First read of the year was excellent! I was hoping for more between the two MCs, but the fact that a sequel si coming out with some of the same characters has mullified me. Nail-biting serial killer YA, but great for anyone, if you can handle the more gruesome bits. It also handles the whole "what happens next" aspect of the final girl trope in a more nuanced way than I've seen. Would definitely recommend! ? #bookspin

Stave 5 and the end! I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season, wherever you are. Thanks for reading with me! #acaroladay

Stave 3! More than halfway through! #acaroladay

I always love going through the past best, and Arthur Rackham's illustrations are making it even better!

#acaroladay #winterreadathon

'If I could work my will ... every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.'

We're off to a Grinchy start! I'd forgotten how much I love Dickens' language. His imagery is so vivid!

#acaroladay #winterreadathon

#ACarolADay readalong starts tomorrow! Join us while we read Dickens' classic stave by stave as we count down to Christmas.

Not cupcakes, but my sister-in-law made these wonderful pokémon cakes for my son and neice a few months ago! Aren't they amazing? 😍

#winterreadalongdailychallenge

Saw this at the bookstore and had to snap a pic! This graphic memoir is SO excellent -- raw and real. I picked it up after I found out Maia Kobabe is also a long-time lover of Witch Please -- my fav podcast -- and I'm so glad I did!!

@Addison_Reads, just sae that you recommended this one today too! Great minds!!

#adventrecommends

My current read! Trying to catch up to #whimsicalreads and using this as the perfect excuse for some peppermint hot cocoa! ☕

#winterreadathondailychallenge #winterreadathon #midwintersolsticegames #wintercosybingo #gingerathon #holidaybookbingo #holidayromancebingo

We haven't made any gingerbread houses yet, but we did make ice cream cone Christmas trees and marshmallow snowman at our family Christmas party! My eldest son's creations were fantastically disturbing. Grandma was on point with the kids activities! 🌲🍭⛄

#winterreadathondailychallenge
#winterreadathon

I'm late in the post, but wanted to share my post for #NationalPetDay! We had a little Luna for about a month this fall and were so sad to have to give him away!! I ended up being so allergic that I'm still reacting to our house two months later. Luckily, we found him a wonderfully home and family. 🐶💕

#winterreadalongdailychallenge

😍

My hubby knows me too well!!

#winterreadathondailychallenge
#christmascard

My mom and I last Christmas! You can't quite see my Christmas sweater, but it's a reindeer, and it's currently hiding out somewhere in my garage. Hoping to get a bookish one this year! 🧑🏻‍🎄

#winterreadathondailychallenge

“The pink candle for the third week [of Advent] symbolizes joy.“

I love this book!! Would recommend for anyone wanting to bring the season of Advent into their home at Christmas. 🕯️

#adventrecommends #joy #winterreadathondailychallenges

A fun collection! I always love Sarah Andersen. 🎄

#adventrecommends

This book was such a happy surprise! I read it in a rush over the summer. I love how quirky and relatable it is. I've always been forgetful, but now that I have long covid, it's gotten significantly worse. I felt seen, even if our situations are entirely different. I think what I loved most though was the rhythm, short and snappy. It's hard to explain, but I love books like this!

#adventrecommends

#AdventRecommends

I read these books for an education course recently and loved them all!!! A multimodal mashup, Ain't Burned All the Bright is a breath-taking look at what it means to be Black in America; Beauty Woke is a modern Sleeping Beauty retelling told through poetry and vibrant illustrations; and Cultivating Genius both historicizes the systemic racism in our educational system and is a master class on teaching children's hearts.

#WinterReadathonDailyChallenge catch-up:

We love the new Scrooge movie over here, specifically "Thank You Very Much," which reminds me a lot of the song "Good Afternoon" from Spirited.

I was so behind on getting out the kids' advent calendar that they each got three books today!

And for St. Nicholas Day I ordered myself this amazing hardcover of Hogfather! I've always wanted to get into Terry Pratchett and decided this Christmas was the time.

Excuted to read this cozy Christmas classic with all my Litten friends! Y'all always help make holidays so magical. ✨

It starts Dec. 20th for anyone interested! #acaroladay

#winterreadathondailychallenge

Does this count as a candle?

These books are delightful! Caitlin Doughty has a wonderfully wry way about talking about death that (I think) instantly puts you at ease. The first one (Smoke Gets In Your Eyes) is a memoir about working at a crematory, the second (From Here To Eternity) a look at death rituals around the world and the third (Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?) an answer book of all things death related. ‎️‍

#winterreadalongdailychallenge

I absolutely LOVED my first read of the month!

Lute follows American transplant and lady of the island Nina Treadway on “The Day“ — when seven of the island's residents must pay the tithe. With echoes of “The Lottery“ by Shirley Jackson and Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, this slowly horrifying read did not disappoint!!

#winterreadathon #adventathon #midwintersolstice #fantasticstrangelings

“Now a great howling rose up all around them, near, very near, ...
Who has come to sing us carols, she said.
Those are the voices of my brothers, darling; I love the company of wolves.“

In "The Company of Wolves," a surprisingly festive retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf and his brothers are born on Christmas Day, when “the door of the solstice stands wide open.“

#winterreadathondailychallenge @andrew_65

I listened to this book on audio and it was incredible, so raw and real. McCurdy deals with some really difficult trauma in here, but I felt instantly drawn into her story and would highly recommend it! 💕🌻

If you liked this book, I'd also recommend watching Jeanette McCurdy chat with Jenny Lawson. I stopped watching this midway to buy the audiobook, lol. https://youtu.be/z7nDOCfLnpE

#adventrecommends @emilyrose_x

I'm using #adventrecommends to catch up on some reviews I didn't get to this year!

