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Currently reading:

JUNKYARD DRUID

A Druidverse Urban Fantasy Novel By M.D. Massey

Name’s Colin McCool… folks call me the Junkyard Druid. I hate that name.

Despite my last name, I’m not “cool” like the other hunters in town. I don’t run an occult bookstore, I’ve never owned a Harley, and I didn’t inherit a family fortune passed down through generations of hunters before me.

And I kind of have this curse on me that’s messed up my life.

So things are pretty much shit right now. I live in a junkyard, my mentor Finn is a heroin addict, I’ve got the Cold Iron Circle breathing down my neck, and the local Fae Queen Maeve is blackmailing me into doing her dirty work.

Now I’m in way over my head trying to retrieve Maeve’s stolen magic rock, all while helping my friend Belladonna solve a series of murders that may or may not involve the local werewolves.

And did I mention that Finn is in debt to a bloodthirsty gang of dwarven mobsters?

– If I can just get the Faery Queen’s tathlum back…

– And help Belladonna solve these murders…

– While keeping the dwarves from killing Finn…

Then I just might live long enough to finish my first semester of college.

– – –

Junkyard Druid is an urban fantasy novel featuring druids, wizards, giants, demigods, ghosts, vampires, shifters, and fae. If you enjoy urban fantasy books with kick-ass characters and plenty of snark, action, and suspense, then you’ll love reading Druid Enforcer.

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What does it meeeeeean??? Which angel has blue wings and blond hair?

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Spark of Magic (Gray Stone Witches book one) by Hailey Gonzales

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  — Penelope’s Song, Louise Glück  

[text ID: Who wouldn't want you? Whose most demonic appetite could you possibly fail to answer?]

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[image id: a four-page comic. it is titled “immortality” after the poem by clare harner (more popularly known as “do not stand at my grave and weep”). the first page shows paleontologists digging up fossils at a dig. it reads, “do not stand at my grave and weep. i am not there. i do not sleep.” page two features several prehistoric creatures living in the wild. not featured but notable, each have modern descendants: horses, cetaceans, horsetail plants, and crocodilians. it reads, “i am a thousand winds that blow. i am the diamond glints on snow. i am the sunlight on ripened grain. i am the gentle autumn rain.” the third page shows archaeopteryx in the treetops and the skies, then a modern museum-goer reading the placard on a fossil display. it reads, “when you awaken in the morning’s hush, i am the swift uplifting rush, of quiet birds in circled flight. i am the soft stars that shine at night. do not stand at my grave and cry.” the fourth page shows a chicken in a field. it reads, “i am not there. i did not die” / end id]

a comic i made in about 15 hours for my school’s comic anthology. the theme was “evolution”

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please understand

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Halloween is over but I’m usually in the mood for creepy dark stories throughout fall and winter. I received this awesome ARC of The Strange True Tale of Frankenstein’s Creator Mary Shelley by Catherine Reef from @houghtonmifflinharcourt! It’s so perfect for this season and a great way for me to read a nonfiction book. 😜 It’s a biography of the famous and tragic author. This is more of a middle grade nonfic so it should read fast! This book was released Sept 18. . #QOTD: Have you read Frankenstein? 🧟‍♂️ I honestly can’t remember! I think I did when I was young but if I did, I don’t remember much. . . . . #beautybookcorner #newbook #tbr #unreadshelfproject18 #biography #frankenstein #maryshelley #booklove #igbooks #bookworm #booknerd #booknerdigans #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bibliophile #mybookfeatures #bookblogger #igreads #fortheloveofbooks #bookish https://www.instagram.com/p/BpqEjsEndIv/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=12xisgqap1srf

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12 Creepy New Nonfiction Books To Keep You Up At Night

[via Bustle]

Between My Favorite Murder and Lore, Making a Murderer and Serial, we’ve hit a true-crime boom. What’s more, we’re all clamoring for scares, whether they’re based in fact or in fiction. Scary movies and creepy cryptid podcasts have taken over our airwaves, and the resultant horror boom — Yes, another boom! — keeps churning out more and more visceral frights. Whether you love true crime, microhistories, or works of pop science, there’s something on this list that will interest you.

