We are once more taking a look at my Goodreads Want to Read shelf, the early parts of which I’m privately calling the “Elle what were you thinking” period. We’ve seen the trends my past self was interested in, including so many zombie novels, and we’re not too far away from that in this week’s books, most of which show that back in September 2013, I really was looking back to the past and seeking out some horror classics. I originally saw this on Becky’s Book Blog, a long time ago.
Rules
Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
Order on ascending date added.
Take the first 5/10/however many books. If done again, start from where you left off.
Read the synopses of the books
Decide: should it stay or should it go?
An Eye for an Eye: The Doll – John Saul
This very much looks like Classic Horror – just check out that cover! – and it sounds like something that could very much get under my skin (dolls. Ugh. Blegh). But I know there’s other Saul books I have on my Want to Read, and I think diving straight in with something on the cover that very easily scares the shit out of me is either going to set me up for disappointment or give me a possibly inflated view of Saul’s effectiveness as a horror writer. For now, I’ll be skipping this one.
Status: Gone
Another of the older horror classics, definitely a name familiar to anyone who has been paying attention to horror for more than a few years (largely because of his collaborations with Stephen King), I am intrigued by Straub and do want to read his work eventually, but similar to John Saul and other books I’ve looked at previously, there are a few of Straub’s books on my Want to Read, and this doesn’t sound like a book that entices me unless I’ve read and liked the author before.
Status: Gone
Kings of the Dead – Tony Faville
Wow. WOW. Considering how much older the previous two books on this list are, this is the one that truly stands out as not having aged well. The first sentence of the blurb –
When the H1N1 “Swine Flu” virus mutates it begins to not only kill those who have received the vaccination, but also bring on the unthinkable: the dead reanimate.
As much as I love zombie fiction, it makes me really uncomfortable to see a very real disease used as the starting point, and that sentence itself feels a little anti-vax? After the last few years, this just sounds like it would be a struggle to get through.
Status: Gone
Of course this is an incredibly famous book, thanks partly to the classic film adaptation. ‘Bates’ has become a famous name in itself, and this is definitely a book I still feel keen about reading. Older books like this (Psycho was published in 1959) sometimes have an odd appeal to them in terms of how well they’ve held up, and that’ll be interesting to see.
Status: Keep
Some of this sounds like it could be interesting, but some also sounds…not for me. It’s also fairly old by this point, and whereas some books really do stand the test of time, not all do, and I’m reluctant to take a chance of this one from the blurb, especially with the love triangle with what seems to be two military guys. Just not my style.
Status: Gone
So there we have it, and another four gone. I don’t think I’m making too bad progress with this, and my Want to Read shelf is definitely going down. Again, the trends of what I was looking for at the time are interesting to look back on as well. I remember what I was going through back then, and I can see why I was looking at so much darker stuff! Be interesting to see what crops up next. As always, let me know if you have read any of these and what you think of my choices!
Unwrapping Words 