 Hey everyone, I'm Josh, the Team Services Librarian from the Billy Jean King Main Library. And I'm Carl, I am the library assistant, normally at Dana, but I am currently at L.D.O. to go right now, which is exciting. Yeah, are you getting a lot of people? We are, we are getting tons of people and the Halloween books are flying off the shelves. I am so glad that we're doing this now because I'm not sure what books would have been left to discuss, how we waited. Yeah, good timing. So welcome back to another episode of Read Ya. This is the Long Beach Public Library's monthly book discussion that highlights new books, but also goes over some old favorites, especially from the team collection. This is airing every third Wednesday of the month. And for this month, we're going to be looking at spooky books in the Halloween season. Halloween books and our sassy ghost. Yes. Read Ya, she read you. Read Ya, she's so happy. So all the books that we're going to be talking about today and a few more are going to be tagged in our catalog. Just use the tag Read Ya, R-E-A-D-Y-A, 1020. And our catalog is encore.lbpl.org. So do you want to just jump right into it? Let's get into it. OK, so I actually have my top five. And when I say top five, I don't literally mean all the books I've ever read. These are the top five scariest books. But I do have, I think I made some good selections. I'm going to start with what I consider to be the least spooky or scary. Let me see. I'm going to start with Skeleton, Matt. I'm going to get to do my beauty guru thing. I've always wanted to do a reality vlogger now, guys. Look at that. Look at that. And Shade, Skeleton Man. This book is actually kind of cool. It's actually in our middle school. It's not YA. It is middle school. And it's told by the protagonist is also in middle school. She's part Native American, which is unique. You don't get a lot of characters who are first nation people. And this book is really short. So if you're not a big reader, maybe this is for you. Also, if you're not really into being terrified, this is for you. The Skeleton Man book is told by middle schoolers. So if you're not in middle school, you may find it a little cheesy, a little unrealistic. But the descriptions of the actual villain and the sounds and the just that pretty much like what are those, the adjectives in the book are pretty amazing. Like the way the Skeleton Man is described as walking towards the door, like things are super imaginable. I found myself halfway through like imagining the sound in real life, which you know, freak me out, doesn't take much to scare me to be honest. So like, but I enjoy it. I enjoy being scared. But it doesn't like you don't have to put a whole lot of effort into it. I found this story really well-rounded. I think this is great for people who may be interested in something spooky, but not wanting to get the wit scared out of them. This is the just a like maybe a book club book, or if you want to tell stories in the dark, I would definitely recommend this one for the YA audience, just because it's so descriptive and interesting. That's my first book that might be by Joseph Bruchach. I keep forgetting. Oh, yeah. That's my real date. They get some credit, too. That's true. They did. They did do the work. I'm thinking that's probably the only book from your recommendations that I'm going to read because I don't enjoy being scared. I'm a giant chicken. I can't do it. I love being scared. I just don't love being like there's a difference between scared in the moment and like terrified for life. So like, I don't want to be scarred. I want to be scared. Like there's an extra R and it makes a difference. So yeah, did the books do just get like worse? I mean like scarier. So that's fine. It's going to manage for everybody. Cool. I'm going to jump into mine. I don't know a good way to segue this because they're not super related, but this one's called Lobizona and it's by Romina Garber. She actually, when I was doing some research, she actually wrote books under a pen name and Romina Russell, the Zodiac series. So yeah, so Lobizona is, it's the first book in a new series. The main character is Argentinian. Her name is Manuela. So they immigrate from Argentina to Miami and just kind of all the kind of social stuff that comes with that. But Manuela is a little different. She has these really unique eyes. They're in the shape of stars and there's like speckles in them. So she can't really go outside. She has to like cover her eyes with like really special sunglasses. So she isn't noticed. But then one day her mother is actually detained by ICE and so Manuela is kind of on her own and she has to kind of make her way in the world on her own and suddenly discovers that she's actually descendant from a special line where the seventh daughter is a bruja, which is like a witch and the seventh son is a Lobizono. So it's like a male werewolf. So she's kind of in this dual existence of being like undocumented but also like sort of in her like fantastical world like not, it's kind of like, that's not really like the norm. Like usually the boys become werewolves and the girls become witches. So the fact that she is a Lobizona, so like a female werewolf, it's a little unusual. So she kind of has to like navigate the politics of the magic world, which I guess is also not a- What? Yeah, so- That's not a one play. So like not only are you of a woman existing in a male space, which you know, it's hard enough. You're also like she can't catch a break. That is, no matter where she's at, she's contending with the war of the society. Which is the real, where the real horror happens guys. It really does. Yeah, I don't know why I said that like it was a joke, but like really, real life is awful. But at least she's a werewolf, so she can kind of handle situations like that. That seems, I don't know. But- I don't think that trade like social issues, I mean, actually I would take