October- What are you planning on reading?

[Amber]

I'm going to try to get in scary books with my normal reads all month long but only scary books are counting for my all hallow's read readathon.

[Melissa]

Aitziber wrote: "Holly wrote: "Aitziber, let me know what you think of Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution!"

Will do! And in turn, you must let me know what you think of The Turn of T..."

I've picked up my copy and can not wait to here what you all have to say!

[Holly, That Geeky One]

I may have got a bit carried away with my reading last night, and read both The Turn of the Screw and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Turn of the Screw officially freaked me out (I don't think it helped reading it in bed, in my room, on my own), but I absolutely adored the writing, and the story. I'll definitely add more of Henry James to my read list! After doing a bit of research, I'm still undecided whether or not the Governess was mad, or the ghosts were in fact real. Handily, the book's focus from New Criticism actually will help me a bit in my Critical Theory module. Which is awesome!

Going to have to update my list to include some more books! (Casually steals ideas from other peoples lists).

This month genre seems to be really popular, or at least far more than I expected!

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

I read Turn of the Screw earlier this year for the first time, as well. I completely agree with everything you said. Creepy; unsure if crazy or haunted; great writing; How did I miss out on James all these years?

[Holly, That Geeky One]

Thanks, Sandy! I'll definitely check them out.

[Melissa]

Sandy wrote: "Melissa wrote: "Sandy, when you decide to read Middlemarch let me know! I started five pages in June and never got any farther and not because it wasn't great, but Summer got in the way."

Oh, Mel..."

I would love to, but too many books going and I'm going to focus on this list and The Charioteer for this month. Let me know how Middlemarch is going and maybe I'll join in next month.

[Aitziber]

Holly wrote: "I may have got a bit carried away with my reading last night, and read both The Turn of the Screw and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Turn of the Screw officially freaked me..."

Oooh, great! I was going to ask you whether you were aware of the mad governess interpretation. That will definitely be of use when you get to the "death of the author" in Literary Criticism/Theory.

As far as I'm aware, Henry James intended Turn of the Screw to be a ghost story. He didn't write the Governess to be mad. And yet, it works so well under that lens! That's the beauty of reader's interpretation, that the same book gets different readings as humanity progresses and acquires more knowledge.

That's also the basis of Women's Studies, Queer Studies, etc. While authors previous to feminism wrote women as monsters, harpies, inhuman in short (take Mr. Rochester's wife in Jane Eyre!), these new literary criticism theories allow us to see the humanity in a character that maybe just had an undiagnosed mental illness, or was in an abusive relationship according to today's parameters of an abusive relationship, and so on.

[Holly, That Geeky One]

Oddly, I just read Barthe's piece on 'Death of the Author'. Super interesting!

I feel the need for a literary theory thread! :P

[Lauren]

I've just been reminded of everything I've forgotten haha... I'd be interested to refresh my memory!

[Melissa]

Finished One of Us by Tawni O'Dell, which I started at the end of September. It started a little slow and did not know if I liked the main character at first, but I grew to like this person and loved her twist and the way she ends her stories. You feel that they are finished with all of the loose ends tide up. Sometimes its nice to read a novel where there is no guessing at the end.

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

Sandy-
I eyeball read it the first time. This time, I mostly listened, but tapped in on the written word periodically. Also, I'd seen the tv version several years ago, so I already had a visual idea about all the characters.

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

Yeah. I think the writing and the intertwining stories are great. So you're better off postponing if you're not enjoying it right now. (Also, I could have done without the weird "quotations" as chapter openers. They didn't add anything and just muddled things up.)

[Melissa]

I'm reading The White Tiger so I can return it to the library, then I can get back to my Horror Genre.

[Melissa]

Finished The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. This one is on the Boxall's 1001 list and I gave it a strong 4 stars. I enjoyed Adiga's story telling style and I was rooting for the protagonist even though I'm not sure I was suppose to.

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

Good to know, Melissa! White Tiger is one that I knew nothing about so wasn't sure I wanted to read. I'll definitely add it to my tbr. :)

[Kassandra]

Melissa I'm so glad you liked it. It's been on my TBR forever and have held off because I'd heard mixed reviews.

[Brenda (aka Grandma)]

Melissa wrote: "... and I was rooting for the protagonist even though I'm not sure I was suppose to."

Adding :) And my library has the audiobook!

[Melissa]

Yah, Brenda! The White Tiger is a pretty fast read, too.

[Melissa]

Finished Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. A must read if you like a dark, thriller mystery that fits the Halloween theme.

[Melissa]

Finished Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes. This is a dark thriller bound to put you guts into a puddle. I was reluctant to turn the page, but I kept creeping along...

[Melissa]

Another finish and recommend this one highly, A Monster Calls.

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

Death As Epiphany cod also count for creepy Crawly MiniChallenge.

[Holly, That Geeky One]

That definitely does sound like a fascinating novel! ;)

[Melissa]

Finished Dracula this morning and this book was such a wonderful surprise! A must read indeed!

And now unto Frankenstein...

[Amber]

I read The Pearl and The Seerand they were pretty good reads.

[Mayme]

I really want to grab a copy of Horrorstör for halloween. I think it'd be a fab way to spend the evening while being on trick-or-treat duty!

[Lucy]

I have absolutely lost the plot this month! My reading has gone way off plan and totally spiralled in another direction - oh well...!

[Melissa]

Lol! So easy to do, Lucy!

[Holly, That Geeky One]

It happens to me every month, Lucy!

At least you're still reading. I have months where I rarely read at all.

[Mayme]

Sandy, I'm not much of a costume kinda gal but maybe I'll whip up a quick witchy look! Are you dressing up for the holiday?

[Becca]

I managed to read 28 books in October. Of those, 8 were horror (including Dracula and Frankenstein.