story of the eye: georges bataille
no hearts because I genuinely don't know how to rate this! 80 pages of weird sex stuff. only
picked this up because it was mentioned by name in maeve fly and as weird and fucked up that
book was I was expecting something equally weird and fucked up. and like, it was? but also
not. extremely unerotic erotica, I guess.
we used to live here: marcus kliewer
I didn't know that this was originally a story on r/nosleep but while reading it I did
notice some hallmarks of nosleep stories. not necessarily bad things, but things that marked
it as yeah this was a serialized story on reddit at some point. the middle section is good
and creepy, but I think the very beginning is absurd and the ending is kind of a letdown.
there's a whole bunch of lore outside of this book apparently? which like, I don't really
care about but it's there I guess. bro wants to be house of leaves so bad
wuthering heights: emily brontë
I really wish I liked this more. there are parts I really like. and the overall setting and
vibes are up my alley. but I think unfortunately I really didn't care about the characters
and I kind of thought they were for the most part kind of unpleasant. wish it had leaned
more ghost story, perhaps.
read my full thoughts on my bookbug page
here.
maeve fly: c.j. leede
horror book club pick. and absolutely not a book for everyone. this book is really gross!!
very much an example of women's wrongs. and I support it. if you can get on board with maeve
being absolutely balls to the walls insane and killing people left and right with no regrets
then maybe you'll like this. there are some plot threads that kinda go nowhere so I knocked
off a star. but otherwise I really loved how bonkers this was.
the book of disquiet: fernando pessoa
equal parts poetry and prose, the book of disquiet felt like reading a diary or a scrapbook
more than a straightforward story. a lot of interesting ideas I will be spending more time
digesting. a lot of talk about dreams and dreaming and the creation of art... the anthology
section felt somewhat disjointed from the rest of the pieces though.
read my full thoughts on my bookbug page
here.
the long walk: stephen king
I read this first back in 2023 and reread it in 2025 for one of my horror book clubs. I
still feel really okay about it. like, it is impressive to have a book about walking for
hours on end not be an absolute slog. but it simultaneously is Too Accurate to a teenage
boy's perspective and not accurate enough. also the ending was a flop as is standard for
stephen king LMAO. I do like that it is like. entirely non supernatural for the most part. I
kinda think king is at his best when he deals with that sort of grounded real horror.
don't fear the reaper: stephen graham jones
and speaking of stephen graham jones. finally got around to reading the sequel to my heart
is a chainsaw. I think I will probably reread this after rereading chainsaw purely because I
had forgotten a lot of the characters from that book and so starting reaper was a little
rocky. but still really loved it. SGJ has a really visceral and almost action movie way of
writing that jives with my brain well... I didnt like it quite as chainsaw but that's
because the central theme of reaper didnt speak to me as deeply as chainsaw did.
piñata: leopoldo gout
a horror bookclub pick. this... didn't really do it for me. I think part of it was one of
the blurbs comparing the book to the likes of stephen graham jones which is a Lofty
Comparison for me, since SGJ is one of my favorite authors. the characters in piñata didn't
really feel fleshed out, and the plot beats felt kind of tired. some really cool imagery at
points which was unfortunately hampered by grammatical/spelling errors throughout the book.
the ending kind of flopped also.
blood on her tongue: johanna van veen
I loved veen's first book, so I eagerly snapped up her second one as soon as I could. I like
blood on her tongue only slightly less than my darling dreadful thing; the lesbians are less
front and center in this one. its still got a lot of the visceral imagery and creeping dread
that I loved in dreadful thing, and the ending was satisfying. I also thought the main
creature (said vaguely for spoilers) was really interesting and I would absolutely read
another novel about a different one in the species...
the lost village: camilla sten
another horror book club pick, another really ok horror book. I enjoyed the atmosphere and
setting, and the creepy cult-y stuff. I did not like how towards the end of the book the
author has a pretty unbelievable explanation for all the things that have been happening,
and things just kind of. end. when there could have been one or two more scenes to tie
things up (not that everything needs to be wrapped up nicely in a horror novel, but the way
that this one ended felt stilted.)
my darling dreadful thing: johanna van veen
enjoyed this vastly more than mexican gothic. mentioning that because they share some genre
threads. I think I am also just more enthusiastic about romance in books when it's gay LMAO.
