:grouphug: Loesje, I hope you feel better soon!

On the Spooky reading front I have been bust listening to Fred the Vampire Accountant https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22081680-the-utterly-uninteresting-and-unadventurous-tales-of-fred-the-vampire-a. Currently listening to the second in the series. These are pleasantly entertaining with a mixture of supernatural creatures. Not spooky and at times silly. Fred, the accountant, who cut a deal with the head of the local hospital for access to the blood supply in return for certifying the less than accurate tax filing. No guilt because the hospital does a lot of good. ;) Also "(re)reading" Tanya Huff's Smoke and Shadows https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/338121.Smoke_and_Shadows?ac=1&from_search=true which I thought was a reread. It's not, right author wrong series. Pretty disappointed but will finish it because I have it and it isn't bad just not what I wanted it to be. It probably qualifies better as spooky than the vampire and werewolf fiction I intended to read. The world or at least a TV set in Vancouver is being invaded by otherworldly shadows that attach themselves to people. Creepy...... Isn't that an X file episode? I finished The Jane Austen Project last night https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32930819-the-jane-austen-project. Two time travellers from the future return to 1815 with the purpose of befriending Jane and returning to their time with her unfinished novel and letters. For a serious Austen fan probably a great time but for me, more of a time travel geek, this one wasn't as good as others in the genre. I highly recommend an alternate like Jodi Taylor's series https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29661618-just-one-damned-thing-after-another?ac=1&from_search=true if one is considering this for the time travel elements instead of Austen. This one ticked my second to last book off in my alphabetical title challenge. All I have left is The Devotion of Suspect X which is now on hold.

I just want to say it is a wonderful program. Going single is fine but there are some rounds that you only get to do as a member of a team which my son loved. He was fortunate because he was able to get a friend to make the team 4 member. This was a non mathy buddy who decided a day out with pizza and a tshirt was worth taking a math test! They had a great time.

I love the names!!! Have a great weekend! Rose, I didn't buy it for a minute! BTW, sorry I have been filling the Goodreads with old books. I had a major disappointment ;) :lol: earlier this week when I discovered that I had already read a book I had been saving for spooky. If my lists had all been together in Goodreads it wouldn't haves happened. Trying to do a bit each night while watching telly.

Elizabeth George was one of my failures when I was trying to put together my Great Village Cozy List. Although frequently listed as cozy they are just not cozy! I didn't keep good notes especially on my discards but these books were off imo, I can't remember the why's. Just not quite British and I remember being relieved to discover they weren't British. At that point I was throwing any author off the list who wasn't British. Eventually I kept some on that wrote proper cozies without glaring mistakes.... At that stage I had a real issue. ;) It's hard work fitting in to a different culture says the woman who grew up between the north and south in the US.....a few months each year in both. Same schools but two each year. Now I straddle the US and British cultures. So many of the enjoyable books I have read set in exotic locations seem to be by authors no longer living there. You do become rather caught in your memories of certain places and it is very hard to stay current when you no longer live there. I always question how accurate they are if someone has moved away but is writing a setting after they moved. Earlier this year I read one book by a popular series author ( who lives there, at one point about 5miles from my old house) set where my Southern self grew up but relatively current years. I loved some of it because the settings evoked fun memories at times but the current was hard on my brain! I hope some of this makes sense. Need to be off on errands! I remember reading Alive back in my teens. I think it was for a modern lit class.

As sad as this sounds my favorite literary location was an used\ antique book store ran by one of my mom's friends when I was growing up. Two floors of towering bookshelves filled with wonderful books in the old (1880 or so) part of town. Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames were the highlights :). It closed when I was in Junior High. Wonderful ones out there now but none can compare to how happy that store made me! Grrr....just got an email that one of the books I didn't suspend is now available. Two hours ago I checked to make sure everything was suspended that needed to be and I was 4 on the list with 1 copy now it's mine or back of the line. The only good thing is the title Proof of Life so it will definitely help with spelling Opal! :lol:

I love your readalongs so most likely in. Thank you Jane!

