Chelle Dreams of the Ocean

Well since my previous message takes a few minutes to load the touchstones I thought I would start a new more organized thread.

January through August list here

I added this pretty picture by NG MacKinnon of Nova Scotia as my fiance finally put in our transfer request to a military base on the east coast of Canada. We should know sometime in the new year if we got our request to move to the Halifax area. This painting is of Whale Cove, Nova Scotia. Crossing my fingers and toes that we get our request!




Edited to show the August reads:

Finished in August:
47) The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly
48) Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
49) Tattoo Chronicles by Kat Von D
50) Spell bound by Kelley Armstrong
51) Dracula by Bram Stoker
52) Fall of the Giants By Ken Follett
53) Divergent by Veronica Roth
54) Now you see her by James Patterson
55) Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gibaldon
56) Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
57) Virals by Kathy Reichs
bust: The Dark End of the Street short stories
58) Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
59) Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
60) Mister B Gone by Clive Barker

September
61) Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs
62) Covet by J.R Ward
63) Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon
64) Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice (audio)
65) The Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden
66) Mile 81 by Stephen King
67) Go the F**k to Sleep by Adam Mansback
68) The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon (Book 5 ~ Outlander Series)
69) The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
70) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (audiobook)
71) Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur
72) Room by Emma Donoghue
73) The Elephant Mountains by Scott Ely (ER novel)

Best laid plans .... TBR (hopefully, might be a tad ambitious)

Mister B Gone by Clive Barker
Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden
The Reservoir by John Milliken Thompson (Library book that went back unread)

and for the September Series and Sequels:
Covet by J.R. Ward (Fallen Angels ~ Book 1)
The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice (Book 2 ~ Vampire Chronicles)
The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice (Book 3 ~ Vampire Chronicles)
The Guardian of the Gate by Michelle Zink (Book 2 ~ Prophecy of the Sisters)
Circle of Fire by Michelle Zink (Book 3 ~ Prophecy of the Sisters)
Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (Book 4 ~ Outlander Series)
The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon (Book 5 ~ Outlander Series)
Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs (Temperance Brennan ~ Book 14)

October
74) Lover Unleashed by J.R. Ward
75) We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
76) Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
77) The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
78) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick
79) The Edge of Reason by Melinda Snodgrass
80) Wolf's Trap by W.D. Gagliani
81) The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells (audiobook)
82) The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan

For October I plan on attempting to participate in blackdogbooks' 2011 Great Pumpkin Halloween Read
This is my to-read list ... wish me luck!

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Macabre Tales by Washington Irving
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
The Edge of Reason by Melinda Snodgrass
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick
The Terror by Dan Simmons
Scavenger by David Morrell

Chelle- I love the new thread! Beautiful picture, to start things off. Good luck on the transfer request.

I have Bel Canto in the stacks. I have never read her. I also have The Reservoir on the WL. I met him at the BOTNS Book Retreat.
Good review of Red Dragon. I was a big fan of this one too! I think Harris mined these characters to often, until it became stale, starting with Hannibal. Have you ever seen "Manhunter", based on Red Dragon? Good film.

HI Mark
Thanks, feel free to cross your fingers and toes for us as well :)
I have not seen Manhunter, actually I don't really watch scary movies. I'm an odd duck that way, love to read scary stories but hate to watch them. Things that jump out and go BOO really freak me out!

Very good review of Red Dragon and I certainly agree with Mark, that unfortunately Tomas Harris visited the "Hannibal" well once (or twice) too often.

You've got some good books lined up for September, looking forward to reading about it.

yea, good luck for moving east! It sounds like an amaaaaazing place to be. Id love to visit the area.

#8 Thanks DeltaQueen. I agree with you both about Hannibal but must admit I still enjoyed them all. I think I liked Dr Lector so much because of his intelligence, even thought he was wicked crazy. It's always fun to read characters that are so clearly crazy but can think such rational, intelligent thought. It's usually the super smart ones you need to worry about lol

#9 if you have a chance to visit the Maritimes you should take it! So tranquil and beautiful. Life slows down there though so leave your watch at home!

Hello!

I just wanted to drop by and say that I saw your list on the September Sequels and Series thread and must say I LOVE your list! :) I read most of Anne Rice's Vampire books when I was in high school so the details are murky but I remember liking them and that was way before this whole craze with vampires started. As well I am a fan of Gabaldon and read the entire series except for the newest release since all her bigs are SO big! Anyways, I look forward to your thoughts once you finish all those books. :)

Hi Valerie. I've been checking our your thread as well. Just lurking though, I don't believe I have posted yet (or much maybe).
I love vampire books but I can't really get into the teen ones that seem to be so popular (other than the Twilight series, guilty pleasure for sure!) I finished Interview with a Vampire quite a while back and enjoyed it so I figured I should give the rest of the series a go.
Thanks for stopping by :)

59) Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

I picked up this book from the library after seeing multiple LT readers state how good it was. I must not have fully read the reviews properly as I thought I was picking up a book about a dignitary being kidnapped from a birthday party ... I figured a kidnap story should be good entertainment on a night off from work.
I had no idea I was picking up a captivating story about life, the power of music, and a little bit of stockholm syndrome.
When I finish a book I usually have a couple stickynotes marking some quotes I like, this book is riddled with stickynotes! Definitely worth picking up if you haven't read it yet. (5*)

"He believed his daughters were not old enough to date and yet clearly by the standards of this country they were old enough to be members of a terrorist organization."
***
"Wearing shoes in the house was barbaric. There was almost as much indignity in wearing shoes in the house as there was in being kidnapped." (haha I feel the same way, no shoes inside!)
***
"Some people are born to make great art and others are born to appreciate it."

nice review Chelle - I've got a copy that I recently added to the shelves of shame - must get to it soon:)

Thanks Calm, it's worth a read!

Thanks for the review Chelle. I've seen this book floating around the LT crowds and so I'm definitely curious about it. Is it a nonfiction or a fiction?

HI Valerie, I believe it is considered contemporary fiction.

Yay, I snagged my first ever ER novel Elephant Mountains by Scott Ely!

LOL! We both got the same books. And guess what? It's my FIRST ER as well. :)

Isn't that exciting Valerie! We will have to compare our reviews once we read them!

60) Mister B Gone by Clive Barker
This is the story of Mister B, a demon who is trapped in a book and begging the reader to burn the book and basically put him out of his misery. He tries to bribe the reader with promises of tales of his scary memories if the reader promises to burn the book when the tale is complete. When that doesn't work he starts to threaten the reader with death if they don't burn the book.
"I can't decide whether you're suicidal, mentally deficient, or both? I've warned you how close I am. You don't want my knife at your neck, do you? You want to live. Surely."

I was actually a little disappointed in this book and I think that was partially due to my own expectations. I've read a couple by Barker before and remember them to be quite freaky and rather scary. This book was entertaining and certainly had some foul descriptions, but I didn't find it overly scary.
A good read but nothing I would recommend. (3*)

Just stopping by to say hi! Love the picture at the top - Good Luck with the transfer!
Mister B Gone sounds interesting, but I'm sorry to hear it didn't live up to Barker expectations. I've read a couple of his in the past too, and loved them, but it sounds like I should avoid this one.

I am a huge Bel Canto fan, so I am glad to see that you enjoyed the book, Chelle.

Congrats on your first ER book!

Hi Scaifea, thanks for stopping by!
If you are looking for something scary to read then no, I wouldn't suggest Mister B Gone. However if you are looking for something different and entertaining then it was good enough. Just not what I was looking for I guess. I think I might re-read some of his others around Halloween and see if there were actually as freaky as I remember.

Hi Stasia. Bel Canto was quite good. I think I got the suggestion off of your thread, so thanks!
I'm quite excited to get the ER book! What a cool program

I'm at work today and tired so I won't get as much reading done as I hoped. Might be able to finish Flash and Bones if I can wake my eyes up a bit!

I desperately need to finish a baby quilt next week (a month behind schedule!) so I think I'm going to try and find an audio book to "read" while I sew. I've never tried one before, hopefully listening to it doesn't make me sleepy! Any suggestions on great ones to listen to would be quite welcome!

61) Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs
Another great book about Dr. Temperance Brennan. I've loved these books since before the days of "Bones" and continue to enjoy them with each new novel. They are easy and interesting reads, perfect for days like today when allergies make it hard to concentrate!

Dr. Brennan is a medical examiner assisting police to investigate a body located in a metal barrel in a garbage dump. As they investigate they find the body could be related to multiple missing parties dating back to the 1990's and a right-wing organization. As always she manages to anger some very nasty people and finds her self in a little bit of hot water.
Not my favorite of her books but very enjoyable! I hope her next book sends her back to Montreal as I prefer Lieutenant-Detective Ryan to Detective Slidell.
(4*)

One of the other librarians at our library is anxiously awaiting that one to arrive!

#25: I have not read that one in the series yet. Glad to see it is a good one!

Hi Chelle! Thank you for visiting my thread : ). Oh, I hope you get your transfer to NS, too. My closest sister lives in NS, in Greenwood. One of my favourite things to do when I visit is to walk Blomidon Beach with her on the Bay of Fundy - the tides are absolutely incredible!

Love your line I was actually a little disappointed in this book and I think that was partially due to my own expectations. I can't count how many times I've tripped over my own expectations.

Thanks Nancy! Greenwood is such a beautiful place! I just love the Bay of Fundy, lucky that you get to go visit there!

62) Covet by J.R. Ward
First novel in the Fallen Angels series by JR Ward. I've read her previous series The Black Dagger Brotherhood and enjoyed them very much so I was happy to see this series is just as good!

Seven people, seven deadly sins, and one seriously twisting plot line. Everything changes for Jim Heron when he wakes after an accident to find he is now a fallen angel and tasked with helping good win the battle they are fighting with evil.

Maybe not ranking quite as high as a good Stephen King, I did think this book has some wonderfully freaky moments. I'm looking forward to reading the next two in this series.
(3.5*)

I'm distracted by those abs.... :)

de-lurking to say 'abs - where?' Ohh, I thought the cover was an abstract.. I really need to get my eyes tested, again.

haha ya I guess the cover is kind of like a romance novel's cover would be ...

I started reading The Vampire Armand tonight and then realized I had grabbed the wrong book! The Vampire Lestat is actually the next in the series, whoops!
Guess I'll put this one down and start the next in the Outlander books as I don't have the other Rice book at work

63) Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

Another great book in the series! I'll add a review later when I'm not so tired.

ETA

I finished this book last night during nightshift and was delighted to find that it was as interesting and entertaining as the previous 3 books. 12 hours flew by in no time!
Spoilers!!
Book 4 of the Outlander series finds Claire and Jamie making a new homestead in the colonies of South Carolina. These two are the example of a loving, caring marriage. The way they work with and rely on each other is beautiful. I was happy to see that Bree had an active role in this book, and I just loved the ending! (I won't spoil that!) I quite enjoy reading how these characters are growing and adapting to their new surroundings and making a home from nothing.
Looking forward to the next book but I think I need to read something lighter first (physically lighter, 800 pages is heavy!)
***
"Da mi basia mille," he whispered, smiling. Give me a thousand kisses. It was the inscription inside my ring, a brief quotation from a love song by Catullus. I bent and gave him one back.
"Dein mille altera," I said. Then a thousand more.

