Stacking The Shelves and Sunday Post

This meme is hosted by Tynga over at Team Tynga's Reviews, which she describes as follows:

"Stacking The Shelves is all about the books we are adding to our shelves each week, sharing with you our excitement for our newest titles and maybe have you discover a new book in the process!"

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

I have quite a few more leaves than that, but you wouldn't know it because they're buried under this white stuff.

I do love this time of year! We had a whopping nine trick-or-treaters this year! I think that's up from last year. We certainly do have kids in the area, but I think many of them either do indoor "safe" Halloween events or drive into different areas where the houses aren't so far apart and the driveways aren't so long. Here are the jack-o-lanterns that we carved:

My older daughter carved this one herself

This one is mine

This was an Audible Daily Deal that I bought (and already listened to) this week:

Burnt Offerings
by Robert Marasco



This is Tantor Audio's free monthly download (audio plus e-book), which you can grab HERE:

The Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett


Recap: Last Week On The Blog

Sunday: Stacking the Shelves and Sunday Post

Monday: It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite Scary Books and Movies

Tuesday: RIPXII Peril of the Group Read Discussion Post for Slade House by David Mitchell

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

Thursday Audiobook Review: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Thursday: Chapter Break October Bookish Bingo Wrap-up Post

Friday Book Review: Dust by Joan Frances Turner

Friday: FrightFall Read-a-Thon Wrap-up Post

Saturday: October Wrap-up

What books have you added to your shelves this week? If you are also participating in either of these memes, please leave me the link to your blog post in the comments so that I can come and drool over all your goodies!

October Wrap-up

Time just seems to be flying by! We have less than two months until Christmas!! On the homefront, getting the yard ready for winter seems endless! I have bagged only 35 bags of leaves so far (I did 60 bags last year), but we already have snow so I don't think I'll be able to get any more done this year. I also didn't have time to clean out my gutters. However, I did put new weatherstripping on my door and hopefully that will help keep the draft out.

I had a good month of reading! The upside of all those outdoor chores is listening to audiobooks while I work. I finished ten books this month, and that's my highest for 2017. I only hit ten books one other month so far, in January, and that's because I was on holidays for part of it.

Since this is the second month of the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril XII Challenge and the month of FrightFall, all my books are either horror or mysteries (except for the one I read aloud to my daughter).

FROM MY BOOKSHELF:

4 stars

Afraid to Die

(To Die, Book #4)

by Lisa Jackson

3 stars

It

by Stephen King

3 stars

The Turn of the Screw

by Emma Thompson

4 stars

Dust

(The Resurgam Trilogy, Book #1)

by Joan Frances Turner

4 stars

Burnt Offerings

by Robert Marasco

Beauty and the Beast Novelization

by Elizabeth Rudnick

[review to follow]

FROM THE LIBRARY

5 stars

In a Dark, Dark Wood

by Ruth Ware

4 stars

Slade House

by David Mitchell

REVIEW COPIES

4 stars

There's Someone Inside Your House

by Stephanie Perkins

4 stars
Two Nights

by Kathy Reichs

In a Dark, Dark Wood is, by far, my favourite of the month! It was creepy, and I just loved it. I love haunted house stories, so my next favourites are Slade House and Burnt Offerings. I am still enjoying Jackson's To Die series, and I already own the rest of them.

I didn't read any real duds. All of the books that I read were enjoyable. If I had to pick my least favourite, it would be a toss up between The Turn of the Screw and It: The former one because of the ambiguous ending, and the latter one because of its length (45 hrs, or 1,116 pages). It seriously could have been pared down. I enjoy King, but you need serious commitment to get through his books which is a bit of a turnoff for me.

I discovered seven new authors, and I continued on in one series (Jackson's To Die) and started a new one (Turner's The Resurgam Trilogy). This is my second read from Ware, and I'm totally loving her! Both reads were five stars for me, and I can't wait to read her The Lying Game that was released in the summer. I didn't realize that Mitchell's Slade House is set in the same world as his The Bone Clocks, so I've requested those CDs from the library.