being a werewolf right now. I would take being a werewolf, I take that. Like everything that's happening when I'm getting to be a werewolf. All right, I take it. Yeah, it seems pretty cool. Yeah, it's like a superhero. So the world she kind of immerses herself in is really like Harry Potter adjacent. There's like this magical world and there's like a school. So definitely look out for that one and look out for the series, which is gonna be kind of coming out in the next few years, hopefully. And from what I've read from it, even though it has these like really heavy social issues, it is like pretty, I don't wanna say light because that kind of makes light of like a difficult situation, but it has a consensus of optimism that it's like super helpful now. I mean, how else are you gonna face the world? That's good, that is good. I'm gonna actually check it out because I have really been looking for a alternative to Harry Potter. Okay, so I am moving straight on into Sabriel by Gards Next. This is also a book that I read when I was in middle school. When I was in middle school, this was actually classified as middle school and now it's Teen, which I think makes more sense. It's an older book. I'm not gonna say that old, how old it is because yeah, I'm not gonna tell you how old this book is because that will let you know when I was in middle school and I'm not that old. Like, you know, just this book is still good. It still has a great story. It's about a young girl and she lives in this fantasy world where half the world is pretty much separated. Half of the world runs on technology and it's a very like, the word I couldn't think of yesterday that I finally came to me, of course, after we were done talking with Steampunk. It's very much like a weird society where things run on like, steam, like they have nothing plugged into anything. Everything's like a mixture of 18th century technology, but also, you know, some futuristic aspects. But the other half, the half cult of the old kingdom is run pretty much by magic. And they have these bloodlines in the old kingdom. And the time that this book takes place, those bloodlines have been broken and lost, but these bloodlines had very important things to do. One was supposed to be the king. The other one was supposed to be these people that see the future so the kingdom stays on the right path. And then there's like a really important one. And what Sabriel comes into is this bloodline called the abortions. And what they do is they use necromancy along with Charter magic, which is magic. I don't wanna give it like a designation because I'm sure you could do awful things with it and people do in the book, but like the magic that's on the up and up, we'll call it that. And they use that to sort of make sure dead things stay dead because if you have a world run by magic, you will learn that zombies and necromancers become a big part of that. In every book I've ever read when there's like magic, eventually like there's a necromancer involved. I don't know why that is, but it was like a trend. So she comes from that line and the book starts with a bang. Her father shows up as this horrific monster to let her know things have gone awry and she needs to go to the old kingdom and start piecing things together and she's thinking she's going to find him and just he's gonna take care of all this and it turns out it's not that simple. I really enjoyed the story because it touched everything for me. It was like a coming to age story. It was like, she's thinking about going to college and she's been raised in this part of the world where there's technology and like things are simple and magic is sort of like not really believed in and now she's being thrust into this other world where she's actually from. It's just a lot. There's even a little romance in here and of course there's like monsters. There's horrible things about to get her the dead to come back to life. She has to overcome so much. It's not traditional horror. I don't think I wouldn't call it that despite the dead coming back to life and like eating people. It does read more like an adventure. So if you wanted something in between the two genres I really recommend Gabriel again by Garcinix also a really good series. There's two more books and the direct series that follow that completes the story and then there's several other books that sort of complement those three books and the last one came out as recently as I want to say three years ago was the last edition of this. So again, not that old guys. Not that old. Do you like his world building over the course? Did you read the same? His world building is, I mean like it felt like at some point like this might work. Like I was like maybe I should get a bell because that's what she used. That's what the Necromaster's used in that world and like the scare ghost away. I'm like maybe I should get a bell. I was like, I don't know. I think maybe I felt like I needed one after reading it. I was like, they do so much with them. Like just in case, it's so real. So the rules make sense. He never, it's never one of those things where like I didn't catch any plot holes. It wasn't like, you know why would a 200 year old vampire go to high school? Twilight. Like there's no big huge plot holes, you know which is like really smooth transition. The characters grow and like sort of stay true to what they stand out to do. It's really good. It's a really good series. I reread it every like couple of years. That's how good it is. Cool. Yeah, that one sounds good. Again, up my alley. Because you mentioned Necromasters. So I'm gonna talk about The Walking Dead. The Dead Come to Life in Deathless Divide. This is the sequel to Dread Nation. So it's a series by Justina Ireland. She also wrote, if you're like into like following authors, another horror one that sounds really cool. It's called Scream Sight. And it's sort of like like kind of tech horror. She's like, it's like