***
"Within an hour, I had gone from anguish at the thought of losing him in Scotland, to a strong desire to bed him in the herbaceous borders, and from that to a pronounced urge to hit him on the head with an oar. Now I was back to tenderness." (pg 197)

64) The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice (Audiobook)

The sequel to The Interview with a Vampire tells of Lestat waking up from an underground sleep for over half a century to the sounds of a fledgling rock band practicing in a residence nearby. Lestat desires to become a rock star and takes over the band, names it after himself and then pens his own autobiography. The tale tells of Lestat’s life dating back to the 18th century. As a misunderstood aristocrat in a family that is ashamed of his differences he runs off to Paris to become an actor with his mate Nicki. He catches the eye of the Vampire Magnus and is kidnapped and turned into a vampire and then abandoned, all in the same night. Lestat then turns his dying mother and his mate Nicki into vampires. He tells of meeting older vampires and learns of their turnings and their history. The story ends after Lestat's debut concert and ends on a very frustrating cliff hanger.
I found this novel enjoyable but slightly repetitive and hard to follow the different story lines and histories of the different vampires. (3.5*)

This was my first ever audio book and I have mixed feeling about this format. I tried to listen while I was quilting and while I enjoyed having something to listen to, I feel like I might have missed something in the telling as my mind kept wandering. I will probably try another one and make sure the next one has a narrator without an accent and see if that makes any difference.

65) Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden

Three Day Road tells the tale of two young men from the Cree nation during combat in WW1. This is a story of family, survival, addiction and madness. It truly pulls on the heart strings at some points. This poignant tale is beautifully written and easy for the reader to fully envision the horror of warfare and the despair felt by families waiting at home for news of loved ones.

I loved how Boyden used two different narrators, Niska and Xavier, alternating between them. Each talks of present day and tells stories from the past.

***
“The cruelty of living and dying can be astounding.” (pg. 213)
***
“He is gone now. To invite his memory will only invite sadness, and sadness can collect here as quick as rain in trenches, until it drowns everything.” (pgs. 242/243)
***
A quote my fiancé will find humorous as he is a corporal in the Canadian Military.

We’re after officers and must be very patient. Thompson had once told us that spotting officers is easy. They are the ones who aren’t doing anything when everyone else is working.” (pg.283)

ETA
I forgot to add a star! 4*!!

Hey Chelle! Great reviews. I agree with you about the Anne Rice books and that sometime I had a hard time following her storylines because there are is so much history and sometimes she will refer to something that happened in another book and you are left feeling a bit lost. Overall though, I would say that I much prefer reading about those kinds of vampires than about the ones we are getting today, but both are enjoyable depending on what mood I'm in. :)

I am listening to the Outlander series on audio right now so that I can read her latest book in the series since I really don't want to reread those chunksters, AGAIN. I've done that once already and audio provides a different feel for the books as well.

Hi Chelle! Thanks for visiting my new thread! I never dreamt that I'd get to a third thread

As for the Ipad - oh I'd LOVE one!!!!! My brother in law has one and I think it looks wonderful and so versatile! The price is pretty high, so I went with the kindle for now, at least. Even deciding to chose a kindle was over a year long decision for me!

Oh ! Three Day Road - you 've read it and created a great review!!! I've got in my TBR pile in the living room- really- that is part of the reason for getting a kindle! So many books -so little time!!!

Shelves of shame. Yes, I am beginning to undestand that!;)

Beautiful picture, by the way!

HI Valerie, I'm also working away still at the Outlander books. I'm reading The Fiery Cross right now, thankfully it is smaller than the others, this one only has 980 pages. *oy!
I'm a little frustrated with Rice because I want to love her! She has so many vampire books, but they are just so MEH so far. I'm going to hang in there with her for a couple more books before I throw in the towel.

Hi Deb, thanks for stopping by! Hope you love the kindle! I'll be sure to check out your posts after you get it and see how you like it. I do love the iPad but i find reading on it makes me tired. Hope the kindle is different in that respect.
Hope you like Three Day Road when you get to it, it was really easy to get wrapped up in.

Hi Chelle- I'm so glad you loved Three Day Road. Good review too! Now, we need to read his follow-up Through Black Spruce, which I heard is also very good.

Hi Mark, thanks for visiting :)
I am actually thinking about giving audiobooks another chance and I think I'll try Through Black Spruce on audio. I think Boyden will be an author I keep an eye out for

66) Mile 81 by Stephen King

I don't normally bother with short stories but I did enjoy this one. Mile 81 compares to King's earlier tales. A gruesome, vulgar tale about a evil station wagon that has pulled into a vacant rest stop and attracted the attention of multiple drivers on the interstate. Turns out being a good samaritan is actually bad for your health. The ending wasn't what I was expecting and a bit abrupt but the tale was otherwise quite good.
(3.5*)

I have mixed feelings about some of King's later works. I thought his last 2 story collections were just okay but I did like Duma Key & Lisey's Story. Mile 81 sounds good though. Is it a short one?

Hi Mark
Yes it is a short story, about 80 pages or so. I think it is only available in eBook format though. Let me know what you think of it if you give it a shot.

Hi Chelle - I find the narrator is most important when choosing an audiobook to listen to. I especially loved Lenny Henry's narration of Anansi boys.

I love the picture at the top of your thread!

I read the first Outlander book this year, and am interested in reading the rest of the series. Is she still writing more books in the series?

I have been enjoying your reviews. Looks like you are ready for Halloween. I am also reading some Halloween books for the group read.

Thanks for stopping by my thread. :)

HI avatiakh. Yes, I found out the hard way about annoying narrators. I think because Vampire Lestat was about old world vampires the english (I think) accent went with the story, but I found it hard to focus on sometimes.
I'll have to be sure to check samples before trying other audiobooks.

HI Billiejean
Thanks!
There 7 very long books in the series currently and her website shows #8 and a prequel in the works. They are consistently good! I am on number 5, and while a tad slower than the first four it is still very good.
I am very excited for Halloween. Never a better time to read creepy books! :)

67) Go the F**k to Sleep by Adam Mansback

Hilarious!! I got this on audio on a whim as I had heard from friends that it was funny, and it really was! Narrated by Samuel L Jackson, this had me laughing with tears! I will have to remember to keep this handy for when I have little ones, and am sleep deprived and desperately need a laugh!

Hi Chelle! I've read so much about Go the F**k to Sleep. I've seen it my local bookstore. I'm not sure how long it is, but I should at least pick it up and have a read in the bookstore. Glad you had a great laugh!

Hi Deb
The audio version is only 6 minutes long so I don't imagine the book itself is very big lol

That one got some bad press here, but from what I hear of it it is fully meant to be taken lightly. It sounds hilarious.

Hi Megan. Yes, it's not really a kids book and it should for sure be taken lightly. I made my fiance listen to it tonight when he got home from base and he thought it was pretty hilarious. We shall see if he still thinks it's funny a few years from now when we start having kids and are both sleep deprived

Glad you enjoyed Three Day Road, Chelle. Thanks for the review!

Chelle- I listened to Go the F**k to Sleep and also enjoyed it. Jackson does a perfect job.

Hello Chelle! Thanks for visiting my thread - some great reviews and book choices you have here! I'll be back!

HI Nancy and Prue, thanks for stopping by!

HI Mark. Yes, I thought Jackson did a great job with narration. For such a short story it really did add to have it read in such a way.

I don't know what took me so long, but I finally found your Thread! So I'm starring it, and I'll see what else you'll read.

HI Nathan, thanks for stopping by! I'm currently working on the 5th book in the outlander series The Fiery Cross and slowly listening to The Tommyknockers on audiobook.

>60 ChelleBearss: I hope you'll enjoy those books.

Well it's been a while since I've been able to add a book read! I'm still about halfway through The Fiery Cross and about 12 (of 28) hours into The Tommyknockers. I'm hoping to be able to finish both very soon.
I've been quite busy trying to finish a quilt for a babyshower that is this coming weekend. I should be able to finish that today and get back to reading!

Very excited that I got my first ER book in the mail today! The Elephant Mountains by Scott Ely. Hopefully I will get to that in October.

You got the book??
I am still waiting for mine to come but seeing that you received yours gives me hope that I will hopefully get mine one day. :)

How are you enjoying The Fiery Cross? I remember that one being one of the slower books in the series for me.

Hi Valerie
I was very surprised that it came today! I had heard of people that haven't gotten some at all before so I didn't think it would be here so soon! Hopefully you get yours soon too!

I am enjoying The Fiercy Cross actually. It is a bit slower than that last couple but I'm only part way through so I'm sure something big is still to come.

I had to go check my mail after reading your post. Low and behold, I had a little package waiting for me as well! :)

Yay! That's exciting! we will have to compare reviews after.

I finally finished the baby quilt for my friend! Yay, back to reading now!

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Just popping by to say hi, Chelle! What a darling darling quilt! That will be so appreciated by your friend!! I know I've still got a needle point that a dear friend made for my husband and I on our wall when we got married 28 years ago! And with the birth of each of our two sons, both my sister, that same close friend and a dear aunt made quilts and blankets. I've still got them stored in a cedar chest to pass on to my sons - maybe!;) one day. So cute !!! I love it!

Ba-eautiful quilt! Im amazed at what it must take to create that. Nice work.

Chelle- Excellent job on the quilt!

HI Deb, Megan and Mark! Thanks very much! I hope my friend likes it! I'll find out at her shower on Sunday :)

Happy to be finished now and back to reading.

Another crafty person here on LT! That looks amazing Chelle and stuff like that costs and arm and a leg in the stores, but yours has something they don't have--the labour of love! I'm sure your friends will appreciate such a beautiful and thoughtful gift.

Thanks Valerie. I think there are a lot of crafty people around here, and everyone is so nice too!

In case anyone is interested I got the patern from Sweet Nursery Chic, by Susan Cousineau. Can't get the touchstone to work but you can see it here

Great quilt, you are very talented.

#74, Thank you! :)

68) The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

Another great book in the series. I found the beginning a little slow, but most of the action happens after page 300 or so!

Hi Chelle!
That quilt you made is adorable! Love the texture. Expressions are cute, too!

My Mom used to make quilts and I love them. But I will never, ever make one myself! What a lot of work!

Trying to avoid long books for awhile. Too many interruptions while I'm reading lately. :(

Love the quilt, Chelle! Impressive!

Beautiful quilt, Chelle!

You are doing a good job of working through the Outlander series. I started a re-read and only got through the first book before I got distracted by other books.

Lovely baby quilt, a wonderful keepsake.

#77: Hi Claudia. Thanks so much! My mom made quilts too and I have a wonderful keepsake one she made for me. Big ones are a ton of work so I will always cherish that one
I'm going to try and read a few shorter books before I take on anymore long ones, I'm almost overwhelmed with the length of some on my to-do list.

#78/79. Hi Nancy & Anne. Thank You!! I was happy the way it turned out. The baby shower was today and my friend loved it :)

#80. Hi Judith! Thanks!!
I think I have two of the Outlander series left. I need a break though as they are just so long!

I won't be reading for a bit though as I had a minor disagreement with a gladiola leaf that I was cutting down, and it won! I now have a very sore eye that needs to heal. I'm going to try and finish my audiobook of the Tommyknockers and if it is still blurry then I guess I'll have to visit the doctor. I'm hoping a nights rest and some eye drops will be good enough but I'll find out tomorrow I guess.

Oh so glad that your friend loved the quilt, but I could have told you that she would.