The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World by Sarah Weinman

Fascism: A Warning by Madeleine Albright

American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment by Shane Bauer

Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine And Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, And Sick  by Maya Dusenbery

Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving American Obsession by Alice Bolin

The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth and Other Curiosities from the History of Medicine by Thomas Morris

The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich

The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman’s Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster by Sarah Krasnostein

The White Darkness by David Grann

The Only Girl in the World by Maude Julien

Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad & Criminal in 19th-Century New York by Stacy Horn

The Manson Women and Me: Monsters, Morality, and Murder by Nikki Meredith

…

Click through to see more titles.

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Spine-tingling nonfiction reads for Halloween

Spine-tingling nonfiction reads for Halloween

It’s Halloween, and before the day is over, there is still just enough time to embrace all things spooky. And while horror novels and audiobooks definitely satisfy a reader’s macabre interests, these nonfiction books reach a higher level of unsettling creepiness because these ghastly tales are about real people, real places, and real events. Here are some stories to keep you up at night. 📚 I’ll…

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Funeral Rites & Ceremonies: a historical reading list

The Victorian Book of the Dead by Chris Woodyard, Jessica Wiesel (Illustrator)

Chris Woodyard, author of the The Ghosts of the Past series, digs through long-buried newspapers and journals, for this fascinating look at the 19th-century obsession with the culture of death. The Victorian Book of the Dead unearths extraordinary tales of Victorian funeral fads and fancies, ghost stories, bizarre deaths, mourning novelties, gallows humor, premature burial, post-mortem photographs, death omens, and funeral disasters. Resurrected from original sources, these accounts reveal the oddities and eccentricities of Victorian mourning. Packed with macabre anecdotes, this diverting, yet gruesome collection presents tales ranging from the paranormal and shocking to the heartbreaking.

Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts: A History of Burial by Penny Colman

Drawing on extensive historical and anthropological research, personal accounts, and interviews with people who work in the funeral industry, Penny Colman examines the compelling subjects of death and burial across cultures and societies. The text, enriched with stories both humorous and poignant, includes details about the decomposition and embalming processes (an adult corpse buried six feet deep without a coffin will usually take five to ten years to turn into a skeleton) and describes the various customs associated with containing remains (the Igala people in Nigeria have a custom of burying people in as many as twenty-seven layers of clothing). Intriguing facts are revealed at every turn; for example, in Madagascar winter was considered the corpse-turning season. This comprehensive book also includes a list of burial sites of famous people, images in the arts associated with death, fascinating epitaphs and gravestone carvings, a chronology and a glossary, and over a hundred black-and-white photographs, most of which were taken by the author. Penny Colman writes with compassion and intelligence and humanizes the difficult subjects of death and burial. The result is a powerful look at an inevitable part of life–death.

This Party’s Dead: Grief, Joy and Spilled Rum at the World’s Death Festivals by Erica Buist

What if we responded to death… by throwing a party? By the time Erica Buist’s father-in-law Chris was discovered, upstairs in his bed, his book resting on his chest, he had been dead for over a week. She searched for answers (the artery-clogging cheeses in his fridge?) and tried to reason with herself (does daughter-in-law even feature in the grief hierarchy?) and eventually landed on an inevitable, uncomfortable truth: everybody dies. While her husband maintained a semblance of grace and poise, Erica found herself consumed by her grief, descending into a bout of pyjama-clad agoraphobia, stalking friends online to ascertain whether any of them had also dropped dead without warning, unable to extract herself from the spiral of death anxiety… until one day she decided to reclaim control. With Mexico’s Day of the Dead festivities as a starting point, Erica decided to confront death head-on by visiting seven death festivals around the world – one for every day they didn’t find Chris. From Mexico to Nepal, Sicily, Thailand, Madagascar, Japan, and finally Indonesia – with a stopover in New Orleans, where the dead outnumber the living ten to one – Erica searched for the answers to both fundamental and unexpected questions around death anxiety. This Party’s Dead is the account of her journey to understand how other cultures deal with mortal terror, how they move past the knowledge that they’re going to die in order to live happily day-to-day, how they celebrate rather than shy away from the topic of death – and how when this openness and acceptance are passed down through the generations, death suddenly doesn’t seem so scary after all.

