Congratulations to Kimmy who won the copy of Lesley Dormen’s book The Best Place to Be!

I didn’t get a chance to read any ghost stories today as I spent most of the day cutting and gluing paper but there’s always tomorrow.

Granted tomorrow I’ve got lots of stuff planned. There are several readings I want to check out at Texas Book Festival (and the vendor tent of course!), and I’m also hoping to stop in at the Mexic-Arte Museum to see the Día de los Muertos exhibit.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

So, for this Friday Finds post I’ll share with you what books I’ve recently read about which have definitely gone on my wish list.

• The Poet of Lochness by Brian Jay Corrigan. From Kirkus Review: An ill-matched American couple heads off to Scotland on a futile quest for the Loch Ness monster, in an atmospheric, bravely affecting debut. I found this one over at Jenclair’s.
• The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker. Matt mentioned this novel recently and I liked what I’ve heard about it. It’s got an outcast daughter, family drama, coming of age….
• The Safety of Secrets by Delaune Michel. A story of secrets and friendship unraveling. I’ve read about this one on several blogs now but I think I first heard about over at S. Krishna’s blog.
• Under the Frangipani by Mia Cuto. A police procedural set in Mozambique. You know I love reading mysteries and foreign settings are my weakness. I found this one over on Euro Crime.
• Sophie Pitt-Turnball Discovers America by Dyan Sheldon. This sounds like a funny YA novel about a teen who won’t be going to France for the summer and has to spend her time in America. Isabel mentioned this one and I have to put it on my list.

So, I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween. I’m stocked up on candy and ok, I admit I already started eating some of it. Heh. Aside from reading a scary story or two, I’m planning to spend Friday bookbinding and planning my itinerary for the Texas Book Festival – that’s this weekend. Woo-hoo. I promise to tell you all about it.

I can’t believe it’s almost the end of October and with that the end of the R.I.P. III Challenge. I set out to read two books this time around and actually finished three so yay me!

I’ve already mentioned Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie. Not necessarily my favorite Agatha read so far but it was enjoyable and actually a bit surprising so that’s always good.

The other two books I finished were Coraline by Neil Gaiman and Sisters of Misery by Megan Kelley Hall.

“She will take your life and all you are and all you care’st for, and she will leave you with nothing but mist and fog. She’ll take your joy. And one day you’ll awake and your heart and your soul will have gone. A husk you’ll be, a wisp you’ll be, and a thing no more than a dream on waking, or a memory of something forgotten.”

Coraline was just as good as everyone’s been saying. I kept hearing that it was a creepy tale but I don’t think I really believed that so much just because this is a children’s book but wow, there are some seriously creepy characters and events that happen in this book.

While I could have easily have finished this book in one day, I actually took my time with the story. I savored it a bit more and of course didn’t want to read it at night for fear of dreaming about black buttons. You can read more of my thoughts here.

“There are some girls who have everything. And not just the ones who are born with silver spoons in their mouths. Some girls are born with an intangible, magnetic aura: something that radiates beneath their flawless skin… Then there are the jealous ones.”

I read Sisters of Misery during the Read-A-Thon and I found it to be a perfect story to get caught up in. It’s got danger, mystery and some very mean girls. There were a few things that bothered me a bit in the story, mainly how I never really felt like I knew some of the characters, but overall it was entertaining and I really liked how each chapter began with a rune reading. If you want to know more about the book you can read more of my thoughts here.

So, if you are looking for some spooky reads for this Halloween I’d recommend any of these books. Now a big thank you to Carl V. who made this another fabulous challenge.

Now I need to find some scary reads for Halloween, which is my most favorite holiday. Right now it’s a toss up between an Edgar Allan Poe short story (I usually read The Raven on Halloween) or something from The Mammoth Book of Victorian & Edwardian Ghost Stories. I’ll let you know which one I pick.

How about you? Planning to read any ghost stories or have one to recommend?