I'm so embarrassed to say I'm not a Outlander series reader. I feel like an Outlander or Outlier just saying that... I don't read the Crown series either, and I don't care for Vampires. What to do!;)

Oh sorry about your episode with the Gladiola leaf. I hope your eye is soon feeling better.

Ah, Chelle - don't wait too long to get that eye checked out - if you need it.
Yeah, the eye. Do you actually need it? Good grief!
I hope it heals quickly. :}

Oh, beautiful quilt - well done, you!!

How'd you find Dracula? I read that so long ago that I can't remember much about it. I have the sequel Dracula the Undead waiting to be read, maybe I'll revisit the first again before it....

#82 Hi Deb. There are so many wonderful books out there that I don't think anyone should feel bad about skipping a particular one. If you get bored, or run out of books, then I suggest you try Outlander ... but I really doubt you will run out of good books! You seem to have picked some awesome ones this year!

#83 Thanks Claudia, it seems to be better today. I think a good nights rest and staying out of the sun today will do wonders. And I think I will leave my fiance to cut down the rest of the gladiola stalks!

#84 Thanks Amber!! Thanks for stopping by too!

#85 Hi Lee
I was actually a little disappointed in Dracula. I didn't find it as scary as I expected it to be. The story was interesting but a bit hard to follow at some points. I'm really glad I got around to reading it though. I haven't read the sequel yet. Did you enjoy it?

I read Dracula last year for the first time and was actually amazed at how scary I did find it after reading so many other vampire books. I found the end when they were racing against the sunset very thrilling.

#87 HI Mamzel, thanks for stopping by!
I did enjoy the end rush and there were quite a few freaky and scary aspects of the book. I think I had built up Dracula in my mind as "THE" vampire book and when I finally read it I found it was scary, but not as scary as I figured it would be.
SPOILER
and I thought Dracula would be much harder to kill

Mind, compare to some of the romanticized vampire novels out there, Dracula is way scarier!

Not read it yet, but I think I'll revisit the original and then read it....

Really struggling to get through Wolves of the Calla at the moment :(

Thanks for visiting my thread, Chelle. I was looking back at some of your earlier reads. Would you believe that I've never read a Stephen King, nor watched one of his movies, except for Dolores Claiborne? I just watched the video of that. I think I may try your short book by Stephen King, Mile 81. At least I could get a feel for his books in short read format.

As for the Kindle, I'm finding it most enjoyable to read from. That said, I think I'd hesitate to read a long, complex book on my kindle, because you do not have page numbers, and I'm forever needing to flip back and forth for long complex novels. But , I've started my second kindle book!

#89 Hi Lee. Sorry I misread your post. I think it would probably be a good idea to read the first before the sequel. I'm not sure how the sequel holds up by itself. I should probably pick up the sequel now that I have finished the first one.
I remember the Wolves of the Calla dragging and being a little hard to follow at points, but really most of the series was a little off at points. Stick with it, it's a good feeling when you have finished them all!

#90 Hi Deb! I'm not surprised that you haven't read King before. I see on your posts that you read a lot of literary fiction and King doesn't really fit that category. If you would like to try one of his books I highly suggest starting with some of his earlier work, like The Shining or Salem's Lot. I really think his earlier books stayed truer to horror fiction, and a lot of his newer books are more thriller or mystery. My favorite is The Stand but it's quite long so probably not a good one to start with.

The only movie I've seen of his was IT at a slumber party when I was in elementary school. I don't think I slept for a month afterwards! I have pretty much stayed away from horror movies ever since!

Have your tried to borrow eBooks from your library for the kindle yet? I read on someone's post that it doesn't work with Canadian library books?
Is there anyway to keep your spot since there isn't page numbers? I would find that terribly confusing!
I've asked Santa to bring me a kindle for Christmas! And hopefully he brings a gift card to buy books with too :)

Hi Chelle!
I think you will love a Kindle (if you are good and Santa brings you one -lol).
BTW Kindle keeps your spot for you automatically. I know there are lots of features that I don't use, just cuz I'm tech challenged. I've had my Kindle for a couple years now - I should teach myself at least one new feature. It's not hard.

I don't think the borrowing ebooks is up and running for Kindle yet. They said sometime this year.??
AND there are lots of FREE books (or very cheap under $1) available.

How's the eye?

HI Claudia!
I also think I will enjoy a kindle!! :) I really need to get with the times! I just learned to love audiobooks so I guess the next step would be eBooks. Plus being able to buy a book without leaving the house would be a great thing in winter when I go into hibernation mode!

Eye is better, thanks for asking. I was able to read for a while last night. I need to be more careful while working in the garden ... or just leave the garden as a bad idea!

69.) The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
" “Late last night and the night before, tommyknockers, tommyknockers knocking on my door.
I wanna go out, don't know if I can 'cuz I'm so afraid of the tommyknocker man.”

I had tried to read this book a few times over the last 10 years or so and kept putting it down. King has a tendency to be long winded while setting up the background of the story, and this book stays true to that form. This time around I tried it on audiobook and managed to get past the initial drawn out beginning and actually ended up enjoying the book.
This was actually one of the creepiest stories I've read in a long time!

Bobby Anderson takes a walk in the woods on her property one day and trips over a piece of metal sticking out of the ground. She finds she has an overwhelming urge to dig it up. That decision turns out to be devastating for the small town of Haven, Maine. After starting to dig and realizing that she has found an alien spacecraft Bobbi starts to change, and the whole town follows suit. Strange things start happening around Haven, and to anyone who tries to enter town.

4*

Thanks to Kerry for mentioning this! I'm reading Fahrenheit 451 to participate.
I was surprised to read the lists of books that have been banned and to see how many I have read that I didn't realize there were any issues with!

Hi Chelle- I'm glad you enjoyed The Tommyknockers. I loved Fahrenheit 451. Hope it becomes one of your favorites.

Like I said on her Thread too, I'm going to see if the library has Slaughterhouse-Five. And I read Fahrenheit 451, and I learned two things. One, a world without books would be a nightmare, and two, I finally learned how to spell "Fahrenheit". Previously it was "Farenight".

HI Mark
I'm finding it difficult to listen to. I've restarted it and am making an effort to focus only on listening and do nothing else!

Hi Nathan. You just made me laugh! I also did not know how to spell fahrenheit before today ... I blame my ignorance on being Canadian, we use celsius here.
A world without books would be a horrible world to live in ... it would be a world of reality tv probably, ugh!

I have not read Slaughterhouse-Five either. Maybe if you enjoy it I'll give it a shot.

Hi Chelle! Yes, you are correct about my kindle not working with Canadian libraries as yet! I'm not certain that they ever will. That was something I did not think of when I purchased my kindle. In Canada, we have the Kobo that works for all sorts of formats, including Canada libraries and the Indigo Chapters store. The Ipad always works with our library systems. I think that it's Amazon that wants to keep it's books available exclusive, though I've read that Amazon is gradually working in American Libraries. That said - I was not as happy with the quality of the Canadian Kobo, and the price of the Ipad was much more expensive, so I'm happy with my kindle for now.

I have not fully figured out my kindle yet - but yes, I'm quite sure that you can create a book mare in your kindle. I've not yet needed to use that feature because I only read one book at time. When you turn off your kindle, it automatically saves the page that you on, and when you go back to the book - there you are -on your page. It may do that for multiple books at once, I'm not sure. While it does not have the page numbers on it, it tells you want percentage of the book you have read - every 1%- so as long as you know that you had stopped reading at 31% of the book - you would be able to fast forward to that very quickly. The Canadian Kobo - the new touch one, does have page numbers. Oh well!

Yes , you might be right, that I might not enjoy Stephen King - at least not the horror stories. I am easily scared by the super natural!!!:)

Chelle! You are Canadian - smack me now. I kept looking at the touch kobo and I could not decide. Finally my son helped me decide - he is going to graduate in Computer Science next spring, so I partially relied on his judgement. You may prefer the kobo in light of information I have given you. The other thing I realized after purchasing my Kindle is that you must purchase from Kindle com in US dollars -so right now that is fine -but the Kobo books might be cheaper at other times. On the other hand, Amazon offers so many more books. It's a difficult choice!!!!

I've read a few king books this year, my favourite out of them would probably be either Cell or the Gunslinger, read The girl who loved Tom Gordon and this was easily the worst book I've read for a long long time...

When I got my eReader last year, it was a decision between a Kobo and a Nook, and I went with the Nook (though someone had to bring it back from the US for me)... I chose it because of what you mention, Amazon keeping the Kindle functioning only with their proprietary format. And the page number thing. :) Oh well, as long as you're enjoying it, that's what really matters!

>98 ChelleBearss: You would use Celsius in Canada. Maybe the name should change for other people outside US. It then would be called Celsius 232.78. But have luck making that catch on, because the title is not that catchy.

Oh, and I see your going to read Scavenger, have you read the prequel? Creepers? I enjoyed it but wasn't very keen on the ending...

meanwhile I have a copy of scavenger waiting to be read....

HI Deb!
Can you not buy from chapters.ca for the kindle? That might make a difference to me as I usually buy a large portion of my books from the online store. I find if I go in the store I end up spending double what I had intended! Either chapters.ca or the iTunes store.
I guess I need to do some research on these little machines ... I'll have to tell Santa to have the elves ready with a couple different machines while I make my decision! I don't think I have ever bought anything from the amazon store before.

Glad your son is around to help you out! My fiance and I are both technically useless! We are guessing at the best of times!
Sounds like are you enjoying your kindle, even without the page numbers. Do you think you will still buy a ton of 'real' books?

Hi Bridgey!
I also enjoyed the Cell and wasn't overly fond of the Gordon one. Have you read much of his older stuff? I think his older stuff is much better.
I did not know there was a prequel to Scavenger. I'm reading that book for the Halloween challenge so maybe I should add the prequel in place of one of the books I can't locate from his list.

Hi Faith!
Thanks for stopping by! Kindles, kobo and nooks, oh my! What a decision! Maybe I should just stick with paper books, they seem a lot simpler!

Haha Nathan, I don't thing that would catch on! America should try Celsius, it's quite a bit easier. Anything below zero means that Canadians have finally put away their shorts and sandals for the season.

70) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (audiobook)

This was an odd book to listen to, and I'm pretty sure parts have gone a stratosphere over my head. I will probably go back and read the print version at some point as I kept getting confused and having to rewind and listen closely to what I missed. I did enjoy it even though I found it rather bizarre.
A dystopian novel about an American society that's government has banned all books. Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is not to put out fires, but to burn books and burn the houses that books have been hidden in. He is happy with his life until he meets a new neighbour Clarisse. Clarisse is a freethinking young woman that asks Guy questions which he is not prepared for. "Are you happy?"
After attending a fire where the elderly female homeowner refuses to leave her books and lights her house and herself on fire, Guy starts to question things.

" There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don't stay for nothing."

"We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against. "

I read this book sooooo many years ago. I bet it would be an entirely different experience now.
hmmmmm

great review!

Excellent review of Fahrenheit 451! I read it many years ago now, I too wonder what it would be like to revisit...

Read a few of his years ago, and recently read the Shining and Cujo.

Think I'll revisit Salem's Lot as well, especially after being reintoroduced to the characters in Wolves of the Calla. In a way I wish I'd read it before I started it.

I think Creepers is a prequel to scavengers, but may be worth googling to make sure..... I'm getting old :)

Hi Chelle! Yes, as yet, you can only use your kindle for amazon books. The kobo has a lot more places that you can access. I had not fully realized that either. With the Ipad, you can access a number of formats. Yes, do a little research. The Kindle is gradually allowing US libraries access to the kindle -but as it is US based, I'm not sure whether that will happen any time soon in Canada.

