Happy Halloween!!

TOP TEN Books/Movies to Get in Halloween Spirit

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the ladies over at The Broke and the Bookish. This weeks list features the top ten books/movies to read or watch to get into the Halloween spirit. OR top ten characters who I would totally want to be for Halloween. I am going to do a joint list since it is all just too good to pass up.

Books:

1. Dracula by Bram Stoker

2. Anything from the Fear Street series by R.L. Stine
(hello my 6th grade self)

3. Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

4. The Crucible by Arthur Miller

5. Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt

Movies:

6. Hocus Pocus

7. Practical Magic

8. Nightmare Before Christmas

Costumes:

9. Professor McGonagall (from HP obviously)
I did this one already. Hat, cat tail, witch hat, scarf, wand. Done.

10. Karou (from Daughter of Smoke and Bone series)

There is actually a pic of a girl on twitter doing this one and see looked awesome!

It's Readathon Day!

My first chance to participate in Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon is finally here! Yay!

I didn't wake up for the official start time (makes me miss my old east coast time) but I am showered, breakfasted and I'm in my first book.

I'll be keeping track here throughout the day and breaking in my new twitter account (@hoardingbooks). 

Update - 13.5 hours gone

Completed: 2 hours 40 min listened. 420 pages read.

In the middle of: M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman (audiobook) and The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski and Mozart and the Whale by Jerry and Mary Newport. They are giving me a good mix.

Finished: Raven Girl and I think I will be able to finish The Winner's Curse before I fall asleep.

Right now: I'm tired but I want to keep going. Now I am wishing that I woke up with everyone else for the official start time and had logged more hours...and that would have also included not spending my first waking hour catching up on twitter instead of reading. As my nephew would say, I made "poor choices."

And: Since this is the only day that I get to see my husband and it is almost over, I am going to go to bed with him and then finish my reading with my sweet Ikea bed light.

She's tired of reading. #PetParade #readathon pic.twitter.com/nkmnNnIuk0
— Jess (@hoardingbooks) October 19, 2014

Update - 8 hours gone

Completed: 1 hour 50 min listened. 210 pages read.

In the middle of: M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman (audiobook) and The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski but I think I may be switching back to Mozart and the Whale by Jerry and Mary Newport soon just for a change of pace.

Right now: I have a headache for some reason. We are trying to come up with dinner plans which is pulling me from reading and just really irritating but hopefully the food with help with the headache.

And: I am loving M is for Magic but I think short stories were a poor choice to listen to while catching up on posts and other stuff. You space out for a minute and miss a lot because there is so much packed into so little space. I already want to buy the book and reread it. I was hesitant in the first place because I love reading Gaiman I think I am an official convert to having him read to me. He is an all-around amazing storyteller.

Update - 3 hours gone

Completed: 1 hour 33 min listened. 44 pages read (WHAT? that's pathetic!) Part of that is because my family doesn't understand what I am dealing with today. I have already planned a set-up of two awesome yet single people and given job advice.

In the middle of: M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman (audiobook) and Mozart and the Whale by Jerry and Mary Newport.

Right now: I just want to get really in this.

And: I think I am going to head to the coffee shop in a bit for a pick me up and to cut down on distractions. I am also debating picking up a new book right now (cuz that's my attention span at the moment) and none of the ones I'm looking at were even in my initial pile.

Finally...Readathon

I have wanted to be a part of Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon basically since I started this blog but up until two months ago every job I had since I started working at age 15 has required me to work Saturdays and I have had to miss out on the apparent joys of the readathon. When I finally realized I would have the day off and be able to participate, I was so excited...and then my husband came home and told me he bought concert tickets for us.

Sweet thought, bad timing.

Well the poor guy has come down with a terrible cold and though I feel so bad for him, I'm secretly (not so secretly) relieved that our tickets are apparently going to waste. I did a last minute sign-up on my lunch break today and then I even made the giant leap onto Twitter and spent the night lost in feed.

So, my first readathon is last minute thrown together but I'm partaking and that is what counts and I can't wait. I'm sure it is going to be a learning process in what to read and what to eat but that just means that I get to perfect it for next time. Here's my stack:

I have already started a few of them and added them to the pile with the hope that the readathon will give me the push I need to get deeper into them.

The Diviners by Libba Bray
The Returned by Jason Mott
Raising My Rainbow by Lori Duron
Mozart and the Whale by Jerry and Mary Newport
Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Some Halloweenish reads:
The First Fear by R.L. Stine
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Dark Souls by Paula Morris
Raven Girl by Audrey Niffenegger

And comics to break up my time:
Captain America 
Buffy

See you tomorrow for updates throughout the day!