Disconnected from Death: The Evolution of Funerary Customs and the Unmasking of Death in America by April Slaughter, Troy Taylor

Americans have a complicated history with death – that final darkness at the end of life. Our ancestors dealt with death on a daily basis, dreaming up countless traditions and rituals to try and understand it. Society today, however, has disconnected from death. In years past, Americans died at home. Bodies were prepared for burial in our kitchens and funerals were held for our dead in the parlor. Now, we die under the sterile conditions of a hospital, far removed from the people who love us, and our death has become a business. From the God-fearing Puritans to the aftermath of the Civil War, the Victorian descent into mourning to modern day funeral traditions, authors April Slaughter and Troy Taylor take the reader along on a journey through America’s history with death, dying, and how they’ve shaped our society today.

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Nonfiction Picks: Greek Mythology

Troy: The Greek Myths Reimagined by Stephen Fry

In this brilliant conclusion to his bestselling Mythos trilogy, legendary author and actor Stephen Fry retells the tale of the Trojan War.

Full of tragic heroes, intoxicating love stories, and the unstoppable force of fate, there is no conflict more iconic than the Trojan War. Troy is the story of the epic battle retold by Fry with drama, humor, and vivid emotion. Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, Helen, their lovers, and their mortal enemies all burn bright in Fry’s compelling prose. Illustrated throughout with classical art inspired by the myths, this gorgeous volume invites you to explore a captivating world with a brilliant storyteller as your guide.

Oh My Gods: A Modern Retelling of Greek and Roman Myths by Philip Freeman

From acclaimed writer and scholar Philip Freeman, a contemporary retelling of classic Greek and Roman mythology. The Greek and Roman myths have never died out; in fact they are as relevant today as ever in their sharp observations about human nature. For thousands of years they have inspired plays, operas, and paintings; today they live on in movies and video games. Oh My Gods is a contemporary retelling of some of the most popular myths by Philip Freeman, a noted classicist. These tales of errant gods, fantastic creatures, and human heroes are brought to life in fresh and modern versions. Powerful Zeus; his perpetually aggrieved wife, Hera; talented Apollo; beautiful Aphrodite; fierce Athena; the dauntless heroes Theseus and Hercules; and the doomed lovers Orpheus and Eurydice still inspire awe, give us courage, and break our hearts. From the astonishing tales of the Argonauts to the immortal narrative of the Battle of Troy, these ancient tales have inspired writers from Shakespeare to J. K. Rowling. In Philip Freeman’s vibrant retelling they will doubtless inspire a new generation of readers.

Men and Gods: Myths and Legends of the Ancient Greeks‎ by Rex Warner, Edward Gorey (Illustrator)

This outstanding collection brings together the novelist and scholar Rex Warner’s knack for spellbinding storytelling with Edward Gorey’s inimitable talent as an illustrator in a memorable modern recounting of the most beloved myths of ancient Greece. Writing in a relaxed and winning colloquial style, Warner vividly recreates the classic stories of Jason and the Argonauts and Theseus and the Minotaur, among many others, while Gorey’s quirky pen-and-ink sketches offer a visual interpretation of these great myths in the understated but brilliantly suggestive style that has gained him admirers throughout the world. These tales cover the range of Greek mythology, including the creation story of Deucalion and Pyrrha, the heroic adventures of Perseus, the fall of Icarus, Cupid and Psyche’s tale of love, and the tragic history of Oedipus and Thebes. Men and Gods is an essential and delightful book with which to discover some of the key stories of world literature.

The Universe, the Gods, and Men by Jean-Pierre Vernant

In this enchanting retelling of Greek myth, Jean-Pierre Vernant combines his deep knowledge of the subject with an original storytelling style. Beginning with the creation of Earth out of Chaos, Vernant continues with the castration of Uranus, the war between the Titans and the Olympian gods, the wily ruses of Prometheus and Zeus, and the creation of Pandora, the first woman. His narrative takes readers from the Trojan War to the voyage of Odysseus, from the story of Dionysus to the terrible destiny of Oedipus to Perseus’s confrontation with the Gorgons. Jean-Pierre Vernant has devoted himself to the study of Greek mythology. In recounting these tales, he unravels for us their multiple meanings and brings to life the beloved figures of legend whose narratives lie at the origin of our civilization. With remarkable psychological acuity, Vernant presents a picture of the world as the Greeks understood it. The relationship between the human and the divine – realms that have always been intimately connected – and their place within a world of potent natural forces are evoked effortlessly in a narrative that retains the magical quality of myth and reads with the compelling momentum of a good novel.