Tough decision, I know. No, actually I am not minding the lack of page numbers. It tells me if I am at 1% of the book etc. On amazon they most often list the number of pages in the book. So, right now I am at? 57% of my current book, and I know it has 320 pages, then if I want, I can calculate the page I'm on. I must admit that I'm getting very comfortable with my kindle! I've actually reached out to turn a page.

If you check on you-tube - I saw a number of comparisons between the Kindle and the Kobo. That helped me quite a bit. You can also go to Library without walls - and there you can see what that BC library supports as far as formats for the various e readers and Ipad etc etc supports.

#105 - Good review! As you know from my thread, I had a very hard time with listening to fiction in the audio book format too. I sympathize!

This discussion of e-readers is very interesting to me, as I am thinking about getting one. I believe many of the libraries in my areas can access Kindles, but I will definitely double-check. The Kindle Fire looks like a pretty good deal to me, but it's such a hard decision!!

#106, 107 Thanks Claudia & Tania!. I'll probably add it back to my to-be-read pile and give the paper version a go in a couple years. I really feel like I missed something.

#108 Hi Lee. I hope you like Salem's Lot. It is great. Maybe I should re-read that around Halloween!

#109 Hi Deb! Have you found amazon books to be similar price to chapters? I may steal my fiance's iPad from him and use it for books instead of getting an eReader as it seems the easier option right now. Or at least until I am motivated to start doing some research.
Thanks for the tip on the youtube and library without walls, i'll check them out.
I'm sad to say that I had to turn the furnace on tonight! It's supposed to go down to 3C by Sunday. Sad to see winter slowly creeping up.

#110 Hi Kerri Thanks! I think it depends on the book really. I'm listening to We Have Always Lived in the Castle and it's much easier to follow. I think I just can't listen to classic or difficult books, but the fun, light and fluffy ones are ok to listen to.
I think the eReaders are getting a lot of attention on LT these days. It's a hard to decision to pick which one is best. I had no idea about the limits some had for buying from specific stores or not being able to use my library.

I picked up 7 library books today for the Halloween challenge and I just happened to be there when they put the a short-term "quickpick" book back on the shelf. I managed to pick up Room but it has to be back in 7 days. I had no idea that they started this program with the high demand books. I was still #82 on the waiting list to borrow Room, so happy to be in the right place at the right time!

I also popped into a little used book store that I found recently and picked up a copy of Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden. I'll save that one for after Halloween

Yeah, I can't listen to any serious book on audio, I'm too distractable. (Oooh, shiny!) I've done Northanger Abbey because it's a favourite of mine and I enjoyed listening to it in dribs and drabs; and with the kids one long drive we got through 1/2 of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was excellent. But I think I'll just stick with my dead tree editions for the most part. :)

I think the biggest stumbling block for eBooks is the annoying lack of a standardised format, allowing any book to be read on any device. I don't want to be tied into a Kindle and Amazon.

And they're still not as cheap as a second hand book in Australia, so I'm still resistant to buying them. If I buy a physical book, I can also pass it around my friends afterwards, or sell it second hand, or bookcross/bookmooch it, or admire it on my bookshelves, or use it as a paperweight. It's more than just something to read.

Chelle- I loved Room. I know it didn't work for everybody but it did for me. Enjoy! I heard today that Stephen King is writing a sequel to The Shining. Interesting. He's never done a sequel before.

Yup, awesome review on Fahrenheit 451! I can totally imagine why listening to an audiobook would be difficult...heck, if I remember right, I had to read some parts five times to get it.

I agree that the U.S. should use Celsuis and the metric system. It's so much simpler. 0 degrees is freezing and 100 degrees is boiling. If I remember right, it was like that on purpose.

#112 Hi Tania! I think for the most part I will continue with 'real' books. I like the concept of the eReader and audio books, but there is nothing better than getting all comfy on the couch with a cup of tea and reading a book. It's been my favorite past time since I was old enough to drink tea, and I suppose before then it would have been pepsi and hiding from my chores. (Which I still do, you should see my laundry pile!)

I think I will grab a Harry Potter on audio next time I do a quilt. I've read them all a million times and seen the movies just as often, so audio would be a nice change.

You are so lucky to live in Sydney, it's one of my favorite places on earth! That and the Gold Coast. I was lucky enough to visit in my teens and was completely enchanted with it! Would love to go back some day.

#113 Hi Mark I loved the Shining so I would definitely be interested in reading the sequel. However, it was such a great book that it would be hard to write a sequel that could even come close to it. Sometimes a good thing is best left alone.

I've read good and bad things about Room so I am looking forward to starting it ... in about 15 minutes actually!

#114 Hi Nathan! Thanks :) I think audio is a good format, but not good when confused! It would have been nice to be able to flip pages back and reread something that I obviously missed.

I am so terribly confused trying to figure out what fahrenheit equals in celsius when it's mentioned in american newspapers or tv. My parents must have learned both in school because my mom has no problem telling me what it equals. I'll just stick with the easier of the two I think!

71) Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur
Book 1 in the Riley Jenson series.

Riley and her twin Rhoan are Dhampires, a mix breed of werewolf and vampire. After they reached maturity they were shunned from their wolf pack and are on their own living together in Melbourne, Australia. They work for the Directorate of Other Races, which polices the supernaturals in the area. Riley is an office worker while her brother works in special ops as an elite Guardian. When Rhoan goes missing on a mission Riley suddenly finds herself promoted against her will and in the middle of one very messy situation. Full of nasty supernaturals, some good fighting scenes and quite a lot of steamy vampire/wolf sex scenes, it was a fun enjoyable read.

3.5*

Dhampires? Can't say the name appeals to me, they sound rather... moist.

Yes, you must come and visit Australia again! How funny, I often don't travel much away from Sydney (Don works weekends and kids add an extra level of complexity to everything), but I've just been to Melbourne and we spent our winter (July) holidays up at the Gold Coast! Seaworld was brilliant, the kids were both desperate to be dolphin trainers for a whole week. :)

Hi Chelle, I am another Canadian that went with the Kindle. Kobo seemed a lesser quality e-reader and Amazon has such a huge selection of books at quite good prices (even converted from American prices they are almost always better priced than Chapter's). I did eventually buy a cheaper e-reader (an Alura-tek Libre) for downloading library books which works ok, but I really prefer the ease of the Kindle. I also use my I-Pod to download audible library books. Audible.com is a site to buy audio books and it is connected to Amazon so the Kindle works for that. With so many different choices, it get pretty confusing deciding which way to go.

I so love the Canadian connection on LT! I'd love to live there myself... like maybe along the Hudson Bay somewhere (hehehe). Truly, the Maritimes would make me ecstatic.

I am thankful for the availability of books in the USA. Looks like Canada has some good options too :)

#117 Hi Tania! The name is rather odd, but it works. They are werewolves and their mother mated (not by choice) with a vampire. So they are basically werewolves by nature with some extra vampire type characteristics, making them sort of enhanced werewolves... I hope I'm explaining that right.

I didn't manage to make it to Melbourne while I was there. I did an exchange program when I was 17 and got to spend 2 months in Australia. Spent 1 month in Sydney with a host family and got to see how great the city was. Love love the operan house! Then I got to spend a month on a tour bus with the rest of the kids from the program and we did the Outback tour. Such a lovely country!

#118 Hi Judith! I've been using my Ipod and Iphone to listen to audiobooks from the library and from iTunes. I'd like try audible.com but I'm not sure I would end up using enough to justify the membership.
I would love a kindle (I think!) but I was turned off by not being able to use library books. I've heard the quality of the kobo is not up to standard with the kindle. I need to look into the Nook still, as library books do work for that, but I haven't heard much about it yet.

Thankfully my fiance has an iPad, and since he is away with the military during the week he didn't take his iPad with him, so I've been using that to try some eBooks. I was surprised at the technology. I figured out last night how to add bookmarks and highlight quotes! Very cool! :)

#119 Hi Claudia! Hudson's Bay area eh! I hope you enjoy being cold! :)
The Maritimes are my favorite place! Especially anywhere near the ocean. When we visited in 2009 I just could not get enough of being near the ocean. I'm from a medium sized city in Ontario where the pollution isn't the best, so going to the east coast and smelling the fresh air and the ocean breeze just blew me away!

72) Room by Emma Donoghue

Wow. How do I give a review of this book without giving away any plot or spoilers? Basically, it was fantastic!
I won't give any plot line as I think anyone who reads this book should go into it without any information! I didn't read the cover before reading it and loved finding out all the details from scratch.
Anyone who doesn't mind a bit of disturbing content should read this book!
4.5*

73) The Elephant Mountains by Scott Ely (ER Novel)

A freak series of hurricanes has started to flood New Orleans and all the low lying areas of the south. 15 year old Stephen finds himself suddenly on his own after the murder of his father. After stumbling across Angela, who is orphaned and struggling on her own, they band together and must fight the poor odds to try and survive in an area of anarchy and violence. With a little fuel, food and water they attempt to make their way from Lake Pontchartrain to New Orleans to try and find Stephen's mother and get to safety.

This was an easy, fast read but enjoyable none the less.
3*

Hi Chelle

Thanks for visiting my thread and now I have finally found yours. I've enjoyed catching up with your reviews and I love, love, love that quilt!

Dee

Good to see that The Elephant Mountains is an ok read, I have to read and review it as well.

Ive been waiting for Fahrenheit 451 at the library for ages now.....will get onto it soon. I bought it as a wedding gift recently so might have to borrow it off them :o.
And Room too, must get reading....... good reviews!

#123 Hi Dee Thanks for visiting and for the quilt compliment :)

#124 Hi Judith Yes, was ok. Not something I would recomend but it was good enough to help me get through a nightshift!

#125 Hi Megan How's those cute babies?
Room was excellant! I would recomend it to anyone who likes disturbing content. Fahrenheit 451 I can't recomend only because I didn't understand some points of it, maybe I'll recomend it after I read it again!

You know, all those people reading Room makes me want to read it too. It's not in my comfort zone or fantasy, but...

Hi Nathan
It is a bit of a disturbing content so I guess it depends on your comfort zone. I think it's one of those books that seperates it's readers into two groups - love it or hate it!
If you do read it I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on it.

Hmmm. I'm in the group of readers who couldn't put it down, but felt vaguely sick throughout. When I finished it I hid it behind a stack of books so I wouldn't have to see it. My book club will discuss it next week -- I'll be interested to hear other members' thoughts. From what I can tell so far, most of them are in the 'love it' category.

Hi Chelle! So glad that you enjoyed Room. I was less enraptured of Room than some - though I think I gave it a 4 or 3.5 . Maybe there was so much hype around it by the time I read it I wasn't as taken withRoom as I expected. I also read quite a few " dark" books, so it did not creep me out like it did for some people. I think I might have had trouble with the way the mom seemed to be less interested in her son later in the novel. I'm not sure. I really loved Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neil - a story of a young chld and slowly an young adult, growing up with her drug addicted father on the streets for Montreal. It was an another Canadian award winner which I gave 5 stars and became a favourite of mine.

I feel like such a slowcoach on my banned books read, I'm slogging away really slowly on my Slaughterhouse 5 read, and now I want to read Fahrenheit 451 too. It's a bit weird and I had to reread the start as I fell asleep reading it and couldn't remember a thing the next day.
I have no desire to read Room still though the Dhamphires book sounds a little intriguing, maybe I should add it to my mountain.

