Spooktober TBR

Hey guys! 

Happy October! And ya know...Halloween because for me at least it's like a month long event because why not!

 This October, for the entire month myself and Becca (The Brunettes Bookshelf) will be bringing you guys Spooktober! We're going to spend the entire month reading all Halloween reads all the time, and we'll be bringing you guys discussions, rec posts, reviews, giveaways and more for the entire month! You can check out our TBR's and read along with us if you like! On the discussion front, we'll be talking about the classics we're reading, so feel free to join in with us! I'll probably do a discussion for most if not all of them, because why not! 

So today, I'm bringing you my Spooktober TBR! I got a little bit carried away and chances are I won't get everything read, but I'm gonna try my best! Stalking Jack the Ripper is missing because it hadn't arrived when I made this post, but it's on there too! Becca's going to be doing classics and a mix of other reads, YA and adult, but she's totally doing the more murdery, scary books because I'm a total pansy! I'll be doing mostly YA with the odd other book. So first up is what I'm going to be reading and what I'll be watching is after that ;) 

The Classics

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Obviously Dracula had to make the list, it's not only a classic but it's also kind of a Halloween specific classic. Like you can't have Halloween without Dracula! This'll be a re-read for me!

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I still haven't read this, and after watching the movie a couple of years ago, I'm curious to read the book it was based on! Plus everyone raves about this book, and I feel kinda left out! 

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Even I'm ashamed of myself that I haven't read this yet. I can't even. Frankenstein is such a huge Halloween monster, there's been multiple movies and it's finally time for me to read the book! 

Daisy Miller and the Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Daisy Miller isn't such a Halloween read, but it's the other story in this volume that screams Halloween. A governess goes to take care of two orphans...and gets a sense of intense evil within the house. Then she's all like "aaahh the malevolent forces are stalking the children"...but are they!? 

The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens

This is Dickens last novel and it's actually incomplete which is probably going to drive me up the wall because I NEED TO KNOW. This is going to contribute to the murdery type books in my Halloween TBR!

Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Okay so, I still haven't read this either, because I suck. But I vaguely remember going to see the musical version of it when it was on in London, I think I actually have the soundtrack somewhere? Anyway, I need to finally read this, and it's not like it's a huge book! 

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

I've read a couple of the shorter Holmes stories, I'm not a really huge fan but I do watch the odd episode of Sherlock! I picked Baskervilles because it sounded the most creepy of the ones that I have AND when I was a kid I watched the film version of this with Peter Cushing because it used to be on TV a lot and my dad would watch it and for some reason I really loved it :') 

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Yes....I haven't read Coraline. Shocking I know. I'm a terrible bookworm! I feel like Coraline is a modern Halloween classic, not going to lie! 

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Again...I really should have read this by now, and it's another Halloween type classic! I also got to review the graphic novel for this, or at least the first half, and I need to know what happens next! 

Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson

I'm going to be reviewing this for Penguin! It's a collection of creepy and gothic stories, that are perfect for Halloween! I've not read any of Jackson's stories before, I've been eyeing up "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" for a while, but never gotten around to it, so I'm excited to finally read her work! 

The Trilogy

Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

A Darkness Strange and Lovely

Strange and Ever After

I've been itching to get to the Something Strange and Deadly trilogy for ages, I managed to grab the hardcovers before they started to be really hard to get hold of! There's brand new covers for these, and I'm fairly certain you can still get the ebooks if you want to join in reading this! I loved Truthwitch so I'm excited to read Dennard's earlier works and these sound like the perfect Halloween read! 

The Series

Jackaby by William Ritter

Beastly Bones

Ghostly Echoes

Yes. Having Jackaby as a paperback does bother me. Book Depository sent me a paperback instead of the hardback that I ordered and I'm in the process of getting the hardback to match the others, never fear! I love the sound of this series, and I figure seeing as there's the whole murder aspect going on, I can get away with putting this down for Halloween! 

The Hardcovers

The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett

I picked this book up ages ago because it sounded fun and I liked the cover, I need to actually buy the other two in the series but for now the first book is all good for my Spooktober TBR! There's murder and a girl who feeds on your nightmares. 

Shutter by Courtney Alameda

This has been on my TBR for ages so it's about time I got round to it! Our main character is from the Van Helsing line and she can see the aura's of the undead! It sounds awesome, there's some ghost exorcising going on, and a fun group of kids doing the whole..well....exorcising! 

Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs

HELL YES MORE PECULIARITY! I got so excited when I heard this was being released and I'm so excited to get to review it for the publisher! I loved the Miss Peregrine's trilogy, even the pictures that totally creeped me out and this book is completely gorgeous! 