a website where people post like amateur horror videos and like things kind of just go out of control from there. So if you're into horror and you like her writing you might enjoy that one. But Back to Deathless Divide. So it is sort of like an alternate history horror kind of book where it's set sort of in just after the Civil War. They had to end it early because in the middle of Gettysburg, a bunch of zombies just kind of started rising up, you know, go figure who could identify why that would happen. Couldn't imagine, couldn't see that coming. Yeah, so they pass an act because America is America. And young black and indigenous folks have to sort of go to these schools to fight these zombies. They're called Shamblers. So this is the sequel, this is the follow up. So the two main characters, Jane and Catherine have escaped from this really twisted small town and they are on their way to California. They think that California is this ideal place where all of their problems are gonna be solved. But for anybody who is familiar with zombie fiction that is never the case, but they are onward, they journey. It's a really strong book. Like the characters are like really strong female leads. For those of you who are into this kind of thing it's an own voices book. So it's, you know, black characters written by a black author. So that's always nice when that is the case. And yeah, she does a really good job of like blending like layers of social commentary, racial commentary, but like still tells us like a really amazing story. And like, you know, if you're into this kind of thing just a bunch of zombie killing. So, you know, it's got a bit of everything. I recommend that one, yeah. I had to say I have loved a female fighter protagonist since like I was a big, again, don't date me but I was a big Buffy fan. Like that was it. I had to watch every episode. That is, that's my jam. So I think we're just gonna stick to zombies for a bit because my next book it's also zombies. And again, this book is called The Forest of Hands and Teeth which already is like what I'm not a forest you want to be in. The empty teen makes it worse. Like she is so Avril Lavigne, first CD right there. That's what we're looking at. And this is by Carrie Ryan. And Carrie Ryan is, the first of all this is a series and Carrie Ryan does a lot of YA horror. She's actually in another book. I have in my list as an anthology but this book I chose to be simply because it is it's another coming of age story. Sort of like The Walking Dead meets an Amish society because these people live in this small little town and like they have adapted pretty much to what they call the Unconsecrated which is the dead zombies. But things have not been this way for so long that they've sort of forgotten what the world was like beforehand. The protagonist doesn't know anything about this town but her mother remembers the ocean and she tells her like the Unconsecrated they haven't reached the ocean. They, you know, there's a place beyond where you can go and it's they've been like we just discussed that is never the case. It is never the case. I just, I don't want to do any spoilers but like zombies don't really need to breathe. So this whole ocean escape thing is not the best thought out plan from the beginning but she meets the boy and she girl meets the inky boy and they sort of rebel and just I also like the realism in this one and this one it brings into light things that you would have to really worry about and a zombie movie in a place where you have gotten used to the dead how careful you would have to be in different social things that come up when you are living in a pretty much in a surrounded by a fence because that's so unsure way of living that they return to like this religion, you know, you started to keep things to make you feel like you're gonna be able to get past this and move on really interesting elements. And as far as actual horror goes once she gets past the zombies once you accept the reality that they do exist it's not that terrifying. It is pretty, pretty mellow. I would give this on a terrifying scale of one to 10 I'd give this like a seven. You never feel like you need to like put it down but sure, you know, you're interested enough to keep reading. Okay, so mine next one isn't about a zombie but the main character is dead. So the next book is The Things She's Seen and it's by Amblin and Ezekiel Quay-Malina. So they're Australian indigenous. Yeah, so that's, it's set in the same kind of area like the Australian Outback and I believe the character is half indigenous, half white. The book stars Beth Teller who died under mysterious circumstances doesn't really know how or why what she knows is that she is still tethered to this plane of existence. No one can really see her but she's still kind of attached to her father who she was close with and he's a detective. So as she's kind of following him around he stumbles upon this case where an orphanage mysteriously burns down and they're supposed to be filled with people but there's only one body in the building and so they are kind of trying to figure out this mystery and kind of at the center of this is an interesting enigmatic character named Isabel who can actually see Beth. So Isabel kind of serves as like the medium between the two and it's really kind of this like the story of Beth sort of trying to kind of make amends with kind of the world that she left it and kind of help her father out one last time. It's a good amount of like mystery and thriller it isn't really like super horror like the protagonist is implied to be of otherworldly presence but I won't get too much into that. Yeah it's super cool and it's kind of like a unique voice like it's not, there's not a lot of books written from that perspective so yeah it's pretty cool. Pretty cool addition. I love the fact that they give her like a medium because it would be super sad to just have her like follow her