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Is there such a thing as an #AntiBookHaul ?

I've taken a deep breath and I'm taking these to my local National Trust second hand book room in order to make space on my shelves for books I want to keep.
(When I say "space on my shelves," I actually mean "marginally reduce the height of the piles of books stacked on the floor," but let's not pick nits!)

My sixth selection for #2025bestreads is the most unhinged horror book that I have read so far this year. This book has a very important message one that seems that to have been missed as it is currently sitting at 3.38 on Good Reads. This is is Chapman's boldest book to date. Old school Stephen King for our current dysfunctional era.

This is a wild book! I think it accomplished exactly what it set out to do. We follow a family of four as each succumbs to far right wind propaganda in different ways: news, wellness, internet chatrooms, technology. Each turns into a monster/zombie literally possessed by conservative ideology. Very violent, hints of bird box and the purge.

This is the craziest horror novel I have read all year. It is also probably the most divisive. Which is unfortunate, because it has a really important message. Wake Up & Open Your Eyes is like old school Stephen King for the social media era, I will say that at several points while reading I was like, “Wow, Clay you really went there,“...and my macabre black soul loved him for it. ☠ 💔

When your internal monologue switches to Anderson Cooper (admittedly, mine has at some points), because your family is now ‘possessed‘ to do unspeakable disgusting things based on media brain rot…well, should you think you‘re any better? Our media consumption is the downfall of society in this story. One I consider amazingly crafted and particularly disturbing. Ironically unironically sharing on social media, hashtag. 😁

A horror political satire that is going to appeal to a certain demographic. A bizarre media source transforms closed-minded individuals and their audience into possessed violent zombies. Those trying to escape the chaos are pitted against this cult of monsters until society and civilization eventually deteriorate. A good premise, but the repetition of prose could have been tweaked and requires more editing.

4 ✨ Unsettling, Savory & Grotesque

Not my preferred sub-genre within horror but I was highly entertained from start to finish. Plethora of social commentary. Some feeling too close to home. Plenty of body horror & emphasizes on family division specifically through a political scope. Was enthralled with watching the family slowly disintegrating, not only mentally but physically. I could not help but devour the entirety.

Oh. My. Gosh. This was such a good story. No One is safe in this expose of how media rots our brains, even the "good guys" will get called out. If you're in the mood for a poignant, political, apocalyptic horror, this one is definitely worth it. Gives a while new meaning to the term "doom scrolling."
Check trigger warnings if you're squeamish, it is horror after all.

This book was just okay. It had a great premise, but the execution is a bit lacking. The politics are too heavy-handed, and I‘m not one who minds an author being political. I don‘t get why gross sex scenes had to be used so often to denote evil. There‘s one section, where we watch a whole family fall apart, that is just too long. I did finish it though. #audiowalk

I should just listen to this as my bedtime book since I only have a little over an hour left, but I don‘t like listening to horror at night. I‘ve had bad dreams doing that before. I still can‘t say I‘m enamored with this book, but it‘s an interesting take on the end of the world. Beautiful day today. Nice temperatures and wonderful breezes. #audiowalk