Readathon Pile O'Books 4.9.11

It's here!!!  The pile that I've been buying, trading, borrowing, and planning the last six months is finally ready to reveal! Well, at least the physical books I'll be attempting to tackle.  I'll share kindle and audio selections tomorrow. ;)

There is a good mix of a few novels, some YA, and graphic novels.  In case the picture isn't too clear, here's the list:

(from the top)

The Blackstone Chronicles Part 1: An Eye For An Eye by John Saul

The Blackstone Chronicles Part 2: Twist of Fate: The Locket by John Saul

(the other 4 are not pictured, but will be read if I get caught up in the series)

Sweet Valley High #31 Taking Sides by Francine Pascal

A Killer Plot by Ellery Adams

The Tachyon Web by Christopher Pike

Scott Pilgrim #6 by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain

The Girl In The Green Raincoat by Laura Lippman

Something At The Window is Scratching by Roman Dirge

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King

Coraline by Neil Gaiman 

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

The Adventuress by Audrey Niffenegger

The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger

I know, I know, it looks like a lot, but it's really not! So many of these are well under 100 pages, and obviously some are mostly pictures.  I try not to tackle lengthy novels during readathon, as I always feel behind straight out of the gate.  Plus by reading lighter material it frees me up to tweet and cheer (plus I'll be hosting a mini-challenge at 9pm EST, so be sure to stop by!).  

None of these books are written in stone either, I reserve the right to grab Across the Universe, Matched or any of the other lovely titles sitting on my TBR shelves.  The one exception is The Night Bookmobile- I am itching to read this, and the only reason I haven't is that I just picked it up today and even I can exercise a little self control to get me through today and tomorrow.  I hope...

And several of my selections are for challenges- I haven't read one single book for the YA of the 80's challenge, nor a cozy mystery for the cozy mystery challenge. The Postman Always Rings Twice is good for my Dusty Volumes challenge, and of course I have the Stephen King challenge and my own Read Me, Baby, 1 More Time challenge to continue with.  

Kindle and audio choices will be posted tomorrow!  

So what's in your pile?  Please share your link because looking at people's pile o'books is my favorite part of pre-Readathon! 

 And now for the Dollar Horror Bin Movie Challenge!

Day 16 - Your favorite childhood themed horror film:

I took this to mean what horror movie involving childhood/children I most liked, like The Omen or The Good Son, or even Rosemary's Baby.  My favorite is maybe not necessarily a horror film, but it certainly scared me off little girls named Rhoda, so I chose The Bad Seed.  I prefer the ending in the book, but I guess the public couldn't handle the idea of a little girl serial killer going unpunished back in the day.

Samples Readathon Today

As promised, today will be dedicated to reading all the many, many samples I have lingering on my Kindle.  As the day goes on I'll be updating this page with the books I plan to read, or not to read, based on the sample chapters.  Will I read every word of every sample?  Probably not- some books I can tell right away are a perfect match, while others I can tell right away aren't going to be a match made in Reading Heaven (where all the good little readers go). 

I do have other things to do today, which is my only day off this week before Readathon, but I will try to do as much damage as I can in the attempt to tame my ever growing samples pile.

Books To Read:
1. Favorite by Karen McQuestion- awesome author last name, no?
2. Green Witch by Alice Hoffman- have no idea why I had the sample, I already know I want to read this.  Sometimes I download samples as reminders to buy though.
3. You by Charles Benoit- the style is intriguing, willing to see if it holds up for an entire novel.
4. Nothing Like You by Matteo Trisolin and Lauren Strasnick- so far, so good.
5. The Love Goddess' Cooking School by Melissa Senate- yes, more please!
6. Alice I have Been: A Novel by Melanie Benjamin- very interesting so far.
7. Ravens by George Dawes Green- again, I dug the sample.
8. Mermaid Park by Beth Mayall- not sure what this will end up being about, but I already like the characters.