I was honestly surprised by how much I LOVED this book. I've been on a vampire kick lately, mostly classics, and I'm not super into post-apocalyptic stuff, but this thing got it's fangs into me early and I'm SO glad it didn't let go! This was addictive and sexy, and yet I feel like it also let you grapple with the horror. Highly recommend!! 💙🧛🏼‍♀️

My first festive #bookmail! I plan on finishing these beauties, A Christmas Carol (#acaroladay), The Snow Queen (#childrensclassicread2022), a collection of Poe's poetry and a short intro to Gothic lit for the #midwintersolstice games, #winterreadathon and #adventathon. I'm going for a spooky holiday vibe, if you can't tell. 👻

#winterreadathondailychallenge #whimsicalreads

We're reading A Christmas Carol as a lead up to Christmas Day, if you'd like to join in! Everyone is welcome. Please use #ACarolADay so we can all follow along together. We start December 20th and will be reading a chapter (or stave) a day. 🌲

#litsyevents #readalong #buddyread

Grandma took the kids so I could watch the author of this amazing collection, Fatimah Asghar, do a reading. I got to read and watch with my Thanksgiving leftovers and pomegranate soda; it was so lovely and relaxing!!

And this collection truly is so amazing and powerful. Highly recommend!!!

Anyone want to do A Christmas Carol read-along? I was thinking about a chapter-a-day countdown to Christmas, starting December 20. I've been reading a lot of Gothic lit lately and am excited to look for those themes in Dickens' classic.

#buddyread #readalong #christmas

A blurb from Silvia Moreno Garcia and Jenny Lawson approved?? Sign me up every time! Can't wait to get into this one. #bookmail

Truly TERRIFYING!!! You've been warned. ☠️

So excited to hang with the #PemberLittens again!

I love Jane Eyre, but other than listening to BBC Radio and an abridgement of Villette, I've never read any of Charlotte Brontë's other works. I'm so excited to finally read this one!! ❤💜

It is, alas, the end of #Scarathlon2022. My points for this last week are below. Thank you so much @Clwojick & @StayCurious for all your hard work! It's been a blast!!

Week 4: 17,330 & Total: 57,301 👻

#TeamSlaughter

Me: Can't believe I read fifteen books and didn't get a [bookspin] bingo!

Hubby: Well, if you'd known the board beforehand...

Me: I did.

Hubby: Oh.

#bookspinbingo #littenlisten #autumnbingo2022 #bodycountbingo #teamslaughter

Only 3 movie bingos! #teamslaughter #scarathlon

“Too much of anything isn‘t good for anyone.“

#evil #ominousoctober
#teamslaughter

🧛🏻‍♀️

#dead #ominousoctober
#teamslaughter

So excited for this one! First up: “The Body Snatchers“ by Robert Louis Stevens. 🧿

#zombies #scarthlondailyprompts
#teamslaughter

This book is crazy pants! I really enjoyed it. I love that the big bad is flying armor and I really had no idea what was coming next. So much happens in such a short book! ☠️

#death #scarathlondailyprompts
#teamslaughter

Such a wonderful — and beautiful — look at the imaginations of the Brontë sisters (and their bother) as children! Isabel Greenberg is such an excellent #story-teller and artist. I really felt like I was stepping into the beginnings of genius.

#scarathlondailyprompts #scarathlon
#teamslaughter

Loved this one! I mean, book vampires — of course I did! 🧛🏻‍♀️

#wicked #ominousoctober
#teamslaughter

I'm so glad I gave Dracula another chance! I enjoyed the writing the first time around, but got bogged down as the story kept going and going. The second time I did an all-night Dracuthon and there was something about it. Either everyone's excitement infected me or it was better free of expectations, but I loved it! Obvs there are some racist/cultural things of it's time I don't agree with, but I'm so glad my class that made me re-read it! 🧛

So excited to finally start this one!

“There is something #missing from me. Sometimes I forget it's gone, and try to use it, like I see other people doing. But you can't hold a teacup with a phantom hand, and soon enough I am reminded of what is missing.“

#scarathlondailyprompts #scarathlon
#teamslaughter

“The Real Me: I am tired of ... pretend[ing] that I am a trim little housewife in a Mother Hubbard stirring up appetizing messes over a wood stove. I live in a dank old place with a #ghost that stomps around in the attic room we've never gone into (I think it's walled up), and the first thing I did when we moved in was to make charms in black crayon on all the door sills and window ledges.“

#ominousoctober #scarathlon
#teamslaughter

❤❤❤

#clue #scarathlondailyprompts
#teamslaughter

Surprisingly appropriate for #OminousOctober!

“Their moon-bleached #bones, rattling gently when the soft wind blows.“ 🥀💀

#teamslaughter #scarathlon

I loved this magical little novella! I haven't heard great things about the follow-up though, so I'm unsure whether I'll try. ❤️💙🖤

#curse #scarathlondailyprompts

My favorite cat in literature! And my favorite depiction. 🙀

#cat #ominousoctober #teamslaughter

@Clwojick, here are my points for last week! 12,194 pts for week three and 39,971 total. Thanks for all that you've been doing!! 👻

#scarathlon2022 #teamslaughter

If you're looking for something gothic, haunting and witchy, I'd recommend The Hacienda! This stuff is, admittedly, my jam, but I loved this one!! ❤

#wizards #ominousoctober #teamslaughter