These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

Again, this has been sitting on my TBR for what feels like forever, and the whole murder aspect made me add it. Sure it's not like OMG SO CREEPY TOTALLY HALLOWEEN but murder mystery is enough for it to make my list! I'm actually really excited to get to this one finally because it sounds totally awesome! 

The YA

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

Another "has been on my TBR forever" book. I'm a huge fan of Kelley Armstrong so I'm excited to read this trilogy opener! There's gonna be a tonne of ghosts, and ghosts freak me out so this'll be good! 

Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata

I started to collect Death Note not too long ago, I've got the really cool black editions with the sprayed edges, and then I've got these regular editions! Now, I don't have ALL of the volumes, I've got the first four and then I'm missing a couple in the middle, but for Halloween I'm definitely going to read at least the first four volumes, if not all of it if I get hold of the other volumes! I know everyone loves this manga so I'm excited to finally jump on the band wagon. 

Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey

I love Alyxandra's books and have for a few years now, and Haunting Violet is the only one I haven't read yet! It's been sitting on my TBR because I've been busy with review books and haven't had the chance to read much from my regular TBR, and when I have I've always shied away from this one and decided to leave it for Halloween...and now it's Halloween! I'm expecting this to be a really good read! 

Graveminder by Melissa Marr

Super Halloween-y title am I right?! I though this sounded like a good Halloween read, creepy, but should make for a nice break in between classics! Wicked Lovely is still on my TBR, but I did get to read Made For You the other year and it was SO GOOD, so I'm expecting good things from this! 

Team Human by Sarah Rees Brennan & Justine Larbalestier

Pretty much the only SRB book I haven't read yet, and this has seriously been on my TBR for ages, I've just never gotten round to it! Vampires are totally perfect for Halloween and this sounds like it's going to be a nice fun read, as well as being great for Halloween! 

House of Ivy and Sorrow by Natalie Whipple

I can't remember when I picked this up, I think it was not too long after it was published? The synopsis intrigued me, and Witch's are another classic Halloween staple! 

The Adult Fiction

The Sight by Chloe Neill

The first book in this series was awesome, it was original and fun and a great read, so I'm excited to get to review this for the publisher and just in time for Halloween! Nothing like a good paranormal/supernatural read for Halloween!

Anno Dracula by Kim Newman

I picked this up at a used book store, as I'm sure you can tell! I loved the sound of the back of the book, I thought it sounded original and fun and so it's been sitting on my TBR waiting for the perfect opportunity for me to read it! I got to review Drearcliff and it's made me really excited for this! I've got the sequel sitting on my TBR and I may or may not get to it this month too!

The Accidental Alchemist by Gigi Pandian

Okay so I only looked at this because I loved the cover and then I read the synopsis and I was like, okay I need this book. Gargoyles and alchemy and a tonne of originality...perfect read for me! And perfect for Halloween! I really need to pick up the sequel though! 

The Hidden People by Alison Littlewood

I was sent this for review, and it sounds like it's going to be a good read, and possibly the creepiest of them! 

What I'm Watching...

Like I said, Halloween is a month long thing for me and I usually watch Halloween kinda films all along, before having a huge marathon on Halloween itself! This year, I've gotten really in to anime, like I'm fully obsessed! I've just finished watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and honestly? I think it might be my favourite anime and I'm kinda having withdrawals from it, all I really want to do is rewatch it like straight away, but I've told myself I'm not allowed to until after Halloween at least! SO for Halloween I'll be getting over my FMAB withdrawals by watching Death Note, Tokyo Ghoul and possibly Soul Eater! 

Yep. I'm well aware by watching Death Note I'm going to spoil the rest of the manga for myself, but I did the same thing with Fairy Tail and it doesn't really bother me! Plus if I don't manage to get the other volumes to read this Halloween, it'll bug me not knowing what happens next because I'm super impatient! 

Tokyo Ghoul is a manga that I've been eyeing up for ages and uhm-ing and ah-ing over, I usually prefer the more fantasy type manga's, like SDS and Fairy Tail and Arslan etc, but seeing as it's Halloween, I figured I'd finally watch the anime adaption! And I know what's going to happen...I'm going to end up loving it and then buying the manga as well! 

Soul Eater I debated but wasn't too sure on, when I first started to look for manga to read. I know a lot of people rave about it and while I can't buy Soul Eater to read for Halloween, I thought I might take the plunge and watch it and see what everyone's on about! I say might, because I might not have time after watching both Death Note and Tokyo Ghoul, but I'm hoping I'll be able to get to it!