Books to Maybe Read:
1. Juliet by Piers Anthony- love his Xanth novels, but the sample was way too short to tell if I'd like it or not.
2. Elixir by Hilary Duff and Kevin Twomey- not really impressed by what I read, but I'd maybe check this out at the library someday.  Close call, as I almost bought it at Borders a few weeks ago!
3. The Tutor by Hope Tarr- another maybe.  I can't remember how this book ended up in my samples pile, and I honestly can't tell what it's about, although I liked what I've read so far, just not enough to buy it.
4. City of Dreams & Nightmare: City of a Hundred Rows, Book 1 Cby Ian Whates- I'm a bit lost so far, but it's entertaining.  More of a library pick up then a gotta-read-gotta-own for me though.
5.

Books To Skip:
1. Elixir by Hilary Duff and Kevin Twomey- Yes, I know it's in the maybe pile, but I really don't feel like my life will be less if I miss out altogether on this read.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Also here's my daily entry in to Dollar Bin Horror's Movie Challenge!

Day 15 - Your favorite horror film involving serial killers:

The Deliberate Stranger about serial killer Ted Bundy.  Mostly because the nightmare of Ted  Bundy is very, very real. I know it's a tv movie, but this is the movie that started me on my life long interest in serial killers.  I was still in grade school when this movie came out.  It might explain a lot of why I'm so twisted....  It also explains my unreasonable dislike of Mark Harmon (that and the fact that his character on Moonlighting tried to come between Cybil Shepard and Bruce Willis).

It's Sample Reading Time!

I am a sucker for Amazon's free preview sample for the Kindle.  I download them constantly but do I ever read them?  No, because now I'm back to over 50 samples to read.

So although I work all day today, I am off Wednesday.  Instead of wasting time trolling the internet, I'm going to have a little Kindle Samples Readathon.  I will update tomorrow's page throughout the day with the books I'm loving and will eventually read, and the ones that just didn't click. 

And then once my samples are all read, I promise to never have more than 5 unread samples in my Kindle at any given time.  If I'm tempted to download a 6th one, then I MUST read a pre-exisiting sample first. 

Sounds like a plan!  But we'll see what happens...

And now, the moment you are no doubt waiting for with breath baited, it's time for Dollar Bin Horror Movie Challenge!

Day 14 - Your favorite zombie film:


Wow, this is a tough one.  Do I go with 28 Days Later?  Because I don't know if that completely falls under the category of zombie flick.  I love the re-make of Dawn of the Dead, and I really enjoyed the Nazi zombies in Dead Snow, but favorite means I can watch it again and again... so I'm going with Planet Terror!  What wouldn't be better in a zombie invasion then a machine gun leg?  Such a great cast and plenty of wonderful lines.  Although Death Proof was my favorite of the Grindhouse films, I still adore Planet Terror.

Skip: It's go go, not cry cry.
 

Sheriff Hague: Give him the gun. Give him all the guns. 

El Wray: So what are you going to do now?
Cherry Darling: I'm going to be a stand-up comedian.
El Wray: You're not funny.
Cherry Darling: That's what I keep trying to tell everybody but they all say I'm hilarious.
El Wray: But you're not.
Cherry Darling: There's a difference between being frank... and being dick. 

Cherry Darling: Name's Cherry Darling...
El Wray: Sounds like a stripper name.
Cherry Darling: No, it sounds like a go-go dancer name. There's a difference. 

Dr. Dakota Block: Tony, if anyone comes up to the car, I want you to shoot them. Just like in your video games: shoot them in the head.
Tony Block: What if it's dad?
Dr. Dakota Block: Especially if it's your dad! 

Sheriff Hague: Now you've got a gal in your wrecked truck with a missing leg? A missing leg that's now missing? 

Traveling Book Box!

Ericka over at Moonlight Book Reviews is hosting the fun, easy Traveling Book Box.  

Basically she ships out a box full of books, the first participant takes how ever many books they want out of the box and replaces the same number with books that they own.  Then they ship the box to the next person.  Rinse and repeat. 

Because my TBR shelves are groaning under the weight of unread reads, I only took 3 books from the box.  Here they are:

 

All You Get Is Me by Yvonne Prinz

Far From Xanadu by Julie Anne Peters 

Missing by Catherine MacPhail

I wonder if the next recipient of the Traveling Book Box will pick my books... I can't wait to see!

