I know I had said book reviews and a giveaway were coming up but I got a bit bogged down with some other stuff so I’m putting that off for next week. Instead, I thought why not participate in Friday Finds? I have seen Tanabata, Matt and Melody post on this before and have wanted to join in so here it goes.

Here are some books I’ve recently added to my wish list:

• The Night Villa by Carol Goodman. I’m a big fan of Goodman’s stories so when I saw this one on the new books table at the bookstore I knew I’d add it to my wish list almost without even reading what it was about. It was a given.
• The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama. Hmm, maybe I could add this to my Japanese Literature challenge.
• Cost by Roxana Robinson. A book about family relationships.
• The Blackstone Key by Rose Melikan. A book that is said to be in the spirit of Charlotte Bronte and Agatha Christie. A historical adventure set in England during the French Revolutionary wars.

Don’t these sound good? This weekend we are probably go hang out at one of our favorite spots and I’m sure I’ll come away with more books to add to my list. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend with some good reads!

By now everyone’s heard of about the R.I.P. III Challenge, right? Carl V. is once again hosting this fun challenge which has readers pursuing some spooky books. I’ve participated in the previous two years and I couldn’t pass up another go at this challenge.

So starting September 1 and going through end of October, we can choose from a couple of the Perils proposed for the challenge. I’m going to go with Peril II which involves reading two books of any length from any sub-genre of scary stories.

I have a bunch of books I could choose from so here are some of my choices (all of which come from my stacks):

• Nocturnes by John Connelly
• The Good House by Tananarive Due
• Rises the Night by Colleen Gleason
• The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
• Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie
• Coraline by Neil Gaiman

I can’t wait to get started!

So I’ve been talking a lot about journals lately but for those of you who like blank books but get intimidated by a blank page how do you start filling your pages? Or maybe you just need a bit of spark to get back into journaling – I know I could use a bit of spark myself right now.

I have been checking out these books which I think will be good companions for anyone who enjoys journaling.

• Note to Self by Samara O’Shea. From the book jacket: “A tribute to the healing and reflective power of the written word, Note to Self demonstrates that sometimes being completely honest with yourself is the most dangerous and rewarding pursuit of all.” I like that this focuses more on the why it’s important to journal. This was a book sent to me by the author and I’m very excited to start it soon.
• 1,000 Artist Journal Pages by Dawn DeVries Sokol. This is one of those books you ooh and ah over. If you like to draw, collage or do more of the visual journaling then this is a book for inspiration. I hope to add this one to my collection soon.
• True Vision by L.K. Ludwig. If the 1,000 Artist Journal Pages book inspires you but you don’t know just how to go about doing visual journals, then this might be the book for you. It offers techniques and prompts to get you into telling your stories with some art.
• The Red Leather Diary by Lily Koppel. Ok, so this is not necessarily a how-to but from what I’ve heard from some friends and reviewers of this book, it’s a good story about a discarded diary and the story it contains. See, get writing, maybe one day your journals will be discovered and talked about. Or, is that what’s keeping you from writing? heh. I hope to read this book sometime this year, thanks to Isabel who shared her copy, it’s waiting for my on my bookshelf.

If you have some other favorite books on journaling I’d love to hear about them.