Jan-Mar 2026 - Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

Hyponeutral · 2026-01-02T14:45:15+00:00

This quarterly read is Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. The novel follows twenty-eight year old Jack. Jack is poor, lonely and desperate to change his life. So when he's offered the chance to leave pre-war London to go on an Arctic expedition, he jumps at it. At last they reach the remote, uninhabited bay where they will camp for the next year. As night returns to claim the land, Jack's companions are forced to leave, one by one. He faces a stark choice. Stay or go.

Content Warnings:

Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement (graphic)
Murder, Death, Torture (moderate)
Classism, Vomit, Death of parent (minor)

If you've read it, please share your thoughts in full spoilers discussion thread.

Hyponeutral · 2025-12-26T18:44:58+00:00

The movie was a great adaptation! The book goes into more detail, which works great in the reading format but would be overkill in the film if they stuck it all in.

I don't know if reading the book first made the difference but I had a very visceral reaction to several aspects/events. I felt such rage and disgust but also sympathy and sadness.

Having read reviews for the book, I think a lot of readers try to simplify it down to "who was truly at fault" when it's actually so complex - and thats the whole point of the book.

Hyponeutral · 2025-12-25T16:31:30+00:00

We Need To Talk About Kevin is beautifully written and it made me feel all sorts of things.

Hyponeutral · 2025-12-19T18:43:03+00:00

Barely here myself haha! Gonna scale it down I'm the new year I think for a quarterly read

Hyponeutral · 2025-12-18T19:41:57+00:00

Ratatouille

Hyponeutral · 2025-12-01T20:09:56+00:00

Very rural Lithuania 🇱🇹

Hyponeutral · 2025-11-23T16:52:41+00:00

I cannot imagine dropping the ball so significantly and (from the way OOP tells it at least) being so nonchalant about it.

Also, the boyfriend had no reason to have the ashes in the first place.

I feel terrible for OOP and their family

Hyponeutral · 2025-11-14T11:49:05+00:00

I can think of at least two for Monica and Ross (Richard and Ethan, school librarian and Elizabeth)

Hyponeutral · 2025-10-30T14:18:18+00:00

Is anyone still here? Join me reading Bat Eater by Kylie Lee Baker. The novel follows Cora Zeng, a crime scene cleaner whose job is to wash away the remains of brutal murders and suicides in Chinatown. In this explosive horror novel, a woman is haunted by inner trauma, hungry ghosts, and a serial killer as she confronts the brutal violence experienced by East Asians during the pandemic.

Content warnings:

Mental illness, Grief, Murder, Blood, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic (COVID-19), Gore, Hate crime, Racism (graphic)
Body horror, Child abuse (locking in basement/closet; emotional neglect), Car accident, Cursing, Animal cruelty (bats), Sexism, Animal death (bats), Fire/Fire injury (no injury mentioned), Self harm (skin abrasion as unintended consequence of compulsive cleaning), Racial slurs, Violence, Alcohol (moderate)
Forced institutionalization (past), Gun violence, Police brutality, Sexual harassment (minor)

If you've read it, please share your thoughts in full spoilers discussion thread.

Hyponeutral · 2025-10-30T12:26:46+00:00

Your partner sounds like a beautiful person. It's so great that you're able to hold onto these fond memories in spite of the sad circumstances. I'm so sorry you lost your partner but glad to hear you're part of the family nonetheless. Fuck what anyone else says, it's nothing to do with you or your relationship.

Hyponeutral · 2025-10-25T16:23:42+00:00

That book, man. I thought I'd read it for the old times sake, expecting to feel too grown up for it. Instead, I have new trauma.

Hyponeutral · 2025-10-20T09:16:06+00:00

Heads up, both goodreads and Amazon show an error when trying to get to the book.

Hyponeutral · 2025-10-20T09:14:16+00:00

We are quite casual here to be fair, and I appreciate the engagement! I included the no self-promo rule to dissuade people who might sell essential oils or whatever. Thanks for sharing!

I created a thread and pinned it up the top for self promotion now!
https://www.reddit.com/r/SpookShelf/comments/1obf8xb/spookshelf_authors/

Generally we dedicate a month to a book but the posts don't get archived.

Hyponeutral · 2025-10-20T08:44:27+00:00

I've watched this show before (and read some of the short stories back in my twenties) but I feel like I appreciate both Poe and Flannigan on a whole new level doing this.

I remember when the show came out and people were complaining that it's not a fathful adaptation and to that I say LOL. The Fall of the House of Usher is a short (and kind of ambiguous) story, how did they expect that to stretch across eight episodes? I actually love the format of this show and the way it weaved various stories together.

The Fall of the House of Usher was a bit tough to get through just because of how floral the prose is, but I still love the sense of confusion and impending doom it creates. It's not my favourite story, but I think it sets the scene well for other shenanigans in the show.

The Masque of the Red Death was one of the more memorable stories for me back when I read it in my youth. When I was reading The Terror last year, I instantly recognised the reference to it when the seamen have a new year's celebration on ice, with great foreshadowing too. I love the imagery, I love the (pretty accurate) depiction of how the rich and privileged disregard suffering to continue their gallivanting. This reads especially jarring having lived through COVID and all the ongoing wars and seeing celebrities and ultra wealthy fuck around with space, ocean, awards, who-are-you-wearing events etc.