Kareni, I agree with Amy about the Inspector Gamache novels. You really do need to read them. The audio recordings are wonderful too. I just suspended my hold on Glass Houses, the newest, in order to enjoy Spooky October. Because I no longer want the books I have on hold in the near future I suspended several this morning. I seem to be jumping rapidly to the front of the lines. I have several books in progress and finished a few today: Y by Sue Grafton was very good. Very nostalgic because the book was concentrated on a group of students who were fictionally in high school when I was. It's amazing how good these books are considering how long the series has been going on and considering that it is set back in the eighties. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. My dd has wanted me to read this and I finally listened to it. Great audio book. Amy, if your dd hasn't read it she will love it! This is an easy spooky for anyone who is still looking. Immortal by Gene Doucette https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31817191-immortal is my new great series find. It was good enough to read in my browser because that was that only way I could access it. Reading in my browser is very awkward and I plan to continue reading the series so you know it is good. The main character is immortal but not a vampire. He has been on earth for what seems to be forever as a 30ish yo man. As the current period storyline evolves snippets of his back story are told. It all weaves together very nicely. Honestly if I had been able to read it on my Kindle it may have been an one sitting read instead of over a week. I have been following all the read around the world discussion with interest. I am looking forward to reading everyone's posts but doubt I will be participating much. I have been enjoying my mysteries and various series to go too far off course now! VC's tour of the centuries will be fun to read about too. Another vote for doing it! ;) Kathy, Cookie is a cutie. No problem accessing the photos here without Facebook. Loesje, Your dd is doing a great job with the Bingo!

I have managed to put together a huge (50ish) list of potential spooky reads that I actually have access to. Obviously that probably won't happen! :lol: Several are actually on audio so I plan to pick those up somewhat randomly as required. So my immediate plans are: Immortal by Gene Doucette .....Currently reading https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31817191-immortal. I had never heard of this series until it appeared in the new section at overdrive. It is incredibly well done interweaving the past of this unique immortal man with the present. He has always been. Definitely reading the series. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.....Currently listening to. Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison because I have been planning to read the Hollows every since I read The Turn (prequel) earlier this year. I read domed of these years ago and loved them.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30264.Dead_Witch_Walking?ac=1&from_search=true Sweet Silver Blues Glen Cookhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/400878.Sweet_Silver_Blues?from_search=true. I love the cover! Never Cross a Vampire Stuart Kaminsky (probably audio)https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19311839-never-cross-a-vampire again the cover The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous tales of Fred the Vampire Accountant https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22081680-the-utterly-uninteresting-and-unadventurous-tales-of-fred-the-vampire-a?ac=1&from_search=true On audio, the title cracks me up. Once upon a time I was an unhappy accountant. This is a series....oh, my! The Silent Corner by Dean Koontz https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32148091-the-silent-corner?ac=1&from_search=true I used to love Dean Koontz but his books scared me hugely. Going to try this again as a spooky that is probably my most intense.

Prefacing this with a request for anyone else who has read this to help me out because the trilogy is huge and in my memory it is one huge book. I read\listened back to back and can't separate, the need to continue was definitely there. Also it was a year ago and it's fuzzy with favorite scenes sticking out. Giving Angel an opinion on these is making me very nervous! This book is great post apocalyptic fiction. It's violent in the sense that huge groups get wiped out violently by these vampire creatures called Virals. No romantic Vampires here. The virus kills or changes almost everyone. There are some icky descriptions but I don't think they are overly long, more factual as in this is what happened. I don't remember there being descriptive adult scenes but there must have been scenes because there were couples but the couples generally had much bigger problems. ;). One of the fascinating things for me was these books are essentially about a very small group of characters. Everyone has a story and eventually you learn it. I think you just might like these books. I'll be honest a saying that I am basing my statement partly on the fact you like the Twilight books which I remember as being quite violent in p!aces. These are definitely not a Twilight style romance. But I don't think the levels really exceed those found in Twilight but violence definitely makes them an R.