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book review || Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History by Tori Telfer

video review || TLDR Version – September Wrap Up || 13 books!

A perfect kind of stay sexy and don’t get murdered book!

Keep reading

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My TOP 10 nonfiction books I read in 2021 (in no particular order)

The Children of Ash and Elm

Fascinating and almost intimate look at the lives of the Vikings from any point of view imaginable. Spectacular!

Flesh and Blood

Extremely moving, touching and for many also relatable, this is a sensitive memoir of a woman who had to struggle with her health and infertility. She talks about the societal expectations, how they can hurt in your very soul, and about bulding your life into something meaningful in spite of what you cannot have.

The Invention of Murder

We are fascinated by murder and violence, but this fascination has been long ingrained in us. Why are detective stories so popular? Why do we love reading about true crime? This book relates the gruasome love story the Victorians had with the murder and how they shaped the view for us.

Tolkien and the Great War

This one is more for the Lord of the Rings lovers than for a casual reader, but it beautifully captures pivotal moments which influenced the great writer and traces the friendships and beliefs which were extremely meaningful to Tolkien, his life, vision and work.

The Radium Girls

Heartbreaking and humbling, this book about girls who were sacrificed to the greedy corporation and went through literal hell is well known. And it deserves to be well known.

Creating Anna Karenina

What does it take to write a masterpiece which endures generations and is still very much loved by the public? And is it worth it? This book can provide the answers and weves a story as interesting as the actual novel.

The Only Plane in the Sky

Most of us remember that day. People in this book were there. 9/11 2001 in words of those who lived it rather than just witnessed it. Harrowing. Important.

Dead Mountain

It does not matter that the latest theory seems to strip the Dyatlov expedition of its mystery. This is a book written with passion and the impending sense of doom permeats it from beginning to end. It still deserves a read.

Bullies and Saints

A surprisingly honest and balanced view of the legacy Christianity has left to the world and Europe in particular. With its shadows and its light. Definitely something you should read, even if you are not a religious person, to better understand the bad and the good the Christians has given to the world.

The Miracle and Tragedy of the Dionne Quintuplets

A story one could not possibly come up with if it had not actually happened. Leaves you bewildered. And sad.

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Poetry: Personal Resemblance in Words

Poetry: Personal Resemblance in Words

“I am bothYet, I am noneI am sad and also funI am hope, dreams, and joyI am the pain of these mortal coilsI am whoever I intended to beI am the sun and also the shades beneath the treesI am the hurricaneI am me” — Neveen Badr, Personal Resemblance in Words

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Digital Minimalism📱is a philosophy of technology where you focus your online time on a small number of carefully selected items and optimized activities that you can use intentionally and with purpose; and easily miss out on everything else. It teaches you the art of knowing how much is just enough and applies the idea to our personal technology. The key is to living a focused life in an increasingly noisy world 🎧

This book walks you through a 3 step process to successfully “digitally declutter” your life. Its the perfect book to read if you have goals to focus on and will ultimately teach you to feeling like you are not missing out” by being disconnected 🔌

The author of this book says that the best way to establish control with social media is to rebuild your digital relationship from scratch. In other words take a break 🏝While this is quite difficult for entrepreneurs, a good solution would be to limit your online time to only when intentionally posting or searching for things you need for your business and limit this to 1-2 hours a day.

By monitoring what we do ⏰ we can see exactly how much time we waste and how easily distracted we can become. Once we are aware of where our time is being invested, we have more control and rediscover more free time to carry out our personal goals and interests 🥅

By following a digital declutter process, you’ll learn how to:

💭 Rethink your relationship with social media

⏳ Prioritize bandwidth conversations with low quality

🤍 Rediscover the pleasures of the offline world

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I am currently reading “The Case of the Murderous Dr Cream: the hunt for a Victorian serial killer.” Indeed, the story takes place before Jack the Ripper, however, both serial killers will be in the news for 1888. Yet, I have no idea what were the motives of Dr Cream, except for what the book has mentioned regarding the resemblance of “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.” A decent human being can have layers of darkness that comes out by night. A decent human can be a sinner and a murderer if they let their inner demon prevail.