I didn't expect to enjoy Room but loved it. The mother/son relationship felt authentic and struck an emotional chord with me.

#129 Hi Anne
It's easy to feel a little sick during that book, so I can understand why you would hide the book. You could have done like Joey on Friends and hid it in the freezer ;)

#130 Hi Deb I haven't heard of Lullabies for Little Criminals so I should take a peek at that one! I love finding all these new books on LT but I am starting to wonder when I will be able to read them all?

#131 Hi Kerry I really would love to read more classics and famous books.(not sure if that is the right word) I have not read Slaughterhouse 5 yet.

I did that with an audiobook, fell asleep listening to it and woke up many hours later and had no idea where I was when I fell asleep. Lesson learned: don't listen to audiobooks while laying down!

If you like vampire books have you tried the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by JR Ward? They are quite good! (A tad too much sex in some of them though)

I love finding all these new books on LT but I am starting to wonder when I will be able to read them all

Exactly what all of us are facing!

I was one who thought Room was only average and like Anne, I felt a bit sick afterwards. I also got the book out of my sight once I read it and would like to give it away I think. Just not my cup of tea at all.

I was interested to read that your audio read of Fahrenheit 451 was a bit hit and miss. I chose the graphic novel version to begin with and it doesn't work in that format either. It seems it is one book that shines through with the original text.

#134 Hi Judith I guess there are worse things in the world than having too many book choices!! :)

#135 Hello Leonie Thanks for visiting!
I never really got into graphic novels, but I see a lot of people on here that read them.

It's strange to find so many books that only work in one specific format.

74) Lover Unleashed by J.R. Ward
Book 9 ~ Black Dagger Brotherhood Series

This is currently my favorite vampire series!
The Black Dagger Brotherhood is a group of vampires born to save their race from a group that's only job in life to kill all the vampires, The Lessening Society.

This is a series that does not stand alone well. There are too many family and love connections in each book to learn. If you are interested in trying them it is a must to start at book 1!

These books are filled with drama, violence, love and some very hot sex scenes. I'm not one for romance novels but with the amount of violence in them the romance is a nice addition!
I love the way Ward writes the vampire men as the strongest of any species but completely loving and tender with their families and their wives/girlfriends. I've grown very fond of the characters in these books and can't wait for another one to be written

75) We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (audiobook)

I had read The Lottery when I was in highschool and remember thinking it quite disturbing. I did not remember the author's name though when I was rooting around the library website for audiobooks to borrow. The cover of this novel caught my eye first and then the description made me think this book would be right up my reading alley. After reading this book (and loving it!) I looked up Shirley Jackson and was surprised to find I was quite familiar with her work, even though I did not recall her name. I will remember it now.

This tale is narrated in the first person by 18 year old Mary Katherine "Merricat" Blackwood and tells the story of her life in isolation with her sister Constance and her uncle Julian. After living through a family massacre six years earlier Constance is now ridden with agoraphobia and Uncle Julian lives in a state of partial dementia. Through Uncle Julian's rambling thoughts and stories the reader starts to learn bits and pieces of the unsolved murder.
Merricat is a very strange young woman and a tad insane and most of her thoughts revolve around keeping the remaining family safe and causing death to strangers or towns folk that threaten their way of life. She lives her world in daydreams and magic, burying family heirlooms in the yard in an attempt to set protective magic around their home.

After a distant family member arrives to invade their space and attempt to make changes in their life a tragic accident changes everything for them.

This was horror, but not in the classic sense. Nothing jumps out and goes "Boo". Like "The Lottery" this book tells a tale of human nature, mob mentality and the potential of evil in every human being.

“There had not been this many words sounded in our house for a long time, and it was going to take a while to clean them out.”

“Fate intervened. Some of us, that day, she led inexorably through the gates of death. Some of us, innocent and unsuspecting, took, unwillingly, that one last step to oblivion. Some of us took very little sugar.”

4.5*

>128 ChelleBearss: I don't know if I should put it on my Wishlist quite yet. But the book is fresh in my mind for whenever I may want to read it, because the summaries of people on here say about it is so horrifying...it's very, very interesting.

#138 - That sounds fascinating. I also read "The Lottery" in high school...a long time ago, and liked it.

>126 ChelleBearss: I can do disturbing, just not heavy suspense!

Chelle- Good review of We Have Always Lived in the Castle. I'm not sure if I read this one, way back in school but you just gave me the idea to give it a try on audio. Thanks!

Great review of We Have Always Lived in the Castle. I remember reading The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and oh I was so creeped out by it!Glad you enjoyed The Castle! :)

#139 Hi Nathan
I don't know about horrifying, but it did have it's disturbing points.

#140 Hi Kerry
I love it when I randomly pick a library book and it turns out to be such a good one! Great for Halloween reading time

#141 HI Megan
I love disturbing, suspense, scary! Just not romance novels!

#142 Hi Mark
It's a short audio, I think it was only 6 hours but I was happy to have read it! I just started another of Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House on audio and it sounds like it is going to be good to listen too as well.

#143 Hi Deb
I actually re-read The Lottery yesterday, found it posted online somewhere. It was as disturbing as I remembered!

>144 ChelleBearss: Yeah, you're right. Sometimes I get in a habit of using synonyms if I overuse a word, or don't want to use a particular word, but eventually I'll get a word that's means the same, but not enough the same where doesn't change the sentance. There's a word for that term, but I completely forgot what it is...

Nathan, we all have our quirks. I often find I am short of words.

I admire people on LT who can write such long and wonderful reviews and know exactly what they mean to say. I'm trying to teach myself to review books and not just summarize them and say a few words of opinion.

LibraryThing introduced me to Shirley Jackson, I'd never heard of her before. I read We Have Always Lived in the Castle last year and liked it very much. And I've got a couple of her others on Mt TBR somewhere...

My rough rule of thumb when writing reviews: plot summary; what I liked; what I didn't like; summing up of my thoughts. I generally search through LT for comments I made while reading the book in question and then cut and paste it all together. I wish I could write more, I feel like I'm shortchanging the book sometimes!

#144: Oooh, The Haunting of Hill House is so nice and creepy - one of my favorites! Hope you enjoy it. (Oh, and the 60's movie version is, hands down, the scariest movie I've ever seen (and I've seen my fair share of scary movies...).)

#147 Hi Tania Have you read The Haunting of Hill House? I'm about halfway through but I fell asleep listening to it yesterday so I'm going to have to rewind. It's nice and creepy so far!

As for reviewing, it's getting my thoughts out for the review that is my issue. I sit down after I finish a book and sometimes I just don't know what to say. If it was a really good or really bad book then I usually have something positive or negative to say ... it's when the book is just MEH that I have issues doing a review.
I'm learning .. slowly!

#148 Hi Amber
I am enjoying it, quite a bit. It's nice and creepy!
I unfortunately can't watch scary movies ... I'm odd that way, love to read horror but can't watch it! My fiance loves scary movies though so I'll mention your movie recomendation to him, thanks!

Hi Chelle! Phew! Just caught up on your thread. You've been reading some really interesting books. Some I will have to add my ever growing list. Hope you are doing well. :)

Hi Valerie! Things are good. Glad I could help your wish list grow! Mine has grown huge from LT!

So, it turns out that I don't much like Science fiction! I'm trying to finish starship Troopers for the Halloween challenge, but I'm really struggling to get through it. Nothing wrong with it really, I'm just not finding it interesting.
Seems a shame to give up when I'm already 100 pages in though ...

Yay! I got my chapters order in the mail today! November will be a good month of reading!

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
The Magician King by Lev Grossman

>67 ChelleBearss:: Chelle, that is an awesome quilt. Some lucky child will have a real treasure to cuddle up with.

I forgot to write down the other reference numbers because I was laughing so hard about spelling fahrenheit and the whole topic of celsius temps in Canada.

I'm also a fan of Room, although I don't want to read another child narration anytime soon!

I haven't read any of the recent Stephen King books and somehow missed Tommyknockers. I'm going on a 6-hour (round trip) visit to see my older grandchildren this week end and will be listening to Full Dark, No Stars. Audiobooks are difficult for me to concentrate on when I'm driving but I've made this trip so many times, I can go on autopilot! I hope it's not too creepy. I haven't heard much about it.

Chelle- I love your November line-up. What is chapters? I listened to The Magicians a couple months ago. I liked it but wasn't nuts about it, although I heard the 2nd book The Magician King is excellent. I have it waiting nearby on audio. Yahoo!

#154 Hi Donna Thanks so much! I think baby will love it, I know my friend did :)

I hope you like Full Dark, No Stars. I very much enjoyed it, and I don't normally read short stories. It is pretty creepy, but not overly. Some are better than others, as always with short stories.

#155 Hi Mark
Chapters is the Canadian equivalent of amazon or borders. It's our big book store.

I started The Magicians last month but didn't give myself enough time for all the library books I had and ran out of time and other people had holds on it. Chapters had it for sale for $7 so i jumped on it!

I made another chapters order tonight and ordered Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. I've heard (through LT:) that it is a great horror story! I liked the recommendations and then I read a quote by Stephen King
“CARRION COMFORT is one of the three greatest horror novels of the 20th century. Simple as that.”
So then I thought I should definitely try it!

Ohh how fun!! A Chapter's delivery!!!! Great choices! I'm waiting on The Night Circus from the Book Depository. Don't you love a book delivery! I do!

You are a much braver reader than me! Carrion Comfort sounds really creepy!

I had a delivery too today shhhhh - I got the third season of the TV show the Mentalist. I love that TV show! Patrick Jane is such heart throb of a guy - great sense of humour and great hair!;) I also got The Rape of Nanking. Nice mix , eh? :)

Morning Deb!

I love book deliveries!! And the only good thing about my fiance being away is he doesn't see how many I get! :)
I ordered the first 3 books in the Riley Jenson series too, but they were cheap in paperback form so I figure it's ok
I'm excited for Carrion Comfort. It's been highly recommended in the Horror group.

I've not heard of The Mentalist ... I actually don't watch much TV other than a few sitcoms. The Rape of Nanking sounds like a pretty serious book! Hope you enjoy :)

Did your mailbox get fixed?

Catching up at last, Chelle. I had We have always lived in the castle from the library, but it had to go back because someone else reserved it before I got round to reading it. I had not heard of Shirley Jackson before LT, but that book has been mentioned quite a bit on here so I thought I'd give it a go. I'll have to try the library again eventually.

Also finding all this discussion of e-readers interesting. I've resisted a Kindle or any other stand alone e-reader so far, though I do occasionally read e-books on my smartphone. The screen is a bit small so I'm turning pages every few seconds, but I'd rather this than have too many different gadgets to look after! I can get Kindle books and any other format of ebook this way so it is flexible enough.

I love book deliveries!! And the only good thing about my fiance being away is he doesn't see how many I get! :) You'd better get them stacked away out of sight before he notices!

I'm also in the camp that LOVES it when that big brown box gets delivered to my front door. The best part is the hubby is at work when the packages come so I quickly rip open the box, stash away my contraband and quickly dispose of the evidence, and he is none other wiser. Well, at least until the bill comes at the end of the month.... ;)

carrion comfort - seem to remember that being a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins....

wonder if there's a connection.

#159 Hi Genny Thanks for visiting! I hope you enjoy We Have Always Lived in the Castle when you get it back from the library! I thought it was quite good. I think I will try and read a few more by Jackson, when I can fit them in!