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl
by Gillian Flynn

What can I say about Gone Girl that hasn't already been said? Actually I'm not sure about the answer to that because I have done quite a good job of keeping away from all spoilery type things without even trying. I wasn't even sure I was going to read the book until this month. At some point I saw a lonely copy on my library's sale cart and picked it up for $2 (finding an inscription that made me smile). So, the movie came out and Shannon at River City Reading posted this post which I allowed myself to read the first paragraph and then tucked it away until I had finished the book. After I started the book I found myself in a conversation that went like this:

Friend 1: I don't like the way it ended.
Friend 2: I think it ended the way that it had to.

Not much said here but this tidbit...it HAUNTED ME. All through the book I was going back and forth. Analyzing and then reanalyzing. What do I want to happen? What do I not want to happen? What do I think is the only thing that CAN happen? I got to page 80 and realized I had to do something I never do in works of fiction. I wrote in the book. I wrote all over this thing. I listed my guesses on the very last page and placed hateful comments and smiley faces throughout.

So now, I am going to give you a glimpse into my mind and share with you some of those comments.

Spoilery things lurking ahead (cuz it's Halloween-time obviously)

On the Blue Book plant: Awwe, memories. 
Maybe that's the point, her intention.
Yeah! HA! no...
I'm over this disposable phone. Just tell us who it is already or stop ringing. 
WTF! I want to punch this book in the face. When did he become okay with being suspicious?
On page 193 "Hey, Nick": Just got a flash of Double Jeopardy when she "comes back from the dead" his name was Nick too right?
Shit! Is Boney on to Amy?
Why is she making us hate her now?
I hear that!
On page 338 "Something bad was going to happen. My wife was being clever again." :)
Amy and Nick both do that, maybe they were meant for each other after all. 
That's what I was thinking!
On page 399 "Nick and me (the correct grammar): This actually makes me happy. She can point it out and it's not the author being annoying because it is Amy and it fits.

And all of my speculation on the back cover:

At page 110: He hired hit man, she found out and set him up. He thinks he murdered her but she is framing him. 
Page 136: She is pregnant. (while I was correct...sort of, the reason I guessed it was because the cops kept asking about her still being a size 2 which was actually about the panties hinting at cheating)
Page 341: Is Amy going to say Desi kidnapped her? (BAM!)
Page 372: I think the only ending I'll hate is if it all goes back to normal and all is forgiven between them. 
Page 394: Now I don't know what ending I'd be happy with. Nothing sounds like a good way to go. Maybe Amy getting found out. 
End:
Dude! I like the end, as of right now. Right before the last entries for Nick and Amy I was...unsettled/irritated/bored. After Nick I was okay because it was pathetic but almost closure in a sick way. Then I read Amy and I was glad it ended with an uncertain psycho comment. It seems more...real? It just seems to fit. 

I'm making this part of my Halloween Reads

The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson (readalong)

The Haunting of Hill House
by Shirley Jackson

Spoiler alert below

Let me start with a disclaimer about how big a chicken I am...it's shameful. I don't know how I can claim Halloween as my favorite holiday when I can't watch actual scary movies (and haven't been able to since freshman year of college when I saw The Ring followed by Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the theatre and swore them off for good). My "scary" Halloween movie is Scream....classic! Why am I telling you all this except to air out my Halloween theme shame? Well, I was too chicken to read this book after dark...but I would catch-up on Walking Dead episodes...yeah, that makes sense... In my defense, my husband works at night so I am all alone with my crazy ass cat at night and it's not the murderers of the world that freak me out but the scary ghost stories.

Surprisingly, I would have been able to read this book at night if I had only known. It didn't turn out to be the scary story that I thought it would. The end especially was more sad than scary. All the moments that would have been more scary didn't carry as much punch as I was expecting. The moments seemed to speed by and then were followed by jokes or drama. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't what I was expecting. I actually really enjoyed the way the suspense was more in the build up than the actual event.

The story had such a wonderful way of hinting at the eerie without actually having anything freaky happen at that moment.

[...] watching something unseen move slowly across the bright green hill, chilling the sunlight and the dancing little brook. "What is it?" Eleanor said in a breath, and Theodora put a strong hand on her wrist.

"It's gone," Theodora said clearly, and the sun came back and it was warm again. "It was a rabbit," Theodora said.
pg. 39

I mean for the length of the book (174 pages) the number of pages it took for something to actually happen with any sort of substance was surprisingly long. I was expecting shaking and footsteps and apparitions by page ten. While that didn't happen, there was a haze of eeriness that clung to that pages and kept me on edge at every questionable step around an unknown corner.

With a lack of any "real" events, the tension built and I became more and more suspicious of the actions of certain characters. As Eleanor slowly lost her mind I thought I was losing my own. What was happening to everyone and why were they treating her like she was the self-centered one?

I loved when Dr. Montague's wife arrives. I was reading it while it was getting dark outside and I was wanting to put the book down for the night but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. She has such a clear voice and she was able to make the creep status funny in a way that I really enjoyed. I think I will have to read this again next year and see what else I can take from it now that I know what to expect.

**Source: Library copy