the cover bangs also. the depiction of love in this... I eat it up... it's like upsetting in
a way that I like if that makes sense. because throughout it all... there is love...
the post office girl: stefan zweig
may 2025's bookbug pick! god this book... immensely depressing. I enjoyed reading it but
also it kinda sucked the soul out of me. beautiful, evocative writing that really put me in
the shoes of the protagonist... it ends rather abruptly, which surprised me, but in a way it
feels fitting.
read my full thoughts on my bookbug page
here.
mexican gothic: silvia moreno-garcia
a book I read for horror book club. I think I really do like gothic horror things, but I
felt like this swerved away from fully committing to gothic horror. like the alternative to
the supernatural it came up with was pretty cool, but I kinda wish it led with that instead
of burying it halfway through the book...? maybe tried to tackle too many concepts in the
end... still a fun read.
home before dark: riley sager
I liked the structure of the novel of having a book within a book and I thought the hints at
the house itself doing the haunting instead of a particular spirit being the cause was
intriguing. however. near the end there are twist after twist that kind of neuter the entire
rest of the book and make it a lot less interesting. authors like. it's ok to make a
predictable plot because it means that the readers have the brainpower to pick up on
foreshadowing... you don't have to throw in like 4 twists at the end to make it
unpredictable...
devolution: max brooks
I thought the structure of this book as a journal interpersed with articles and interviews
was fresh and interesting. I just wish the content was better LOL. I did go into this
feeling like the premise was a little silly (as in, I don't view bigfoot as being a
particularly murderous being) but the setup in the book works enough to make it plausible. I
feel ultimately that the book tried to tackle too many themes and tried to tie everything up
in a too messy manner. maybe if it had another 50-100 pages I would be more satisfied.
the temple of the golden pavilion: yukio mishima
april 2025's bookbug pick. having seen the golden temple in person (or at least, the rebuilt
kinkakuji after it was burned down in the event that inspired this book) I can understand on
a level what would make a person immensely obsessed with it. I guess I can even understand
to a lesser extent that sort of all consuming obsession with a thing that leads people into
ruining their lives. there is an interesting contrast with the obvious good and evil battle
that is going on in the book and yet the narrative doesn't make a judgement on it. I suppose
if I had to say anything about this book as that it was missing a sort of special sauce for
me that kept me from getting fully invested.
read my full thoughts on my bookbug page
here.
what kind of mother: clay mcleod chapman
I think it's important to read books that are just kind of okay so it makes the books that
are spectacular that much more spectacular. this was a horror book club pick, and for the
first act it's much more meet cute romcon than horror and then it takes a sharp turn into
insanity. normally I love that kinda shit but it feels very... disjointed? here? like half
the threads from the first part of the book kind of fall away for new things. and nothing
feels satisfying.
freshwater: akwaeke emezi
this isn't so much a book as an experience. an internal fever dream where the concrete world
is less important than what is going on in the protagonist's mind. I related to this book in
ways I am not fully willing to divulge but it is an evocative journey through a person's
psyche... a book about trauma and how that manifests and all the raw ugliness that comes
with it.
our wives under the sea: julia armfield
a horror bookclub pick. less horror than melancholic, but still something I enjoyed
immensely. I love angsty gay shit LMAO. also love the ocean as a source of horror. really
delightful depiction of grief and coping (poorly) with it. [said with the greatest praise]
the apple in the dark: clarice lispector
march 2025's bookbug pick. a book where not a lot happens! and yet I felt compelled to keep
turning pages. a lot of inner monologuing that felt reminiscent of my own navelgazing at
some points. but had enough weird (positive) turns of phrase and metaphors that I enjoyed
it. read my full thoughts on my bookbug page
here.
the last house on needless street: catriona ward
a horror book club pick. weird from the start, which grabbed me. I thought I knew where this
book was going, and then I didn't!! I really can't say a lot about the plot because going
into any depth beyond the blurb on the back is spoilers. I will say it felt like more of a
thriller than a horror to me...? also another book I need to reread now that I have the full
picture.
despair: vladimir naokov
february 2025's bookbug pick. I'm really torn on how to feel about this book, because I
think it only "clicked" for me in the last quarter of the book. the protagonist is extremely
unlikeable but I think that's kind of fun to read a book praying for a guy's downfall. very
much a "stream of consciousness" style book... read my full thoughts on my bookbug page
here.
the inugami curse: seishi yokomizo
found out about this book through a
vocaloid song of
all places. the song contains spoilers for the book (specifically the culprit) although I
enjoyed the book throughly even with the spoilers. sprightly, fast paced mystery thriller. I
will have to pick up more from this author, and more japanese murder mysteries in general...