The Passage and it's sequels were last years spooky obsession. I love them all thanks to a recommendation from here. Pretty sure it was Erin. :) Good enough that I will probably read or listen to again in the future. The voice on the audio was the best! ;) Thank you, Vlad is now on my list. I know i abandoned Anno Dracula a couple of years ago so not ready to try again because so many great new choices. I will look further for the others tomorrow. Ali, another Soulless fan here. I think it works as spooky light. ;) I didn't recommend it to Amy because the second in the series has significant adult content that was a bit much. I love them all including the other related series Stacia mentioned.

I have this odd vision of a woman reading while all around her people are dancing the Chicken Dance! :lol: Stacia, I started listening to Stoker's Manuscript this afternoon. Just what I was looking for so thanks for the recommendation.

I'm working on clearing my virtual stack so I can start my spooky reads. I have several romances and a couple of cozies before I really dig in. I finished JD Robb's Secrets in Death (#45) this morning https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32835140-secrets-in-death. I'm not sure if I am the first one to finish it or not. Robin doesn't have it listed in Good reads but she normally reads these on release day! ;) i am curious about her opinion. Being very picky here but my only complaints were a new character who took up way too much space (Dewinter) and a reference to a prior book that I couldn't remember (Magdalena). I could have used a bit more of a story recap considering it came from book 24......thank you google. I still enjoyed it immensely but am hoping Dewinter goes back into the background because the cast of regulars is already huge. I gave up on Sarum for now. That's certainly one advantage with a book that hops through the century's with no consistent characters other than a couple of family names. Easy to put down for a month occasionally!

I have spent a couple hours going over the lists provided by Kareni and Stacia. My holds are at the limit and my wish lists are full.....well not full because I think they hold 5000 books but a couple of pages are filled with spooky books. I think I 'm ready......

Well I think you might want to add an episode or two of The Munsters to dd's line line up. ;) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8TTIqK9nFH8. I love this old show! I'm working on the Spooky books for Amy topic. What came immediately to mind were the ones my Bf started me with back in the 90's, Linda Label Miller's Forever and the Night. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/641637.Forever_and_the_Night?ac=1&from_search=true. I did a reread in 2016 and still enjoyed it but am a bit sentimental about it so who knows! Lol. It is a free with Prime so probably easy for you to get. Most likely contains an adult scene or two but 90's Harlequin style. Another milder series I have enjoyed was Jane Fairfax https://www.goodreads.com/series/47186-jane-fairfax. This is a somewhat humerus take on the recently popular theme of famous historical figures returning as vampires. This series features Jane Austen but Charlotte Bronte and Lord Byron also appear. Jane Takes Vengeance was the first one I read which I remember as a pretty hilarious tour of the UK with recognizable tourist spots. I'll be honest and say it was read a few years ago but think they are Amy Safe! For ghosts I have enjoyed Carolyn Hart's Bailey Ruth https://www.goodreads.com/series/45549-bailey-ruth. That's a series I had to stop due to a lack of availability. I think a few more are on my overdrive now. Basically a ghost returns to help people she loved who are in trouble. Set in Oklahoma I think. Cozy. Also for ghosts there is Aunt Dimity https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6372680-aunt-dimity-s-death. The first one Aunt Dimity's Death is my favorite so far. Progress is slow with these because they have to be put on hold. Very popular. A word of warning, I can't remember specifics but in each one of these there is always a scene that makes me question the coziness of this really popular series.

I remember having Sunshine in my stack many years ago and having to return it to the library. It one that I have always planed to request again......it is now available in Overdrive so is in my October line up. :). Thank you! I have read at least one of Tana Huff's Vampire books a very long time ago. Also in Overdrive so I hope to read these too. The list is growing. Yeah! I have spent the last couple of hours clicking links and doing searches for my red covered book and ran across another series by Barbara Hambly which I marked, Those who Hunt in thee Nighthttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/176261.Those_Who_Hunt_the_Night?ac=1&from_search=true. Has your dd tried those? . Thanks for the great list an links. I did find my red cover,An Unattractive Vampire https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26494476-an-unattractive-vampire?ac=1&from_search=true. Definitely an October goal. I went through and found a few others too! Thanks! I love Spooky month. Just because I found my mystery book doesn't mean I am not willing to try others. So if someone else has a favourite please let me know. I plan to immerse myself in spooky! ;)

