Sunday, November 3, 2019

Sunday Post: Books, Books, and More Books!

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @  Caffeinated Book Reviewer!

Good Evening, Everyone!


Did everyone survive Halloween?

Halloween happens to be my favorite holiday but in recent years I've been less and less in the mood to celebrate it, mostly thanks to my depression, stress, and dealing with my grandmother's health issues. I used to decorate the font lawn with a creepy cemetery scene and other scary decorations but the last few Octobers have had rainy weather and resulted in me putting out only Jack-O-Lanterns. There had been a decline in trick-or-treaters in recent years. I would put together 140 treat bags full of candy and I would run out candy around 8pm. Then the number dropped to 75 trick-or-treaters, which left me with way too much candy. This year I put together only 100 bags. And then temperatures plummeted and Jack Frost decided to make it snow. Despite the cold, there were 76 trick-or-treaters.

I've been watching too many episodes of "Halloween Wars" as I'd convinced myself to carve something different on my pumpkin this year instead of the traditional Jack-O-Lantern. Thanks to Zombie Pumpkins, I found a patterns of Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees so I ended up carving two pumpkins this year. The trick-or-treaters and their parents loved the pumpkins! Several of the parents took pictures of them.

Here are the pumpkins:



What Am I Currently Reading?

I'm currently reading Met Her Match by Jude Devereux on my Kindle. I probably be finishing it sometime today. Due to the Doctor Sleep movie being released to theatres at the end of the week, I'm wanting to reread both The Shining and Doctor Sleep by Stephen King. If everything goes as planned, I'll be reading The Shining tomorrow and Doctor Sleep on Wednesday. Also, sometime during the week I'll be reading the Rise of the Gorgon by Galen Surlak-Ramsey, which is a fantasy eBook I got from NetGalley.


Recent Reviews

by Joe Hill
(13 Reads of Horror!)

by Charles L. Grant
(13 Reads of Horror!

(Blu-ray Review)

by Dean Koontz
(13 Reads of Horror!

by David Robbins
(13 Reads of Horror!)

by Jack Martin
(13 Reads of Horror!)

(Midnight Horror Review)

(Saturday Morning Nostalgia)

by James Patterson & Chris Grabenstein
(Back To School Reads)


What's In the Mail?

I've been putting together a last-minute "Holiday Gift Guide" (Nov. 29 - Dec. 19) and Gallery Books was kind enough to send over a copy of Noel Street by Richard Paul Evans. Expect my review/gift guide post to be published on Dec. 4th!

Sony Entertainment sent me the The Swan Princess: 25th Anniversary Blu-ray. I recall the movie being released to theatres in 1994 but I was a thirteen-year-old at the time and I was more into horror flicks than cartoons so I've never seen it.

Speaking of horror flicks, Lionsgate Home Entertainment sent me the 47 Meters Down: Uncaged Blu-ray and Mill Creek Entertainment sent over the new Blu-ray release of The Thing (the 2011 prequel). Mill Creek Entertainment also sent me the SAF3 2 DVD.


eBay Finds!

I've only read a few Star Wars books during my lifetime. Once upon a time, the novels were actually cannon to the movies, well, until Disney bought LucasFilms and the EU (Expanded Universe) was rebranded "Star Wars Legends." After the Ewoks television movies aired in the mid '80s, the Star Wars franchise was dormant until Heir to the Empire (book one in The Thrawn Trilogy) by Timothy Zahan was published in 1991. While Star Wars novels no longer get any media attention, Heir To The Empire had plenty of buzz upon its release. My mother gave me the book for my 10th birthday and I loved it at the time. I let a few classmates borrow the book. First the cover jacket went missing and then the book vanished into the thin air. Despite my love for the first installment, I never got a chance to read the sequels, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command.

With The Rise of Skywalker coming out in December, I've been wanting to read The Thrawn Trilogy. I was considering getting the eBooks for my Kindle but the titles are $7.99 each. Then it dawned on me to look on eBay for used copies. I ended up buying a hardcover of Heir to the Empire and paperbacks of Dark Force Rising and The Last Command. Additionally, I purchased a hardcover of Specter of the Past and a paperback of Visions of the Future, which are also written by Timothy Zahan. The hardcovers are in pretty good condition but two of the paperbacks needs some repair work. I bought all the books from one used book seller (Discover Books), who was having a "buy 3 books get 20% off" deal. Between the 20% off and a $5 eBay coupon I paid under $10 total (with free shipping) for the five books.  


Thrift Store Finds

You won't believe it but the local Salvation Army Thrift Store remodeled the books section! Instead of the old cheap Walmart bookshelves, there is now a huge bookshelf that covers the entire back wall. Well, actually I believe there are two bookshelves that are somewhow connected together. I didn't have my phone with me at the time or I would have taken a picture to show everyone. These aren't made out of cheap materials either; they're really nice. The left side has all the VHSs, DVDs, vinyl records, and CDs. The right side has all the books, which is basically the same amount of books they have been carrying for awhile now. I did pick up two Dean Koontz titles: Hideaway and The Face of Fear. I saw these books there last week but I didn't get them as I had to check to see if I'd already owned them. It turns out I do have them. Why did I buy duplicates? Well, they have different covers. Please, don't judge me!

 


  Dollar Tree Finds! 

