and some pretty sick-minded people. I kind of had a horrified fascination with this book. I remember reading it more than once, each time not remembering how truly creepy it was (or thinking it wouldn't bother me as much), and then getting freaked out all over again, LOL.

3.) The Half-a-Moon Inn by Paul Fleischman

This poor mute boy gets totally mistreated by this abusive inn-owner. I believe I had to read this one for school and I seriously found it quite horrifying. I mean, she steals his boots and then puts them in the soup she serves!

4.) Castle Tourmandyne by Monica Hughes

The dolls come to life and the girl gets trapped inside the castle, from what I remember. I think there was some kind of weird power struggle between the two cousins. So psychologically it was pretty disturbing.

5.) Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe

I don't remember much about this book (or any of the others in the series) except that I really did not like the idea of a vampiric bunny with red glowing eyes. According to Goodreads the bunny turns out to be vegetarian, so I'm not so sure why this one disturbed me when I was a kid...maybe it was the creepy cover?

6.) Obedience by Will Lavender

This one's an adult psychological thriller and while I don't know that it scared me per se, it certainly did get my heart pounding!

7.) "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury

Not a book, I know, but this short story so totally freaked me out. I read it in about grade 9 and it seriously made me feel a little sick.

8.) The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

I read this one a little while ago, and the killer's perspective was really quite creepy and perverted. Not to mention the whole ability to find the dead (I don't envy her that at all.)

9.) Animal Farm by George Orwell

Technically I guess 1984 has more scary elements, but I read Animal Farm much earlier (maybe around age 11) and I remember finding the ending particularly unsettling.

10.) This last one isn't my pick, but I was talking with my mom about creepy books and she said the book Struwwelpeter by Heinrich Hoffman scared her so much when she was younger (she can read German). It's basically all about the terrible things that happen to naughty children, complete with horrifying illustrations. And they really are horrifying, because they creep me out just looking at them now on Wikipedia! (And I am not posting a picture of the cover because I don't want to be scared each time I look at this post, but if you want to see it go here.)


What books freak you out?

In My Mailbox (4)

In this meme, hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren, we share the books we've received, bought or taken out from the library. I had a great mailbox week!

Won:

The Agency: The Body at the Tower by Y. S. Lee (thanks to Candlewick Press) – review here
Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler (thanks to the 2009 Debutantes) – I reviewed this one a little while ago here
The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott (a signed copy from The Book Addict – thanks Taffy!)

From the library:

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
A Little Wanting Song by Cath Crowley
Illyria by Elizabeth Hand

 

Book Blogger Hop (14)

 

It's time again for the Book Blogger Hop! This awesome meme is hosted by Crazy-For-Books and this week's question is,"Where is your favorite place to read? Curled up on the sofa, in bed, in the garden?"

 

Personally I almost always read in bed, it's comfiest there! And there are the least amount of distractions in my bedroom so I can really fall into the story if it's a gripping one. One place I can't read is in any moving vehicle – five minutes of reading and I start feeling queasy... :(

And a head's-up for recent posts on the blog:

All I Want For Christmas Is... (2): This is a new meme I've started where we pick a book each week that we'd like to be given for Christmas! I post my pick on Thursdays but the link option will stay open all week, so feel free to drop on by and link up :) It's been fun seeing what everyone else is hoping to get!

 

The Body at the Tower: In A Nutshell

Waiting on Wednesday: Divergent and Delirium

Top Ten Tuesday: Fictional Crushes

Plain Kate: In A Nutshell

Now let's hop! :)

All I Want For Christmas Is...(2)

This is a feature/meme where I choose a book each week leading up to Christmas and say why it's made it onto my wishlist – and I'd love to see what books everyone else is hoping to get! I'll be posting my pick each Thursday, but you guys can link up and visit other people's posts all through the week.
 
This week's pick: Give Up The Ghost by Megan Crewe

From Goodreads:

Cass McKenna much prefers ghosts over "breathers". Ghosts are uncomplicated and dependable, and they know the dirt on everybody... and Cass loves dirt. She's on a mission to expose the dirty secrets of the poseurs in her school.

