Have you read anything spooky scary this month for Molly's Frighteningly Good Reads? My second book for the event this year quickly became one of my favorite frightening reads: Will Storr vs. The Supernatural: One Man's Search For the Truth About Ghosts. British journalist Will Storr begins this undertaking into supernatural research with the idea... Continue Reading →
Frighteningly Good Reads: Unbelievable and Zodiac
Are you joining up with Molly @ Silver Button Books for Frighteningly Good Reads? There's still one week until Halloween! I managed to surprise myself by reading not only the book I'd specifically set aside for Molly's very fun challenge, but another that had been on my shelves for awhile and is, arguably, the spookier... Continue Reading →
Spooky Nonfiction for Frighteningly Good Reads 2021 @ Silver Button Books
October is upon us! (But we're almost hitting 80 degrees in New York City this weekend, so it does feel a bit...less than autumnal.) Still, that means it's time for the annual celebration of all reads spooky and scary from Molly @ Silver Button Books: Frighteningly Good Reads! I'm not much for reading challenges because... Continue Reading →
New Release Mini-Review Hodgepodge
What the title says! I've been trying to think of themes or ways to combine reviews because I have such a backlog and I finally just gave up. These have nothing in common except they're being released this week or next. Let's talk about them! Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land, by Toni... Continue Reading →
7 Spooky Nonfiction Books for Halloween
Every autumn I find myself looking for at least a few spooky-themed books to read as Halloween approaches. It's a little trickier with nonfiction, especially if you avoid the more unquestionably accepting/woo-woo ones, but there are still plenty of possibilities if you like your creepy stories full of truthiness! With Halloween weekend upon us, here's... Continue Reading →
Recipe for a Zombie: Science Immerses in Haitian Magic
Book review: The Serpent and the Rainbow, by Wade Davis Book Depository The Serpent and the Rainbow is a modern classic, a story that flirts with a deep-seated fear out of one of humanity's collective darkest nightmares - that of being buried alive, and of being raised to live as "undead". But the book isn't strictly... Continue Reading →
Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Houdini, and the Promise and Ruin of Spiritualism
Book review: Through a Glass, Darkly, by Stefan Bechtel and Laurence Roy Stains Amazon / Book Depository What had come to be known as “spiritualism”—the conviction that those who have passed over had the ability and the desire to make contact across the veil of death with those they’d left behind—seemed to have bewitched the Western... Continue Reading →
The Spookiest Soviet Unsolved Mystery
Book review: Mountain of the Dead, by Keith McCloskey Book Depository What is this trouble that wanders the Taiga at night? Who can give an answer? If you don't already know the story of the Dyatlov pass incident, I envy you, because the Google rabbit hole you're about to fall down is a marvelous one.... Continue Reading →
The Epicenter of Silly: Light Looks at Modern Magic and Magical Thinking
Book review: Not in Kansas Anymore, by Christine Wicker (Amazon / Book Depository) Forty years ago, when the current occult revival was beginning to gain strength, the wisest thinkers in the land predicted that faith in the supernatural was shriveling and would soon die back to insignificance. The scientific worldview demanded such a shift. Who could... Continue Reading →
Life After Death from a Scientific Perspective
October is naturally the perfect time for creepy, scary, haunty reading, so I'm reviewing some ooky spooky supernatural, paranormal-themed titles throughout the month. Personally, I find nothing scarier than some of the true crime cases out there, so delving into the supernatural side of things feels more light-hearted than sinister and I love Halloween-time for... Continue Reading →
Supernatural, Paranormal, Surreal But True Tales from the US Government
Book review: The Men Who Stare at Goats, by Jon Ronson In 1979 a secret unit was established by the most gifted minds within the U.S. Army. Defying all known accepted military practice—and indeed, the laws of physics—they believed that a soldier could adopt a cloak of invisibility, pass cleanly through walls, and, perhaps most... Continue Reading →
Conversations About the Other Side
Book review: Psychics, Healers & Mediums, by Jenniffer Weigel It's Halloween! Time for a ghosty post! I haven't read much recently that's Halloween-applicable, but as a favorite spooky read, I recommend Colin Dickey's scary but skeptical Ghostland. Now for the less skeptical... Jenniffer Weigel is a Chicago Tribune columnist, radio host, and reporter who's already written about her... Continue Reading →