Hayley

I loved it! It made me cry, but I loved it. That was actually the first Stephen King book I read - the one that made me want to try more!

It won’t be my first Stephen King book . I don’t read a lot of horror, so he’s not an author I come across a lot, but I have read The Green Mile, Cell and the short story collection Everything’s Eventual.

Currently reading The Darlings of the Asylum by Noel O’Reilly

That sounds interesting! I don’t know anything about those either but always found witch belief and persecution really interesting. I do think witch-related things count as folklore too 😄 I haven’t started my first challenge read yet (I’m aiming to finish a book my sister lent to me, but finding it hard to get past the first bit! I may potentially give up on it, but I know there’s a something in it later which should appeal to me more!). When I do start this one, I think I’m going to go for Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees or Fearsome Fairies: Haunting Tales of the Fae (one of the British Library collections!).

April is nearly here! Which means we need to make a speedy decision about our next group read theme. Please post your suggestions in the comments below! I am going to suggest the runner-up from our last group read - Folklore and Mythology. As always, those joining in can read any book which connects to the theme! For this one, maybe you could read some classic mythology, a modern twist on something (like Pandora, Medusa or Circe), a fantasy book featuring folkloric creatures, or a book with ‘myth’ in the title - like Adulthood is a Myth by Sarah Anderson 😄.

It’s still nice and spring-like here! I’ve haven’t had as much time for the garden as I’d like (exam time is approaching, so I’ve got loads of work right now) but I’m gradually trying to take all the dead heads off my hydrangeas. It’s satisfying but really time consuming!

Hi Craqdi! Welcome to the forum. Just to check, do you mean non-fiction books on occultism or fiction that features the occult?

What a great history! If I ever travel nearby, I will definitely get some ice cream. I want the peachy one 😄. My favourite ice cream place here is Henley ice cream. I’d link to them but their website seems to be having issues, so here’s a picture! The building is older than the actual company (it’s from the 16th century). They won an award for having the best ice cream in the country before

I felt the same way about this one. It was an intriguing concept but there was something missing. I also found the purpose of the relationship to be confusing. Almost as though the author intended for there to be a romance at the beginning, then changed their mind? This one sounds interesting and (although I know this shouldn’t be the important thing) I love the cover!

Yes, definitely! 😄

This makes me even more excited to read it 😄

Ooooh it wasn’t that one, but I just looked it up and that one sounds good!! The one I read was by Alexandra Bell. It’s very like a YA book (not that there’s anything wrong with that, I just wasn’t expecting it) only with some particularly dark references which would have made it unsuitable for YA. Not a huge spoiler, but if you want to know what the unsuitable theme was: I hope I will too, I like it so far but I’m only one chapter in! 😄

I think it was inspired by it, yeah! I’m glad you liked it! I’ve finished The Winter Garden. I did enjoy it overall but it’s not the kind of book I’d immediately recommend to everyone. In fact, I can imagine some people really disliking it. Full review to come soon! I had to really think about what other winter books I owned and ended up choosing The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse. I’m fairly sure the whole thing is set in winter but it definitely begins there, in January!

Fox Lane Books have it, if you want to get it from an indie bookshop but don’t mind ordering https://www.foxlanebooks.co.uk/product-page/the-whispering-muse

Ok, that is extremely cute! The noise is not so cute (but does sound a bit like they’re complaining after a long day 😄). That is hilarious . Sneaky possum. You can keep them as pets!?

That makes sense. I wonder whether the stoats and ferrets were introduced to keep the numbers of rabbits down. I also think they’re cute 😄 although I’ve never seen one in person, only in pictures and on American TV shows! I didn’t know about the screeching either though! I like the way the babies ride around on the mother’s back.

Thank you @lunababymoonchild and @France! I obviously haven't been keeping up very well with new releases because I just added a lot of new books to my wish list

And they look up as if to say “excuse me?” 😄. I also second @France, they have the best ears. That’s a lot of invasive species! I actually didn’t know that you have possums in New Zealand. The most interesting mammals I can get in my garden are foxes and hedgehogs (although I do like seeing both, especially hedgehogs) 🦔.

Aww! Well it has been quite mild so fingers crossed! What an amazing view, I love deer. I did not know they’d eat flowers like pansies though!

Sorry, I didn’t explain what I meant properly! It reminded me of A Christmas Carol because

That was a good one! I kind of wish it was a longer story so I really liked Jess Kidd’s contribution (because you know I love Victorian supernatural things). Stuart Taunton’s one felt like a very dark version of A Christmas Carol!

I came here to post the same thing, I finished it last night 😄. It really was a brilliant collection, they had some great authors with unique styles and varying degrees of creepiness! Did you have a favourite story @lunababymoonchild?

The Bone Readers is now on my to-read list too!

Welcome to the forum Josh! I’m swiftly nearing the end of The Winter Spirits (which I’m actually quite sad about, it’s been a great and really varied collection of stories!) and I think I’m probably going to move to The Winter Garden by Alexandra Bell next.

Better pull your socks up?