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?

I think I’ve found a new favorite author and what’s funny is that I’ve only read one of her books and am just now a few chapters into another of her novels but read this and tell me you aren’t intrigued?

“Dr. Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature. In her thoughtful and academic way, she put it down to her faulty moral education, which dictated, through her conflicting but in this one instance united agencies of her mother and father, that she ponder the careers of Anna Karenina and Emma Bovary, but that she emulate those of David Copperfield and Little Dorrit.

But really it had started much earlier than that, when, at a faintly remembered moment in her early childhood, she had fallen asleep, enraptured, as her nurse breathed the words ‘Cinderella shall go to the ball.’ The ball had never materialized.”

Dr. Weiss is the main character of The Debut by Anita Brookner. From what I’ve read so far, her parents were sort of there in the background as she was growing up but they were more concentrated on themselves so she grew up escaping into the world of books.

I’m at the part now where she’s moved on to college and out of her parent’s house and she’s trying to be an independent woman. It’s interesting how her parents react to her newfound freedom. They want to hold her back and somehow they still manage to manipulate her. I’m very curious to see how Ruth will break free of what she believes has held her back and how she will “grow up” in this story.

Last year I read Hotel Du Lac and loved it and it appears that The Debut will also be a keeper for me, at least I hope so. I’ve been jotting down sentences I like and am just taking my time with this book.

How about you, have you found a new favorite author? Tell me about them.