I wasn’t planning on doing any other “Halloween-related” posts, besides my Ultimate Guide to Halloween Reading. Then I came across this tag on one of my Goodreads-friends Melanie’s blog Mel to the Any, and felt it would be a nice, quick, but mostly fun post idea. Thanks to the original creator Keep Reading Forward, for putting together these prompts, ánd updating them a year after the original tag came out. Quick disclaimer before we get into the prompts: I don't own any of the artwork portrayed below. All are linked to the source and credited in the description.
1. Witch: a magical book There are so many answers I could give for this prompt, yet I’m going with a book that was “magical” in every single way. The story, characters, atmosphere and writing style all ooze magic: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
2. Werewolf: a book best read by moonlight My current “Halloween-read” Lair of Dreams (book 2 in The Diviners Quartet) is the perfect nighttime read. It’s spooky enough to match the darkness outside, but not so terrifying that I need to sleep with all my lights on. The themes of dreams and sleep throughout, make it even more perfectly suited to a dark October night.
3. Frankenstein: a book that shocked you If you’re looking for the perfect thriller to shock you, that also happens to have an aspect of sci-fi to it, just like Frankenstein, I highly recommend Blake Crouch’s work. The Wayward Pines trilogy had me entertained and on edge for weeks, Dark Matter completely blew my mind, and his newest book Recursion will probably make it on my favourites of 2010.
4. The Devil: a dark, evil character Thiago from Daughter of Smoke and Bone is one villain that manages to give me the heebie-jeebies for sure. Also: obvious shout out to Voldemort(HP), Bellatrix LaStrange (HP), Sauron (LOTR) and and Galbatorix (Inheritance Cycle) for being the my “All-Time Villains” to first pop into my mind when that word is mentioned.
5. Grim Reaper: a character that should have never died OBLIGATORY SPOILERWARNING (I won’t name the characters in particular, but this question has spoiler written all over it).
I don’t want to go for a Harry Potter-one, because we all (including miss Rowling herself) know that what she did in the final book unacceptable. Instead I’m going with a death from The Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson. The death that happens at the end of book one… I saw it coming pretty much from the start, yet it still got to me.
6. Zombie: a book you gave a second chance after DNF-ing The Unseen World by Liz Moore. I originally couldn’t get into the story, yet ended up loving it in the end.
7. Gargoyle: a character you’d protect against all costs Connor from A Monster Calls, because that boy needs a big hug and someone to protect and take care of him.
8. Vampire: a book that sucked the life out of you I’m not trying to bash on this author, but anything I’ve read by Helen Oyeyemi so far has had this effect on me. Their descriptions always appeal to me, and I really want to love them, yet the always end up not being for me, or just going over my head. Helen Oyeyemi has a very unique writing style that isn’t easy to read. While that can be a positive thing in some cases, it often puts me off her books in this case.
9. Ghost: a book that still haunts you In a good or a bad way? Because I probably have an answer for both… A book that haunts me in a good way is A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. It’s a book that has been with me for years now, and has a very special place in my life and heart. One of the few books that I think about very often and always manages to make me emotional in a way. This is one ghost I don’t mind carrying around with me. One that haunts me in a bad way is The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. This book keeps weaseling its way into my life through friends recommendations, and every time it does, I sort of get my hopes up: this is the type of book that HAS to be a new favourite. Yet I’ve read it multiple times now, and just… don’t love it. What haunts me is that feeling of “the-one-that-got-away”, a potential all-time favourite that just… wasn’t.
10. Demon: a book that really scared you Most of my memories of being freaked out by a book are from my childhood or middle-grade years, so I’m not sure if these books would have the same effect on me today. I remember being a little freaked out, yet completely entranced with The War of Witches trilogy by Maite Carranza. I also have vivid memories of being terrified of the basilisk of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (which I was way too young to read at the time, but loved anyway). Nowadays, I somehow don’t get scared by horrorbooks easily anymore, so I don’t have a more recent answer.
11. Skeleton: a character you have a bone to pick with I love this question, yet it’s such a hard one, because I have too many answers. Seriously: I apparently hate quite a lot of characters… Let me just name a few: - Safi from Truthwitch by Susan Dennard: how to ruin a book one annoying protagonist at the time. - The mother in Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon: worst-parenting-1.01. - Mona from Mona in Three Acts by Griet op de Beeck: how-to-not-take-action-in-life-1.01 - Juliet from Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer: TALK TO HIM! - Declan from Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer: TALK TO HER! - Augustus from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. My dear boy: you the epitome of all that is wrong with YA-boyfriends and sicklit-characters combined. - And lastly, probably every single character in If we Were Villains by M.L. Rio, but in the best way possible, cause boy… y’all fucked up bad…
12. Mummy: a book you want to preserve for eternity As far as physical books on my shelf go: I’d want to preserve my bind-up edition of His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, because I have such fond memories of reading those books together with my mother. The same goes for some of my childhood favourite books (all in Dutch), particularly my quite extensive collection of Paul Biegel books.
13. Creepy doll: a cover too scary to look at I had to think about this one for a while… Eventually I decided on Hollow City by Ransom Riggs. There is something haunting about the photos included in this series that just gets me every time, but this one is the worst of all…
