The October Country | 
pickThis collection of Ray Bradbury‘s short stories was just the right amount of unsettling—a perfect read for October! Bradbury is a master, and there are some gems here. The stories I found the creepiest were creepy for entirely different reasons: “The Next in Line” and “Skeleton.” I loved “Uncle Einar,” “There Was an Old Woman,” and “The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone”—and honestly, those were probably the least unsettling of them all. ⤵️
pickOctober country is a place where autumn is the permanent season. Daytime wanes rapidly; night lives on endlessly. These short stories are full of some of Bradbury's most macabre writing, both bizarre and terrifying. They also contain underlying philosophical truths about humanity and what we need to achieve happiness. Originally contained in the limited edition of DARK CARNIVAL, Bradbury spruced up these tales and added some as well. Riveting.
so-soThis book is a prime example of why I‘m not a short story fan, especially in this genre of supposedly spooky or scary tales. There are apparently “gotcha” moments that just went straight over my head. Still, there a few stories I did like—those with Uncle Einar were the best, and The Scythe was thought-provoking.
#hauntedshelf #hexesandcrows @Catsandbooks @PuddleJumper
I finished the tagged audiobook on my afternoon drive. I found five #wordsearch words (75 points), #bookscavengerhunt #mist & #monochrome (30 pts), #wickedwhispers #monster (short stories Uncle Einar and Homecoming) and many #halloweenatoz letters with 19 short stories. @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
#hauntedshelf #hexesandcrows @Catsandbooks @PuddleJumper
I‘m going on some long drives mostly for work for the next week. So I‘ve stocked up on audiobooks. When I‘ve finished the tagged book I‘m jumping back into the picks by @CSeydel for #trappedinaspookyhouse since I‘ll be trapped in my car for hours. They‘ll also work for #letterA and #letterK for #halloweenatoz
#hauntedshelf #hexesandcrows @Catsandbooks @PuddleJumper
I‘ve bailed on my last audiobook and am now listening to this one, with a load of short stories.
#hauntedshelf #hexesandcrows @Catsandbooks @PuddleJumper
More murders are committed at ninety-two degrees Fahrenheit than any other temperature. Over one hundred, it‘s too hot to move. Under ninety, cool enough to survive. But right *at* ninety-two degrees lies the apex of irritability…the least thing, a word, a look, a sound, the drop of a hair and—irritable murder.
#BookSpin and #DoubleSpin picks for October! This is my favorite kind of BookSpin combo: one I was going to read anyway, and a bonus from the TBR. My BookSpin is the October pick for my IRL book club, and my DoubleSpin is a spooky pick from the TBR—it was a Christmas gift last year from my husband. Looking forward to these (and maybe a #BookSpinBingo!) in October!
Another #readathon in October? Sure, why not?! My goal will be to finish as many books from my October #BookSpin list as possible, and I'll also try for at least one bingo on the #Spookoween bingo card.
@TheSpineView
My TBR list for what feels like a million reading challenges & readathons in October that I signed up for! While it is primarily my combined list for #BookSpin and #CastTheDie, it includes the books picked for me while I'm #TrappedInASpookyHouse. All of the books count for #FrightFall, #RIPXIX, and #HauntedShelf as part of the #BlackCatCrew. I will also try to complete several different bingo cards along the way!
@BookwormAHN
@TheAromaofBooks
Day 16 #Scarathlon Photo Challenge - October. This is a book I've read, and now my Boyfriend is reading it. #TeamWhoYaGonnaCall
#ScarathlonPhotoChallenge
A spooky #October title that‘s been in my TBR for a while now.💀
+6 #Scarathlon points for Team #SpookyGhostClub 👻🖤
This isn't my whole #TBR for #RIP and #Scarathlon but it is most of the physical books I'll be choosing from throughout October. #TeamWhoYaGonnaCall
#OutstandingOctober Readathon complete!!!😁 @Andrew65
pickBook review for "The October Country" by Ray Bradbury up on my YouTube.
https://youtu.be/YunjCFlt6S0
so-soThere's a good mix of stories in this collection involving circus freaks, vampires, ghosts & innocence.
Like most short story collections though, there's hits and misses.
My favourite from this collection was The Dwarf.
I wish the endings were better in these stories though because they end abruptly and will leave you think "That's it??"
This is one of my favorites by Bradbury. Makes a great autumn/Halloween read.
#AlphabetGame #LetterO
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
A book you‘d recommend whose title starts with the featured letter.
pickIt may not be October, but Mr. Bradbury is for anytime. A@wonderful collection of stories with The Crowd and The Small Assassin being my favorites!