Books I'm putting in:

The Killing Room by John Manning

Azure Like It by Wendy Holden

Champion of the Rose by Andrea K Host

A lot of the book bloggers also threw in their business cards and I have to admit that I'm a bit jealous!  I only recently thought about getting them, but now I'm waiting for my awesome, deluxe, blog make-over by Lori of Pure Imagination, and it comes with a business card template that will match my future blog look.  I am so excited!  But thanks for sharing your pretty, pretty cards with me:

Moonlight Book Reviews

Read My Mind

Sparking Reviews

If you're interested, be sure to sign up!

Now on to Dollar Bin Horror Movie Challenge!

Day 13 - Your favorite horror comedy:

Dance of the Dead! I love it, it makes me laugh. Great cast!  I love horror comedies.  I even like when they're unintentionally funny.  Dance of the Dead took my by surprise because it wasn't a movie I had heard anything about, just one of those horror movies you buy off cable during Halloween.  It's a movie I like to share with friends and family, because it's got something for every sense of humor.

 

Coach Keel: Little lady, you'll get the machete.
Gwen: But I don't know how to shoot a machete. 

Emelia: Who are you guys?
George: We're the sci-fi club. 

 Kyle Grubbin: [Offering a bag of chewing tobacco] You chew?
Jules: Yeah, I'm Jewish... Why?

Day 12

Very tired this morning, and I'm working all day.  Ugh.  At least Readathon is this weekend!

So, skipping any book news (too exhausted to talk about how the new Sweet Valley book was a fast, yet ultimately disappointing, read), on to Dollar Bin Horror's 30 Day Movie Challenge!

Day 12 - Your favorite horror film involving the occult:

The Exorcist... Captain Howdy scares the skittles out of me.

The Day After Readathon Plans

April 9th and Dewey's 24hr Readathon is almost here!  Normally I work all day Sundays, but my wonderful co-worker agreed to take my shift so that I can spend Sunday, April 10th nursing my reading hangover.

And how am I going to do that? 

Why, with an all day Movie Watchathon!

In honor of the awesomeness that is 32 Candles- the audio book I'm currently listening to, and loving!- I decided to go with an 80's theme.  So here are some movies in my Watchathon pile:

 So do you have any After-Readathon plans?  Well, other than sleep that is...

 

Also, it's Day 11 in my Dollar Bin Horror Movie Challenge!

Day 11 - Your favorite science fiction horror film:

Aliens, the second one.  Hands down. 

They mostly come out at night.  Mostly.

Uninvited by Amanda Marrone
From Goodreads:

Jordan's life sucks. Her boyfriend, Michael, dumped her, slept his way through half the student body, and then killed himself. But now, somehow, he appears at her window every night, begging her to let him in.
Jordan can't understand why he wants her, but she feels her resistance wearing down. After all, her life — once a broken record of boring parties, meaningless hookups, and friends she couldn't relate to — now consists of her drinking alone in her room as she waits for the sun to go down.
Michael needs to be invited in before he can enter. All Jordan has to do is say the words....

My Thoughts:  This was not a must read for me. It had an interesting premise, but it took a long time for the action to really start and then it was over. It was an easy read, and it was enough to keep me reading until the end. There's a lot of drug use and underage drinking, but I don't feel the book glorifies it- if anything it shows that people do a lot of stupid, regrettable things while wasted. And there is some sex, but it's not graphic.

Although there was much in Jordan I couldn't relate to (keep in mind I'm 33 and have always been a nerd), her slight agoraphobia is something I can completely understand.  She wasn't a typical YA heroine, she was seriously flawed, which is nice to see once in awhile.  Jordan does show some growth throughout the novel- the moral being you can't really deal with your dead, vampire ex if you're high or drunk all the time.
 
Things are maybe a little too neat in the end, but it's still a different view to the YA vampire novels out there.  I loved the cover (it's gorgeous, no?) and the blurb, but I think what kept this from being a good read for me is that it didn't really deliver the story I was expecting.  Sometimes that's a good thing, and sometimes it's just a let down.  Although Uninvited was only okay for me, I am interested in reading further books by Marrone.


Uninvited gets a Midnight Book Rating of 9:30 pm.  It's not a typical YA vampire read, and that's okay with me. 

 

Another day, another horror movie to list from Dollar Bin Horror's Movie Challenge!

Day 10 - Your favorite psychological horror film:

Frailty.  What an awesome movie! I don't think this movie gets enough recognition.  It's a quiet movie but it packs quite a punch.   Watch it.  Today!

