Saturday, December 9, 2017

The “Little Creepy” Book Haul


Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews. I get to show off all the books I’ve gotten recently.

Some of the books I’ve gotten recently sound a little creepy. They’re probably not all creepy on the inside, but the titles and covers sure are.




The “Little Creepy” Book Haul










The Butcher’s Hook – Janet Ellis

Georgian London. Summer 1763. 
Anne Jaccob is coming of age, the daughter of a wealthy merchant. When she is taken advantage of by her tutor—a great friend of her father’s—and is set up to marry a squeamish snob named Simeon Onions, she begins to realize just how powerless she is in Georgian society. Anne is watchful, cunning, and bored. 
Her savior appears in the form of Fub, the butcher’s boy. Their romance is both a great spur and an excitement. Anne knows she is doomed to a loveless marriage to Onions and she is determined to escape with Fub and be his mistress. But will Fub ultimately be her salvation or damnation? And how far will she go to get what she wants?








The Dumb House – John Burnside

In Persian myth, it is said that Akbar the Great once built a palace which he filled with newborn children, attended only by mutes, in order to learn whether language is innate or acquired. As the year passed and the children grew into their silent and difficult world, this palace became known as the Gang Mahal, or Dumb House. In his first novel, John Burnside explores the possibilities inherent in a modern-day repetition of Akbar’s investigations. Following the death of his mother, the unnamed narrator creates a twisted variant of the Dumb House, finally using his own children as subjects in a bizarre experiment. When the children develop a musical language of their own, however, their gaoler is the one who is excluded, and he extracts an appalling revenge.








Bird Box – Josh Malerman

Something is out there, something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse of it, and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from. 
Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remains, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now that the boy and girl are four, it's time to go, but the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat—blindfolded—with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. Something is following them all the while, but is it man, animal, or monster?








The Psychopath Test: A Journey through the Madness Industry – Jon Ronson

When Jon Ronson is drawn into an elaborate hoax played on some of the world's top scientists, his investigation leads him, unexpectedly, to psychopaths. He meets an influential psychologist who is convinced that many important business leaders and politicians are in fact high-flying, high-functioning psychopaths, and teaches Ronson how to spot them. Armed with these new abilities, Ronson meets a patient inside an asylum for the criminally insane who insists that he's sane, a mere run-of-the-mill troubled youth, not a psychopath—a claim that might be only manipulation, and a sign of his psychopathy. He spends time with a death-squad leader institutionalized for mortgage fraud, and a legendary CEO who took joy in shutting down factories and firing people. He delves into the fascinating history of psychopathy diagnosis and treatments, from LSD-fueled days-long naked therapy sessions in prisons to attempts to understand serial killers.








How to Survive a Summer – Nick White

Camp Levi nestled in the Mississippi countryside is designed to "cure" young teenage boys of their budding homosexuality. Will Dillard, a Midwestern graduate student, spent a summer at the camp as a teenager, and has since tried to erase that experience from his mind. But when a fellow student alerts him that a slasher movie based on the camp is being released, he is forced to confront his troubled history and possible culpability in the death of a fellow camper.






Have you read any of these? What did you think?








15 comments:

  1. Ooh, these do look creepy...but I am now eyeing them! Thanks for sharing, and here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES

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  2. How to Survive a Summer started like a male version of But I'm a Cheerleader. But then you brought death into it.

    Anyway, I haven't read any of these. I might have heard of The Psychopath Test in passing.

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  3. All of your books are new to me. I haven't heard of these books. Hope you love all of them.

    Grace @ Books of Love

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  4. I agree with your assessment, a little creepy. Hope you enjoy them all!

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  5. Some good looking books. I'm curious about The Butcher. I say she should do what she can to make sure her last name isn't Onions!

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  6. That is a creepy looking haul! I have heard about The Dumb House before. The Psychopath Test looks good, too. Will you be reviewing these soon? I need to know if I need to buy them right now. I need more creepy in my reading. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. I’m hoping to read them soon, but reviews probably won’t be up until February because I blog ahead.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  7. I have only read one of these, The Bird Box. That book and me didn't get along but most people love it. Enjoy all of these!

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  8. The Psychopath Test sounds pretty interesting. And all of these do indeed seem a little creepy and unsettling. I hope you enjoy them all :)

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  9. Okay, all of this is horrifying. In a good way, of course. But maybe a little bit too far out of my comfort zone. You'll have to let us know what you think!

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  10. Thanks for checking out my STS! Some of these books do sound creepy, especially Bird Box!

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  11. Oh my, this does look creepy :) but Halloween's long gone! :D

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  12. Yeah, the titles sound creepy. Hehe.. but they look so good. I hope you enjoy them. Have a wonderful week and happy reading. ❤️😁

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  13. Bird Box is intriguing sounding though I do prefer books that show the apocalypse unfolding rather than join it afterwards. I might look further at it though.

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  14. All your books should be interesting reading. Enjoy all your creepy reads this week :)

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