Category: Articles

The Ghosts of Old Finch Road

1 Comment

If you were ever to run into a ghost, which story would you tell them? Would you give them a ghost story? Today’s prompt is by Camilla @ Reader in the Attic and asks us to tell a local urban legend.

Everywhere has its own urban legends and stories, but when I was trying to think of what would count as a Toronto urban legend, I came up short. Casa Loma should have had something creepy happen in it. It’s begging for a ghost, but nothing. Just a guy who built a house. For books there’s always Ghosts of the Bay and all the shipwrecks that happen out on Georgian Bay, but I don’t know if that counts as local. It’s more than a couple hours drive from me.

So instead, I’m going to tell you the story of the Ghost of Old Finch Bridge.

Continue reading “The Ghosts of Old Finch Road” »

Facing Death: My Top 5 Nonfiction Books About Death

Leave a comment

Death is a part of life. There’s no escaping it and while some people dread death and others embrace it, we’re fascinated by it. For example, think of the last movie you saw without a death in it. Even Disney movies kill off their villains most of the time.

So lately, I’ve been reading a lot about death. I was always fascinated by the True Crime side of things, but never really thought about what it would be like on the other side. Books about death or facing death can take on all sorts of feelings. Usually they fall into two camp: the serious and the irreverent.

For obvious reasons, I find the irreverent more fun. While they can still be terrifying and unnerving, they take the edge off a bit. I’m not including adventure nonfiction in this list, but if you’re looking for those, you can find them here.

So, which books should you look at to learn more about death? Continue reading “Facing Death: My Top 5 Nonfiction Books About Death” »

Battle Royale: The Book that Launched a Thousand Copies

Leave a comment

Battle Royale
Koushun Takami
Horror, Fiction
Battle Royale
Buy now on Amazon

I don’t really need to tell anyone what a Battle Royale is. Thanks to Fortnite and before that, the Hunger Games, everyone knows what it is. People are dropped into a death map. They need to kill each other. The last person standing wins.

Simple, right?

Only kind of. Battle Royale is a Japanese novel from the nineties written by Koushun Takami. It was groundbreaking in its time not just for the writing, but the shock factor of it. The book was criticized by some for its violence. Where the Hunger Games feels futuristic enough to give us some distance, Battle Royale doesn’t allow it. This isn’t meant to be a comfortable topic that’s made into PG-13 movies. Even in movie form, Battle Royale doesn’t shy away from its horror.

Each year, a single class participates in a Battle Royale. It’s a shock tactic to control the children who are growing too wild for their parents. The class is picked from a lottery and there’s no guarantee that any child will be safe as they grow up. Therefore, everyone’s at risk.

The kids we follow this year? They’re in 9th grade. To put that into perspective, they would be around 12 to 13 years old when they were brought to the island.

Continue reading “Battle Royale: The Book that Launched a Thousand Copies” »

The Top 6 Horror Movies Adapted from Books

1 Comment

I don’t think I need to explain to anyone who’s reading this that movies can suck at adapting books. Sometimes the movie can add to a story like the first Bourne Identity movie. It can bring a world to life like it did in the Lord of the Rings. But other times, it can feel like it’s completely trashing the source material. (Watch out, Ella Enchanted. I’m coming for you.) As much as I want to bash some terrible Fantasy movies, it’s October, so I want to stick with the season. There are plenty of horror movies based on books to choose from.

So, when it comes to Horror movies, how do they stack up?

Don’t get me wrong, there are some terrible horror adaptations out there. I’ll be making a post about those later in the month. For now though, I’d like to focus on the positives and talk about the movies that were fantastic.

These are in no particular order, but hopefully they inspire you to check out some different movies.

Continue reading “The Top 6 Horror Movies Adapted from Books” »

wickedest of all witches

Witch, please! My Top 5 Books about Witches

4 Comments

Witches are the monsters that are forgotten about when we talk about evil. Everyone remembers vampires, werewolves, and the like, but witches? They’re not considered to be as frightening. Maybe it’s because a witch isn’t a demon, they’re a human. They can be reasoned with more readily and understood. They’re not the malevolent evil of a vampire, or the brutal violence of a werewolf.

This prompt was given by Kaleena from Reader Voracious for Blogoween. Please check out her blog.

So in no particular order, here we go!

Continue reading “Witch, please! My Top 5 Books about Witches” »

The Monster Mash-Up! My Top 5 Monsters in Literature

5 Comments

Monsters are the lifeblood of stories. Monstrous people, beasts, or actions are generally added to give a story that added burst of terror. I love a good monster and the chills that they send down my spine. Although my favourite monster of all time is the Tyrannosaurus Rex from Jurassic Park, I decided that for this challenge, I could only use fictional monsters. Since the T-rex is a real dinosaur, it doesn’t count.

We all know that monsters can be sympathetic, otherworldly, or both. I’ve tried to avoid the sympathetic monster as well, so Frankenstein won’t make it on this list. Books I haven’t read also won’t be featured here which disqualifies Frankenstein again. Sorry! I’ll get to you, I promise.

Continue reading “The Monster Mash-Up! My Top 5 Monsters in Literature” »

Lazy Reading

7 Ways to get Free Ebooks Legally

Leave a comment

Cheap books and affordable books in general can be hard to come by these days. If you’re looking for free books, or even free ebooks, you can forget about it. If you’re a Canadian and also really into books, then you’re probably in a rough spot. You have access to so many books and there are so many places where you can buy said books. But, if you’re not super wealthy then something is probably stopping you short. Is it lack of time? No.

It’s the cost of books.

Continue reading “7 Ways to get Free Ebooks Legally” »

simply the best subscription box

The Best Value for Book Subscription Boxes in Canada

Leave a comment

Okay, so I love books and bookish goods and I especially love Book Subscription Boxes. Just think of it! Once a month, you’re shipped an entire box of bookish goodies. It’s like Christmas except it comes once every month instead of once a year. It sounds perfect, right? There are so many subscription boxes that you should be able to find one that’s tailor-made for you and your interests. There’s just one little problem… They tend to only be great value if you’re an American.

Continue reading “The Best Value for Book Subscription Boxes in Canada” »

7 Amazing Fantasy Novels with Queer Main Characters

1 Comment

One of the great joys of my life has been finding queer fiction that I wasn’t expecting. Whether I was expecting or not, queer inclusion in a fantasy novel always makes me way more invested than I might have been otherwise. We all need a little escapism and fantasy, the place where everything can happen, it always tends to be straight people flouncing around the world and getting to do all the cool stuff.

My first true love in the fiction world was fantasy, so here are seven of the books that I’ve fallen in love with that feature queer fantasy narratives.

Continue reading “7 Amazing Fantasy Novels with Queer Main Characters” »

7 Nonfiction Books That Will Stick With You

3 Comments

I have it bad for nonfiction books.

I used to think that nonfiction meant that it would read like a textbook and sometimes that’s still the case, but for the most part nonfiction has evolved as a genre beyond merely delivering facts. There are nonfiction authors out there who will give fiction authors a run for their money in terms of weaving a narrative.

Even better, because nonfiction means that it’s a true event that means that everything written within is something that could happen to you. It probably won’t, but it’s still a possibility. So here are the nonfiction books that I find my thoughts wandering to the most.

Continue reading “7 Nonfiction Books That Will Stick With You” »