I think I have finally decided to just stick it out with my fiance's iPad ereader instead of getting a kindle. I think I'll save the money as I don't read enough ebooks to make it worth the purchase.

#160 Hi Valerie! Chapters is now doing pay by debit card through their internet orders now so I don't have to use my visa anymore. Nathen is none the wiser once the books are on the shelf! Although I'm sure he can't help but notice I am running out of shelf room!

#161 Hi Lee! I don't read much poetry so I'm not familiar with that one. I hope the book turns out to be good and creepy though!

76) Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

Turns out I do not enjoy science fiction. This was a good book for sure, but I found it very hard to slug throught it just because I did not find it very interesting.
Just not my cup of tea.

Oh, no! I've actually never read any Heinlein, because from what I've read, I think I'd hate it. However, sci-fi is a very diverse genre and there's a lot of great stuff out there. What else have you tried and hated? I want to help you : )

(For some reason, I'm feeling an obligation to be a sci-fi ambassador this morning.)

Yes I would have to agree that Sci-Fi is such a broad spectrum. There are some definite gems out there but hopefully you don't have to slog through too many of the not so great ones, which can definitely turn you off from the entire genre. Don't give up! :)

Hi Kerri
I think the problem with this one was that it was very military based. I may be in a bit of a book funk or something but I just couldn't get myself to enjoy this one at all.

I'm not actually sure if I've read anything that was rated strictly"sci-fi" before. I'm sure I've read some that were borderline sci-fi and I know I like dystopian and paranormal.

I take it you read lots of science fiction? Do you have a favorite that you would recommend?

Hi Valerie I'll keep going! The good thing with library books is if you don't like it you just return it! No harm done, just a couple hours I'll never get back ;)

#166 - That's what I've heard about Heinlein. That terrible sci-fi program that was just on TV was like that too (with the guy from E.R, but I can't remember the name). It was basically just a military drama with some weird lizard creatures. A bit boring (in my opinion).

Some of my favorites are:
* The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson - realistic, "hard" sci-fi. I also like his book, The Memory of Whiteness a lot, which is a lot different.
* The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin - It is labeled "an ambiguous utopia" - very interesting. The Left Hand of Darkness is also good.
* For classic sci-fi, I love Isaac Asimov (hence, my username). The Foundation novels are great, especially the basic trilogy.
*Octavia Butler is really good - The Xenogenesis novels are about a race of aliens who invade other planets and "mate" with the inhabitants, in order to gather their good traits (DNA collectors, or something like that)
*Samuel Delaney is interesting. I read Stars in my Pocket like Grains of Sand last year. It's a little kooky, but fascinating. I wouldn't start with him.

As far as dystopias go, I read In the Country of Last Things, by Paul Auster this summer. I have a review of it on my thread. I really liked it, although he's not normally a sci-fi author.

So that's one fool's opinion, anyway.

I love that I don't know a single author or title in your post!! It's amazing the amount of books out there that I have no idea even exist!

Actually that's a lie ... I've heard of Asimov, I've seen a lot of LT posts lately about him, but I haven't read anything by him yet. Maybe I'll start there...

October is booked with creepy, crawly and ghostie books, but I'll try and fit in one from your list in November!
Thanks for the suggestions!! I really appeciate it

77) The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Dr Montague is an investigator of the supernatural and he believes there is something going on in Hill House and wishes to study it. He makes arrangements to rent Hill House and sends invitations to several people to stay in the house as his guests. The story revolves around Luke, the heir to Hill House, Theodora and Eleanore. The four overnight visitors settle into Hill House and become friends just as the House starts to become active. They all start to experience strange events but Eleanore starts to feel much more than the others. When it starts to become clear to all what the House is really up to, it is much too late.

I quite enjoyed this book! I found the way Jackson used the caretaker Mrs Dudley and Dr Montague's wife as comic relief to be a nice way to break up the story. It was great how the story first starts with just some spooky bits and pieces and builds over time and the way the paranormal events are not fully described or explained really makes the terror that much stronger. Made for a good start to my Creepy month!
4*

>167 DorsVenabili: What a great list! I will have to check out some of those books since I quite like sci-fi myself. :)

Great review Chelle. Although I can't read/watch paranormal stuff without getting a bit spooked out and jumpy. And that stuff just sits in my head way too long that everytime I get up to use the washroom in the middle of the night, I get the goosebumps and then end up scampering back into bed as fast as I can.

#168 and 170 - Thanks! I get so many recommendations on here, so it's nice to give some back.

Kerri, I just started Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep from the Halloween list. I believe it is also considered Sci-fi ... and it's pretty good so far! Crossing my fingers that it stays that way :)

Thanks Valerie! At least I liked one of the two books I've finished today! :)
I can't watch scary stuff either, I have nightmares, but for some reason reading it doesn't affect me (much)

#172 - That's a good one too! I should have put it on my list.

>146 ChelleBearss: Sometimes I really wish I didn't write huge reviews. It takes too much time. And I have a pretty good sized one needed to be typed up tonight. And another one soon to be written.

>169 ChelleBearss: makes the terror that much stronger
*flees from room with hands over eyes screaming*

(not my cup of tea this one!!)

#174 Nathan I look forward to reading your hard work then :)

#175 haha Megan! I don't know if you will enjoy many of my reviews for October, it's going to be a scary month!

Hi Chelle! Well, my husband works shift work, so I try to have the majority of my book parcels and amazon deliveries arrive around his shift schedules so that he largely unaware of just exactly what arrives. That said, I notice he dug up some TBR's from the bathroom cabinet and displayed them prominently for me today! :) A little marital intrigue is not such a bad thing.. Dreadful of me .

I've had my kindle for over a month - and he has yet to notice...... not that I'm trying to make him aware. And like you, I've got so many book shelves my husband can't really tell if I've got a new book or 4 .

And yes, my mailbox got fixed!

>176 ChelleBearss: Yeah, but I procrastinated, so not tonight. I should read some horror books since it's October, but where to start?

Hi Deb!
I don't think Nathen (my fiance) really cares about the amount of books I buy, I think he finds it funny! At least he always knows what to get me for a present! :) I imagine when we move in the new year and I am out of work for a while, my book buying will drastically decrease! (So I guess I better get extra now, eh!)

HI Nathan Do you enjoy Stephen King? The Shining or Salem's Lot are a good place to start if you haven't read those.
Or I've been following this horror book thread and there are some great suggestions there! I just bought Carrion Comfort which is supposed to be one of the best horror books.
I've also added to my October Scary list The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro which sounds promising!

I read Stephen Kings It when I was a teenager and just about died of scared-ness. :)
The Blair Witch Project is the scariest movie I have ever seen and I swear I almost had a heart attack! I was so stressed out afterwards I could barely sleep. I'm such a baby :)

Oh, I can't do horror movies, I'm too much of a wuss. I've dipped my toe into a few horror books of late, and had much more fun. I should try another one for Halloween (although that's not such a big deal in Australia, although some of us do trick-or-treat still!).

I haven't read The Haunting of Hill House, although I own it (and the cover isn't half as sexy as yours above is! Wah!).

I wouldn't have recommended Heinlein particularly, although my husband loves his stuff (in particular, Starship Troopers, go figure). The list recommended by @DorsVenabili is quite excellent, I'd second the Ursula le Guin novels in particular. Haven't read much sci-fi for a while, must get back into it... one day...

(Oh, I don't tell my husband how many books I buy; he doesn't tell me how long he spends at the cafe nattering and eating/drinking coffee on his days off. It works! :)

Hi Chele, I see you have kicked off your Scary October Reads. The Haunting of Hill House is one of my favorites. I've also heard that Carrion Comfort is a great horror read, I'll be looking forward to reading your thoughts on it.

Hi Megan! Ohhhhh IT is uber creepy! I watched it when I was a tween at a slumber party and I don't think I slept for a week! I think that was when I realized that I do not do well with watching scary movies! I'll stick to books instead!
A friend tricked me into watching The Blair Witch Project when it first came out "oh it will be fine, it's just a thriller and not scary" How stupid was I eh!

Hi Tania!
I didn't realize Halloween wasn't too celebrated in Australia. Do little ones still dress up and go door to door begging for candy? I am excited as I don't have to work this year and I get to stay home and hand out candy. I love seeing the little one dressed in cute little costumes. I especially love the teeny tiny ones dressed in fuzzy cute costumes that parents picked out!

I actually listened to The Haunting of Hill House so I got to pick my own cover that I liked, glad we agree on it ;)

I'm trying to branch out of my comfort books and try new genres, and sci-fi is definitely new to me. I guess I just started with the wrong one. I Just finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and very much enjoyed it. So I guess I won't kick sci-fi to the curb just yet

Hi Judith I'm hoping to start it next week sometimes, as I probably won't get the delivery until after the holiday Monday. I'm hoping to find some time to get into some guilty pleasure vampire and werewolf books too :)

Well, our kids get dressed up and go around asking for candy. We only door-knock at houses that look as if they're welcoming to trick-or-treaters (decorations up is always the clue), and that's maybe 1 or 2 houses each block. (Otherwise you just get nice people who are then embarrassed they have nothing to give; I've never run into grumpy anti-Halloweeners* in our neighbourhood, but have elsewhere when babysitting as a student.)

Best year was a few years ago when Halloween fell on a Saturday so a number of people were planning their own parties and we got good loot that day. :) One door was answered by a man wearing nothing but red Speedo swimmers and red body paint and devil horns. He looked fab!

We decorate our house and carve jack'o'lanterns and have a big bowl of candy, but because we're in a quiet little off-the-beaten-track lane, no one ever comes to visit. :( I live in hope that one day spookily dressed children will knock on our door and demand our Chupa-Chups**.

Not sure what to do this year since it falls on a weekday! Do we do the nearest Saturday??

* I've heard the "but isn't it about worshipping evil?" from one Mum at the school playground; and the woman who got cross at my babysitting charges told them it was anti-Christian, some rant about Jesus. Yeesh. Is this a common attitude in America, which, frankly, does take its Christianity more seriously than Australia?

I'm used to the constant "this is the Americanisation of our Australian culture" kvetching about Halloween. I see nothing wrong with cherry-picking the best other cultures have to offer: and NOTHING beats Halloween.

** Chupa-Chups. Best. Lollipop. Ever. http://www.chupachups.com/

78) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick

Well this was a science fiction novel that I actually enjoyed, Go figure!
Set in the post-apocalyptic future of 2020. Earth has been damaged by nuclear war and most eligible humans have emigrated from Earth to Mars. Most of the animals are now extinct or endangered because of the radiation poisoning. Owning a live animals is now rare and shows the owner has status.

The main plot is about Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter who receives $1000 for every android that he 'retires'. Rick lives with his wife Iran and their electric sheep and he greatly wishes he could own a live animal.
There is a secondary plot line that follows John Isidore, a 'special' who has been declared to have sub-normal intelligence and is not allowed to move to Mars.

When another bounty hunter becomes injured while hunting androids, Deckard is assigned his list and must track down the remaining 6 androids on the list. Meanwhile, Isidore befriends 3 of these androids and finds himself very happy to have found friends to join him in his solitary world.

I very much enjoyed this book! I found it easy to follow and just as easy to get absorbed into. There are some great insights into human nature and I was in awe of the imagination that went into creating this novel.

"There's the First Law of Kipple…'Kipple drives out nonkipple'."