I also really liked the main detective; I think he has gap moe (does not explain further).
the phantom prince: elizabeth kendall
brought to my attention through "the stranger beside me", it was another interesting
perspective on ted bundy from another person in his life. I always feel weird critiquing
autobiographies like this because it's like. who am I to complain about a person's lived
experience. that disclaimer given I feel like maybe there should have been more space
between bundy being put on trial and kendall writing this book... she does acknowledge her
flawed feelings in the updated preface, but it still feels weird to hear this guy being
talked about with adoration.
invisible cities: italo calvino
january's bookbug pick. very light on the plot, but the descriptions of the various cities
were beautiful. as per usual I liked the magical realism and the vivid descriptions they
were accompianied by. there's some throughline of themes of travel and how every city has
bits that can look like other cities that I thought was interesting to meditate on. read my
full thoughts on my bookbug review
here.
dead of winter: darcy coates
starting off 2025 with a bangerrrr. I will fully admit that part of the reason I loved this
was because I figured out who the killer was very early on and so I felt very smart when the
killer was revealed. it was tense and kept me reading (I kept saying like one more
chapter... one more chapter....). classic slasher movie in a book; there was some critique
of the characters I saw in reviews but tbh I just took it in stride with the slasher tropes.
the only good indians: stephen graham jones
having read a few things by SGJ now I had high hopes going into this and was blown away. the
slow burn of the novel into absolute batshit insanity about midway through was fantastic.
vivid visuals and characters that feel real and grounded even in the midst of chaos. this
particular novel was also good at illuminating aspects of native life I am not familar with.
I love stories that are tinged with grief and guilt the whole way through.
hark! the herald angels scream: multiple authors
december's book for my horror book club. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from a
christmas horror anthology, but I was pleasantly surprised that I either liked to loved most
of the shorts. "christmas in barcelona", "fresh as the new-fallen snow", "mistletoe and
holly", and "honor thy mother" were my favorites but I really only thought there were one or
two stories that were absolute stinkers/otherwise didn't resonate with me. gave me a bunch
of other author's works to check out !
the death of ivan ilych: leo tolstoy
a book that got under my skin and gripped my brain within a mere sixty pages. gives you big
sweeping questions about mortality and what it means to live "right" and how will you come
to terms with that on your deathbed. I did really enjoy the book but god is thinking about
its themes making me teeter on the edge of an existential crisis. read my full thoughts on
my bookbug review
here.
the posthumous memoirs of brás cubas: machado de assis
a uniquely playful and light novel with the narrator digressing and looping back over
himself repeatedly. does not take itself too seriously while still revealing some deep
insights about humanity. vibrant, interesting characters that kept me turning the pages long
after I said I would go to bed. read my full review on my bookbug page
here
horns: joe hill
I'm begining to feel like joe hill has a penchant for making extremely unlikeable
characters. I've read a couple of his novels and they all seem to write the protagonist as
like. wow! this guy sucks! but the person they are up against sucks more!! horns felt like
that premise but with a generous dollop of shock.. humor? horror? thrown in that got stale
about 50 pages in. I think it had an interesting premise but man I could not get myself to
care about anyone in this book.
the handyman method: nick cutter, andrew f. sullivan
read for a horror book club! this was a solid four stars for about 2/3 of the book, then
abruptly towards the end a new plot element is introduced that kind of dampens the satire of
the Alpha Male TM that the book unsubtly deals with. there's an interesting seed here, as a
guy who loves haunted house horror where the horror Is The House Itself, but in turning the
short story that was the inspiration into a full length novel a lot of extra themes were
added that muddied the waters. could have been better had the plotlines been tightened up a
bit. still, I tore through it in an afternoon because the descriptions and visuals were
gripping.
the big book of virginia ghost stories: l. b. Taylor jr.
