With Halloween over, many people will be getting ready travel around the country for Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas celebrations, but whether you're flying on a plane or driving in a mini-van, the long journey to wherever you are traveling to can be stressful for adults and tiring on children.

In today's technology world, I'm sure everyone has a laptop computer you can play movies on, but streaming movies over Wi-Fi while traveling is not the most reliable choice as an internet connection is never guaranteed. The next obvious choice is bringing along a DVD or Blu-ray, but most media players that are pre-installed on computers are never quite up-to-date and don't have the best picture quality.


Luckily, there is the DVDFab Media Player Software, which can be downloaded for a trial-run for 30 days. It has been called "the world's leading Blu-ray Player Software," with the ability to playback DVD & Blu-ray discs, DVD & Blu-Ray folders, ISO image files and other different formatted video files directly from your computer. You can play any movie you own or any digital copy with only a few clicks of a mouse.

November 22^nd 2013 will mark 50 years since the death of influential British novelist C S Lewis, author of the Chronicles of Narnia series.  But the UK has seen its fair share of influential authors, from J K Rowling to Roald Dahl.  Here are just a few of the authors who have shaped the way we read in the UK.

Joanne Rowling’s Harry Potter books have to date generated more than £237 million in revenue, but this famous author began writing as an unemployed single mum in 1995, when she wrote the first Harry Potter book, ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.’  Telling the story of a young boy wizard and his magical escapades, the book was initially rejected by several publishers until it was snapped up by London publishing house Bloomsbury in 1996.  Original print copies of the book are now worth around £25,000, and the novel went on to win the British Book Award for Children’s Book of the Year.  Rowling quickly followed this up with a sequel, ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ in 1998, with a third novel in 1999. In 2000, the 4^th book, ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ broke sales records in the UK with around 373,000 copies being sold on its release day.  In total there are 7 Harry Potter books, which have been translated into 65 languages, and J K Rowling is often credited with sparking an interest in reading for children who may otherwise have turned to TV or computer games. Today, J K Rowling is working on her next piece of children’s fiction and also recently released ‘The Cuckoo’s Calling’ under the pen name Robert Galbraith.

Wow! This makes it two weeks in a row that I have published my post in the actual morning. I guess I'm on a roll, which is shocking considering I'm practically running on fumes. It is a good think I had a cup of coffee this morning.

Let me start out my announcing my new co-bloggers. Brenda will be posting Writing Tips Wednesdays on the first Wednesday of the month. On the weekends, Camelle will be writing Top 5 Best Book Covers and Emma will be posting book reviews.

Despite the rain last week, I did drag out the inflatable Frankenstein's monster and Homer Simpson in a skeleton costume and set them up in the yard, which I hammered in some stakes around the area and stapled crime scene tape to the stakes. I didn't want any kids tripping over anything. Then I set up my graveyard with a fence, lights, tombstones, skeletons, etc.

My annual tradition is carving a Jack-O-Lantern, which I continued this year by carving the Grim Reaper! After all the years, I have never made roasted pumpkin seeds, but this year I made a batch. They were quite tasty, almost like popcorn.

It seems like there have been many WWII themed books being released, in which I have read several romance novels with a WWII background this year. Snow on the Tulips had an interesting cover, so I decided to sign up to review it. At first glance, I thought this would be another cliché Christian romance novel, but I was completely wrong, instead I got an intense war drama, though there is some romance in it.

Mrs. Pollifax On Safari
By Dorothy Gilman
(Book 5 of The Mrs. Pollifax series)
Narrated by Barbara Rosenblat
Publisher: Recorded Books
Pub. Date: 1992 - originally published in 1976
Duration: 6.75 hours
Buy Link
Reading Challenge

Review:

It is really time to rediscover Mrs. Emily Pollifax, who's been called Miss Marple's cousin. She's a very active grand-mother, member of a garden-club, growing roses and orchids, and practicing karate. She still feels bored however, so ends up going one day to the CIA to see if by any chance she could work for them. A grand-mother always carrying flowery hats, she definitely does not have the regular profile of a spy, and can so be very helpful.

In each book of the series, she is thus sent to special missions in a different country.

In Mrs. Pollifax on Safari, Emily is sent to Zambia. The CIA knows that an assassin nicknames Aristotle is preparing a coup against the president of that country, but they only have one clue: that he will meet with an accomplice on a safari, to discuss the details on their plans. So Emily's mission is simple: to go on that safari, and pretending to take lots of pictures of the wild animals around her, to take pictures of all the members of the safari, to try to identify the future murderer.

As in all her previous missions, things do not turn out that simple.

Turbo – Top 10 Snail Facts!

Buckle up for Turbo, coming to DVD and Blu-ray November 12!

Start your November engines with this hilarious, heartfelt comedy-adventure! Turbo, a four-star family film, tells the courageous story of a little snail with the big dreams of becoming a racecar. Despite the discouragement he receives from his peers, Turbo knows what he is capable of. With amazingly creative celebrity performances by Ryan Reynolds, Snoop Dog, Samuel L. Jackson and Maya Rudolph, this film is nothing short of incredible! Zoom into stores on November 12 to pick up your copy for the holiday season!

To help you prepare for the film’s release, we’ve compiled a list of some fun snail facts so you can understand the ins and outs of Turbo and his gang!

Mickey's Christmas Carol
30th Anniversary Edition
Director: Burny Mattinson
Voice Cast: Alan Young, Wayne Allwine, Hal Smith, Will Ryan, Eddie Carroll, Patricia Parris, Dick Billingsley, Clarence Nash
Studio: Disney Home Entertainment
Release Date: November 5th, 2013
Retail: $36.99
ASIN: B00DGWZKHM
Running Time: 58mins. (includes the bonus shorts)
Rating: G

Review:
 Mickey's Christmas Carol, the  Academy Award Nominee for Best Animated Short Subject of 1983, is being released on Blu-ray for the first time on the Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack, as well as the DVD, and Digital Copy on Tuesday, November 5th in celebration of its 30th Anniversary! As added bonus, Disney has also released five animated shorts, the All-New "Yodelberg," "The Hockey Champ," "Pluto's Christmas Tree," "The Art of Skiing," and "Corn Chips." When you press pause while playing, you'll get the Disney Intermission featuring Mickey and his pals singing Christmas Carols - "We Wish You A Merry Christmas," "Deck The Halls," and "Jingle Bells."

Mickey's Christmas Carol is based on the timeless tale by Charles Dickens and was released to theaters with The Rescuers in 1983. The following year it aired around Christmastime on television and has continued to air annually.

Set in England on Christmas Eve 1843, Ebenezer Scrooge (portrayed by Scrooge McDuck) is a selfish and rude businessman who dislikes the holidays; he even refuses to have dinner with his nephew, Fred (Donald Duck; This is the last time Clarence Nash voiced Donald). He gives his employee, Bob Cratchit (Mickey Mouse) a below average pay; he won't even allow him to put an extra coal in the stove.

Later that night, Scrooge is awaken by strange noises and is greeted by his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley (Goofy). Jacob was a cruel person and has been forced to wear chains in the afterlife. He warns Scrooge that three ghosts will visit him that very night.