Diving into a Ray Bradbury book is like comfort food for the soul.♥️
pickCollection of short stories, some very good, many ok, several not that good in my opinion. But overall an ok book, appropriate for Halloween.
pickMany of the stories in this collection are actually reworkings of stories from Dark Carnival. However, October Country is a more refined work than its predecessor: the revised stories are stronger, more mature, and more taut, and the later collection contains a lean nineteen stories, cut down from the twenty-seven originally published in Dark Carnival.
My second nephew was born this week (on the thirteenth, lucky boy) and it‘s October, which means rereading an October Country story, so obviously I‘m reading “The Small Assassin” on this chilly Saturday morning. 🍂
1. Only photo challenges
2. Beets and potatoes
3. Flexible work hours
#WonderousWednesday @Eggs
so-soQOTD- Do you read any literary magazines/web-zines? If so, do you have a favorite?
I found this collection overall to be middling. Most of them were entertaining, but each has an air of modesty and predictability that kept them from hitting me hard emotionally. As far as small scale goes, his sentence are poetic, but sometimes unnecessarily long, and while I enjoyed almost every story, I often struggled to convince myself to keep reading.
⭐⭐⭐🌠
I made a goal to post about a scary book 1/day this month and stumbled on the home stretch. 🤷♂️ Sunday we drank hot cider and listened to Kim Petras‘s Halloween album while carving pumpkins & Monday we watched Hocus Pocus. So it‘s been a good start to Halloween week! Today I‘m revisiting an October favorite and randomly picked “Jack-in-the-Box” to reread. A boy stuck inside the house with his mother feels like an appropriate pick for this year.
I know I‘ll get some more reading and watching done tonight, but want to post my week 2 totals before it gets too late.
With this participation post, my total for the week comes to 196 points. Not as good as last week, but also had less days counting. I have a bunch of shorter reads in the queue for the rest of the month, so should be able to boost my points next week.
#Scarathlon2020 #TeamHarkness @StayCurious
bailedDNFing at ~100 pages. Bradbury is a master of depicting a slow unraveling of his characters‘ minds, but - in this collection - his endings are abrupt, unsatisfying, and leave me feeling frustrating. The longest story of the 4 I read (“The Next in Line”) was so good until that cheap ending. Ruined it for me. Still, one of my favorite short stories ever is by Bradbury (“All Summer in a Day”), is less than 5 pages long, and is free to read online.
It‘s here and I am back in my reading routine! My goals are to read at least 2 hours/day; finish my #LMPBC book The Switch by Beth O‘Leary, The Fairy-tale Detectives by Michael Buckley and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman! I‘m off to get started.
I'm currently scrambling to get through 15 prompts in the Dewey's pre-readathon challenge, so a choose-your-own-goals readathon in the run-up to the 24h readathon sounds like a good idea.
It should also get me posting more. I've been really letting my Litsy activity lapse!
#OutstandingOctober
@Andrew65
I'm ready for another readathon. For a change, I'm going to attempt 3 at one time, #OutstandOctober , #October20in4 and #AudioAthon readathons. I'm sure I'll get confused and mess up my time but what the heck, as long as I have fun reading, who cares?
@Andrew65
I‘m participating in Drawlloween, and the day 2 prompt was Mummy. In 1945, author Ray Bradbury visited Guanajuato, Mexico, and saw the disinterred mummies of residents whose families could no longer pay the rental fee for plots. This experience led to him writing the short story “The Next in Line,” which is part of the collection “The October Country.” I love reading this book every October #horror #art #raybradbury #halloween
pickGreat collection of spooky tales by Bradbury. 👻 I've read more of his sci-fi, but after reading Something Wicked This Way Comes, I instantly wanted to read more of his creepy writing. He's such an incredible writer no matter what genre though.
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks
#Scarathon2020 #TeamHarkness @StayCurious (296pts)
#Screamathon @4thhouseontheleft
For those participating in #swapseason here‘s a reminder of opening dates, and an extra reminder to check your voter registration status, and if applicable early voting options 🧡
#tistheseason #cozyswap #happyhollowswap #basicwitchswap #allhallowsreadswap
🎃 I do decorations for both.
🍎 Pumpkin Spice, but I do like caramel apples.
📚 I‘ve only finished two so far. 😑 Need to pick up the pace.
#ThoughtfulThursday
pickCreepy good, chilling, horrifying and magical. Perfect autumn read 🍁🎃💀👻
#authoramonth2020 @Soubhiville
#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks
This was my IRL book club pick for October, my October #BookSpin, and my 1955 pick for #192025. @TheAromaofBooks @Librarybelle 7d