Stacia, you always pick good Vampire books so I have to ask if you have any already selected? I am looking through previous years scribblings in search of vampire books. I found Strange Bodies but that one appears to be more Frankenstein. I know I had a vampire one from the library that I had to return unread last year and can't find the title.....I think the cover was red. Really helpful ;). No notes anywhere!!!! Driving me a bit nuts! I think it was a Stacia find. I did find Stoker's Manuscript on audio which is now in my overdrive which was a scribble from back in 2013. My old notes are fun, happy to say I have actually read or tried several of the books that I have learned about thanks to this group.

You do know someone IRL who has read it, DH. He has also read the little red book..... . And both were enjoyed here. The first was the best but both were happy to keep going. I read the Mary Jo Putney that Kareni recently reviewed this afternoon. Once a Rebel https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29860118-once-a-rebel was not her best but it was a bit different because it was set partially in America. A bit too much name dropping which I think was Kareni's comment too. The good news is it gave me an O for my alphabetical title challenge, I think I have 3 letters to go.

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I finished spelling Sapphire this morning before getting the bright idea to tidy a small section of my garden. So four hours later I finish having done the whole garden and managing to fill the green bin. I am so sore that I now plan to lay on my heating pad and read! S. A Darker Shade of Magic VE Schwab A. The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Theodora Goes P. The Family Plot Cherie Priest P. Rules for a Proper Governess Jennifer Ashley H. Too Scot to Handle Grace Burrows I. The Irish Inheritance MJ Lee R. The Great Reckoning Louise Penny E. Die Like an Eagle Donna Andrews

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I've been saving The Baker's Daughter to read when I am out of other DE Stevenson's to request. It appears more popular than many. Now I am curious...... Dorothy Whipple sounds familiar but I have never read any of her books. Looking forward to your review. I should be able to get them because I have access to the Notts library with the one of my cards but think I will let you go first. :) I have started several books along with continuing to read a bit of Sarum each day. I am enjoying Death at La Venice which comes highly recommended by both Kathy and Eliana https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33799144-death-at-la-fenice. It also could be titled murder at the Opera if anyone is still looking. I also started Night Blind which is part of the Dark Iceland series that I have been enjoying. I think Loesje has read most of these in Dutch. Good reads has the numbering wrong....of those translated to English this is definitely the third for series order, although there are books missing. It seems to be good. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27248849-nightblind I am waiting for some audio books so have been listening to the Pax Arcana series by Elliott James while waiting. Readily available and acceptable. ;) paranormal fluff......

Mom Ninja :grouphug: Amy, now that your ds is listening to chapter books (awwww!!!!) he might enjoy the free My Father's Dragon that Kareni has linked. I remember reading it to my Ds and he liked it but I can't remember how old. Free kindle is good! ;) I finished The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter. It was fun because pretty much every single character was somebody from a famous author's work. I was busy googling and found a short story by Hawthorne that I had never heard of for instance. My advice to Rose and anyone else who reads it is google when in doubt. The rabbit trails were the fun IMO. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34728925-the-strange-case-of-the-alchemist-s-daughter I sat down to read a couple of chapters of a DE Stevenson that the library pulled out deep storage for me. The next thing I knew Dh was asking if I was ready to go out and I had about 10 pages left. So no, not ready to go! Still Glides the Stream was a bit different than her other books because the main character leaves his home to go in search of what "surprise" his childhood friend had written of before dying in France in WWII. The surprise was a bit predictable but I still loved it! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1404709.Still_Glides_the_Stream

Now that sounds like my type of option. Thank you!

Loesje, No feedback is just not right! :( Are past papers or something similar available for the written? I hope your dd is having a restful day today filled with nice things. I have been reading some of the blogs I follow and ran into this post https://www.needlenthread.com/2017/09/stitching-listening-entertainment-options-for-needleworkers.html discussing listening alternatives including audible. As someone who does not have an audible subscription but wonders occasionally if I would like one I found this article pretty informative. Right now my overdrive serves me well but a little research is a good thing.