Monster MASHED - Oct 2024 REPORTING thread

[Janice, Moderator]

Report your successes in this thread for the Monster Mash Challenge.

For October's challenge you have several options. Pick one from the list and find a book to celebrate.

1. Read a book with two words that are an alliteration (Monster Mash, Magpie Murder, Wildwood Whispers, etc.
2. Read a book with Horror as a main page genre.
3. Halloween was first celebrated by the Celts. Read a book of Celtic mythology.
4. Read a book with a skull on the cover.
5. Halloween was brought to America by the Irish immigrants during the potato famine. Read a book written by and Irish author.


Reporting:

List your WoF name, link to the book you read and tell us which task you chose and how your selection fit the book. Also give us a small blurb of what you thought about the book.

[Marnie]

WoF Marnie

I read The Menendez Murders: The Shocking Untold Story of the Menendez Family and the Killings that Stunned the Nation 376 pages for the first task- alliteration.

This book was an In Cold Blood like chronicling of the murder of wealthy parents by their two sons. It was a very famous case that I remember following in real time. Not a lot of new ground covered in this book but still fascinating.

[Sharon]

WoFSharon Biskit

I read Spook House by Michael West. This book has 308 pp. Kindle and I gave it 3 stars.
This book is the third one in the Harmony, Indiana series. I have read the first book, The Wide Game. Now, I will go back and read book 2 as I really didn’t realize this was part of a series until I got into it.

This book has an MPG of Horror and a skull on the cover.
. I do enjoy horror stories but the skull is so prominent, I will choose that as the prompt I followed. I do recommend the series IF you are a horror fan.

[Camilla]

WoF Camilla

I read Kuolleiden kylä by John Verdon, the 7th book in the Dave Gurney series, for the alliteration task. Despite having 542 pages, the book was a quick read. I've enjoyed most of the previous books in this thriller/mystery series, and this was one of the better ones; ended up giving it four stars.

[LunaWillow]

WoF : LunaWillow
I read Through the Door for the task "read a book of Celtic mythology". The story follows characters of Tuatha De Danann decent. The Tuatha De Danann are a supernatural race in Celtic mythology, many represent deities of pre-Christian Gaelic Ireland.
I chose a short (286 page), easy to read book for my first YLTO monthly challenge. I found it a fun, "I don't have to think too hard" story. It's the first in a series. It's clear the first book was to develop characters, their relationships, and the alternate realm wthin which the story develops.

[Katrisa]

WoF Katrisa
I chose Horror. This week I read The Chain which was messed up and had a great twist! I have read a couple of McGinty's books and this one has been my favorite. (As a bonus McGinty is also Irish - as long as we are counting the North and not just the Republic)
I gave the book 5 stars.

[Janice, Moderator]

Katrisa wrote: "WoF Katrisa
I chose Horror. This week I read The Chain which was messed up and had a great twist! I have read a couple of McGinty's books and this one has been my favorite. (As a bo..."

I've read a book with a very similar premise, but The Chain is not marked as Read for me. I thought the book I read was titled something like The Others, but I can't find it. This will likely bug me all day.

[Grainne]

WoF Grainne
I read a book with two words that are an alliteration.
The Noh Mask Murder
It's set in post war Japan and it was a closed room murder mystery. I am reading this as part of my local book club as well and it just happened to fit the challenge. It is a page turner and it kept me guessing. The characters were well developed and the events unfold in a mansion of a rich family who are murdered one by one. I haven't rated it yet but probably 3.5 to 4 stars.

[Nistha]

WoF Nix
Blindness by José Saramago
MPG Horror

Oh my God, this book was so good but it was so dark and gruesome that I almost wanted to throw up in many places. It deals with an interesting premise where a pandemic spreads but it causes people to go blind. And how humanity survives and gets ugly is the premise. It is the type of horror that shows humanity at its worst. But the writing felt so raw!
4 stars - It is a 5 star deservee but the book did not feel good in my stomach!

[Jayme, Moderator]

WoF Jayme
I read Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty
MPG Horror

I chose this book because it does have a MPG of horror and I have read his other book and liked it. But I must confess that the book does not fit the horror genre. Whoever thinks this book is horror (and there must be a lot because it is on the Main Page) is judging the book by its title and apparently did not read the book.
This is a sad and darkly emotional book comprised of short stories on tragic key events of a boy who is a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation and living on a reservation in Maine. His story is "horrible" but it is not horror.
The book fits the task, but if someone is planning on reading it, just know going in it is not a horror story, but it is very good. 4 stars.

