Blog Post: Nocturnes

     A series of graphic and dramatically written horror stories is what the book Nocturnes by John Connolly consists of. The title alone is chilling let alone the 20 short stories that make up this 500 page book. Ranging from small towns to big cities and everything between, this book has insights on the concepts of sacrifice and mortality while still being entertaining.

    A reason that I chose to read this book is because it looked like it had true content in it. As eighth graders, we tend to slack off in every aspects of our life-family, school, and responsibilities in general. I had noticed that for one, I hadn't read all that many books this year and two, everything I read was easy and relatively short. I wanted something long, but not tedious and still fun to read. This was just the thing. I also think short stories are really a great thing to read because they are basic concepts that aren't  fully developed and leave room for creativity and personal interpretation while reading them. Another reason I wanted to read the book because I hate horror and scary things; I have convinced myself of this. But after realizing that I had watched American Horror Story, a story that middle schoolers hide under their blankets from, and never even flinched when someone was set on fire or impaled- well I thought id give it a try. I honestly would have no interest in this book if it didn't have great original concepts and strong writing. I think its a splendid coincidence that I didn't pick up the suspense thriller, Pretty Little Liars series or other book stat would completely spoil my spontaneous willingness to dive into the horror genre.

Overall I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants the simplicity and efficiency of a short story while still intaking a large amount of content. Also, I would recommend this to anyone who in general likes good writing and concepts because you can definitely find them in John Connolly's, Nocturnes.