January Wrap-up: 10 books

[3 shelf-love, 5 library, 2 review]

February Wrap-up: 9 books

[2 shelf-love, 5 library, 2 review]

March Wrap-up: 7 books

[5 shelf-love, 2 review]

April Wrap-up: 8 books

[6 shelf-love, 2 review]

May Wrap-up: 8 books

[1 shelf-love, 1 library, 6 review]

June Wrap-up: 9 books

[1 shelf-love, 3 library, 5 review]

July Wrap-up: 6 books

[2 library, 4 review]

August Wrap-up: 8 books
[4 shelf-love, 2 library, 2 review]

September Wrap-up: 4 books
[2 shelf-love, 1 library, 1 review]

October Wrap-up: 9 books
[6 shelf-love, 2 library, 2 review]

Year to date total: 79 books

[30 shelf-love, 21 library, 28 review]

So, how was your October? What was your favourite book? Least favourite? Please let me know in the comments! I'd love to add your favourites to my TBR :)

FrightFall Read-a-Thon: Wrap-up Post #FrightFall @truebookaddict

This is my Wrap-up Post for the 

FrightFall Read-a-Thon!

I finished nine books 

(seven audiobooks and two paperbacks from my dusty bookshelf):

4 stars
Afraid to Die

(To Die, Book #4)

by Lisa Jackson
[paperback]

3 stars
It
by Stephen King
[on my iPod]

4 stars

There's Someone Inside Your House

by Stephanie Perkins

[on my iPod]

5 stars
In a Dark, Dark Wood
by Ruth Ware
[on my iPod]

4 stars
Slade House
by David Mitchell

3 stars
The Turn of the Screw
by Henry James

4 stars
Dust

(The Resurgam Trilogy, Book #1)

by Joan Frances Turner
[paperback]

Two Nights
by Kathy Reichs
[on my iPod]

Burnt Offerings
by Robert Marasco
[on my iPod]


Still Reading:

The Shining

(The Shining, Book #1)

by Stephen King
[on my iPod]

The Troop

by Nick Cutter
[paperback]

I never did get to any of the short series that Michelle was featuring at Castle Macabre for Season of the Witch, nor did I get to her read-a-long for The Mummy. After listening to It for three weeks of September and nine days in October (about four weeks of listening to this tome at 45 hrs long!), I really just wanted to read what I felt like.

Stats:
Books finished = 9
Pages read = 937
Listening time = 62 hours, 39 minutes

If I go by the page numbers for the printed editions of the audiobooks I listened to, that's a total of 2,935 pages read so I'm very impressed with that! I had a great month of reading, and I actually finished a total of ten books (I read Beauty and the Beast aloud to my daughter, but I didn't count it because it didn't exactly fit as a "frightful" read). I think it's because there was a lot of outdoor chores like raking leaves where I could listen while I worked.

Thanks again to Michelle at Seasons of Reading for hosting! I'm looking forward to digging out my Christmas books next!!

#Book #Review: 4 out of 5 stars for Dust by #JoanFrancesTurner @AceRocBooks #RIPXII #FrightFall

TITLE: Dust

SERIES: The Resurgam Trilogy, Book #1
AUTHOR: Joan Frances Turner

PUBLISHER: Ace

PUBLICATION DATE: October 4, 2011

FORMAT: Paperback
LENGTH: 384 pages

GENRE: Horror/Zombies

ISBN: 9780441020690

Nine years ago, Jessie was in a car crash and died. After she was buried, she awoke and tore through the earth to arise, reborn, as a zombie. And there were others-gangs of undead roaming the Indiana woods, fighting, hunting, hidden. But when a mysterious illness threatens the existence of both zombies and humans, Jessie must decide whether to stay and fight or flee to survive...

MY REVIEW: 

This was a unique spin on a zombie story, telling the story from the zombies’ point of view. The main character, Jessie, was killed in a car crash with her parents when she was just 15 years old. After her rebirth, she joined a gang called the “Fly-by-Nights” whose initiation involves getting the crap beaten out of you. Assuming you survive, you’re in! The zombies or “undead” can communicate telepathically, which is a good thing since many of them have no vocal cords left due to the deterioration of their bodies. 

Jessie goes back to the cemetery where she was buried nine years earlier, and she finds her older sister Lisa there. She tries to communicate with Lisa, but she just ends up terrifying her. Lisa told Jim, their brother, about seeing Jessie and he is convinced that the undead are still thinkers and can communicate. He works for a lab, which was tinkering with viruses to try to find a method to eradicate the undead. Jim had his own agenda, however. He wanted to find a way to make the undead human again. He secretly mutated the specimens before they were released, and his plan was successful. Not only did the undead stop decaying but they grew new flesh, but Jim did not count on how the mutation would affect the living.