My local Dollar Tree Store finally got in some new books and I picked up War of the Planet of the Apes by Greg Cox, Sawbones by William W. Johnstone with J.A. Johnstone, Talking As Fast As I Can by Lauren Graham, and The Third Kingdom by Terry Goodkind.

War of the Planet of the Apes is a novelization by Greg Cox. Despite the fact that I'm a fan of the Planet of the Apes films, I never got around to watching the last movie so I now I can read the novelization first.

FYI: I became a Gilmore Girls fan while flipping through channels on a Saturday afternoon many years. Eventually, I stopped the channel surfing when I came upon two women drinking more coffee than me. Let's just say I quickly became a fan and ended up buying all the DVD season sets. Anyway, that should explain why I wanted to read Taking As Fast As I Can by Lauren Graham.

Once in a great while, I will read a western or two and I typically stick with titles by William W. Johnstone, Max Brand, Matt Braun, Louis L'Amour, and Zane Grey, so I naturally grabbed Sawbones as soon as I saw it.

I don't believe I have ever read a book by Terry Goodkind but nevertheless, I now own his 2013 fantasy novel The Third Kingdom.


What's New on the Bookshelf?

There are a lot of new books on my Kindle! I won the titles Short Horror Stories: Volume 3 by Scare Street and Anger and Death by Ron Ripley from two LibraryThing giveaways. I received ARCs of The Englisch Daughter by Cindy & Erin Woodsmall and Perfect Little Children by Sophie Hannah from Edelweiss. My reviews will be posted next year near their release dates. From NetGalley, I received ARCs of A Longer Fall (book 2 of the Gunnie Rose series) by Charlaine Harris, Rise of the Gorgon by Galen Surlak-Ramsey, and Alien Vault: The Definitive Story Behind the Film, the latter is an Adobe Digital Edition so it's not on my Kindle. A Longer Fall will be reviewed in January, Alien Vault will be reviewed on Dec. 1st as a Holiday Gift Guide post, and I'll be reading Rise of the Gorgon as soon as a can.

I've eying the book "Paperbacks from Hell" by Grady Hendrix, which is about the creepy horror covers of the 1970s and 1980s, for along time now. The book was published a few years ago and it's the inspiration for a new line of books called "Paperbacks from Hell," which are new paperback reprints of old horror titles. Last Monday or Tuesday, I purchased the book for under $10 on eBay and I should be receiving it sometime this week. Coincidentally, it went on sale for $2.99 on as part of their Kindle monthly ebook deals! Even though I have the paperback ordered, I went ahead and bought the eBook version. I also purchased Hendrix's horror novel My Best Friend's Exorcism for $1.99, Gwendy's Button Box by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar for $2.99, and An Easy Death by Charlaine Harris (book one of the Gunnie Rose series). Additionally,  I downloaded Robert Bloch's Psycho Sanitarium by Chet Williamson, which is set in between Psycho and Psycho II, for $2.99.

8 comments:

  1. I used to do lots of decorating for Halloween, but I didn't do anything at all this year, and we only had like a dozen kids come to the door (the weather didn't help). I love your pumpkins---so cool!!

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Jason pumpkin wasn't too difficult to carve. I used a drill to make the smaller holes in the mask. The Michael Myers pumpkin took awhile to make. I didn't have a pattern for the knife so I had to make one by tracing a real butcher knife and downsizing it a little bit to fit onto the pumpkin. I don't own any carving tools so I used a flat screwdriver to carve the butcher knife, which wasn't easy. The Myers mask was easy to cut out.

      I've always been afraid to try carving anything beyond an old-fashioned jack-o-lantern. Now that I know I can carve, I might try a few advanced patterns next year.

      Delete
  2. I survived Halloween, and was glad I didn't have to be out in it much- it was freezing here! Sounds like your weather was less than ideal as well. I don't think we had that many trick or treaters- maybe 30 or so tops?

    Same here on the Thrawn series- I've only ever read the first one. I'm curious how that trilogy ends!

    I thought 47 Meters Down was okay.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I saw the first 47 Meters Down movie on Netflix a year or two ago and I liked it. I'll be watching "Uncaged" sometime this week.

      I've been told the Thrawn series are the very best Star Wars books. Specter of the Past and Visions are the Future are a two-part sequel to the Thrawn trilogy. There's a new Thrawn prequel trilogy by Timothy Zahn but I believe they're set in the new Disney timeline.

      Delete
  3. Those pumpkins are awesome. Halloween isn’t really a thing here but I had chocolates just in case, we had no trick or treaters though.

    Wishing you a great reading week

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Always get candy for trick-or-treaters that you like as you don't want to get stuck with a bunch of sweet tarts that you don't like! FYI: I had a tons of left over sweet tarts last year!

      Delete
  4. Very cool pumpkins!
    I got cleaned out of candy this year. It was really cold out but for the first time in what felt like weeks it wasn't raining which was awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  5. wow, that's alot of trick or treaters! I like the pumpkins you carved.
    Great thrift store finds, happy reading. I need to get out to watch Doctor Sleep soon myself. I loved the book.

    ReplyDelete

I adore reading reader feedback! I will, however, remove all spam and pointless comments.

Please take note that I have the right to delete comments from this site. Please only post constructive and respectful feedback.