Bookquarium

I thought it would be fun to do a post about our favorite Halloween reads. These could be books that are specifically about Halloween or Halloween-themed, or just books that get us into the Halloween spirit or that we get moved to read at that Halloween-y time of year.  For your convenience, my (Elley Otter) bits will be orange and Peekaboo's will be purple (because those are Halloween colors to me, OK?)  I'll start: Howl's Moving Castle There's nothing overtly Halloween-y about Howl's Moving Castle , but for whatever reason I always get the tingles to give it a reread around Halloween. Maybe it's the wizards and witches and fire demons, maybe it's that animated scarecrow with the turnip head giving me the fall vibes, but Howl's Moving Castle is always on my list of Halloween reads.   Flight or Fright I definitely go in for "read ALL the scary things around Halloween!", and this anthology, put together by Bev Vin...

Hi All! WhaleSnark here once again! Peekaboo the Octopus challenged me for the Blog-o-ween thingy so here goes!  I love Halloween! It's my favourite holiday besides International Whale Shark Day. :D  Use  #Ween18 to see posts from me this month! Witches A Book or Character that is Magical. Arianwyn in The Apprentice Witch and A Witch Alone by James Nicol. Wyn is really adept at using magic, and is especially good with making charms.  Mummies A Book or Character You Can’t Wrap Your Mind Around. Bleeeeh um, so many. I guess I'll pick Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. I hated the book. It was so pretentious and Diamond's hypotheses about why human society ended up where it is were nauseating to read in college. I just remember hating it with a passion, and so did everyone else in my World History class. Vampires A Book, Series, or Author You Can’t Live Without. The Guardians of Ga'Hoole series by Kathryn Lasky. A. Owls B. Dystopia...

It's the MOST wonderful time of the year! That's right! It's Halloween season!! (Which goes from Oct 1-Oct 31, but hey, why not start a little earlier? My decs went up in September.) One of our fellow tank dwellers, the lovely Elley Otter over at her personal book blo g, challenged me to do this as part of #blogoween. It's a month-long event hosted by several different bloggers, specifically celebrating the greatest holiday this world has ever known. (More info here!) So here goes!! Witch: a magical character or book How can I not give a shoutout to my very favorite magic users of all time, the good folks at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? I went through lists of witch books, and kept coming back to all the badass ladies of the Harry Potter universe, and how deeply I loved them.  Werewolf: a perfect book to read at night Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan is all about how science gives us hope in a world full of scary shit. It d...

I am a big fan of horror, and I prefer my horror with a side of the paranormal, as opposed to creepy serial killers. So when Edelweiss was like "hey, check out this creepy new horror featuring the Melmoth the wanderer legend (of which I was entirely unfamiliar) I was like heck yes! Sign me up!! I was not disappointed! I went into this one pretty blind, except for the fact that Harper Collins and their fabulous book review squad said this one was creepy and excellent. (They were right.) Summary:   For centuries, the mysterious dark-robed figure has roamed the globe, searching for those whose complicity and cowardice have fed into the rapids of history’s darkest waters—and now, in Sarah Perry’s breathtaking follow-up to  The Essex Serpent , it is heading in our direction. It has been years since Helen Franklin left England. In Prague, working as a translator, she has found a home of sorts—or, at least, refuge. That changes when her friend Karel discovers a mysterious lett...

I love the ocean, as you all know, so this book was an especially compelling to read. Gosh, I really have to say how much I love this book cover too. It's visually stunning, and as usual, it gives insight into the contents of the book without spoiling. I talked about this book in one of my earlier posts, so forgive me for copying the synopsis again here. Why reinvent the wheel? " When her parents, the great marine scientists Dr. and Dr. Quail, are killed in a tragic accident, eleven-year-old Fidelia Quail is racked by grief — and guilt. It was a submarine of Fidelia’s invention that her parents were in when they died, and it was she who pressed them to stay out longer when the raging Undertow was looming. But Fidelia is forced out of her mourning when she’s kidnapped by Merrick the Monstrous, a pirate whose list of treasons stretches longer than a ribbon eel. Her task? Use her marine know-how to retrieve his treasure, lost on the ocean floor. But as Fidelia and the pira...

You know me, always snappy in my responses to things. Not. Two weeks later, I will give you the recap of our #ArcAugust readathon, and my general book life, but it's never a bad time to talk about books, amirite? The Readathon The Positives: -Getting to see Elley, and our friend Annie -Solid reading time. -Snaaaacks. (I love you, stuffed green olives and taco dip.) -I knocked out several of my books! Specifically: The Governess Game by Tessa Dare The Mansion by Ezekiel Boone The Ghost Photographer by Julie Rieger Stars Uncharted by S.K. Dunstall Done-zo. They were all actually surprisingly good. Would recommend any of them. The Negatives: -We ended up getting a hotel - which was cool - except we shared it with like 5 basket ball teams full of high school students, all of whom were consumed with hormones and the desire to swim, so our plans for a leisurely hot tub/pool read were dashed. Also teenagers don't know how to be quiet after 10 pm. -I could have used ...

Do you hear that rumbling in the distance? The stomping of tiny feet, growing louder and louder by the second, threatening to overtake us all? That, my friends, is the beginning of ArcAugust, which Elley and I will be celebrating by having a party. "What the hell is ArcAugust?!" you might be thinking. Let me clarify. ArcAugust is put on by the lovely people at Read.Sleep.Repeat  . The premise is "here's a great excuse to catch up on all those arcs from Net Galley/etc that you've requested but haven't quite gotten around to yet.  Elley and I decided to book a hotel room, load up on snackies, and spend the weekend getting a chunk of reading done. (Sometimes, reading is hard with small children and/or demanding cats around.) Here's my line-up for this weekend:         I'll probably post updates/etc on here so stay tuned for goodies. What are you reading this weekend? Love, Peeks.