dad as a ghost. Like that is, that it would be depressing but they're able to like interact and have a moment of peace that is uplifting. Okay so this from a level eight to a level 10. We're doing Lord Lost and the demonata. So well, well we said horror so we had to get there eventually. This is a horror book through and through. It follows the character of great grubs Grady and Grubs Grady is a, I think he's in high school but he's not too far along in high school. He reads like a middle school type character but I think he actually is in high school but it really doesn't matter because what happens is that he inherits his family's legacy which is not great. He's not a witch, he's not a werewolf. He is just like pretty much cursed. Straight up, every generation, his family has to play a complicated game of supernatural chess with this demon called Lord Lost who is the description in the book is as terrifying as the cover and he pretty much torments the family and if they lose the game of chess he tears them apart. Literally, they lose everything including limbs and detail, there are entrails and all that happening in the first few chapters of this book. His family though, as books have it, as these plots go, do not tell him this. They just sort of, since I think they only need a certain number of people to interact in this ritual they decide to spare Grady and literally send him to I think a movie. I haven't read this in a really long time but I know that he's sent out on some innocuous errand and then comes back and finds out his family has lost this game in their slaughter. So, Kid's not doing great and he's passed around by two eccentric relatives to eccentric relatives to he ends up with this uncle character who has all these secrets and is super mysterious and he starts piecing together more about what happens and it turns out the uncle that he's with is trying to find a way out of this deal and because who wouldn't like try to find a way like that's just not a good deal like this is not something I wanna do every generation. So, I won't say too much about it because I do know that there are some twists and turns. This is by Darren Shan and he also is the author of The Vampire's Assistant but he has written a couple other books and this series is actually quite long. I think it's like eight books and it concentrates on Lord's loss and then it concentrates on other demons because it's like Lord lost troubles with a squad but I definitely would give this a read if you are ready for horror as the definition like and it's true form. Sounds interesting. I'm curious though, why does it say why chess? Is he just like? Lord lost is just sort of like, he just likes games and like chess is an ever-evolving game like it had to be a game that would keep a demon occupied for a couple of centuries and I'm like, so it couldn't be like connects for the rest of the world. So, it's like it's a trope almost like you make a deal with a demon to get more time and then you have to do a test every couple of centuries but very uniquely done. That's cool. Yeah, the gore thing I just, I can't do. I'm a wimp when it comes to gore. It wasn't a bit much. Yeah, the gore for me too was just like, okay, I get it. For people who like gore, this is calling you. That's your thing. Nice. My next one is no relation to yours so I'm just gonna segue the best that I can. This one's called category five. It's by Ann Davila Cardinal. It's actually the follow-up to a kind of a series. They're like Lucy related, same characters, different kind of narrative line but this one's Five Midnights. But it follows three friends, Lupe, Javier and Marisol. They live in Puerto Rico and it's set almost immediately after kind of Hurricane Maria hits. So they're trying to rebuild and when of course these greedy developers move in and try to turn half of the island into vacation properties. But at the same time, there's these mysterious murders that are happening and they seem almost paranormal. And so it's kind of up to the three to really kind of band together and solve these murders before another one can happen and see if there's any connection to this mysterious developer. Are they connected? I don't know, I can't say. You have to read the book. That is scary, especially for me. I've always lived in California so like I've never seen a hurricane. So that already, that natural disaster is already terrifying to me on a real life basis. That one's been in particular scares me because I don't even know what that would look like or you see, you read about it but sounds crazy. And then to also have to deal with the paranormal aspects. These poor kids in these books. So my last actual book that I'm going to recommend, sorry dropped the phone, is called Slash Your Girls and Monster Boys. And this is an anthology. It was edited by April touchlock and it has some of the most prominent and newest YA horror writers. Including the Carrie Ryan who did The Forest of Hands and Teeth and her story is actually first and it's completely different from what I read of hers with The Forest of Hands and Teeth. It's so good. The first story is about these girls and they sort of like this predator on the street but he's like a very human predator. He's like just being weird and creepy and like every girl has dealt with this guy before. No place too much tension to you and just a weird adult. And their reaction to that is very much strong and it's very, you know, uplifting but also very natural and very real. And in the first story, the this weird creepy adult comes home with a woman and these girls are just concerned. They're just like what woman would be with late? The character's name is Leonard. It's like what woman? She doesn't know like we have to rescue her. And then they also react. Something that was new to me is that we're I'm so used to my protagonist being like Katniss Everdeen where they're just like calm, study. I went to overthrow the