But when the vice president of the student council discovers her secret, Cass's whole scheme hangs in the balance. Tim wants her to help him contact his recently deceased mother, and Cass reluctantly agrees. 

As Cass becomes increasingly entwined in Tim's life, she's surprised to realize he's not so bad — and he needs help more desperately than anyone else suspects. Maybe it’s time to give the living another chance...

I first saw this one reviewed very positively on Amber's blog, and it sounds like a light, fun read! I'm not normally huge on ghosts but this one sounds like it combines real life and the paranormal really well, and I have liked other ghost books in the past (Meg Cabot's Mediator series, for one.) Also from what I understand Crewe does a fabulous job of characterization, so all in all this one seems promising! (And that cover is really cute, too.)

What books are on your Christmas wish list?

The Body at the Tower: In A Nutshell

The Body at the Tower by Y.S. Lee

It's London, 1859. A man has just died under mysterious circumstances, but the only culprit anyone can pin it on is the ghost of the tower.

That is, until Mary Quinn gets involved...

She works for a secret women's organization called the Agency, and she's eager to prove that she can help crack the case. The plan? Masquerade as a boy and work on the construction site where the body was found. She can eavesdrop, mingle, and meet people who might be able to give her information.

But Mary's not prepared to meet the one person who could at any moment reveal her identity – James Easton. The man she thought she'd never see again is back, and both as helpful and as aggravating as ever...

The Body at the Tower is book 2 in Lee's Agency series. I was looking forward to this one after enjoying book 1 (The Spy in the House), and I really whipped through it, staying up late to finish!

One sentence sum-up: A mystery set in Victorian London with lots of sleuthing and a dash of romance.


My reaction: I really found this an enjoyable, entertaining read. I thought about putting it down, going to bed, and finishing it the next day...but I didn't, because I wanted to find out how it ended before I went to sleep. That always means that I'm really into the book!

Getting into Mary's mindset took a bit of time (it's been a while since I read the first book, and also Mary and I are quite different) but soon enough I was sucked into the story. The plot is a little slow-moving in the middle, but the climactic scene was quite exciting.

The Body at the Tower does have a similar storyline structure to the first book, so it was sometimes a bit predictable. I am absolutely terrible at actually solving mysteries so I couldn't figure out all the intricate details as I read; I'm not sure how somebody more adept at playing detective would find it.

Best aspect: Hands-down, the interaction and dialogue between James and Mary. This is what I liked best about book 1 as well, and it's fabulous to watch their relationship develop in this second book (although it takes a little while for James to appear on the scene again...I kept waiting for that!) They spend half the time arguing and the other half trying to help each other, it's very cute. I was happy to see Mary finally open up to James a little bit more; she is so defensive and secretive (and given her past, it's hardly surprising) but she needs to learn how to trust.

Also, Lee does a great job evoking a sense of living in London at that time; the historical setting is spot-on.

If I could change something... Well, the book does use the common device of having the villain explain the motive and everything behind the crime during the climactic scene. Later this is recapped in detail, so there's a bit of repetition that may not be necessary. And while the plot itself is engrossing, the explanation of the mystery is not super exciting (although it is probably fairly realistic for the times).

And, I would have liked to have seen a bit more of the side characters in this one. Keenan and Reid both seem like interesting personalities, but we don't get to know them in depth, unfortunately.

In five words or less: fun historical mystery/romance!

Quote (not my favorite, but that would be spoiling):



"And you are what you are!"

"Pray tell," he drawled, coldly angry now.

"Arrogant, high-handed, and controlling!"

"Rather that than arrogant, impulsive, and irresponsible."

She flung herself up from the sofa and stalked around the room. "It's my life, not yours! Can't you understand that?"

Rating: 4.5 shooting stars

Bottom line: I want to read the next one now!

Author's website: http://yslee.com/





Disclaimer: I won this book in a contest.