Best of the blogs

It’s been another great week of reading blogs—especially because of all the spooky and kooky holiday posts. (I’ve already mentioned a couple this morning.)

A few of my favorite posts from the week:

The Definition of Horror Fiction
and
Guest Post: What Makes a Thriller?
Posted by Jenn and Carrie on Jenn’s Bookshelves

Leading up to the 31st, Jenn of Jenn’s Bookshelves has been hosting a wonderful (and freaky!) series called Halloween Fright Fest. Two of my favorite posts are linked above, on what makes a book fit into the horror vs. thriller genre.

Choice excerpts:

Horror forces us to realize and confront our fears.  In many cases, as I’ve stated repeatedly, horror forces us to examine social issues that are often ignored or frowned upon. Notice I didn’t state that said writing must contain vampires, ghosts, werewolves, or anything supernatural?

A thriller is a story where a basically innocent person endures increasingly terrible events until they can’t take it anymore, and in a fit of fight-or-flight syndrome, they choose to run. (By the way, the post on thrillers was a guest post from Carrie of The Books I Read.)

What do you think distinguishes horror novels from thrillers or suspense novels?

October’s Compendium of Literary Links
Posted by Greg on The New Dork Review of Books

I highlighted The New Dork Review of Books a couple months ago in “Best of the Blogs” and have enjoyed perusing this smart and funny blog ever since. Today (because we all love roundups!), I want to direct you to a “compendium of literary links”—a “few really good, really long articles” about books and reading. The separation of art and artist. Nicole Krauss. Philip Roth. It’s good stuff!

What blog posts have you enjoyed this week?