"The electric things have their life too. Paltry as those lives are."

Hi Tania

Here the porch light is a symbol of participation. Not everyone decorates houses on Halloween but if the porch light is turned on it's generally a sign that there is candy for the taking!

I think there are people in every culture that will turn a fun event into a anti-religious event. I don't think Halloween has anything to do with celebrating the devil at all. Or at least not these day. Kids dress up as all sorts of things, a lot of things not even scary. We get teddy bears, princesses and hockey players at the door!

I found this online which I thought was interesting:

Halloween has Celtic origins. In pre-Christian times, many people believed that spirits from the underworld and ghosts of dead people could visit the world of the living on the night of October 31. These spirits could harm the living or take them back to the underworld. To avoid this, people started dressing up as ghosts and spirits if they left their homes on October 31. They hoped that this would confuse the ghosts and spirits.

I think I have had a chupa-chup before!! Those are awesome!
Here the good stuff is usually the mini chocolate bars! My father would always raid my candy stash and pick out all the Coffee Crisp bars!

To all my new Canadian LT friends have a safe and happy Thanksgiving Weekend!!

I think this year Mr Bear wants to be a pirate; Miss Boo is tempted by a cat costume. Last year, he was a scowling vampire, and she was a sparkly fairy. :)

Nice to know the origins of Halloween, I'll bring that out next time I run into a nay-sayer.

#185 - Yay! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

>179 ChelleBearss: I haven't read any Stephen King books. The top three of his books I do want to read is: It, Children of the Corn, and...uh...I forgot the title of the third one. But it's about this store that gives buyers their wildest dreams in return to do a horrible favor. It's like Pleasure something. But I haven't put them on my Wishlist...I should.

>185 ChelleBearss: And speaking of Wishlists, I'm adding Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? to mine. Parly because of the awesome title, partly because your review pretty much intriguied me once and for all to put it there. So thanks!

>187 ChelleBearss: I think I did learn right that Canadian Thanksgiving was not the same time as the U.S.'s. And you confirmed it. I can literally smell that turkey. What is that smell? Maybe it's a cheeseburger.

#188 Hi Tania Hope Mr Bear and Miss Boo get lots of good candy and have a fun time! I have been invited to a costume party and can't decide what I should wear!

#189 Thanks Kerri! I won't give up on Sci-fi just yet! I'd like to try a couple from your list too

#190 Hi Nathan
I think the last book you are thinking of is Needful Things and it's a very good choice! I'm not sure I would start with IT though, it's kind of large and intense!

I hope you enjoy Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep when you get around to it. I was surprised I liked it after hating my previous attempt at sci-fi!

Yep, our Thanksgiving is Monday. I work nights all weekend (Boo!) but that means I get to go visit and have 3, yes 3!, turkey dinners that I do not have to cook! Life is good!!

>191 ChelleBearss: Yes, Needful Things is the right one. My father read it, so that's the reason for that one. Then Children of the Corn is a movie that I'm going to watch pretty soon, mostly because I live by a cornfield. Correction: used to live by a cornfield. It was harvested a couple of days ago. Then It is a movie, that I also haven't seen for complicated reasons. My sister saw it though. Lucky her. So primarily, that's the reason for reading that one.

ETA: There can't be only 13 memebers who have Children of the Corn on LT. That's weird. Can't even find it.

Kind of funny that they would go to Mars in Do Androids Dream...(that title is way too long). I saw shows on how Mars may have been Earth-like. What I don't get, is in you're...what I guess are quotes, what a Kipple is. It's a made-up word, right?

Thanksgiving is a big event in our family. We go all out with turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, etc. Then watch the parades that are on and any other events like football, yup, we do it all.

Good for you Chelle for giving another SF a chance and enjoying it to boot! Great review of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and since I haven't read that one, it is definitely going on my wishlist. :)

I remember growing up Halloween used to be much more celebrated. You would always see the streets filled with kids going door to door but with each year there seems to be less and less kids. Maybe parents are getting more wary as each year, there is always at least one incident of violence or someone trying to stick razors in apples and such....

I hope you have a great Thanksgiving long weekend. I know I am going to enjoy that extra day that the hubby has off!

Hi Nathan
I think the reason Children of the Corn has low LT users is because it is a short story. It's in the collection Night Shift. It's quite a good collection so if you read Children of the Corn you should read the rest too :)

haha I guess I used quotes that you kind of need to read the book to get! Whoops.
There's the First Law of Kipple…'Kipple drives out nonkipple'." Kipple is junk, or useless crap. It's basically a comment about how people work hard to obtain junk and "have" and then the stuff just sits around and takes up space. It should be the theme for that show "Hoarders".

Mmmmm I heart pumpkin pie! Talking about thanksgiving is making me hungry and I still have 3 days to go before turkey and pie!

Hi Valerie
I was surprised that I liked the book actually! But I'm glad I gave it a chance!

Halloween used to be huge when I was young enough to go out. I have noticed over the years that I don't have to buy as much candy! I was told by a coworker recently that the malls are open on Halloween and the store give out candy so people take their kids there and go store to store because it's lit up and safer. I can't see that being as much fun!
Have a good holiday weekend!

Electric sheep? Androids? Not sure I could tackle that one.

I've never read Do Androids though I've been meaning to ever since I saw the film Blade Runner and found out it was based on this book. I don't know how different it is from the film, probably quite a bit.

Chelle, as others have said, science fiction is as diverse as literature itself. Based on your library and likes of mystery and some fantasy, let me recommend a few books.

Agent of Change by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Wrapt in Crystal by Sharon Shinn
Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
Psion by Joan Vinge
The Color of Distance by Amy Thomson
Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon
Kiln People by David Brin

Happy Thanksgiving, Chelle. Have a nice holiday weekend.

Hope you're having a great Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend. Do you guys celebrate Bastille Day also?

We don't really do Halloween in New Zealand either. You see a few dressed up people on the streets which can be kinda cute but not too often. I think we maybe did this one time when I was a kid but it felt a bit weird. I did enjoy reading that backstory though. I always thought it was a pagan thing, now I know why.

#195 Megan, you never know! I didn't think I would like it and surprisingly I did.

#196 Hi Genny! I did not realize that Blade Runner was based on that book! I thought Blade Runner was about vampires? Or was that just Blade?

#197 Roni, thanks for visiting and bringing so many suggestions! I'll have to add a bunch more books to my ever growing list now!
I'm just about finished The Edge of Reason and my library has that tagged as sci-fi, but it seems more supernatural to me. I am enjoying it though!

#198 Happy Thanksgiving to you too Judith!

#199 Hi Leonie! I'm not familiar with Bastille Day, I think maybe the French cities might celebrate it, but I'm not sure. Does New Zealand have a Thanksgiving Day? I know the American one is sometime in November.

79) The Edge of Reason by Melinda Snodgrass

There has been a secret war fought since the begining of time. On one side are the old ones, the side of religious fanaticism and magic; the other side is fought by the Lumina, the supporters of science, rational thought and technology.

Richard Oort is a police officer and saves the life of a young female, and inadvertently changes the course of his own life. Caught in the middle of the battle he finds himself fighting along side an unusual group, and questioning his faith in the God he has always believed in.

I very much enjoyed this book although I did find some points a little far fetched (I know, it's science fiction .. but still!) I found it hard to believe the main characters just believed in the supernatural aspects with such ease and hardly any proof. Otherwise I found this to an enjoyable read.

3.5*

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, Chelle.

Loving the sf discussion, you are reading some good stuff there. Hadn't heard of The Edge of Reason - sounds like one I might like.

Happy Thanksgiving! If anyone needs turkey up there, let me know. They are running around all over town this year... could send a few flying up to you :)

I am thankful for all the Canadian LTers :) You are all great!

#200 I think Blade might have something to do with vampires (I don't know for sure, I haven't seen it) but Blade Runner with Harrison Ford is the one that's ('loosely', according to wikipedia) based on Philp K Dick's story.

#202 HI Calm Have a great weekend to you too!
I've been following BlackDogsBook Halloween reading list, so a bunch of the books I've been reading were from that. He has a great list going!
Edge of Reason was an easy and fun read. Great for my nightshift last night!

#203 Thanks for the offer Claudia I think we are good for turkeys! :) I got lucky and don't have to cook this year! I've never seen a wild turkey though, I think that would freak me out lol!

#204 Hi Genny I guess that was not the movie I was thinking of then! I've seen the vampire movie so maybe I should rent Blade Runner now.

**

Well I'm at work nightshift all weekend with a cold!
My desk is hillarious, covered in my 'sick stash'; hot tea, kleenex (brought the good ones from home!), throat lozenges and my book! I'm hoping the public behaves tonight and the officers leave me alone so I can wallow in peace (it's a long weekend so I doubt that will happen though!)

Oh, Chelle, you poor thing, stuck with a cold! I feel so badly for you. I hope that you have a quiet shift at work. My son currently is suffering with a sinus infection, so my heart truly goes out to you. I used to get them myself - knock on wood! Thanks for visiting my thread! Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi Deb
I am starting to feel much better! Thanks, I hope your son is feeling better! Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Chelle- Wow, you've been a very busy LTer! I'm impressed. I have Do Androids on audio and hope to get to it soon. I have never read Mr. Dick but I've always been a huge fan of Blade Runner. Have you seen the film?

>194 ChelleBearss: I figured that out about Children of the Corn just after I edited that post. I do that alot. In fact, I watched a remake of that movie last night. *Sigh*, horror movies bore me. They just aren't scary. There is only one recent horror movie that scared me and that was Pontypool. But that was because the viewers don't know what's going on visually, just in audio, and once I saw it visually, it was boring again.

Kipple seems like a fun word. It should really be part of my vocabulary. I have much Kipple(s). Does it have a plural form? Junk doesn't, so would Kipple?

Also, The Edge of Reason sounds pretty good, but that's a big pass for me. Religious Fanaticism. Is that group from 1500 BC or what? Science all the way!

80) Wolf's Trap by W.D. Gagliani

This was a disturbing psychological drama, not just your average werewolf book. Two narrators tell both sides of the story; detective versus serial killer.

Meet Nick Lupo, he is a homicide detective that just happens to also be a werewolf. He is working hard to try to be able to gain control over his wolf side, and after years of having two completely different mind sets he is slowly gaining control and being able to be in wolf form and retain his human mind.
After a good friend is murdered and a note left at the scene directed at him, he starts to realize that something he did in his past as a wolf might be coming back to haunt him.

Flash to Martin, a very disturbed man who has some series childhood issues. After being released from a mental health facility he has set his sights on killing Detective Lupo, but first he is going to play with his food and starts killing friends of Lupo's. Martin slowly explains his history and his brutal childhood and as a reader it makes you want to give him a big hug before you lock him up and throw away the key!!

A quick read with some disturbing content. Can't wait to read the next one in the series!
3.5*

Hi Chelle! Your books Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep sounds interesting and also maybe kind of fun! Hmmm maybe one day I try a Sci Fi book.

As for celebrating Halloween - I had to laugh because my sister brought Halloween decorated chocolate cupcakes last night for Thanksgiving Dinner! We all had chuckle. But - IMO - much better than pumpkin pie!I like my chocolate! Glad you are feeling better. My son is feeling better -but still not too well. But he up and at it. He is just 21 - they never seem to get too tired

# 208 HI Mark I saw on your thread that you had a good weekend away. I bet the views of the autumn colours was just wonderful!
Androids was my first novel by Phillip Dick, but it was pretty good. I haven't seen Blade Runner before.
I might check and see what other books he has written

#209 Hi Nathan I think we should all start saying Kipple instead of junk! My house could use a nice little Kipple removal day sometime soon!!

