End of the Year Stories:

The Time Travelers' Handbook: A Wild Wacky, and Woolly Adventure Though History By: Lottie Stride
Fiction: Children's, history, e-book

First, I got this book as a gift from someone that clearly didn't read that this book was made for a 7 year old.  So when I started reading it I thought that it was an adult novel, and was incredibly disappointed in it.  But if I was a 7 year old that liked history or adventure stories it would be a good book to read.


Ladle Rat Rotten Hut ( A Grimm Diaries Prequel #4) By: Cameron Jace
Fiction: Short Story, E-book

This short story is about little red riding hood as told from her with a lot of things different from the story you know. It is a part of a whole series of books with a new twist on these type of fairy tales. After reading this I plan on reading more of the series.



Herbs Gone Wild! Ancient Remedies Turned Loose By: Diane Kidman
Non-Fiction: Health, Gardening, Cooking, E-book

This book is all about using herbs and other natural remedies in first aid, minor injuries, and as part of a medical treatment plan. It was a good beginner book for herbal remedies; both in the way it explained the basics of it and it wasn' like many books on the subject where a major chunk of the book is on how evil all Western medicine is and/or New Age ideology. It has information both for people that just want to go to a store to buy herbs and people that will grow or find the plants in the wild.

Somewhat Saved:

Somewhat Saved By: Pat G'orge-Walker
Fiction: Chick Lit, Humor, Religious,  Audio Book

First, why would any church hold a conference in Las Vegas when they all aren't from the area and a number of them think gambling is a sin? Because that only adds to the humor.  This story is about a group of women that get sent to the annual Mothers Board Conference, two who are on the board and one who is running for president, because the local tabloid paper said she would and the preacher thought it was a good idea. From there things get crazy, and heartwarming, and uplifting, and more crazy as they find out more about themselves, each other and a very special girl who has more to do with them than they know. 

9 CD's 11 Hours

E-book Short Stories

Creepy 2: A Collection of Scary Stories By: Jay Krow, Jeff Bennington, & Katie M. John
Fiction: Short Story, Horror, E- book

This was going to be a part of the books I read on Halloween, but I was 2 stories short. So, I forget most all of what it was about, besides ghosts.

There's a Dead Elf in Santa's Workshop (a short Derk Shriver mystery) By: K.C. Flynn
Fiction: Mystery, Short Story, E-Book

A short murder mystery about a dead elf in a Santa's Village type amusement park in Nevada.

Never Eat Zombified Chicken (The Adventures of Kevin Curmudgeon) By: William Bienz
Fiction: YA, Short Story, Sci-Fi, E-Book

This is the story of a boy who wins a contest to go to NASA, after writing an essay about what he liked about space.  He liked that it was quite, TV signals come from space and he wants to send Susie Brown (a girl from his school) into it. Susie Brown also won the contest. After this fishy start things only get worse. They accidentally get launched to the moon, only to find that they weren't the first ones there. The moon is populated by a civilization descended from the hillbillies that accidentally got sent to the moon before the "first lunar landing". They have survived using alien tech, and life there is nothing like modern earth.

The Night They Nicked Saint Nick (A Christmas Story for the whole family) By: Carl Ashmore
Fiction: Children, Short Story, E-Book

This is not a story that all the kids listen to sitting around grandfather in front of the fireplace, no matter what the title says. But it is a fun short holiday story for kids. Santa got kidnapped and the main character, Derek a 7 year old boy, must save Christmas. Why? Because he will be the next Santa Claus, or Father Christmas because it is British with British spelling and word use.

Hunger Games:

Hunger Games By: Suzanne Collins
Fiction: YA, 374 pages
Book Count: 57

And now I can see the movie.

Undead and Unwed:

Undead and Unwed by: Mary Janice Davidson
Fiction: paranormal, chick lit, 255 pages

Book Count: 56

This is book one in the Queen Betsy series.  In this one we find out how Besty became a vampire and then the queen of them. (It was prophesied, and there were shoes involved.) Also we meet Besty's best friend Jessica, her new sidekick Marc, Sinclair and many more people and vampires.

Martin Misunderstood:

Martin Misunderstood By: Karin Slaughter
Fiction: Audio book, short story

This story is a comedy of errors about a unloved man and a series of murders.

2 CDs 2.5 Hours

The Spellman Files:

The Spellman Files By: Lisa Lutz
Fiction: mystery, humor, audio book

Imagine a family in which almost everyone one was a private eye: both parents, the addiction ridden uncle, the 20 something daughter, and the 14 year old daughter. (the oldest son is a lawyer.) Now imagine that all the private eyes lived in the same house and no one completely trust each other. Throw in a number of ex and future ex boyfriends, petty crime, double lives, and a missing person and you have this book.


8 Cds 9.75 hours

Eat the City:

Eat the City : a tale of the fishers, trappers, hunters, foragers, slaughterers, butchers, farmers, poultry minders, sugar refiners, cane cutters, beekeepers, winemakers, and brewers who built New York By: Robin Shulman
Non-fiction: food, history 335 pages
Book Count: 55

I actually finished this book about mid-way into November, but as you can see from the NaNoWriMo winners badge to the right, I was busy with other writing at the time.  From what I remember of the book it was an unexpected journey around the NYC of today and yesterdays, where people were making their own food inside the city itself. Important things I learned included: the history of Kosher wine in New York, how to make day glo honey, and why children and anyone who physically could possibly end up pregnant at any time in the future should not eat local fish in NYC.