I realized halfway through this book that I've read it already, back in college when I was
checking out every single book about ghosts or occult shit I could find out of the library.
it's just okay. published in 2010, so nothing really recent; and there's a good chunk of
stories in here that have no relations to ghosts. still interesting to refresh myself on
(relatively) local ghost stories.
a pale view of hills: kazuo ishiguro
october 2024's bookbug pick. I don't think I "got" this book until the last 10 or so pages,
and even then it took me reading some other reviews to fully understand. but once I did, I
realized how clever it was. hauntingly beautiful prose with many layers to the story. read
my full review on my bookbug page
here
one hundred years of solitude: gabriel garcía márquez
september 2024's bookbug pick. peak fiction. the entire breadth of human emotion is in these
~400 pages, blended masterfully with the supernatural that has become natural. honestly I
wrote a lot on my bookbug page so read my review
here
the stranger beside me: ann rule
a book that's been on my radar for a while since horror brushes shoulders with the true
crime genre every now and then. finally got around to reading it, was floored by some of the
details of the case I wasn't familiar with (namely, how long ted bundy was able to postpone
his execution). certainly a unique perspective on bundy, and the additions I had in my copy
of the book from rule updating every handful of years were appreciated.
the grip of it: jac jemc
jemc's writing is concise and crisp; chapters pass in the span of a breath. things get more
and more progressively unhinged. in some respects it felt like a trimmed down house of
leaves and I say that positively. the ending was unsatisfying and not in a "I'm gonna be
pondering this for the next few days" way.
20th century ghosts: joe hill
as with most anthologies, there were some good stories and some bad to mediocre ones. there
were a handful that weren't even horror adjacent. "deadwood" stuck with me for some reason,
despite only being a page long. something about it was fantastically evocative.
pnin: vladimir nabokov
august's bookbug pick. a short
and charming little novel. the titular pnin often finds himself in unfortunate situations,
but his quirks make him someone I have to root for. read my initial review
here
it: stephen king
I'm so torn on this book. like there were really high highs and also really low lows. I
think the length (1168 pages) is to its detriment. there were parts that could have been
trimmed. beverly deserved so, So much better. I think the concept of It as this cosmic evil
is really cool but the book didn't focus as much on it as I would have liked. also I feel
like the scene in the sewers that happens 90% of the way in the book with the kids was
incredibly offputting and if I wasn't almost finished with the book at that point I probably
would have dropped it. take that how you will.
the hundred secret senses: amy tan
picked this up as a "blind date with a book" package I saw at a local fair. thought the
supernatural elements were interesting and I liked the interweaving of the two stories being
told but I thought the ending was a letdown.

to the lighthouse: virginia woolf
read for july's bookbug pick.
not my favorite of the books so far for that group, although as time goes on and I'm
meditating on it more I like it more. read my initial review
here
strangers on a train: patricia highsmith
read for june's bookbug pick.
overall I enjoyed this book as a fun, quick thriller. read my review
here
azarinth healer: book one: rhaegar
read for geega's community book club. I thought it was Just Ok. finding out that it was a
serialized web novel make sense because uh. there sure didn't seem to be any overarching
plot. still the rpg setting was easy and entertaining to read about.
the master and margarita: mikhail bulgakov
read for may's bookbug pick. a
little confusing, but super interesting in the latter half. read my review
here
a collapse of horses: brian evenson
a horror anthology where the stories stop just short of giving the full picture. very
evocative imagery. I liked "the dust" for being the most fleshed out, and "any corpse" for
being unexpectedly funny.
the doctor who fooled the world: brian deer
a nonfiction book about the fraud study that led to mass paranoia about vaccines, and the
doctor who pushed it through. interesting stuff, but somewhat dense at times
the ruins: scott smith
a horror novel about a vacation in mexico gone horribly wrong after the tourists venture nto
the jungle. I thought it was miserable but in a fun way LOL. more sad than scary imo. and
sometimes I am in the mood for media that will suck the soul out of me
the hunger: alma katsu
a horror novel that is a fictionalized retelling of the donner party's unfortunate end. I
think I expected this book to be more gruesome and it ends up being more sad and
contemplative than gory. I'm also not a huge fan of historical fiction so I think even being
interested in the topic it just didn't hit.