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#spookybooks

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Wordy Words on Words
Last camp book in the original Goosebumps series!

This is definitely my favorite camp book in the Goosebumps series. It has everything: gaslighting, ghosts, attempted murder, snakes, and betrayal.

It was also scarier than a LOT of other Goosebumps books and it made me start thinking about JK Rowling.

The genius of (the morally questionable) Rowling was that her books graduated in difficulty, subject matter, and characterization as they went on. Kids who were eleven when the first Harry Potter book came out got to grow up WITH Harry and deal with more and more mature things right next to him as they had to deal with more mature things in their own lives.

It was brilliant.

And I’m not saying Stine is Rowling or anything (Stine is OBVIOUSLY better than Rowling even if he never read the story I sent him as a kid. At least he’s not a TERF. That I know of - please don’t correct me), but the books have been getting scarier and it would be WILD if the last one served as a bridge to the scarier and far more violent Fear Street books.

Imagine: A kid goes through a scarier than average Goosebumps story and the family moves in the end like Welcome to Dead
House only pull up to a new house in a new town and the kid gets out to survey the scene. It’s quiet and he realizes that there aren’t any birds singing. And it’s chilly even though it’s summer. And what does that street sign say?

“Fear Street? What kind of town names a street like that?”

And then nothing. That’s the end.

I think that would have been the coolest think Stine could have done but, alas, it didn’t work out like that. But we’ll talk about all that later.

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#horrorbooks #horrorbookstagram #readmore #readmorebooks #readmorehorror
#wordywordsonwords #goosebumps #goosebumpsbooks #goosebumpsseries #bookstagram #book #books #bookrecommendations #booklover #bookaddict #bookaholic #constantreader #horror #rlstine #rlstinebooks #rlstinegoosebumps #spooky #spookybooks #bibliophile #bookstagrammer #booklovers
#booklovers
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Wordy Words on Words
When I originally read this, I was impressed that the kid could basically fall asleep on command. I’m pretty quick to fall asleep and my wife gets pretty jealous of it, but I can’t just zonk out when I’m super stressed about things - like I can only imagine this kid was.

And I really enjoyed the fever dream state of this book. Absolutely dreadful episode of the show, but the book was good.

Except for one thing: You know how in movies they sometimes try to be cute and slip in names as an homage to the movie-maker’s influences? Like how in Friday the 13th, Tommy was at Karloff’s Garage? Or how in Scream, Rose McGowan said “Wes Carpenter?”

And you know how it NEVER feels natural? These names are critical to the point where they seem almost unique to that individual. Are there other people named Wes? Sure! But in the context of horror movies, is there really any other Wes? Or a Karloff?

It takes me right out of the story.

It’s even harder in books because I can’t exactly read when my eyes are rolling in my head.

That said, Stine has avoided it almost entirely until this book. He fell HARD in this book.

Two characters. One named Bruce. One named Wayne. They’re always together so it’s “Bruce said,” “Wayne added.”

Ugh.

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#horrorbooks #horrorbookstagram #readmore #readmorebooks #readmorehorror
#wordywordsonwords #goosebumps #goosebumpsbooks #goosebumpsseries #bookstagram #book #books #bookrecommendations #booklover #bookaddict #bookaholic #constantreader #horror #rlstine #rlstinebooks #rlstinegoosebumps #spooky #spookybooks #bibliophile #bookstagrammer #booklovers
#booklovers
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Wordy Words on Words
I read a thing in the internet that talked about hyper-fixation and neurodivergent people and, honestly, it sounded a lot like me. I’ve never been tested for it, but my oldest popped up out of the blue and said they think this might be a thing and sent me the information.

It was super interesting to me because I was raised being called “fickle,” and tough to buy presents for because nobody would know what I would be obsessed with come Christmas.

And make no mistake: I get obsessed with things.

I don’t think that Stine is in the same boat or anything, but I do think it’s entertaining to see him slide into something he obviously enjoys and work it out of his system through a few books. It’s like he accidentally stumbles onto something and goes “oh, YEAH!” and then builds the next few books around that thing until he gets bored or finds something new to focus on.

This is assuming he wrote them in the same order they were published.

You could see this start with Beast From the East (admittedly with a break for Say Cheese and Die Again) where Stine was really leaning into quick stories that focused on excitement rather than trying to build a creepy story.

This is just fun stuff.

Also, I realize it sounds like I’m throwing shade, but I’m not. While *I* am the type of guy that could easily look forward to a creepy monthly novella, I imagine that there are WAY more people who would appreciate the variety in this series. It’s almost a service to kids to remind them that there are more worlds out there that are fun to read than just horror.

Even if it is a little goofy.
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#horrorbooks #horrorbookstagram #readmore #readmorebooks #readmorehorror
#goosebumps #goosebumpsbooks #goosebumpsseries #bookstagram #book #books #bookrecommendations #booklover #bookaddict #bookaholic #constantreader #horror #rlstine #rlstinebooks #rlstinegoosebumps #spooky #spookybooks #bookrecommendation #booktok #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #booksky #readersofpixelfed
#readersofpixelfed
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Wordy Words on Words
This was a decent one about a boy getting a shrunken head as a gift that turns out to be magic. It helps him in a jungle adventure to save his aunt, yadda yadda yadda.

But, I thought, despite how interesting shrunken heads are, how are they made?

Well, it starts with a cut along the back of the head. Then the flesh is stripped slowly and carefully from the skull and boiled for a half-hour (any more and you risk the hair falling out). Then the skin is turned inside out and excess fat trimmed away.

Then it’s turned right-way out again and filled with hot stones to burn the remaining fat and then with sand to fill the cracks.

Then it’s boiled again and the process repeated. A big emphasis is on keeping the facial features and head shape.

Eventually (sometimes 6 DAYS later), it’s about 1/4 the size of a normal skull.

Then, fearing retribution, the warrior sews the head’s eyes shut to prevent the victim’s spirit from seeing out. Then it’s mouth is sewn shut (usually with wooden pins and thread, not just thread) to prevent the victim from asking for his death to be avenged.

And there you have it: one shrunken head.

Makes a cool gift for a 12-year-old boy, right?

As for the story, I’m not generally keen on magic as a plot device because it’s often too convenient and lacks rules.

That’s about the length of it in this book, too. If Stine wrote Shazam, it would be this book.

#horrorbooks #readmore #readmorebooks #readmorehorror
#goosebumps #goosebumpsbooks #goosebumpsseries #bookstagram #book #bookrecommendations #booklover #bookaddict #bookaholic #constantreader #horror #rlstine #rlstinebooks #rlstinegoosebumps #spooky #spookybooks #books #bookrecommendation #booktok #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #booksky #readersofpixelfed #read #readinglog
#ReadingLog
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A Blue Box Full of Books

For fans of Kara Thomas and Courtney Summers comes a supernatural horror that reminds us family can be our saving grace or our biggest curse. Set one-hundred years after the Borden murders, this propulsive thriller imagines what a similar trial might look like today.

#littlefreelibrary #bookdrop #ya #yabooks #yalit #youngadult #youngadultbooks #youngadultfiction #fiction #horror #spooky #spookybooks #spookyreads #spookyseason #horrorbooks
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