I really liked how Turner humanized the zombies. Her undead don’t just stumble around saying “More brains!” Their gang has a hierarchy, with a leader and rules. Turner showed us how they care about and for one another, even though they didn’t exactly express their feelings in the usual ways. My favourite character was Florian, and I was a little bummed about how he ended up. 

I already own the next book in the trilogy, Frail, and I’m looking forward to continuing with the series.

MY RATING:

4 stars!! It was really good, and you should put it on your TBR list if you're a zombie fan!

This book qualifies as:

#76 for my 2017 You Read How Many Books Reading Challenge

#76 for my 2017 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge

#76 for my 2017 Pages Read Challenge
#50 for my Women Challenge #5

#26 for my Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2017

#26 for my Rock My TBR 2017 Reading Challenge

#58 for my Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge

#54 for my The Backlist Reader Challenge 2017
#32 for my Serious About Series Reading Challenge
#51 for my New Authors Reading Challenge 2017
#53 for my 2017 New To Me Challenge
#19B for my 2017 Literary Escapes Challenge

#17 for my 2017 Horror Reading Challenge
#20 for my What An Animal Reading Challenge 2017
#22 for my 2017 Paranormal Reading Challenge
#10 for my Bookish Fall Bingo 2017

#6 for my Chapter Break Bingo October 2017
Task #15 for my Goodreads Fall 2017 Scavenger - Celebrating the Mayflower

#10 for my Peril the First of R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril XII Challenge

#7 for my FrightFall Read-a-Thon

View all my reviews

Chapter Break October Bookish Bingo: Wrap-up Post @juliecookies @lynnmpoppe

This is my Wrap-up Post for the monthly challenge hosted by Julie & Lynn at Chapter Break.

22/25 SQUARES COMPLETED (with the FREE space)

1. Afraid to Die by Lisa Jackson (To Die, Book #4) - Completes 5 squares: In a series, Shelf love,  Pets, Orange or brown cover, Candy/sweets
2. It by Stephen King - Completes 5 squares: Spooky, Clown, Squad/friends, Reluctant hero, Audio book
3. There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins - Completes 4 squares: Free book, Bad boy, Outcast, Fall (the Season)
4. In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware - Completes 3 squares: Love triangle, Library book, Deception
5. Slade House by David Mitchell - Completes 1 square: Costumes
6. Dust by Joan Frances Turner (The Resurgam Trilogy, Book #1) - Completes 2 squares: Cemetery, Humor/sassy/sarcasm
7. Two Nights by Kathy Reichs - Completes 1 square: Festival

That was fun! Thanks for hosting, Julie & Lynn!

#Audiobook #Review: 3 out of 5 stars for The Turn of the Screw by Henry James #RIPXII #FrightFall

TITLE: The Turn of the Screw

AUTHOR: Henry James

NARRATORS: Richard Armitage (introduction) and Emma Thompson

PUBLISHER: Audible Studios

PUBLICATION DATE: October 24, 2016 (first published 1891)

FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook

LENGTH: 4 hrs and 40 mins

GENRE: Classics, Horror, Gothic

This version of The Turn of the Screw features a soundtrack that includes music and sound effects designed to enhance the listening experience. We will send you a survey in the next few weeks to ask for your feedback on this version. Your feedback will be very helpful and is much appreciated.
Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Emmy winner Emma Thompson lends her immense talent and experienced voice to Henry James' Gothic ghost tale, The Turn of the Screw.

When a governess is hired to care for two children at a British country estate, she begins to sense an otherworldly presence around the grounds. Are they really ghosts she's seeing? Or is something far more sinister at work?

Having performed in films based on some of the greatest works in literature - including Sense and Sensibility, Howards End, Much Ado About Nothing, and Henry V - Thompson is no stranger to the classics, and she lends a graceful eloquence to this moody, macabre story. Joined by listener favorite Richard Armitage, who performs the prologue, Thompson reinvigorates this psychological thriller of life, death, evil, and the unknown.