On the film front, I'll be watching such classics as Hocus Pocus, Nosferatu, The Addams Family, Van Helsing, Casper, Ghostbusters, Black Cauldron, Sweeney Todd, Burke and Hare, Nightmare Before Christmas, Gremlins, Teen Wolf, Sleepy Hollow, The Universal Monster movies, and whatever else I've forgotten to write down in this little mini list thing! Let me know if you're going to be watching any of these, especially the anime because then we can buddy watch! 

What I'm Listening To....

SaveSaveSaveSave

This is a quick little playlist that I made up the other day, it's not even complete yet and there's a couple different versions of some songs on there, because why not? I'll probably add to it over the month, but this is what I'm starting with! And yes...two of those songs are from a Scooby Doo film because I loved that movie as a kid okay! 

Let me know what you're going to be reading, watching and listening to this October! To see what Becca and I are up to follow us on Instagram and Twitter, and follow the hashtag Spooktober! Feel free to join in with us as we read and discuss throughout the month! 

Bookshelf Tour: Manga

Hey guys! 

How's everyone's Monday going!? Today i'm giving you a mini bookshelf tour, or more accurately...a tour of one part of my bookshelf! 

I asked you guys what you wanted to see and you where all eager to check out my Manga collection which is what you're getting today! You also wanted to have a nose at my graphic novel collection which I'll be doing soon! Let me know what other sections of my bookshelf you would like to see! Leather-bounds? Word Cloud Classics? Clothbounds? I might make it a regular thing if there's more bits you want to see! 

So anyway, my manga collection! I usually get manga from the library because they can be expensive and a lot of them have so many volumes it's insane..Fairy Tail is one of them God help me! Recently I started to watch various different Anime shows thanks to Netflix, Seven Deadly Sins, Blue Exorcist and Fairy Tail are a couple I've watched! Seeing as how I loved the shows so much, I decided I needed to own the manga, I'm sure I'll come to regret my determination to collect Fairy Tail! I've not watched Seraph or Death Note yet I just liked the sound of them, I mean once I ventured in to the Manga section at Waterstones I kept spotting various different ones that are now on my list! As for Twin Star, that one I stumbled on when the Anime was announced! My collection isn't that big, but I'm working on it! 

Fairy Tail

Fairy Tail is my current obsession, I'm not going to lie! I've slowly worked my way through the Anime and I'm very close to catching up but I'm trying really hard not to because then I'll have to wait for new episodes to be dubbed and I'm really impatient! I'm determined to collect the Fairy Tail manga because it's brilliant and funny and original and kind of addicting! The world is huge,there's always something happening and there are so many different kinds of magic in the world! I've only got 6 volumes though and there's like 50 and counting...pray for me! 

In the land of Fiore wizards form in to Guilds, the biggest of all being the guild of Fairy Tail in Magnolia. Fairy Tail is full of the most powerful wizards and Lucy is determined to join! Luckily for her she bumps in to Natsu a Fairy Tail member, of course, she only comes across him when she gets in to trouble with a dodgy wizard and his gang of pirates. It's not long before Lucy becomes a part of Fairy Tail and the adventures begin. Warring Guilds, Dark Guilds determined to cause destruction and set demons loose, missions, mutiny and more! 

The Seven Deadly Sins

Seven Deadly Sins is the Anime that started it all, I stumbled across it on Netflix because they where advertising it everywhere and watched it all in a couple of days and I completely loved it, I've been obsessed ever since! The manga was necessary because I'm impatient waiting for season two and ya know...adaptions are always a little bit different! I have way more chance of catching up to this and the others than I do Fairy Tail at this stage! This is fantasy, there's magic, it's funny, there's action and mystery and it's another original! It took me far too long to work out that the spines of these volumes make a picture! 

The Seven Deadly Sins were once a group of elite Holy Knights in the region of Brittania, formed by criminals. They where forced to disband and flee the kingdom for their lives when accused of the murder of the Great Holy Knight and plotting to take over the Kingdom. The Holy Knights claim that they've been defeated, but rumours abound that they're still alive. Fast forward ten years and the Holy Knights are up to no good, staging a coup d'état and imprisoning the King leaving themselves in charge. The third princess of the Kingdom, Elizabeth, manages to get away and sets out to find the Sins to enlist their help in defeating the Holy Knights and taking back the Kingdom. Luckily for her it's not long before she stumbles across their Captain. 

