The Halloween Tag


Halloween is here which marks the start of my favourite period of the year. The leaves have started turning orange, the air is fresh and crisp, days become shorter and evenings are spent cosying up under a duvet watching movies. I love this time of year because I prefer the cold and the best events are held between October and December. 
I found The Halloween Tag online and thought it would be a bit of fun to answer them on here today. It consists of 30 Halloween-themed questions and I have spent quite a bit of time coming up with my answers.

1) Favourite Halloween themed song?
I would say my favourite has got to be Thriller by Michael Jackson but I do also like Tiptoe (through the tulips) by Tiny Tim because it just sounds so creepy.

2) Name something you wouldn't want to run into in a dark forest or in an abandoned building.
I mean, to be honest, I wouldn't want to run into anything if I was alone in those places but I guess a serial killer would have to be one of the main ones.

3) Have you ever played with a Ouija board?
No I haven't and I am not sure that I ever will, but I am curious about it.

4) Favourite horror monster or villain?
There are loads that I love but my favourite is Freddy Krueger. He caught people in their most vulnerable state; sleeping.

5) What is the creepiest thing that's ever happened to you while you were alone?
When I was a lot younger, my bed used to be opposite my door so I could see the staircase when I was laying in it at night. On a number of occasions I remember lying with my head on my pillow and watching as a man's shadow slowly came up the stairs, but there was never anyone there. To this day there is no explanation for it and I can still picture the shape of the shadow and relive it vividly in my mind. I never let it get to the top of the stairs as I would always turn over or hide under my duvet. Thankfully, we moved house haha.

6) If you were dared to spend the night in a haunted house, would you do it?
I don't think I could do it alone, not only for a dare anyway. Maybe if there was money involved haha. With others I definitely would; in fact, it's on my bucket list.

7) Are you superstitious? 
Not overly, but there are a few that I strongly believe in such as seeing different amounts of magpies together, bad things come in threes, Friday the 13th, shivering meaning someone has walked over your grave and touch wood.

8) Do you ever see figures in your peripheral vision?
ALL. THE. TIME.

9) Which urban legend scares you the most?
The black eyed children. They are said to be paranormal creatures with pale skin and black eyes and are demons that resemble young children. 

10) Do you prefer gore or thrillers?
Definitely thrillers. Gore horrors are just full of violence and deaths and they lack that scare-factor that I love in other movies. I like sitting on the edge of my seat, not knowing what is going to happen next as opposed to watching blood and guts being spilled all the time.

11) Do you believe in multiple dimensions or worlds?
If I was to explain everything that I believe in or have a theory on then I would need a separate blog post otherwise we would be here all night. For the benefit of this tag, I do believe in both and I also believe in multiple time dimensions.

12) Have you ever made a potion of any sort?
No I can't say that I have.

13) Do you get scared easily?
I definitely jump-scare easily but other than that, not really.

14) Have you ever played Bloody Mary?
Yes and nothing happened. I mean, not that I wanted anything to haha.

15) Do you believe in demons/the devil?
It's hard to say. I believe in evil spirits and ghosts, but I wouldn't necessarily say that I believe in demons or the devil.


16) You're home alone but you hear footsteps in your house, what do you do?
My house makes weird noises at night so I would most likely stay in my room, under the duvet with the TV blaring. If someone was genuinely in my house I think I would either try to escape or hide and start calling anyone and everyone haha.

17) If you got trapped in one scary movie, which would you choose?
The ring - how hard can it be to avoid watching a tape?

18) If you could only wear one Halloween costume for the rest of your life, what would you be?
I am going to be very generic and say Vampire. There are so many things that you can do with that costume to suit different types of Halloween events. Plus I love wearing red contacts.

19) Would you ever go to a graveyard at night?
With someone else, sure haha.

20) In a zombie apocalypse what is your weapon of choice?
I would say an axe. 

21) Would you rather go to a Halloween party or go trick or treating?
Halloween party 100%.