government, no big deal. They are not prepared. They're not prepared. Like they walk over to this guy's house to go ask for sugar as a way to get into their house. Obviously not a good ploy, it's been done before. And like they break into tears and freak out and do all everything you wouldn't want to do on a rescue mission. So it was super enduring to me. I was just like that's what I would do. I probably break into tears if I had to confront a predator and try to rescue a woman like that would be my response. The spin on the one I was telling you about is that the woman he comes home with turns out to be something unexpected. I won't give it away, but she is not what she appears. She is definitely not his victim. So it is interesting, interesting. And the thing about anthologies is you can sort of skip around. If you don't like something within the first like three pages, don't read it. Read the next story. Like a whole, there's like eight other people in here. Dive in. So I'm definitely gonna recommend this. That one, yeah, I might actually check someone out myself. Hopefully I don't get too scared. Okay, so my last one is probably maybe one of my favorites from my selections. It's called Neverworld Wake and it's by Marisha Pessil. So it revolves around five friends who come together after graduating from school. They decided to kind of live it up one last time before they all go their own separate ways. So they go to like this concert and they are planning on renting this house. And so after the concert, they're driving back to the house and their car is involved in sort of a near accident. So they veer off the road and they think everything is okay. Everything seems fine, no one seems hurt, but they actually have somehow ended up in this kind of alternate dimension called Neverworld Wake. And they soon find that the twist of this place, this other plane of existence is that they're stuck there. They have to relive the same day over and over again, kind of like that movie Groundhog Day. And there's only one way they can get out. They have to pick the one person who can leave out of the five friends. So it's kind of like a really like nail-biting thriller kind of mystery thing with some paranormal elements. And definitely like putting yourself in that position where you have to make that choice is not a fun kind of place to put yourself, but it's so thrilling and like interesting to think about. That sounds like a good question to go, ask my friends immediately. Like if I was stuck in a place with you and we only one of us could leave, would you let me leave? Like, I'm cutting people out. But I was also thinking, because we did talk about this one yesterday and I was thinking it would depend on how bad that day is. Like, is it like, is that the day I went in the lottery every morning? Maybe this wouldn't be the most terrible situation, but if every day I wake up and like, you know, my house is on fire or I have to like do a bunch of tasks, I might be looking for a way out. That's really a really interesting concept. In premise, yeah. At least you have five other people. Like it kind of depends on how you are with your friends. I know I might not have a great time after a certain amount of loops. I love my friends, but like, you know, that's gonna wear on a person after, you know, the two days. Yeah, I don't know who. And this is like forever, right? And, or just like, do I live out my natural life? I have so many questions for this fake one. That's really interesting. I think not when I will actually check out and read after I finish my anthology. Yeah, yeah. Because that was an interesting premise. I know I said tough life, but I do have honorable mentions. Well, this one is straight up on the cover, literally says, hell world. And that doesn't get more descriptive than you need it to be, then there you are. It is about a girl whose mother was a paranormal hunter. And her crew investigate this cave in the middle of Arizona and they go missing. And so of course that is upsetting because, you know, your character is missing. And of course like, where do you go in a cave? There's only so much space. And, you know, eventually she just drifts apart from her dad because he's depressed. And on her 16th birthday, she just decides to get with the kid who was her mother had a co-host. And the co-host has a kid, you know, how this goes off, they pair up. And once, you know, she's the daughter, he's the son. They get together and decide to go explore this cave. And whoo, I mean, talking about bad decisions. This book was, this book will keep you up. It'll keep you, it's a, it's a Facebook, you sort of don't see which direction this will go in until it gets you there. And I definitely would recommend by Tom Levine. But there's also this other one I saw on the shelf is, life is short and then you die. Again, the title is giving you what you came for. All these stories have to do with murder. Their first encounter with murder. It says on the back, life is filled with first, first kiss, first job, first love in your first dead body. And just the authors on the front cover, Kelly Armstrong wrote a really cool series for teens about shape-shifting and the supernatural Kabbalah mafia. Arles Stein, of course, has written nothing but horror for teens in middle school. It is looking real promising. I know they say you don't judge a book from its cover, but that's basically what I did. And it's another anthology. So I like the fact that if I don't like something, just move on past it. I like that. Those are my honorable mentions. Nice. So thanks so much for tuning in. Thank you, Carl, for being here today. Hope those selections kind of spooked you a bit and that you'll check them out. And of course, if you are interested, you can go to our catalog and search Redia 1020 and find those pics, put them on hold and get them picked up through LBPL to go. So we will see you next month and take care. See ya. Bye, guys.