Thrusday Tea

\
Happy Thursday!  Thought I'd forgo my usual cup of coffee this morning and instead grab a current book I'm reading and a cup of tea!  This meme is hosted by Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog .

All you need is a book and a cup of tea to participate!

The Book: Started Early, Took My Dog by  Kate Atkinson.  

I signed up to participate in a blog review for this book solely on the strength of the title of the book.  It caught my fancy.  I didn't know it was part of an ongoing series, but so far that hasn't seemed to make a difference.  I'm still in the early pages (60 of 385), so I'm still getting introduced to the main players.  Jackson Brodie is an interesting character, and I love that he puts a man bullying a poor dog in his place.  Of course he ends up with the dog, echoing Tracy Waterhouse's earlier, and completely unexpected, rescue and purchase.  I still have no idea where this book is going, but I know I want to come along!

The Tea:  Peppermint Tea!  Right now, as part of my complicated diet, I'm not drinking milk.  I like milk in my coffee and black tea.  The only way I can drink tea sans milk is to find really yummy teas, and peppermint is my absolute favorite.  I almost feel like the grown up my license states I am.     



So what's your current read?  And if your a tea drinker, what's your flavor?

 

And now for Day 9 of Dollar Bin Horror Movie Challenge!

Day 09 - Your favorite exploitation / grind house type film:

Death Proof!

I'm sad to say I don't watch much of these kinds of films so I'm going to have to go with Death Proof.  I love any Tarantino movie- the guy's a freaking, freaky genius, and I love the girl power at the end.  The movie also as the super amazing Zoe Bell  in it (as an actress and not just a stunt double).  My husband thinks I'm crazy, he totally thought I'd prefer Planet Terror, but I love, love, love when the victim goes all kamikazee on the killer.  I Spit on Your Grave would probably be second, but I have major problems with some of the plot line in that movie.

I heard that they did a remake of this film, but I don't think I'll ever get around to watching it.  Once with the original was more than enough. 

Before I Fall Review

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
From Goodreads:

What if you had only one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?

Samantha Kingston has it all: the world's most crush-worthy boyfriend, three amazing best friends, and first pick of everything at Thomas Jefferson High—from the best table in the cafeteria to the choicest parking spot. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life.
Instead, it turns out to be her last.
Then she gets a second chance. Seven chances, in fact. Reliving her last day during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death—and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.

 
My Thoughts:  Lauren Oliver won me over with Delirium. I'm a bit sad I didn't read Before I Fall first but I really loved this book, despite that it was a more depressing version of Groundhog Day. I fell in love with Kent as Sam did, I was able to see past the bitchiness of Lindsay, to see the hurt, insecure girl behind the surface nastiness. Watching minor characters like Anna and Juliet and even little Izzy get their chance to shine was wonderful. The ending got to me, there were tears. It's a great book for a rainy day!

Before I Fall gets a Midnight Rating of 11pm.   

Now for the Dollar Bin Horror Movie Challenge!
Day 08 - Your favorite anthology:

Campfire Tales.  I love short horror movies, as much as I love reading them! It's also got Glenn Quinn, who is sorely missed in the acting world, and James Marsden.  Classic scary tales brought to life on the big screen, does it get much better?  Of course, as this is a book blog, I have to recommend a great scary tales anthology- Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghost, hands down.

Back to the Sweet Valley!

It's heeeeeeeere:

I pre-ordered it, and now I can't wait to see what the Wakefield twins and friends are up to!  I might not be able to wait until Readathon.  I hope to see Steven, Cara, Lila, Enid, Jeffrey and Bruce mentioned.  Character I most hope has been killed off or will be?  Todd.  He of the "coffee colored eyes".  I know, I know, he's Elizabeth's first love, but I always preferred green eyed, soccer playing Jeffrey. 

Any Sweet Valley fans foaming at the mouth for this one?  Can a Babysitter's Club Reunion be far behind?

Now onto the Dollar Bin Horror Movie Challenge!
Day 07 - Your favorite supernatural horror film:

Carrie- hands down I wish I'd had telekinesis when those wenches poured pig's blood on me at my prom!  Okay, that didn't happen.  But how nice would it be to send a jerky driver off the road after he/she cuts in front of you without using their turn signal?  See, I'd only use my powers for good!