Dewey's Read-a-Thon Update #2

I finished reading my second book of the day, A Dark Autumn by Kristopher Rufty. If you're a fan of Richard Laymon, I think you would enjoy this. It reminded me of Laymon's book, Blood Games.

I'm starting to get a bit tired now, so I'm taking a break to have a snack (spinach dip with pumpernickel bread and iced coffee) and then I'll start reading Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge.

Four Seasons Four Books Mini-Challenge

For this challenge, you choose book covers to represent each season. Books I think work well from my horror collection are Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King (rain for spring), Island by Richard Laymon (a beach for summer), Horrorween by Al Sarrantonio (pumpkins for fall) and Eternity by Tamara Thorne (snow for winter).

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Update #1

Wow, I've made it halfway through the read-a-thon and have only managed to finish reading one book. My boyfriend has the day off and has been very distracting. I think I wasted at least one hour reading the same sentence over and over while he talked and watched TV. I ended up reading in bed to get away from him and fell asleep for about a half hour, which was counterproductive.

I finished reading The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. It was pretty good, but a bit dated.

Mid-Event Survey:

 1. What are you reading right now?

I just finished The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and I think I'm going to start A Dark Autumn by Kristopher Rufty next. 

2. How many books have you read so far?
 
Only one. 

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?

Psycho by Robert Bloch

4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?

Yes, my boyfriend has interrupted me quite a few times. Usually I just give in and listen to whatever he's talking about or end up watching part of whatever show he's watching on TV. I think I'm going to have to sequester myself in my bedroom for the second half of the read-a-thon.

5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?

How little reading I've been able to get done. I need to stop getting distracted! 

My boyfriend made his delicious homemade pizza for dinner,
so I guess I can forgive him for being irritating. 

Dewey's Readathon

Today is Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon! I will be participating again and attempt to spend 24 hours reading (and blogging about reading).

What I plan on reading:

1. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
2. Psycho by Robert Bloch
3. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
4. Halloween Night by R.L. Stine
5. Halloween Night II by R.L. Stine 
6. Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge 
7. All Hallow's Dead by Bryan Smith
8. A Dark Autumn by Kristopher Rufty 
9. Exorcist Road by Jonathan Janz
10. Jackpot by David Bernstein, Adam Cesare, Shane McKenzie and Kristopher Rufty

I chose some horror classics that I've never read, some Halloween themed horror and a few new horror novels that I've been wanting to read for a while.

The snacks:

• Spinach dip with pumpernickel bread and veggies
• Bugles
• Pumpkin spice cookies
• Orange Kit Kats
• Pumpkin spice latte and peppermint mocha t-discs
• International Delight caramel macchiato iced coffee

Plus whatever meals my boyfriend makes.

Introductory Meme

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

Oakville, Ontario

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

Spinach dip. I made it just for today because I love it and I never get to eat it.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I work at Value Village and the best part of my job is my 50% discount on books.

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?

I want to read more than I did last time. I only read three books when I participated last year, this year I hope to read at least five.  

BOOK REVIEW: The Cliffhouse Haunting by Tamara Thorne and Alistair Cross

Cliffhouse Lodge is a hotel with a dark past. In the 20s, a spirit known as the Blue Lady was spotted just before a murderer dubbed the Bodice Ripper struck on the hotel grounds. Now, guests of Cliffhouse are once again reporting Blue Lady sightings. These are soon followed by murders that have the Sheriff of Cliffside baffled. The owners of Cliffhouse think the murders have a connection with the Blue Lady and help the Sheriff to figure out the mystery.

That description of the The Cliffhouse Haunting makes it sound darker than it is. Although it has some gruesome murder scenes and features a psychotic killer, it's also quite humorous. Especially the chapters involving a character named Constance Welling. Pardon me - Constance Welling, authoress. The humour element of the novel sets it apart from other haunted hotel novels. I spent a good chunk of the novel laughing rather than being scared. That being said, a few of the murder scenes did make me gag a bit. The murderer in this novel is truly sadistic.

The characters are what make this novel a good read. I loved all the chapters involving a crazy guest of Cliffhouse named Constance Welling. She's definitely one of those characters that you want to see killed, making it even sweeter when/if it happens. Dr. Siechert, who carries a severed finger around in his pocket, is another funny character, but in a more darkly humorous way.

If you're looking for a book that makes laugh on one page and cringe on the next, you've found it. The Cliffhouse Haunting is an entertaining novel and is available for a mere $5 on Kindle.

Rating: 4/5

BOOK REVIEW: Santa's Little Helper by H.D. Gordon

I usually choose books to read based on the season, and try to read a Christmas-themed horror novel each December. This year I read Santa's Little Helper by H.D. Gordon. The Elf on a Shelf is already disturbing - watching you and reporting back to Santa - and this novel takes it to a whole new level of creepy with a demonic version.

Santa's Little Helper is a toy elf and book that appear on the doorsteps of four families in a small town called Peculiar. The children in each family quickly realize there's something sinister about the elf and get rid of it. But they find out it's not that easy to get rid of him when he comes back to terrorize their families.

The book has some unsettling scenes with Santa's Little Helper taking the shape of the children's worst fears including an abusive father and Special Ed (a corpse named Ed which I found to be pretty scary). The chapters involving being snowed in with Santa's Little Helper were also creepy - especially when the power went out.

