Get Lost in Literature

Today's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl , is all about Books I Was Assigned to Read in School. I've been a lifelong avid reader, but I was always that student that once a story was assigned, I was unlikely to want to read it. Like accidental reverse psychology, I can count on one hand the number of books assigned that I actually liked... three of which made today's list. 1. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - I've read 2 Steinbeck novels, this one, and The Red Pony  and I hated them both. I don't get the fascination with him. 2. Animal Farm by George Orwell - This is about communist pigs, if you like that sort of thing which I didn't. 3. The Outsiders by SE Hinton - I know a lot of people absolutely love this book, I'm just not one of them. 4. The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings - I was too young to be reading a story this upsetting. 5. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls - This was also upsetting. 6. The Eye in the Door by Pat

  "This is all you need, isn't it? Just one good friend. Somebody you can be stupid with. Somebody who'll peel you off the ground, prop you against the wall." Ricky, Lewis, Cass, and Gabe have been friends for a long time, but the ten-year anniversary of a hunting trip gone wrong is upon them and no one wants to talk about it. And now an entity is stalking them, like a shotgun blast from the past. This book was okay but I wasn't wowed. I liked the characters; they were all a little rough around the edges and it gave them an air of realness because they weren't perfect angels. Sometimes it's the imperfections that matter most. The book blurb on GoodReads states, "... a novel that is equal parts psychological horror and cutting social commentary on identity politics and the American Indian experience."  And I know when it came out it was one of the best horror novels of 2020. That's how it got added to my TBR list. Now it's officially been

Book Beginnings on Fridays  by  Rose City Reader  -  Share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now. "Horror and fatality have been stalking abroad in all ages. Why then give a date to this story I have to tell?" -  Metzengerstein by Edgar Allan Poe Feuding nobles and a haunted horse. You really can't go wrong with Edgar Allan Poe. Book Blogger Hop Do you have a favorite book or author you turn to every October to celebrate Halloween? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer) I can't really narrow it down to just one author there are too many good ones out there. As repetitively stated, I absolutely love John Ajvide Lindqvist and have re-read his stories multiple times. But Bram Stoker and Edgar Allan Poe are also on the list of re-readables. But October is the one month I'm not likely to re-read, preferring instead

I've been a longtime fan of The Wicked Years and, because of Wicked , I have picked up as many as Gregory Maguire's books as I could. After I applied for the ARC, I sat in front of the computer screen chanting, "They'll never approve me, my blog is too small, they'll never approve me, my blog is too small..." Then a week later I got approved. Needless to say, I was pretty excited. The story starts in Quadling country with Elphie as a toddler, her mother still alive and her father trying unsuccessfully to start a mission. Like the title says, it follows her childhood as she grows up. I really liked most  of this book. The tone is sarcastic, almost playful, and sometimes a bit jaded. Elphie is portrayed as morally ambiguous, the same as when she's an adult so the evolution of Elphie rings true. She has a vicious sibling rivalry with her sister and watches on as her brother raises havoc everywhere he goes. Her curiosity is insatiable, and it runs alongside a

  Happy Sunday and welcome to my Sunday Post. The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer . I will be posting on the first Sunday of every month and I hope you'll join me. My weather report for the month of September is 'delightfully sunny.' But there's been a chill in the evening air that wasn't there before, leaving an undeniable truth: Summer is over. My posts were few for the month. My cable provider wants us to update the boxes and our punishment for failure to comply is that our internet doesn't work as often as it should. The company is living life old-school with a, "You want it, come and get it." I'm just not desperate enough...yet. The reviews I did manage to get posted were: Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey (available 2/11/2025) The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty My reviews for the month of October will include and ARC of  Elphie by Gre

Book Beginnings on Fridays by Rose City Reader - Share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now. "BIGFOOT DESTROYS TOWN. That was the title of an article I received not long after the Mount Ranier eruption. I thought it was spam, the inevitable result of so much online research." Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Ranier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks  It's October! Okay, this book is a little out there, but it delivers on chills and thrills, which is what I'm after this month. Book Blogger Hop Q: Are there any books that you find particularly creepy or unpleasant, even if they aren't horror novels? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer.  A:  Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice.  The movie and the tv show introduce this super intense relationship between Louis and Lestat but the book makes them come of

Today's Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl) subject was supposed to be Books I Read/Avoided Because of the Hype , but I couldn't really think of more than two. So today I've decided to post my own list, Books That Should Be TV Shows , because sometimes you think, "Yeah, I'd watch that." The Unidentified by Colin Dickey.  - This book is a paranormal documentary, and while I'm sure some of the stories and subjects in this book have been covered by other paranormal documentaries, this is the first one I found that was trying to explain why we hold on so tightly to things that in all probability, just aren't real. It deserves to be a mini series at least. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue  by VE Schwab  - A book about a girl possessing the gift of immortality and the curse of forgettability.  Wanderers by Chuck Wendig . - A dystopia about a mysterious pandemic; I'm don't think a movie could do it justice... I'm not a hundred percen