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This week’s theme is a Halloween Freebie, so I thought I’d go with one of my favorite scary (or not) topics: witches!

Some of my favorite witchy books I’ve read this past year or so:

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isbel Sterling – a fun mystery with lots of great characters.

The Witches of New York by Ami McKay – fantastic historical fiction set in New York in the late 1800’s.

The Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz – a great story about a family of witches.  I really ought to finish this series eventually.

Dark Witch by Nora Roberts – my first Nora Roberts book!  It was an intense story about magic and love set in Ireland.

The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox – one of the best books I read this year.  A haunting and intense gothic romance/horror.

Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong – one of my favorite series, her Women of the Otherworld books touch on all sorts of paranormal, but the witch, Paige, is my favorite.

Witch Please by Ann Aguirre – a fun and enjoyable witchy romance.

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna – a super cute and heartwarming story about found family.

The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling – I seem to be drawn in by witchy romances, as this is yet another.  Second chance romances are a favorite of mine, plus the magic only made it better.

Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison – another favorite series of mine.  Rachel Morgan’s adventures in The Hollow are always fast paced and full of crazy.

What are your favorite Halloween themes?

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Happy Halloween to everyone celebrating it! I love the assortment of sweets that are available at this time of year, so I’m going to be sharing some book covers that either feature candy on them or have references to treats in their titles.

1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Charlie Bucket, #1) by Roald Dahl

2. Bubblegum by Sari Taurez

3. The Candy Cookbook: 40 Recipes for Sweet Success – to Celebrate National Candy Month by Christina Tosch

4. S is for Stranger by Louise Stone

5. Chocolat by Joanne Harris

6. The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars by Joël Glenn Brenner

7. The Art Of Choosing: The Decisions We Make Everyday of our Lives, What They Say About Us and How We Can Improve Them by Sheena Lyengar

8. Candy: A Century of Panic and Pleasure by Samira Kawash

9. Candy Cookbook by Gooseberry Patch

10. Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker

What’s your favorite type of Halloween candy?

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Happy Halloween from everyone at Long and Short Reviews!

Go pop some popcorn and grab some of your favorite Halloween candy, because today we’re talking about Halloween films based on books and other bookish things.

The first five entries on this list are family friendly. The last five are more appropriate for teens and adults.

Most of these films are not gory because I prefer psychological horror to other types of frights.

1. The Witches

Based on The Witches by Roald Dahl

2. A Series of Unfortunate Events 

Based on A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

3. Coraline

Based on Coraline by by Neil Gaiman

4. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Based on the Charlie Brown comic strip by Charles Schultz

5. The Nightmare Before Christmas

Based on the poem “The Nightmare Before Christmas” by Tim Burton

6. Sleepy Hollow

Based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

7. I Am Legend

Based on I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

8. Frankenstein

Based on Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

9. It

Based on It by Stephen King

10. The Woman in Black

Based on The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

What are your favorite Halloween films based on books? Which books do you think would make fantastic films for the spooky season in 2023 and beyond?

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I adore Halloween. It’s by far my favorite holiday of the year for reasons ranging from my love of dressing up in costumes to the fact that candy corn finally becomes available again as we move closer to the end of October.

Today I wanted to share some books about the non-fiction side of this holiday and some of the things that have become so closely associated with it. I find the history and sociology of this stuff just as interesting as reading about spooky monsters, and I hope you will as well.

1. Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween by Lisa Morton. 

I live in a wonderfully diverse community that includes many people who have no cultural understanding of Halloween at all. It’s fascinating to see how they react to this holiday the first time they come across it. Things I think of as perfectly ordinary continue to surprise them for years to come. For example, the thought of knocking on a neighbour’s door and asking them for food is a common source of bewilderment for them.

2. Things in the Basement: A History of Halloween Horrors by John Lloyd Retzer.

Wow, this book covered a lot of ground. It’s something I’d recommend to anyone who is totally unfamiliar with this holiday and wants a basic overview of what it’s all about.

3. The Haunting of America: From Salem Witch Trials to Harry Houdini by Joel Martin. 

Believing in the paranormal sometimes can have unintended negative consequences for a community or nation. I liked the way this book framed this topic. It was full of compassion for everyone from the citizens of Salem to contemporary people whose beliefs in various supernatural things pushed them to do stuff they probably wouldn’t have otherwise considered.

4. Medusa’s Gaze and Vampire’s Bite: The Science of Monsters by Matt Kaplan.

What a cool idea for a book! I’ve often wondered how certain legends were invented in the first place, especially when it comes to vampires. Knowing possible scientific explanations for what was really happening back then helps me understand why and how people misinterpreted what was going on with them so terribly.

5. The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present by Ronald Hutton.

This was such an eye-opening read. I’d known that there were women (and a few men) who died violent deaths in the past after being accused of being witches, but I had no idea how widespread this practice actually was or why it began.
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6. The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror David J. Skal. 

If you’ve ever wondered by certain types of horror movies were wildly popular in certain eras, go read this book.

7. Ghosts: A Natural History: 500 Years of Searching for Proof by Roger Clarke.

With everything that’s changed for humans over the last century, it’s nice to see that this is one thing has remained constant for generations. Just about everyone enjoys a good ghost story now and again.

8. It Lives Again! : Horror Movies in the New Millennium by Axelle Carolyn. 

This book reminded me of just how far behind I am in watching modern horror films. I have a lot of catching up to do.

9. Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and Haunting by W. Scott Poole. 

I hope this author writes sequels about how monsters are viewed in other cultures. Every culture on Earth seems to have developed their own stories about various frightening creatures that are often based on the social mores at the time those tales were first created.

10. Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night by Nicholas Rogers.

Finally, I’ll leave you with a history of Halloween that begins with its pagan origins and ends with how it is currently celebrated. This makes me wonder how the people who first came up with it would react to the ways it is observed today.

Happy Halloween from everyone at Long and Short Reviews!

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It’s Top Ten Tuesday time again!  This week is all about Halloween.  When choosing spooky stories to read at this time of year, I tend to gravitate toward the classics.  Something creepy enough to give me goosebumps and get my imagination going, but not graphic enough to give me nightmares.  Sometimes, as you’ll see in my list, I just want to read something fun with my children.  Here are ten stories put me in a Halloween mood.

1. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown by Charles M. Schulz-This is a classic Halloween story.  I read the book and watch the tv special every year.

2. Garfield’s Halloween Adventure (Garfield in Disguise) by Jim Davis-Another classic!  I get this out every year and it never gets old.

3. Anything by Edgar Allan Poe-Nobody does horror and mystery like Edgar Allan Poe!  I recommend The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of the Red Death, The Fall of the House of Usher, and Ligeia.

4. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson-This story isn’t exactly scary, but it is horrifying in its own way, and certainly thought provoking.

5. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice-This is the first book I ever read about vampires, and it is still a favorite.

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7. The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde-A thoroughly entertaining ghost story.

8. Dracula by Bram Stoker-This classic vampire story should be read at least once in a lifetime.

9. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving-This eerie short story deserves a read around Halloween.

10. A Bottomless Grave and Other Victorian Tales of Terror edited by Hugh Lamb-I haven’t read this book yet, but it was recently given to me and now seems like the perfect time to check it out.

How about you?  What do you enjoy reading at Halloween?  Have you read any of these?  If so, what did you think?