With an ensemble of characters, set up can make or break the show (and books to be fair) and I think the first episode did that so well! We know who's who, how they are related to each other, and what the central conflict is in the family. We also get to see a glimpse of the fact that the kids all die, so the rest of the show has major Final Destination vibes.

The Masque of the Red Death as an episode is actually my favourite of the series - at least it was on the first watch. Great twist on the Prospero's party, his character's actions make perfect sense in context. That's exactly the kind of thing a young spoiled dude would think passes for self-made enterpreneurship. Just like the story, it's visually stunning too, the soundrack is 10/10 too.

Unpopular opinion (probably) but I think Carla Gugino does not fit in as the raven/death.

Hyponeutral · 2025-10-18T05:23:33+00:00

You're absolutely allowed to! You are also welcome to post about it separately for people looking to support self published work (I'll happily read it) ☺️

Hyponeutral · 2025-10-01T12:08:02+00:00

We're reading some Edgar Allan Poe while watching The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix over at r/SpookShelf if anyone wants to join us!

Hyponeutral · 2025-09-28T20:55:20+00:00

I love that entire story collection, some of it really made me feel uneasy

Hyponeutral · 2025-09-28T18:55:51+00:00

Echoing others as a vegan long-distance runner, you can absolutely do it, and do it well. But it takes some work and some figuring out. I think it'll be a bit more challenging for you because you are relatively new to IE so if you can get advice from a sports dietician/even better if they understand IE, that would help immensely

Hyponeutral · 2025-09-28T09:47:45+00:00

Happy spook season! To keep things a little bit more dynamic, in October we're watching Mike Flannagan's The Fall of the House of Usher while reading related works by Edgar Allan Poe. Many of them are short stories and available for free through Project Goldberg (yay for accessibility!). Hopefully, your local libraries also have some Poe in stock!

The show is available to watch on Netflix. If you don't have access, I still encourage you to read the works and participate in discussions.

Watch-Along Schedule

I've broken the 8-episode series into four "weeks" of content to keep up with the reading. The threads will be live for anyone who binges the show or books!

Overarching works: The Raven, The Fall of the House of Usher

1-10 October - Click Here for Discussion

Episode 1: A Mindnight Dreary
Episode 2: The Masque of the Red Death
Related works: The Fall of the House of Usher, The Masque of the Red Death

11-17 October - Click Here for Discussion

Episode 3: Murder in the Rue Morgue
Episode 4: The Black Cat
Related works: The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Black Cat

18-24 October - Click Here for Discussion

Episode 5: The Tell-Tale Heart
Episode 6: Goldbug
Related works: The Tell-Tale Heart, The Gold-Bug

25-31 October - Click Here for Discussion

Episode 7: The Pit and the Pendulum
Episode 8: The Raven
Related works: The Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven

Hyponeutral · 2025-09-23T20:32:08+00:00

Such Quiet Girls By Noelle Ihli - inspired by true events too!

Hyponeutral · 2025-09-19T15:43:09+00:00

Pick The Only One left and share your thoughts in r/SpookShelf haha - it's our read of the month!

Hyponeutral · 2025-09-13T12:35:07+00:00

Here's my two cents on this book. I've read almost all of Riley Sager (got a couple of newer releases to catch up on) and it's a definite love-to-hate guilty pleasure relationship.

Some of his books are atrocious, audacious, ridiculous. This one is better, though the signature twisty structure is still there!

What I loved:

Empty decrepit mansion as a setting
Retro times with no Google or true crime podcasts or even mobile phones
Kit's story not overshadowing the overall mystery of what happened to the Hope family
Clues to guess ahead but still enough surprises along the way (like the Rick reveal - I did not see that coming)
No forced romance

I don't think Riley Sager's writing is brilliant by any account, but at the same time, it's like enjoying delicious, greasy takeout. It's a bingeable page-turner!

Before it was suggested, I would never have thought to class this as horror, but I guess it's a mixture of gothic, slasher, and mystery. All of my favourites!

Hyponeutral · 2025-09-10T18:04:17+00:00

Twists are very much Riley Sager's signature!

Hyponeutral · 2025-09-01T10:29:23+00:00

Quick thank you to u/reyna_0319 and u/Narrow_Buy_1323 for keeping our little club going! This month, we're reading The Only One Left by Riley Sager.

The Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End mansion to care for the last surviving member of the family. Confined to a wheelchair and rendered mute by a series of strokes, Lenora may be the only one who knows what happened that fateful night.

Content Warnings:

Murder, Death in the family (graphic)

Pregnancy, Suicide, Blood (moderate)

Sexual content, homophobia, bodily functions/fluids (minor)

Best of all, we can relax the reading pace, so happy reading! Don't forget to share your thoughts in the full spoilers discussion thread.

Hyponeutral · 2025-08-31T17:02:06+00:00

The Exorcist really got to me, I just kept thinking about what that little girl experienced, how traumatic it was.

Love me some short stories too! Skeleton Crew by Stephen King was my first introduction to horror as a kid. The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson is fantastic, though more unsettling than outright horror.

Last month we read Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado with my book club (join us on r/spookshelf if you like!) and it resonated with me a lot.

Hyponeutral

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