Book Haul: October

October is at an end, and we are moving into the most wonderful but also the most stressful time of the year. I am moving, again, in November, temporarily, until I move into my own place in January. And I think we can all agree, moving is not exactly relaxing.

However! This month was good, the air has been crisp, the sun has been out and the trees have all been gorgeous. And, as always, I've gotten some wonderful new books.

Daphnis and Chloe by Longus

The Complete Poems by Catullus

London War Stories by Mollie Panter-Downes

Selected Poetry by Thomas Hardy

The Queen of Spades and Other Stories by Alexander Pushkin

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding

Fish Change Direction In Cold Weather by Pierre Szalowski

The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Selected Letters by Charlotte Brontë

The Bone People by Keri Hulme

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

Racing Hummingbirds by Jeanann Verlee

The Complete Fairy Tales by Charles Perrault

Greek Lyric Poetry

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

Gossip From the Forest by Sara Maitland

Thrall by Natasha Trethewey

The Fox and The Star by Coralie Bickford-Smith

Harry Potter and The Philosophers Stone by J. K. Rowling

Can we just agree that the illustrated edition of Harry Potter is gorgeous? Sigh...

ALL LINKS ARE AFFILIATE

#Fridayreads

Spook Week: Book Review: Poems Bewitched and Haunted

Title: Poems Bewitched and Haunted
Edited by: John Hollander
Published: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 256
Rating: 3/5

Summary:
A collection of delightfully ghoulish poetry.

Review:
I thought this was a pretty good collection, with some poetry that I heartily enjoyed and some I didn't. There's a good variety of styles and authors, and I especially enjoyed the poetry about dangerous venues and haunted houses.

One of the poems I enjoyed was The Haunted Chamber by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (the poem is a bit long, so these are just the first few verses:

Each heart has its haunted chamber

Where the silent moonlight falls

On the floor are mysterious footsteps

There are whispers along the walls

And mine at times is haunted

By phantoms of the Past

As motionless as shadows

By the silent moonlight cast

A form sits by the window

That is not seen by day

For as soon as the dawn approaches

It vanishes away...

p. 107

I felt this collection kept well to the topic and had some wonderfully spooky themes. I would recommend it for poetry lovers for Halloween!

You can get this book at The Book Depository*
You can read more about it on Goodreads

Also, this color!

*AFFILIATE LINK

Spook Week: Book Review: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Title: Frankenstein
Author: Mary Shelley
Published: 1818
Language: English
Pages: 195
Rating: 5/5

Summary:
In this classic tale about what happens when a man takes science too far and creates life - but not the way he had imagined...

Review:
I have FINALLY read this classic that I've been promising myself to read for so long, and how happily suprised I am! I feel there are many more layers to this story than one would first imagine when hearing about the horrifying Frankenstein and his monster.

I, as most others, know the general gist of Frankenstein. My experience with it before this was seeing a movie when I was young that scared me into nightmares for three weeks.

The book is in parts scary and extremely atmospheric. There's thunder and storms and raging mountains and you can picture it all very vividly. But what I loved most about this book was the overall theme of science and taking science too far.

I was also suprised by how fascinating all the characters in this was. I felt a true connection to them. The writing style is fantasic, and not that difficult to read (especially for someone like me, who's first language is not English).

I can completely understand why this is considered a classic masterpiece and would recommend it to everyone.

You can get this book at The Book Depository*
You can read more about it on Goodreads

Also... endpapers!

*AFFILIATE LINK

Spook Week: Top 5: Spooky Books I Want To Read II

Another five spooky books from my TBR. You can check out last years list here: Spooky Books I Want To Read I.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

I have actually read this when I was in school, but I would like to reread it and see if my thoughts then still stands! This is the classic novel of Dracula, the very famous vampire.

It by Stephen King

Just the thought of this book terrifies me. It is also massive and I'm pretty much sure I'm going to pee my pants reading it. All I know, is that is scary as hell. I mean, I thought Carrie was disturbing...

Ghost Story by Peter Straub

This is a horror story with a bit of paranormal to it. It's about four men who do something horrible in their youth and it comes back to haunt them as adults. 

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

This is a mystery and horror story about a haunted house. I'll probably never sleep again after this.

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

You know the movie? Supposedly, this is worse.

Gees, I'm getting nightmares just reading about these books. What scary books do you want to read?

Spook Week: Book Review: The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter

Title: The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
Author: Angela Carter
Published: 1979
Language: English
Pages: 176
Rating: 4/5

Summary:
A collection of dark and mysterious stories inspired by some of our most famous fairy tales.

Review:
Wow, what a creepy and fascinating collection of stories.

The writing in this book is what stands out the most to me; it's lyrical and captivating. I also quite enjoyed that the stories were loosely based of fairytales, though I thought perhaps there should have been a larger variety of it.

I think the strongest story of this book is definitely what gives it its title: The Bloody Chamber. It's the first story and, in my opinion, the best one.

This book is atmospheric, dark, mysterious and has just the right level of spookiness to it. I would highly recommend it if you enjoy short stories.

You can get this book at The Book Depository*
You can read more about it on Goodreads

Also, how gorgeous is this edition?

*AFFILIATE LINK

Spook Week: Recommendations: Spooky Books

It's that time of year again! Spook Week is back, and we're starting off with some spooky recommendations...

Book Review: Thrall by Natasha Trethewey

Title: Thrall
Author: Natasha Trethewey
Published: 2012
Language: English
Pages: 84
Rating: 3/5

Summary:
A collection of poetry about race, politics and history.

Review:
I quite enjoyed this collection. For me, this is one of those collections that are enjoyed as a whole, but there are very few poems that stand out to me.

I really enjoyed the themes of race and family, mixing with history and politics. It's historical and still somewhat personal, though I feel like it could've gone deeper on the personal side. There is also a part of this book where the poetry are based on works of art, and as I hadn't seen most of them, I found that part a bit confusing.

What I enjoy most about modern poetry is when I either connect with it on a personal level, or it's so personal that it hits me straight in the heart. Sadly, this collection didn't do that. It was still good though.

I would recommend this if you enjoy poetry and have an interest in art and history.

You can get this book at The Book Depository*
You can read more about it on Goodreads

*AFFILIATE LINK

#Fridayreads

Vintage Classic: Emma

The beautiful Emma by Jane Austen.