22) You're in a horror movie. Are you the final girl, the first to die, the comic relief, the skeptic, the smart one or the killer?
Most of the time I am an 'I need to see it to believe it' kind of person so I would have to say the skeptic. 

23) Can you sleep well after watching a horror movie?
Like a baby.

24) What is your favourite horror movie?
There are so many that I love, but my favourite is The Conjuring.

25) What is your favourite scary book?
The Shining by Stephen King.

26) How old were you when you saw your first horror movie? 
I'm not too sure when, but I think the first one that I watched was Final Destination 3.

27) What was your first Halloween costume?
A witch. I went as that for so many years before I decided it was time to switch it up a little. 

28) What is your favourite Halloween costume so far?
Jigsaw. I went to a Halloween party dressed as him last year.

29) What are you going to be for Halloween this year?
I am not doing anything for Halloween this year unfortunately; maybe next year.

30) If you could have a spooky Halloween pet, what would you pick? (Black cat, Owl, Bat, Rat, Wolf)
I would love a wolf. 

So, that is the end of the questions. I do love sharing my views and opinions and then comparing them to others', especially when the answers can be so varied and interesting. Halloween has been pretty average for me this year so I hope that I can go out or do something for it in 2020. 

Did you get dressed up this year?

xx
Share:

Review: The Tattooist Of Auschwitz


I do love a good book. I love how an author can tell such a compelling story that I am sucked into another world for hours on end and when I am finished, I feel an odd sense of longing to be back in it. Sometimes I get so glued to the words that my mind blocks out everything that is going on around me and my imagination takes over; visualising the characters and story as I am reading it. 
Before The Tattooist of Auschwitz, I hadn't read anything based on a true story, but on one of my visits to WH Smith - where I spend ages reading the blurbs of all the best selling novels - this one really caught my eye. There is something about stories that have some truth to them that makes even more of an impact; and I definitely felt that as I was reading this. 
Without spoiling it for the people who haven't yet read it, I just want to give a quick overview of what the book is about to give my review a bit more context. 
It is the story of Lale and Gita Sokolov; set during the war. It follows all of the highs, lows, risks and heartfelt moments of their lives at Auschwitz. Lale is employed as the tattoowierer and spends hours each day tattooing the numbers onto the prisoners at Auschwitz and Birkenau. Due to this position, Lale was given better living arrangements and food rations which he tried his best from the start to distribute evenly amongst his fellow prisoners. Throughout the book we see just what it takes to survive such a place and after it is all over we find out that Lale and Gita marry and build a life and family together; despite the odds. 
This book is based on the true story of Lale and Gita and was written by Heather Morris after years of interviews with the protagonist during the much later years of his life. In the book are real photos of Lale and Gita which really adds truth and heart to the story. 


You will feel every emotion possible whilst reading this. You will smile, cry, laugh; your heart will ache and you will feel anger at what these people went through. You will hang on every word and you may even finish it in one sitting; but you will love it. 
The way that Morris tells Lale's story is compelling and definitely well worth reading. It does read a bit like fiction at parts but that is due to Morris having to fill in some blanks and also add more thoughts from characters which Lale would obviously not have known himself. I do like this style though as I feel it added to the impact it had on me. 
There are not many books that will stay with me forever, but this one definitely will. I think it is the fact that most of this actually did happen to Lale which is honestly heartbreaking to know, but I am glad that I have heard his story and that he came out and made a better life for himself in the end. 

I know some people have reviewed this book and found it to be poorly written, but I disagree. To a certain extent you can feel a bit detached from the characters, but Morris is telling an elderly man's story so to me I wasn't really expecting much in the way of great storytelling. Perhaps I am just easy to please, I don't know. 

What I do know, is that I would highly recommend that you give this book a read for yourself. After this, I know it will not be my last Holocaust novel; neither will it be my last true story, as I know they really pull on my heart strings but they really open my eyes to what many people had to endure and what really went on throughout History. 

If you have read this book, what did you think??

xx
Share:
© PaulaMarie | All rights reserved.
Blog Design Handcrafted by pipdig