I missed getting this book in the Night Worms book subscription, which would have been really cool because it would have come with fun add-ons like stickers and bookmarks. Still, I got it within the first week or two after release.

101 Horror Books To Read Before You’re Murdered by Sadie “Mother Horror” Hartmann isn’t a list of the greatest horror books of all time. It’s not a list of favorite horror books. It deliberately leaves out Stephen King (because it goes without saying, if you know modern horror, you know Stephen King!). It is a dissertation on modern horror. And it is amazing. Cue the chorus: “You’ve left off a favorite of mine!” Yeah, that’s not really a valid point here. This is a survey of the last 20 years in horror, with an eye to presenting some of the very best, and to do so over a chainsaw-sweep of sub-genres. If you read all of these books (before you are murdered) you will be an educated horror reader, a scholar of modern horror. And you’ll still be behind Sadie Hartmann, who is still reading and researching and compiling and reviewing. It’s not just the depth, though. It’s the insight. The first pages of this book give you an At a Glance reference guide which offers keen details on sub-genre, tone and style. I’ve made it sound easy. It’s clear that every book included in this guide has been thoroughly read, considered and studied. It’s already a classic.

The drink is a King Ale, a cream-style beer created in cooperation with Ravinia Brew Works and SIU Carbondale’s Saluki Brew Works. Enjoying at The Underground Public House. A couple patrons good naturedly moved over to let me get this photo.

This book now—I haven’t seen a description of The String Diaries by Stephen Lloyd Jones that does it justice, and I won’t do it justice either. The plot basics: The villain, Jakob, is a man from a long-lived, aristocratic race of people gifted with, among other things, the ability to shift into any other person’s likeness. The hero—the final girl, if you will—is an altogether likeable young wife and mother whose entire life has been shadowed by the generations-long obsession of Jakob to possess a descendent of his long-ago love. That his advances aren’t wanted is not part of his consideration. The story sweeps across Europe and over a century, beginning in a frenzy and, building from there. Beautifully written, with vivid characters, mystery, secret societies, and an obvious love for scholarship.

The wine is a peach lavender sangria at the Peachbarn Winery & Café.
#nerdinabarwithabook
What are you reading? And what are you reading it with?