October 1-8th Wrap- Up

October 1-8^th Wrap- Up

Current TBR List: 21
Currently Reading: 8
Books Finished in October: 5

So true to form. My TBR list has already changed. I feel like I am in a huge reading slump even though I am getting books done I am not deriving as much pleasure from them which is sad…I am hoping this is just because work is about to get super busy and stressful.

To start off the month I read Classic Ghost Stories edited by Molly Cooper. I read this for the @thecharmedbookclub bingo challenge over on Instagram. I enjoyed these short stories written by classic authors. Each story started with a brief intro on the author and how that specific piece came to be. I can see where these stories have built into our modern day tropes.

I also enjoyed the illustrations that went with the stories. I think they aligned well with the main point and conveyed the haunted image well.

With all anthologies though I had favorites and least favorites but overall this was a solid 3 star read for me.

I was then able to finish Don’t Let Go by Harlan Coben. This was a free e-book in exchange for an honest review. It was an okay book for me. I liked the overall plot but the execution was a little off on my personal taste. Detective Napolean “Nap” Dumas lost his twin brother one fateful evening in High School. He has forever been changed by that event. To make matters even worse, the one person that might know something has disappeared, until her fingerprints show up. As the body count starts ticking up again 15 years later the conspiracy theories start looking more like fact. What I didn’t like was that Nap talks and narrates to his dead brother. “Leo did you see that, Leo you liked that remember, Leo she used to do this, etc”.

I think I will try another of Harlan Coben’s novels since I did enjoy the overall story he told. I was able to use this to satisfy my first Road Trip square for “New Jersey” as well as my Mystery/Thriller category for the playoff rounds (both of these are @thecharmedbookclub challenges!)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak was my next read. I used it for the Young Adult category on the battle boards!

I can see why this is marked as young adult and why a lot of readers loved this book. I personally loved The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah more but that was more adult and I was better able to connect to the characters. That being said, The Book Thief was a really good book. I liked that it was told from Death’s perspective and followed Liesel almost exclusively. The side stories into the other characters were a nice touch. This is a story about a young foster girl living outside of Munich. It starts before Hitler was fully in power through to the end of his terrorist reign. It shows that the hews suffered but so did German citizens that dared to stand up for basic human rights. I think I loved Liesel’s foster father, Hans Hubermann, more than I loved her character.

Liesel loses her brother on her way to her foster family. As he is being buried she finds a book in the snow, The Gravedigger’s Handbook. As her nightmares grow Hans Huberman steps in and teaches her how to read from this book. As the war progresses and resources grow ever more scarce Liesel still manages to steal other books or are gifted them on special occasions. As she learns to read she shares them with her neighbors during bombing raids and the Jewish man hidden in her basement. I loved the importance that is placed on books and how they can keep light even in the darkest places. Books saved these people just as they saved me. It was very emotional read.

More creepy books for October, I listened to the audio book for The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This is a classic for a reason and I loved it as much as I did the first time I read it. I love the idea that multiple personalities can live in one body and not only distort the mind they inhabit but the physical appearance as well. Dr. Jekyll is a strong tall man and his twisted counterpart is small in stature. This is such a short story I would have loved for it to be longer but I guess it would have lost a lot of its appeal?

To finish the week I finished another bingo book, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. I absolutely loved this book and have no idea why it took me so long to get around to reading it. Merricat lives on an estate with her sister Constance, Uncle Julian and cat Jonas. They live very secluded lives after her sister is acquitted of murdering her entire family using arsenic laced sugar. They are content in their isolation until their Cousin Charles arrives. Merricat will do anything to keep her sister safe from the threat she sees in him.

This book is short but packed with horror. Read it slowly, carefully. Look at what the characters do and say. I can see why some people do not find it eerie if they do not pay attention to the little details.