Halloween Short Stories:

Here are the scary stories I read today.

Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts By: Jonathan Broughton, Rayne Hall, et al
Fiction: Horror, Paranormal, Short Story,E-Book

This is a collection of ghost tales, some are scary, some are sad, some are unexpected.  The ghost range from Victorian to modern times.  I was even surprised in one when the ghost starts singing a song from the late 80's as I thought they were from a much earlier time.  Also the stories are from both American and British authors and has the wording and spellings of both.

Benedictum: A Gothic Fairy Tale By: Anna Godiva
Fiction: Short Story, E-book

This is a short fairy tale about a cursed family.  The ending is unexpected and odd.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Trouble Maker 2:

Trouble Maker Book 2 By: Janet & Alex Evanovich Art By: Joelle Jones
Non-fiction: Graphic Novel, mystery, adventure 109 pages

Book Count: 54

The review of book one can be found here. This book finishes out the story of from book one.

I Ate The Sheriff:

A Holiday Book in Review

I Ate The Sheriff (Mallory Caine, Zombie at Law) By: K. Bennett
Fiction: Mystery, Paranormal 310 pages
Book Count: 53

This is the story of a lawyer who is also a zombie, but she is actually a likable person.  First, she tries not to eat people, but cow brains. And secondly she is an actual good lawyer both in that she is good at her job and she defends the innocent and the not totally guilty.  Also the area prosecutor that she deals with not only is Satan's son, the reason that she is a zombie but also her ex-boyfriend.  Besides these two there is cast of strange people and creatures who fight and epic battle between good and evil in this book.  This includes: werewolves, vampires, angels, demons, Pat Sajak, the ghost of the "Black Dalia",a cult, a fire breathing boy, gospel choirs, prophets, prisoners, bats, corrupt politicians, a sheriff that acts like its the old west, mobsters and more.

A Note to Self:

Naked Writing By: Glenys O'Connell
non-fiction: writitng, e-book

L. this is THAT book.

NaNoWriMo

AS you can tell by the pic to the right, we are doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which is November.  So we will not be reading as much and therefor not blogging as much.

Diary:

A Holiday Book in Review

Diary - A Novel By: Chuck Palahniuk
Fiction: 261 pages

Book Count: 52

This book is the diary that a women keeps about her life after her husband goes into a coma after a suicide attempt.  And it's about an artist that suffers for her art.  And it's about a creepy town full of weird rich people that are clearly up to something. 

Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues:

A Holiday Book in Review

Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues By: Diana Rowland
Fiction: Fantasy, mystery 312 pages
Book Count:51

This book is the sequel to the book reviewed here. This is a series where you NEED to read the book before in the series before this one, as it picks up almost directly after the end of the 1st one.  This book is all about brains. (And not all in the way that you would think in a zombie book.) Angel learns that she needs to get her GED as part of her parole.  She meets a lot of highly educated people that are friends of her boyfriend's family.  And there are synthetic brains and maybe some other zombie based testing done in a high tech lab.

Grave's End: A True Ghost Story:

A Holiday Book in Review

Grave's End: A True Ghost Story By: Elaine Mercado
Non-Fiction: Paranormal, e-book

This is the story of one family who lived in a haunted house for many years.  It is not as exciting as a fictional book of the type would be, but you really get into the mind of someone dealing with something that they can't explain and don't necessary even believe is really happening at times.  It also shows you unintentionally how much the Internet has changed life, as this story took place not that long ago in NYC, but the family spends weeks, months and years looking for information that now takes minutes to find. 

Northanger Abbey and Angels and Dragons:

A Holiday Book in Review

Northanger Abbey and Angels and Dragons By: Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian
Fiction: Classics, Fantasy, Paranormal, Mystery, e-book

This is another of the books that combines a work of classic literature with some unexpected pop-culture favorite.  In this case the main character has the ability to see angels and there are also treasure hunting dragons in it. (As well as demon influenced people with their own weather fronts and a duck of unusual size.)  This one is not as action packed as some of the other mash-ups, but still a fun twist on a classic, with a fair amount of humor in it.

Damned:

A Holiday Book in Review

Damned By: Chuck Palahniuk
Fiction: Paranormal 247 pages
Book Count: 50

This is the story of a 13 year old girl, named Madison, who dies and goes to Hell.  Each chapter starts with a short note she writes to Satan (kind of like a dead, anti-version of the Judy Blume novel.) It then tells about her life on Earth or Hell.  Madison, as a teenager is a bit of an annoying narrator, especially in the beginning she is always going on about, yes she knows what this or that word means, she's dead not stupid, or about how everyone hates the dead.  But the storyline besides that is full of unexpected twists and turns that make the whinny teenagerness bearable. 

Lunatics:

Lunatics By: Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel
Fiction: Humor, audio book

This is the story of two normal guys (well one is often called an idiot, followed by an apology to actual idiots for comparing him to one.)  Their story starts out as a normal fight between a crazed parent and the referee of his daughter's soccer game.  It soon escalates to run ins with the police, pirates, bears, terrorists, a black ops team (that doesn't exist), world leaders, and many more people your average pet shop owner and  plumber for NY would never meet.  The story is told by both men so you can see how drastically differently they deal with each thing. 




6 CD's 7 hour 4 minutes