There were a few too many characters. I had difficulty keeping track of which child belonged to which family. And since each chapter features a different family, it took a while for me to remember what happened four chapters ago. I think the novel would've been more effective with just one or two families. It was also unrealistic that each of the 5-year-olds could use such a large vocabulary - it would've been easier to believe if the kids had been older.

The ending feels abrupt and I wish there had been a better explanation of the origins of Santa's Little Helper. There's a bit of backstory about how Peculiar is a town where strange things happen, but I still wanted to know more about the origins of Santa's Little Helper.

Despite those few complaints, Santa's Little Helper is a good Christmas horror read. I realize it's a little late to review this, being Christmas Eve and all, but I just finished reading it today.  

Rating: 4/5

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone has an awesome night! I'm staying in and watching horror movies tonight. What are your Halloween plans?

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Update #3

Woohoo I made it to the end! I didn't read as much as I would've liked because I kept getting distracted by my boyfriend, but I still had fun.

Total pages read: 713

End of Event Meme:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?  The last two hours.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? I Am Legend was really suspenseful and interesting.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nope. Thought everything was great.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? The cheerleaders were awesome.
5. How many books did you read? 3
6. What were the names of the books you read? Nightmares! by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller, I Am Legend by Richard Matheson and Big Driver by Stephen King
7. Which book did you enjoy most? I Am Legend
8. Which did you enjoy least? I liked all of them. 
9. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I'll definitely participate again as a reader.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Update #2

I'm still awake, but I'm getting pretty tired. Right now I'm drinking a Starbucks energy drink, but it doesn't seem to be helping much. Also, this morning when I woke up my throat hurt a little bit and it has progressively gotten worse. Now it's painful to swallow and my whole body aches. But I'm so close to the end that I feel I might as well just stay up. Plus, I just started reading Big Driver by Stephen King (a novella in Full Dark, No Stars) and I really want to see what happens next.

I finished reading I Am Legend by Richard Matheson and I can't believe I've been a horror fan all these years and never read it. It's amazing - if you're a horror fan and somehow haven't read it yet (like me), do it now.

Books read: Nightmares! by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller and I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Total pages read: 515

Snacks consumed: Bits & Bites, Starbucks energy drink, green tea

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Update #1

So far, I haven't gotten much reading done because my boyfriend has been a huge distraction and I'm pretty annoyed with him. I forgive him though, because he made a delicious dinner. He made thanksgiving calzones, which are basically thanksgiving leftovers inside a calzone with gravy to dip it in. My boyfriend just went out for a while, so I should be able to get more reading done now.

I've only finished one book, Nightmares! by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller. I loved it. I thought I probably would because I love Jason Segel. A boy enters the Netherworld - a place where nightmares live - to face his fears. Really awesome book, I definitely recommend it. I can't wait to read the sequel next year!

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now?
I just finished Nightmares! by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller. Next I'm going to read Psycho...or I Am Legend...or The Haunting of Hill House - I haven't really decided yet.
2. How many books have you read so far?
Just one.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
Umm...it's hard to choose. I'm looking forward to reading all of them! Maybe Full Dark, No Stars because I just noticed that the movie Big Driver is recording on my DVR as I type this and I really want to watch it tomorrow, but I need to read the book first.
4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
Yes! My boyfriend is on vacation this week and is spending it at home, so he's been talking to me all day and watching things on TV that he knows I want to see so I ended up trying to read and watch TV at the same time, which didn't work at all.
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
That I've only read one book so far. I really need to stop getting distracted so easily.

Mmm...thanksgiving calzones

Dewey's Read-a-Thon

It's that time again! Today I'm participating in Dewey's Read-a-Thon and am going to attempt to read for a full 24 hours. I managed to stay up the whole 24 hours last time, so hopefully I can do it again.

Here's what I plan on reading today:

1. Nightmares! by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller
2. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
3. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
4. Psycho by Robert Bloch
5. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
6. The Haunted by Robert Curran
7. The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson
8. Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King (or at least A Good Marriage and Big Driver so I can watch the movies soon)
9. Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge
10. The Haunted Forest Tour by James A. Moore and Jeff Strand

Obviously, I won't read all of these, but I had a hard time choosing which books to read today, so I decided I would just add lots of books to my stack and have lots of choices. I chose mostly horror classics that I haven't read yet, because I thought it would be the perfect time to read them with Halloween coming soon and just because I love horror.

Here's the snacks I plan on eating:

• Bits & Bites
• Screme Egg brownies
• assorted Halloween candy
• assorted K-cups
• Starbucks Doubleshot Vanilla Energy Drink

I didn't get many snacks, but my boyfriend will be home today, so I planned on him providing most of the food (he's a really good cook).

Opening Meme:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Oakville, Ontario
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Nightmares! by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller because I really wanted to read it and my boyfriend got it for my birthday and gave it to me a day early so I could have it for the read-a-thon.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
The Starbucks energy drinks because I'm addicted to them. Oh, and the Screme Egg brownies because I made them special for today.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
Tomorrow is my birthday! I will be 27-years-old. Yep, I would rather read for 24 hours for my birthday than party. I'm not much of a party girl.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?
I want to read more than I did last time, so I'm going to try to focus on reading rather than doing challenges.