Blue Exorcist

I watched the one off season of this in a couple of days and while I was unsure at first, it ended up being brilliant! Seeing as there would be no more Anime of it, I had to get the manga because I just need to know what happens next, although the Anime adaption is actually quite different! I gave up on watching Supernatural and this fills the SPN shaped hole in my life! I also love the full colour illustration in the front of each volume! The demons in this are original, and there's so many different kinds! You'll find a guide to them in the back of most volumes! It turns out it's inspired by a Brother's Grimm fairy tale, which makes it even more awesome! 

Rin's always been a bit of a screw up when compared to his younger twin Yukio, forever getting in to trouble and letting his temper get the best of him. The twins where raised by Father Fujimoto, an exorcist and as we join the story Rin's having the rather awkward "Your real dad is Satan" conversation after an encounter with a demon. Yep the twins are the sons of Satan, however Rin is the only one who's inherited the power. When Fujimoto dies to save Rin, Rin does what he was forbidden to do by Fujimoto, he draws the demon-slaying blade Kurikara, which restrains his powers. From that moment his power has been unleashed. Rin is determined to become an Exorcist like Father Fujimoto, and become the strongest of all so he can defeat Satan. Rin ends up enrolling at the prestigious True Cross Academy, which is the cover for the Japanese branch of an international organisation of exorcists. While attending regular classes, Rin also attends special exorcists classes with a few others who's goal it is to become exorcists of varying different types. Turns out Rin's twin Yukio has actually been doing the Exorcist thing for years and is one of his new teachers, then there's also the whole "the people in charge don't know about you otherwise you'd be slightly less alive" thing. 

Twin Star Exorcists

This one is one that I wasn't entirely sure on. I ended up seeing the first few minutes of the Anime's first episode, but it hasn't been dubbed yet and I get too distracted by the animation and forget to read the subtitles! So I haven't watched the rest but the first few minutes looked really good, so I decided why not! Every manga I've picked up has been unique and original and this is no exception, the demons are different to the ones in Blue Exorcist and there's a different hierarchy to the exorcists and different mythology to it. I was definitely iffy at first, but it's been getting better and better! I was actually all caught up on this until volume 4 came out the other day! 

Rokuro is from a family of exorcists and he's one of the best exorcists in the country, although after a tragic incident 2 years ago, he'd rather be anything but an Exorcist! Trouble is...being an Exorcist is the only thing he's actually good at. When new arrival Benio arrives on the scene and the two find themselves in more than one dangerous situation, Rokuro begins to rethink his decision to never be an Exorcist again. When an old enemy resurfaces....there's no decision left for Rokuro to make. Alongside all of that, it turns out Benio and Rokuro are the prophesied Twin Star Exorcists and are fated to be together. Awkward. 

Seraph of The End

I found this one when I was browsing in Waterstones, and I watched the trailer for the Anime and it looked brilliant! I actually picked up volumes 5 and 6 from a charity shop looking like they'd never been read, and since I have and have read volume 1...those two volumes are staring at me begging to be read but I need to get the others first! This one's interesting because there's vampires and everything...but it's not the standard that you'd expect. This manga has a dystopian feel to the world when you read about what happened, but then it seems pretty normal at other points until a vampire bursts in! I'm not sure what to class this as, fantasy? Supernatural? Dystopian? Bit of everything? I think it's actually down as Dark Fantasy though so let's go with that! 

It's the year 2012, and a catastrophic epidemic kills everyone over the age of 13, leaving vampires to rise up out of the recesses of the Earth, bringing age old horrors of the dark, thought to be myth, with them. The vampires take immediate control, enslaving what's left of humanity and taking them beneath the surface for safety. The price of this safety? Blood. That's the story everyone's been told anyway. Yuichiro and his friend Mikaela plot to escape along with the other children from their orphanage, but when everything goes wrong, Yuichiro is the only one to make it to the surface alive. It's there that he's rescued by the Moon Demon company, a vampire extermination unit of the Japanese Imperial Demon Army. It's through them that he learns everything they've been told by the vampires has been a lie. Four years later and Yuichiro has dedicated his life to destroying vampires and seeking revenge, he's determined to join the Moon Demon company, the best of the best. The only problem is he has a bit of a problem with team work. 

Death Note

Not going to lie, I still haven't read this yet. Why? Because I immediately saw this edition and decided it was the edition I needed, not only because it has both volumes 1 and 2, but because it's all black. The edges are sprayed black and everything, so of course I needed the fancy edition. So why haven't I read it yet? Because I'm trying to work out how the hell to read it without getting my grubby fingerprint marks all over it...yep, it's one of THOSE covers that refuses to have fingerprints wiped off! So yeah, I still need to read this one, but I've heard good things and it sounds awesome! 

Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects. He's also totally bored out of his mind, that is...until he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook...dies. Now in possession of this notebook, Light has vowed to use it to rid the world of evil. But then criminals start dropping dead and the authorities send legendary detective L to investigate and track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal...or his life? 

So there you have my rather small collection of Manga! I still have four of them to catch up on, Fairy Tail being the biggest challenge, but I'm sure I'll get there eventually! There's also plenty of others lurking on my amazon wishlist that I'd love to check out! Perhaps when I've built my collection more you'd like me to do an updated version? Or a part two with any new manga I get? We'll see! Next time, probably next week, I'll be doing my graphic novel collection, it's also not very big but oh well! Let me know what manga you love, hit me with your recommendations, and also let me know if you want to take a peek at what manga is on my wishlist, and what other collections of mine you'd like to see, if any! 

Birthday Book Haul

Hey guys! I know I promised I'd do a Birthday Book Haul video, but what with me being sick and not really feeling up to doing videos, I thought I'd do a blog post instead! I know it's not the same but still! I'm thinking I probably won't get the months Haul or Wrap Up done and possibly not my TBR either, sorry guys! Anyway.....haul time! 

I had a very bookish birthday, I got books...obviously, but I also got some other bookish things, Slytherin Scarf, book Pandora charm, Harry Potter top and so on! I also got a decent chunk of money, which I used for Manga! I'm trying to catch up on Fairy Tail, Blue Exorcist and Seven Deadly Sins! They've not all arrived which is why they aren't pictured but I got Blue Exorcist Volumes 1-10, Fairy Tail Volumes 1-4 and Seven Deadly Sins Volumes 1-4! Manga is something I've recently started reading, I was getting Sword Art Online from the library and a couple of others, but I've watched the Anime for all three of these and decided I needed them for my collection! I know you all know there's a load of books that I'm after and I probably should have used the money for those...but they'd sit on my TBR shelf for ages, and Manga....well....I'm super fast at reading it so they don't take up shelf space on my TBR...basically! 

So what books did I receive? Well as you can see in the photos...a fair few! 

I got the super fancy edition of Death Note, it's got Volumes 1&2 in it and the edges are BLACK SPRAYED! I'm so in love! Although, it's going to be really hard to read without getting my fingerprints all over it! 

As you all know I collect various different editions of classics and I got two clothbounds for my collection! Anna Karenina and Wuthering Heights! They're so gorgeous, I really love the clothbounds because they're easy to read without damaging them, and they're ya know...really pretty! 

Next up is Lady Midnight and it's the super fancy Limited Edition version from Waterstones! I actually knew I was getting this and got it early when it came out! I'm kinda hoping the other two books will get a fancy edition too, but then at the same time my shelves are probably hoping they won't! 

I'm such a Game of Thrones fan, I have a shelf dedicated to all of the books and for my birthday I got the four graphic novel volumes! I've been eyeing them up for ages, because the art is completely gorgeous, and I'm planning to spend a day sitting and reading them and relieving back to before most of the pain and suffering started. 

As some of you may have seen, as part of my birthday week I got to take a trip to a kinda local comic shop and I came out with two! Harley Quinn and Power Girl because I love Harley Quinn okay, she's my favourite and I have all the individual comics but for Power Girl I decided I'd wait and get the bind up! Although now I think I'm gonna do that with Harley Quinn because I have no space left! 

I also got Spider-Gwen Vol 0 because I've heard a lot of good things about it and it's been intriguing me! I still need to actually read this one! So I managed to grab two of the bind ups that I've been after for aggeeesss and I still need to sit down and read both, because I've not had time yet! I'm thinking of taking it slower and stopping the current review pace I have because I'm burning myself out and I'm losing the fun of YouTubing and reviewing! 

Soooo that's my birthday book haul! I'm really sorry I couldn't do the video as promised, it's just I'm all fuzzy headed and snotty nosed and gross and I'm not really in the mood to drag myself out of bed and slap some makeup on you know? Plus editing the videos wouldn't be too great either with the fuzzy had! I'm hoping to return to normal starting with the Classic of the month, but I'm not entirely sure whether I will be, I'll definitely be back for the regular hauls/wrap ups etc in April and the May TBR! I think I might do this months as blog posts if no-one objects?! 

Thank you to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday, I had such a fantastic day and so many of you where so lovely!