September ScaredyKIT- International Horror

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This month's theme is "International Horror & Thrillers", which means choosing an author or setting other than where you live. Some countries embrace these genres more than others, so finding British, Swedish, Japanese and American settings will be pretty easy. Here are a few ideas:

America- The Exorcist, Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Shirley Jackson
Canada- Station Eleven
France- The Phantom of the Opera, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Germany- Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Ireland/Romania- Dracula
Japan- the books of Lafcadio Hearn or Koji Suzuki, Parasite Eve
Korea- The Kingdom of the Gods
Mexico- Mexican Gothic
New Zealand- The Bus on Thursday
Nigeria- My Sister, The Serial Killer
Poland- The Dark Domain
Sweden- Let the Right One In, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
U.K.- The Woman in Black, The Women in White, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

International- The Penguin Book of the Undead
Non-Fiction- The World of Lore: Dreadful Places

I'll be reading Station Eleven. I'm looking forward to it.

I've been looking forward to this! I am going with The Beginning of the End by Spanish author Manel Loureiro. This is the first book in his Apocalypse Z series, and you guessed it - The Z is for zombies. ;)

Zombies! Excellent!

I might read Mexican Gothic but I thought Silvia Moreno-Garcia was living in the US. Make that Canada. I guess she moved there. Was this written in Spanish and translated or was it written English. Anyway. I know I have this on the horizon for a book I want to read.

Ok, the main one I want has a multi-week hold list at the library!

The Good Son / You-Jeong Jeong (Korea)

I'll see what else I come up with...

ETA: As I look again, I believe I can get the physical copy of it, so I think that will be the one!

Sounds like fun! I've had My Sister, the Serial Killer since February and this is a good excuse to finally read it!

>5 Kristelh: I believe it's original language is English but the story takes place in Mexico.

>6 LibraryCin: Glad you'll be able to get the one you wanted!

>7 PaperbackPirate: I liked it a lot and look forward to seeing what you think. Good to see you here!

For this challenge, I am reading Necroscope II: Vamphyri by Brian Lumley. The book takes place in London, Moscow, and several other European locations.

Okie-dokie, looks like I need to come up with some scary stuff! Mexican Gothic, for sure!

>9 lowelibrary: Very international!
>10 drneutron: Glad you've decided to join, Jim! I look forward to your review.

I'm a third of the way through Station Eleven. Very interesting story and the changing viewpoints.

I read The Devil Aspect by Craig Russell. I started it in August for Serial Killers month, but I am a very slow reader these day, and luckily, it also fits this month's theme.

There's quite a lot going on in this book. It draws on a wide number of familiar horror tropes. On the eve of world war, a serial killer who seems to be emulating Jack the Ripper is terrorizing Prague. A young psychoanalyst has taken a position at a remote asylum in the Czech countryside where the country's most notorious serial killers are all housed to test his theory of psychosis that he calls the "devil aspect." The asylum itself is as gothic as it can be as it is housed in an old castle that itself is built on top of a network of tunnels in the mountain and the site of a legendary evil. Of course, these two story lines are brought together and of course there is a twist at the end. I thought this was quite entertaining, even if it did have a sense of "everything but the kitchen sink" being thrown in, and like many modern novels, it seems a tad overlong. I wouldn't look to this novel for anything particularly innovative or new, but if you enjoy sinking your teeth into highly gothic horror with a lot of madness and storms and talk of evil, this will be a good read for you.

I have completed Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End by Spanish author Manel Loureiro. I found this one of the more grim yet realistic of the zombie books that I have read and although there were a few flaws, I plan on carrying on with the trilogy.

Oh, that one sounds good!

>13 DeltaQueen50: Good review, thumbs up! I had to put Station Eleven aside for a few days to finish a library book, but it also features a pandemic that comes out of Russia.

>12 sturlington: I wanted to give you review a thumbs up too but for some reason that page isn't showing the thumb available right now. :-( No thumb.

Starting Shadowland tonight - Peter Straub is always good for a scare.

I'm reading A conspiracy of faith by Jussi Adler-Olsen. I loved the first book in the series then disliked the second, but this one seems more like the first with the humour associated with the Department Q characters.

The October thread is up; https://www.librarything.com/topic/324422

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is a 5 star read for me, and a very scary choice to read during a pandemic. It begins on a night in Toronto that is the beginning of a pandemic brought to North America from a Russian flight. The story follows survivors who are all linked by their having been part of a famous actor's life. Highly recommended.

>19 mstrust: That was a 5-star read for me, too. Glad you liked it!

The Good Son / You-Jeong Jeong
3.5 stars

When 25-year old Yu-jin wakes up one morning, his house is strangely silent. He is used to hearing his mother at certain times every day. Not only that, he thinks he had a seizure the night before and can’t remember how or when he got home. It’s not long before he discovers his mother’s body in a puddle of blood. What happened the night before...?

This was good. It was slow-moving as Yu-jin tried to figure out what had happened. It does make me, a little bit, not to want to walk by myself at night (though not possible for me to always avoid, as I don’t drive).

>20 sturlington: I really did, and when someone asks for a rec of a really well-written scary story, I'll say Station Eleven,Grady Hendrix, and Shirley Jackson.

I'm almost finished The Devil by Irish author Ken Bruen, which is certainly a horror story for Jack Taylor. This is one of the darkest Bruen books and I'm completely hooked.

Some great recommendations here!

I just finished a novella by Malaysian horror writer Cassandra Khaw, Rupert Wong and the Ends of the Earth. It's from a series about a cannibal chef, and in this story, he gets involved with the pantheon of Greek gods. The book had some really gross scenes but was also hilarious and fun.

I forgot to share that I did read My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite last month. For such a dark theme it was at times comedic. The main character, Korede's, sister, Ayoola, keeps killing her boyfriends "in self defense," but as the bodies begin piling up Korede has to start to wonder. When Ayoola sets her target on Korede's crush, she has to decide where her alliances are.

It was short and was composed of short chapters. I'm glad I read it.

>25 PaperbackPirate: I've seen this title all over the place, but never took the short amount of time to see what it's about. I think I'll add it to my tbr. Thanks!

>25 PaperbackPirate: I really liked it too. It's such an unusual angle, being written by the put-upon sister of a serial killer.

>26 LibraryCin: I hope you like it! Definitely not a story I've ever read before!

>27 mstrust: "Put-upon." I love it!