#160

I was planning to spend October reading Hallowe'en themed and scary books.

While I did read a few, I didn't get round to reading Dracula or Frankenstein which sucks but I will. 

Also a few non-spooky ones slipped in but that's ok. 

I did start others, including an amazing short story book and a Halloween encyclopedia but I'm not finished them yet so I can't count them for this month. 

So what did I get through?

Switched - RL Stine

I'm sure everyone has read an RL Stine at some point in their lives and this was a nice quick read to get me into the mood for the month. It's not a masterpiece, it's easy to read but it was a kind of cool tale of bodyswapping. 

Night of the Living Dead - Christopher Andrews

Didn't realise this was one of those "watch the movie and right it down" things so it kind of sucked but I love the film so I can't exactly fault it...

Underable Lightness - Portia de Rossi

If you keep up with this then you know I've read a few books about eating disorders this year. In her memoirs, de Rossi talks about her stuggles with self-acceptance. Although she had a job on hit tv show Ally McBeal, that didn't mean she was comfortable with herself. I'd obviously heard of Portia de Rossi before I read this, which made it a bit different to the story of anonymous "regular" women.

Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror - Chris Priestley

This was a great little book. Edgar is a very solitary boy who often goes to visit his Uncle. They settle down for tea and cake and his uncle starts sharing stories, often relating to objects within his gothic house. The stories all feature a child protaganist and always have an interesting wee twist in them. The stories link into the larger tale of Edgar and his Uncle - the stories couldn't possibly be true?? This is a kids book and seeing as some of the stories gave me the willies, I'm sure they'd be a lot scarier for children. 

The Shining - Stephen King (reread)

I remember we came back to my aunts after the end of the festival fireworks one year and I saw a clip of Jack Nicholson at the "heeeere's Johnny!" moment of this film. It scared the crap out of me and I was quite young so it stuck with me. I started reading Stephen King books in my first year at high school and remember thinking this was nicely creepy - like the bits with the wasps and the hedge animals. I enjoyed the book, but I'd yet to see the film. I rented it one night from Blockbuster, couldn't watch it, but waited until the next day and when I did, I couldn't see what I was so scared of! It was a great film, don't get me wrong but it wasn't as scary as my childlike imagination had made it out to be. On re-reading this, I was again a bit disappointed. It's a great book, but it's not as great as I remember.

Something Wicked this way comes - Ray Bradbury

LOVED this book so much. I'm a big lover of creepy carnivals and "freak shows" and this did not disappoint. It tells the story of Jim Nightshade (amazing name!) and William Holloway, two boys who get more involved in this carnival than they really wanted to. This was such a good book. I loved what it was about and how it was written...everything. I'm definitely going to check out Bradbury's other work and the film version of this.

A Monster calls - Patrick Ness

This is not what I thought it would be. I clearly read the general synopsis and thought it would be a bit like the Uncle Montague book but I was wrong. It's a children's book about coming to terms with loss, not monsters. Well, there is a monster involved but not like that. 

Bedwetter - Sarah Silverman

I'm not sure why I downloaded this as I've seen bits of Sarah Silverman on tv but I didn't really like her. I thought this might be like the Chelsea Handler books I loved so much and it was in a way but not quite as good. Silverman's comedy is all about her being controversial and it does come thru in this book. It was a lightread - I got thru most of it in one night and it didn't suck - I just wanted a bit more from it. If it's actually true that she had a problem with bedwetter for so long then good on her. Some of the stories were more interesting than others, but that's usually the case. Sometimes it kind of felt like she was running out of things to write about so it was a bit...nyeh. 

Skinjacker 1: Everlost - Neal Shusterman

Skinjacker 2: Everwild - Neal Shusterman

Skinjacker 3: Everfound - Neal Shusterman

I thought the concept of this book was interesting. What happens after we die - what if we don't make it into "the light"? Shusterman creates a whole new "inbetween" world called Everlost, which sits between the living world and "the light". The thing is, only children and youths seem to make it into Everlost - no adults allowed! I enjoyed the first book but I got a bit bored, especially in the last one. It just went on a bit too long. I love the idea that things that are loved and special in the living world can move into Everlost - for example the Twin Towers exist in all their glory in that world, as does the Hindenberg airship. I also like the idea of the adaptation of the old tradition of putting coins on the eyes of the dead so that they can pay their way into the next world. It definitely has some interesting points but I can't say I have fallen in love with the series.