#211 Hi Deb Glad you got some nice chocolate cupcakes this weekend, although Halloween is still a couple weeks away lol. I went with pumpkin pie today, mmmm!! So tired from all the working and visiting family, it will be an early night for me!

Hey Chelle! Hope you are feeling better from your cold.
The Edge of Reason sounds intriguing so I will have to look that one up.

I very much enjoyed this book although I did find some points a little far fetched...
This is something I struggle with when I'm reading fantasy or science fiction. I know that really the sky is the limit when it comes to these genres but at times I wonder if really anything is a go without comprising the integrity of the story. At times I feel like it's unfair to say something isn't realistic especially when the entire world is one that is made up but still, sometimes I wonder if there should be boundaries or are we supposed to suspend our judgement of what is possible and not possible...

WOLF'S TRAP- my review....

Scary book about wolves.

*flees from room in terror*

Don't stop short, Megan. I'm right behind you! :{

HAHAHA I needed that laugh, thanks Megan and Claudia!! Funny enough, it wasn't just a scary book about wolves - add in a serial killer too!

Hi Valerie!
I thought I was feeling better last night, and then I woke up this morning worse than I had been all weekend! I finally broke down and went and stocked up on medicine and vitamin c drops. Hot bubble bath and then bedtime early tonight!

I think the big problem with Edge of Reason wasn't so much that it was the fantasy of it but the fact that the characters just went with it with no issues. I'd like to think that if someone came up to me and told me that there was a fight between magic and science and I was needed to help solve the war, I think I would tell that person to up his meds and not just go, " ok, what do I need to do". That was a bit hard to swallow for me. The basic premise was interesting though and it was a pretty enjoyable read.e

A hot bubble bath and an early bedtime? Ah, that sounds *wonderful*! What's it like...? ;)

Just stopping by to say, HI, Chelle! Have a nice bubble bath and early bedtime! Nice!

Hi Chelle - hope you are feeling much better, very soon :)

81) The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells (audiobook)

The Invisible man starts when we first meet the stranger, a gruff fellow, wearing long sleeves and trousers with his face and hands covered in bandages and wearing hat and goggles. He arrives in the English village of Iping, and takes up a room at the local Inn where he quickly becomes the talk of the town. Incidently in the same town a string of burglaries start to occur where no one can see the suspect.
When he is forced to admit to being invisible, he finds himself on the run from the law and quickly losing his sanity. He rapidly learns that being invisible is not everything he had imagined it would be.

I loved how the beginning starts with The Invisible Man as a stranger and the towns people trying to figure out his background and guessing his story. The story moves on to be tell more about him and how he managed to become invisible and that was pretty interesting, but not quite as enjoyable as the beginning.

4*

#217 Hi Amber. That's the fun thing about living alone during the week, I can relax at night and not have to entertain anyone. Bubble bath with a book is the perfect way to relax before bed

#218 Hi Deb. I should be in bed anytime now actually. I have to be up early tomorrow for a first aid refresher course that I wish I had not signed up for. Always seems like a good idea at the time!
I have a wedding cake to finish for my friends wedding on Friday night, so I have a feeling I'll be up late tomorrow night!

#219Thanks Claudia! The meds seem to be helping, if only I could get my nose to stop running!

Chelle- I admire the fact that you've been reading all this classic horror. I'm not sure if I've ever read H.G. Wells. I might have to track some down.
BTW- Very cool cover!

Thanks Mark. I've been very lucky and my library has a great selection of horror books on audio. I've stumbled upon a few goods ones by accident!

Oh, I *loved* The Invisible Man! Wells is pretty fantastic, I think.

#220 - Yay! H.G. Wells! I haven't read The Invisible Man, but I recently read The Island of Dr. Moreau and The Time Machine and liked them both. I have a little Dover box set of several of his works.

Up there somewhere: Like I said before, Kipple seems to be a delightfully great word. It should really catch on!

And for your two reviews: Wolf's Trap seems pretty farfetched. I honestly don't get the point of having like mystery/dective with Fantasy, especially with something that it looks like you can take the fantasy out. And The Invisible Man is something I will never read. I've read two H G Wells books this year: The Time Machine and In the Days of the Comet, both of them I felt were horrible. In the latter, the plot was great, but I didn't feel anything toward the characters, and the former...well I didn't like anything about it. It will take some very strong coaxing to read any Wells books again after them.

I need to try some Wells one of these days. :)

me too, me too (panicking at the amount of reading I would like to be doing!)
*must be patient*

#224/225 Hi Amber & Kerri! I quite enjoyed The Invisible Man. I had tried to read War of the Worlds before and couldn't get into it, so luckily I didn't realize that The Invisible Man was the same author or I might not have given it a shot! I think I'll give The Time Machine a go before I try War of the Worlds again.

#226 Hey Nathan It doesn't sound like I'm reading anything to add to your wish list lately! lol Maybe my next couple will be better, I'm currently working on I am Legend on audiobook and The Last Werewolf I hope to finish tonight or tomorrow.

#227/228 Hi Valerie & Megan Glad I could help your wish lists grow even larger! Muhahaha *evil laugh*

***

I finished my first aid course today nice and early, glad I don't have to worry about that for another 3 years! Rushed home to finish decorating my friend's wedding cake and 6 hours later I am finally sitting down! Can't wait to grab my book and head upstairs and get off my feet!

I'll probably be offline until Sunday because of the wedding and visiting my fiance when he comes home tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Hi Chelle- I hope you are enjoying The Last Werewolf. As you know, I loved it. Did you listen to the audio? A friend at work listened to it and stated it was one of his favorite audios. I read the hard copy.

Hi Mark. I actually debated doing the audio when I was on the wait list to borrow the hardcopy, but I decided it was one I actually wanted to sit down and read so I waited not so patiently for it.
I'm about halfway and enjoying it quite a bit! It started out a bit pretentious but it got over that quick enough.

*de-lurk* Just wanted to pop in and say how much I enjoy reading your thread, Chelle! *re-lurk*

HI Laura! I've been lurking on yours as well :) Come visit again sometime

Wow! You are very busy reading the classics, like Invisible Man. I'm impressed! I wish I could get myself to do the same!!! :)

Hi Deb, and thanks! It's basically just the classic horror stuff though, for Halloween. I have a whole bunch of other classics that have been sitting sad and lonely on my shelves for many years waiting to be enjoyed ... one day, one day!

Mark, who read The Last Werewolf on the audio? Anyone I would know? I'm enjoying it as a read, but I'm less of an audio fan than others.

Oh, I should dust off The Invisible Man, I've had a copy for far too long. I did read a couple of Wells' books last year or so, I thought they were great adventures.

>232 LauraBrook: lol!! Me too :)

Isn't cake-decorating exhausting?! I've never quite figured out why, but it always really takes it out of me (and I'm just a silly amateur at it - hm, maybe that's why...).

Well I am finally home from all my running around, and now I have to get ready for the wedding! It's a country western wedding! I did a hay bale cake for the happy couple :)

Amber, this one took forever because I had to pipe all the hay by hand using the grass piping tip. 6 hours later and my hand muscle was cramped into a claw LOL!!

Oh my goodness! That's a work of art!

#239 - That is truly amazing!!!

Thanks guys! I had to work off a picture, as surprisingly enough I have never seen a hay bale in real life!

Okay seriously what is with all this hidden talent among the 75ers!?!?

That looks amazing Chelle! :)

Unbelievable! What an amazing cake - and I can barely get plain old frosting on evenly - what a talented lady you are!!!

What a wonderful cake. You did a fantastic job, Cheli. I'm like Laura, my cakes always look a little lopsided.

>229 ChelleBearss: Actually after seeing The Last Werewolf on Mark's Thread, I added that book to my Wishlist, so I want to see what you think of it.

Wait, is up there a cake?!?! Wow!

Oh Anne! What a cool cake! Marvelous talent that you have! I'm amazed!!! Hmmmm if I was thinking at the time, my cake would have had high rises on it, city girl that I am! :) But I was very traditional - 28 years ago! sigh.

Wow Chelle- That's a fantastic cake! Very impressive!

Wookie- A friend from work listened to The Last Werewolf. Loved it!

Ohmygosh, that's amazing! Well done, you!

Ah Chelle! You read my mind. I was gonna ask if you had a picture of your cake.
Love it!
Awesome! Totally awesome! Yahoo!
It came out great!
I can't even imagine all the work on that hay!
Hope your hand has recovered... ;-)

Thanks Megan, Kerri, Valerie, Laura, Judith, Nathan, Deb, Mark, Amber and Claudia!

The wedding was fabulous, best wedding I've ever been to! It was a country theme and completely laid back. Dinner was BBQ, dessert was a buffet pie bar and the midnight table was a nacho bar! I will post a picture later (when my friend sends it to me) of Nathen and I dressed up and being forced into cowboy hats! Not a good look for me ;)

Off to spend the day with my sweetie, hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

Sounds lovely, Chelle! Have a lovely day with your sweetie!

Wonderful cake--love it!!

What a very talented person you are! I love the cake!

Thanks Deb, Roni and Linda! Looking forward to next weekend when I have the whole weekend off with him!

82) The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan

Jake Marlowe is a 201 year old chainsmoking, whiskey drinking, sex-addict werewolf who has just been told he is now the last of his species. An organization called WOCOP has been working away at their goal of depleting the paranormal population and they have succeded at reducing the werewolf population completely and have made a game of letting Jake know that at the next full moon they will be taking him out. Meanwhile the Vampire population wants Jake kept alive for their own selfish reasons.

I usually turn to paranormal books when I need a fun, light read. This definintely did not fit that pattern!
I found this book facinating as it is different than any other paranormal books that I have had the pleasure to read. This book is very much literary fiction with a twist. Some parts were difficult to follow only because of the language he uses is almost poetic. I found I was rereading parts to try and understand the point being made. Once I got into the book it didn't matter though, I was hooked on Jake!
4.5*

“There’s always someone’s father, someone’s mother, someone’s wife, someone’s son. This is the problem with killing and eating people”

“Two nights ago I’d eaten a 43-year-old hedge fund specialist,” Marlowe offers with trademark insouciance. “I’ve been in a phase of taking the ones no one wants.”

Yup, I think I definately made a right descision to put that on my Wishlist. Great review!

Chelle- Loved the review! So glad you liked it. Also enjoyed the 2 quotes. I used the 2nd one myself.
It looks like you are due a new thread soon. How exciting!

Nathan, grab it as soon as you can. It really was very good!

Thanks Mark. It had a ton a great quotes, hard to pick through!
Is there a unwritten rule on thread size limits?

>259 ChelleBearss: I will try to read it as soon as I can, but not promising that, even though I want to.

Also, there is an unwritten rule that a Thread should be about 250 before starting a new one. Something about Thread Police or things of the sort.

Oh my! I better get another one started then before I get arrested by the thread police!! And here I thought I would get to the end of the year with this one, silly me! ;-0

Hi Chelle, great review of The Last Werewolf. I am planning on reading it next year for my 12 in 12 Challenge. Sounds like a book I am really going to enjoy.

Hi Judy! I hope you love it too when you get around to reading it :)
***

Ok, before the thread police come calling I made a NEW ONE!