Chapter #03: If Books Could Kill 🔪

Drink every time you see the word spooky.

Feeling My Shelf is a bi-weekly newsletter about books, life, and well, life with books. Grab your favorite caffeinated beverage and get comfy. 

It’s all candy and pumpkin spice lattes now, but if October breezes by like September, some of us will be fielding questions about our relationship statuses and career choices over turkey (again) very soon. Cue the anxiety. That’s why you’ll find me consuming nothing but horror this month, which allegedly helps ease racing thoughts.

How? One study shows that watching scary movies can help us feel in control, distract us from real-world happenings, and can produce a sensation similar to a runner’s high. Basically, the more focused you are on shouting “don’t go in there, you idiot,” and stressing over who’ll die first, the less you’ll overthink IRL.

But I get it. Not everyone can stomach watching the latest Netflix thriller or every Saw movie back-to-back. Insert books! I’m not an expert, but if watching scary movies can calm the mind, then surely reading scary books can too. Best of all: No jump scares.

Put this theory to the test with one of my favorite spooky reads.

🔪 = Murder | 👻 = Ghosts | 🧙🏾‍♀️= Magic | 🕷 = Other Creepy Things

When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole
"What the hell is happening?" Guarantee you'll think this more than once while reading this. A haunting portrayal of gentrification that follows a Brooklynite, who notices her neighborhood changing at a rapid pace and neighbors disappearing just as quick.  🔪🕷

The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson
A modern retelling of Stephen King’s Carrie with an emphasis on race, class, and identity. Maddy is a white-passing biracial teen frequently bullied by her classmates. Things get worse for her when they learn she’s half-Black. Then, in true Carrie fashion, it gets deadly for them. 🔪🧙🏾‍♀️

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin
Think 50 First Dates, but darker. A woman suffering from memory loss wakes up with a bloody knife in her pocket and the words "stay awake," among others, scrawled across her hands and arms. The last two years of her life are a blur, and soon she's on the run for a murder that she doesn't remember committing. 🔪

White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson
When Mari’s blended family moves to a new town for a fresh start, she's not excited. And even less so when things start going bump in the night. It’s a creepy ghost story with themes of racism, gentrification, and mental health. Also, the twist is one of my greatest fears come to life. 👻🕷

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
A book made for fans of '80 slasher films. It explores what happens to the "final girls" (aka survivors) after the bloodshed and media frenzy is over. Overall, I enjoyed it even if it sometimes felt like the book version of Uncut Gems. If you know, you know. 🔪

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
If you geeked out on The Crucible back in the day, as I did, you'll love this story set in the town of Danvers, Massachusetts, home of the original 1692 witch trials. It's 1989, and a high school field hockey team will try anything to end their losing streak—even witchcraft. 🧙🏾‍♀️

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
As someone all too familiar with microaggressions in the workplace, I related to the main character. She's excited when another Black woman gets hired at her overwhelmingly white publishing house. That is until things get weird. It’s a slow burn with a sinister twist and sharp commentary on which people get to show up to work as their full selves. 🕷

Next on my TBR list is Sign Here by Claudia Lux, which follows a guy who literally works in Hell and will score a promotion if he can get one more member of a family to sell their soul. Also: Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson, which explores the downsides of dating when you’re obsessed with true crime. Hmm. Sounds like somebody I know.

Comfortable within my skin staying in.

A weighted blanket. Calms my nerves. Keeps me warm. Sure, it’s not a person I can cuddle with, but I also don't have to share the blanket. Gotta look on the bright side to keep from crying.  

A good overpriced seasonal candle. You'll (read: I will) only light it one time this month and then shove it in a cabinet with the rest of the unused candles. But so what?

A spooky mug that magically makes at-home lattes taste better. Not like they came from my favorite coffee shop or anything. But better than before. 

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