MY REVIEW: 

In the book’s prologue, a Christmas Eve party is in full swing and the revelers are telling each other stories. One of the party-goers, Douglas, tells about a story that was recorded in a manuscript by his sister’s governess who is now deceased.

The rest of the story is told from the point of view of the governess, so I presume that this is being told as it was written in the manuscript.

The story takes place in England at a country home named Bly. A governess was hired by a man to care for his niece and nephew, and he moves them to Bly which he thinks is better suited for the children. Meanwhile, he stays at a different house in town and the children, Miles and his younger sister Flora, never see their uncle. They live with a housekeeper, Mrs. Grose. The governess is enchanted by Miles and Flora, and she can scarcely believe when Miles comes home with a note from the school informing her that he has been expelled. She can’t imagine what he could have possibly done, but she disregards the note and never questions Miles about it!

The governess sees a man prowling around on the property and peeping in the windows and, later, a woman. From the governess’ descriptions, Mrs. Grose deduces that the man is Peter Quint and the woman is Miss Jessel, both of whom used to work at Bly but both are now deceased. The governess is determined to protect the children from the ghosts, although no one else has seen the ghosts except for her.

I won’t spoil the ending, but the interpretation is ambiguous. I don’t know whether the governess imagined the ghosts, or whether they were real!

Richard Armitage narrated the prologue, and Emma Thompson narrated the rest of the story. Both were wonderful. Thompson made the governess sound a bit mad, so that definitely influences my opinion on the state of the governess’ mind. I quite enjoyed this enhanced audio production, with sound effects and music. I loved hearing the crackling of the fire during the prologue, and the other nice touches like horse’s hooves. It added to the setting of the story and made me feel like I was there.

There are numerous different film adaptations, including: 1974 starring Lynn Redgrave, 1992 starring Patsy Kensit, 1999 starring Jodhi May, and 2009 starring Michelle Dockery. Which one to start with?!

MY RATING:

3 stars!! It was good, and I enjoyed it!

This book qualifies as:

#75 for my 2017 You Read How Many Books Reading Challenge

#75 for my 2017 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge

#75 for my 2017 Pages Read Challenge

#46 for my 2017 Audiobook Challenge

#46 for my Audio Books Reading Challenge 2017
#25 for my Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2017
#25 for my Rock My TBR 2017 Reading Challenge

#57 for my Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge

#53 for my The Backlist Reader Challenge 2017
#50 for my New Authors Reading Challenge 2017
#52 for my 2017 New To Me Challenge

Bonus #5I for my 2017 Literary Escapes Challenge

#30 for my Monthly Mix-up Mania
#16 for my 2017 Book to Movie Reading Challenge
#5 for my 2017 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
#4 for my Back to the Classics Challenge 2017
#4 for my Classic Horror Reading Challenge 2017
#16 for my 2017 Horror Reading Challenge
#19 for my What An Animal Reading Challenge 2017
#21 for my 2017 Paranormal Reading Challenge
#9 for my Bookish Fall Bingo 2017

#9 for my Peril the First of R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril XII Challenge
#6 for my FrightFall Read-a-Thon

View all my reviews

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant @seananmcguire @orbitbooks

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tessa @ Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they're books that have yet to be released as well. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine. Find out more here.

Here is this week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection:

TITLE: Into the Drowning Deep

SERIES: Rolling in the Deep, Book #1
AUTHOR: Mira Grant

PUBLISHER: Orbit

EXPECTED PUBLICATION DATE: November 14, 2017

FORMAT: Hardcover

LENGTH: 512 pages

GENRE: Horror. Science Fiction

ISBN: 9780316379403

Seven years ago, the Atargatis set off on a voyage to the Mariana Trench to film a “mockumentary” bringing to life ancient sea creatures of legend. It was lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a maritime tragedy.

Now, a new crew has been assembled. But this time they’re not out to entertain. Some seek to validate their life’s work. Some seek the greatest hunt of all. Some seek the truth. But for the ambitious young scientist Victoria Stewart this is a voyage to uncover the fate of the sister she lost.

Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the waves.

But the secrets of the deep come with a price.

This author is new to me, but I have her Parasite on my bookshelf waiting to be read. This one sounds like it would be pretty terrifying.

What are you waiting on? Please leave a comment in the section below. If you participate in this meme, please leave a link so I can visit your blog!