Magical Reading

October 29, 202116 Comments

Except for vacation, I’ve been trying to keep my October reading as ghostly or magical as possible. It’s been a good reading week. What the most Halloweeny thing you’ve read this month?

What if every choice you made led to a different life, a different you and it was happening simultaneously to your life right now. What if you were able to visit The Midnight Library and try on each of these lives to see if you preferred them to the one you’re currently living. So goes the story of Nora Seed.

This morning while Gage was at his last day of Timbernook, I took this book on an hour walk and contemplated making other decisions in life, both big and small, and where they might have led me.

Loved this book. Not only did I love the endless possibilities, I loved the attention to great philosophers, especially Thoreau, who is a favorite of mine. Highly recommend this one for discussion and contemplation.

I love the 1968 movie Rosemary’s Baby and I finally got around to reading the Ira Levin novel. I liked it, but may actually prefer the movie. Now I’m going to have to watch it again!

Rosemary and Guy move into the Branford in NYC having heard of some of its more infamous past residents. They are befriended by an older neighbor couple and their relationship starts to change. When Rosemary becomes pregnant it’s not at all what she expects and she becomes even more isolated.

A perfect psychological horror story for October.

This book made my day. Any fan of Dean Koontz knows how much he loves dogs, especially his golden retriever Trixie. Trixie decided to write a book when she realized that some humans weren’t as happy as dogs were.

This book was so, so sweet. I loved it, even reading some passages out loud to Jason making him laugh too. If you have ever loved a dog, get your eyes in this book so you can feel the slobbery kisses as you read.

Trixie has since passed but her spirit lives on.

This felt like a throwback to the stories I used to love as a kid, no surprise there since it was originally published in 1983. Twelve-year-old Amy is too often relied on to take of her special needs sister. She is able to escape to her aunt’s creepy house where she discovered a dollhouse in the attic. While she’s thrilled, her aunt is not and tensions rise between the two.

This middle school story gave me all of the good stuff. It was a book about growing up and learning to navigate friendships and family and to believe in yourself enough to believe in ghostly spirits. Yes, there are ghosts, but the ones that help set things right.

A fun story for tweens. Loved it!

Also, we watched this throwback Goosebumps video two nights ago. It was definitely old school, but Gage loved it ❤️

That house near the end of the lane is not haunted, at least as far as we know, but The House at the End of Hope Street most definitely is. It’s filled with feminine giants like Daphne du Maurier, Sylvia Plath, Agatha Christie, and hundreds more. It’s a place the fixes those who are called to it and it does it on a 99 day deadline. I’m glad reading books on a deadline isn’t a thing since this was published in 2013.

Peggy has run the magical house for over 60 years, but now it tells her that her days are numbered. Stella is an aging actress struggling with being replaced by younger women, personally and professionally. Carmen has buried evidence of crime at the house and is haunted by its evil. Alba comes to the house as her future is in shambles.

It’s a charming book. I wish there’d been a little more about the four women, sacrificing the bits from the men, but the story still held it’s magic. Magical realism fans will enjoy.

I picked up The Witches of Benevento at our library sale not knowing anything about it except that it was the second in a kids series. I totally forgot to take picks of the illustrations that started every chapter – they were fantastic! This was such a strange little book in a strange little world where kids of the village have to avoid the likes of the Clopper (a witch who eats children), the Janara (mischief makers), and more. I ended up falling in love with this little world and the people who lived there.

Home Before Dark, Riley Sanger’s take on a haunted house, was a perfect listen as I worked on a puzzle late into the night. Maggie’s father had made their family famous with a memoir about them escaping their house after being attacked by ghosts. Now that he’s dead and the house is hers Maggie goes back to ready the place for sale and perhaps bring back memories from when she was 5. Is Baneberry Hall still haunted? Was it ever? I really liked this one!

oday’s book is the graphic novel adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s short story. I’ve not read the story so the 64 page book had the capacity to surprise.

Jack was only 7 when he first came upon the troll under the bridge and convinced it not to take his life. He offered his sister, later his would-be girlfriend, and finally promising to come back when he was older after he experienced life. He kept his promise, but would the troll still want his life?

Fantasy and fable in one clever short story. There are adult themes, so I’m not sure about the age group, but I was pleasantly surprised to like it so much.

This is the 4th in the Investigators series. Mango and Brash are alligators who work for SUIT ((Special Undercover Investigation Teams). This 200 pager starts with Mango working with a RoboBrash because the real Brash is in a coma due to being eaten by a giant waffle bad guy in the last one. It’s as silly as it sounds. Gage loves this series and was excited to be the first one in our library system to check out this latest.

Vacation Books

October 23, 2021October 23, 202120 Comments

Our road trip to Maine, with overnight stops in New York, New Hampshire and Massachusetts was a huge success. I posted in Instagram daily so you can click on over if you want to see more, but these were my top 5 favorite moments…

Sunrises

With my guys on my birthday in Hampton, NH

Mt. Greylock, Massachusetts

Rachel Carson Refuge, Kennybunkport, Maine

So many beaches, so little time

I considered putting my book-a-day challenge on hiatus when we went on our 9 day road trip, but decided to honor the challenge with books I had on our homeschool reading shelf.

My favorite was the picture book A Different Pond by Bao Phi, illustrated by Thu Bui. It’s a touching story of a boy who accompanies his Vietnamese father fishing early in the morning so that the family can be fed for the day. I absolutely loved it!

I also read another picture book, Miep and the Most Famous Diary: The Woman Who Rescued Anne Frank’s Diary by Meeg Pincus, illustrated by Jordi Solano.

I liked How Wolves Came From Dogs by Jack Myers, illustrated by John Rice. There were 12 articles about different animals, all taken and updated from past Highlights Magazine articles. Fun to read and discuss with Gage. We were most interested in how they populated two islands in Maine with Puffins.

We listened to two Big Nate books in the car, Big Nate Flips Out and Big Nate In a Class By Himself. These were quick funny stories that gave all three us smiles and laughs.

The Story of Chocolate by Caryn Polin was interesting. DK always does a good job of sharing facts in a fun layout.

Not so successful (for me and Jason, Gage like them) was the audio of Nate the Great Collected Stories, Volume 4 and Pup Detectives .

On my actual birthday I read the little book that Jason got me that tells me all about the year I was born. It was fun!

I’ll have to catch up with the rest of my reading another day, still playing catch up!

October is here

October 8, 20216 Comments

It’s over a week into October and here I am. October is a crazy month for us, We have 2 birthdays and an anniversary in within a week and half and this year we decided to add a four state road trip into the mix, lol.

I’ve been trying to read some creepy books for this spooky month.