[Anna]

Wof Anna M

Burning Girls and Other Stories
MPG Horror

Like most short story collections, this one has some great stories, some great stories, some good ones, and a few that are hit or miss. I absolutely loved the titular story and 'Among the Thorns."

[Kristie, Moderator]

WoF name: Kristie

I read The Weight of Blood to fulfill task #2. Read a book with Horror as a main page genre. The top genre on the book's main page is horror and it is a reimagining of the horror classic Carrie.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It is a modernization with cell phones, podcasts, and such. The story is very similar to Carrie, but the author added little things that I think were unique to this story. I am definitely going to look into more of this author's work.

[Janice, Moderator]

I read Vampire on the Orient Express for the horror task.

It was a predictable vampire story told, keeping pretty close to the mold of expectations of the genre. I did enjoy the ride on the Orient Express and I half expected Hercule Poirot to show up.

[Silver]

WoF: Silver

I read Survive the Night by Danielle Vega

I choose skull on the cover. There is a skull depicted on the cover of the book.

I enjoyed this book, It was quite dark and twisted but it also had that sort of B-Rate horror feel (which I am a fan of). I really liked how every time I thought I knew what direction it was going to go in it would flip and suddenly do something entirely different. It kept me guessing through a lot of it and it had some nice foreshadowing sprinkled though out.

[Amanda]

WoF name - Amanda(Lily)

I read Bookshops & Bonedust, which works for alliteration.

I liked this book quite a bit. It was a good prequel for Legends & Lattes and helped me understand how the main character reached the decisions she made in L&L. I really liked the characters, especially the owner of the bookshop.

[Lynn]

WoF - Lynn

The September House for Horror as a main page genre prompt.

The plot was very predictable but with strong voiced characters, and an interesting approach to the theme of domestic violence weaved into the story, it made for a really enjoyable read.

[Trudy]

WoF TrudyAn

I read Prophet Song by Paul Lynch for book written by Irish author (259 pp). The author was born in Limerick, Ireland.

This dystopian story about an extreme right-wing government and the collapse of society was entirely believable. It's a dark and frightening tale, demonstrating the fragility of democracy and perils of complacency. I couldn't put the book down. Five stars for me.

[Ayacchi]

WoF Aya

I read Duffy and Son: A charming novel filled with wry humour and warmth. The author is from Monaghan, Ireland.

The story is about family relationship, how parents' separation affected the kids, trauma, and life itself. I always found intergenerational theme heartwarming, but this one left a heavy feeling and made me reflects about many things.

[Saar The Book owl]

WoF Saar the book Owl.

I've read Gobbelino London & A Contagion of Zombies and it has 'horror' on the main page.

A warning: do not read this when you feel that you need to giggle aloud when you're at work, commuting, when someone's sleeping...But the giggles just need to find a way out and then you say: 'Hairballs'! Yes, Gobbelino learned me some new swear words, like: 'no kidding' and that results into Callum saying in the book: 'no baby goats'. I just love their word games. This second book in the series was a delight to read, something you want to finish fast or read on when you're having a bad time. Gobs and Calum are there to cheer you up. The stoy begins when dead bodies turn out not to be so dead at all with a huge zombie apocalypse near the end. It looked like The Walking Dead, but the fun version of it with Gertrude The Reaper and Emma, both baking - and cat - crazy, Ms. Jones (very fond of Dr. Martens),Claudia from the Watch and Pru (a Sphynx cat were Gobs has trouble getting used to in the beginning, no fur, you know). One of the fun moments was a zombie - version of the Chicken Run with headless zombie chickens running around. There were some more emotional moments in the book where you read between and in the lines that Callum means a lot to Gobs, even when they bicker a lot. Loosing Callum would be Gob's worst nightmare. Every character that Kim M. Watt creates is great and special and have their own quirkiness. I'm hoping to see more of Gertrude and Emma in the following books. The humor scenes are alternating with some more serious scenes, like the reason why Jan was making the 'zombie - virus'. And I'm curious how the meddling of the Watch fits in the zombie apocalypse.
Well, it turned all out good in the end, but I crave for - no, not brains! - but for the next book!

[Janice, Moderator]

Badges are posted. Please let me know if I missed anyone.