What To Read?! - Nikkie's Nook October 2024

Dearest gentle reader, October marks the first official month of Nikkie's Nook! We are currently finishing up the ACOTAR series and that means, starting in October, we're ready to move on to spookier pastures! For this month, I have selected 6 books for us to choose from that capture the spirit of autumn and All Hallows Eve! Below you will find a brief synopsis of each book to help you choose. As a reminder, these books are not being read beforehand so we are unable to provide content warnings for any of these books. The Book Nook will always be 'Read at your own Risk' because of this. Some books will touch on heavy topics and may be written during times with different sensibilities. It is okay to walk away from a book if it does not serve you and join back up with us for books that do!
This poll will be open until Friday 9/20/24 so get your votes in ASAP! The poll will determine the book we will start on October 1st, 2025 (you are welcome to start sooner if you wish, I'm not your mom). This should give everyone enough time to source the book whether that be in digital, audio or physical format. Looking forward to spooky reading with you all <3

Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice: 
Interview with the Vampire is a gothic horror and vampire novel by American author Anne Rice, published in 1976. Born as an 18th-century lord, Louis is now a bicentennial vampire, telling his story to an eager biographer. Suicidal after the death of his family, he meets Lestat, a vampire who persuades him to choose immortality over death and become his companion. Eventually, gentle Louis resolves to leave his violent maker, but Lestat guilts him into staying by turning a young girl -- whose addition to the "family" breeds even more conflict.

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman:
Practical Magic is a 1995 magical realism novel by American writer Alice Hoffman. The narrative follows two sisters who are raised in a family of witches and must come to terms with their family’s heritage, their place in the community, and the trials of love and loss, all while growing up and raising the next generation.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova:
The Historian (2005), Elizabeth Kostova’s best-selling novel, blends fact and fiction to reinvent the myth of the iconic vampire Dracula, or Vlad Ţepeş. In this retelling, the unnamed narrator accompanies her ambassador father, Paul, across Europe in the early 1970s as he tells her the story of his near encounter with the vampire. He tells her the Prince of Wallachia lives, 500 years after his death. Paul’s mentor, Dr. Rossi, was conducting research on Dracula when he disappeared in 1954; Paul must find Rossi before he, too, is corrupted. Paul meets Helen, a scholar of Romanian heritage who is also hunting Dracula, and Dr. Turgut Bora, a Turkish member of the Crescent Guard, tasked with protecting his people from the plague of vampirism. The Historian explores the tension between history and legend, the conflicting legacies of inheritance, and the fraught interactions between “East and West,” or Eastern Europe and the United States.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley:
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared in the second edition, which was published in Paris in 1821.

Uprooted by Naomi Novak:
Uprooted is a 2015 high fantasy novel by Naomi Novik, based on Polish folklore. The story tells of a village girl, Agnieszka, who is selected by the local wizard for her unseen magical powers. Together they battle the Wood, a nearby forest, as it seeks to take over the land.

Dracula by Bram Stoker:
Dracula is a gothic novel by Bram Stoker published in 1897. Stoker tells the story of the fight against the vampire Dracula in an epistolary format. The story comprises various letters, telegrams, journal entries, and newspaper articles written by the main characters. Dracula explores the classic theme of good versus evil, but the novel also illuminates the relationships between religion and reason, the East and the West, the modern age versus the old world, and how the repressive mores of the Victorian era clashed with more liberated ideas about female. The novel’s influence on Gothic, horror, and romance genres was profound, and the character of Count Dracula became one of the most influential, recognizable figures in literature, film, television, and even video games.