I‘m loving the season to include the holiday-related reads…but I‘m really looking forward to the new year and the return to reading “more serious” stuff. #Auldlangspine has added an extra jolt to my TBR as I‘ve been paired with @Amiable and am intrigued by a number of her favorite reads from the past year. Above are just a few of her recommendations I plan to check out in January and well into 2025!

#auldlangspine2025
#ALSpine2025

This was a short but solid title that focused on the Victorian era tradition of telling ghost stories by the fire on Christmas Eve. Far from scary though, these tales are served with healthy portions of wit and sarcasm.

#bookspinbingo #wintergames #wintergames2024
#XmasChaCha #littenlisten @TheAromaofBooks @StayCurious @aperfectmjk

This book covers the history of Christmas in small, focused snippets. It covers subjects that range from fruit cake to wrapping paper to Santa Claus and everything in between. I‘ve heard of many of the subjects before on the podcast of the same name, but I loved revisiting them and prefer the audiobook version thanks to better sound quality. I‘ll be revisiting this book and its various subjects for years to come!

At the halfway point for #wintergames2024, my points are listed above.
#wintergames
#cristmaschapterchasers

This was a brief but intriguing read about the Christmas Witch, the twin sister of Santa Claus. It was creative, different, and brief, clocking in at just under an hour. The sound design was really immersive and helped pull me into the story. When a character is walking in the snow, you hear the crunch of each step for example.

I hope they‘ll be a sequel next year to continue the story.

This reminded me of why I hated philosophy in college so many years ago. These scholarly types love to beat dead horses repeatedly instead of getting to the point. There are essays on the origins of Christmas, the Christmas Nativity, Santa, Christmas consumerism, and related pop culture. I thought this would be “fun.” It did have its moments. I really enjoyed essays in the latter half of the book that were more cheeky in their subject matter.

So last weekend I setup Christmas tree lights in our fridge based on a viral TikTok video. It‘s like the best decoration ever! It took a ton of packaging tape, but it was worth it. I giggle like a 10-year old every time I open the fridge!! 😂😂😂 I thought I‘d share just in case anyone is bored and has an extra string of lights that they don‘t know what to do with!
#wintergames #wintergames2024 #christmaschapterchasers @StayCurious

A woman is released from prison after eight long years and decides to start life over in a new town. The story unfolds with Christmas rapidly approaching. There are some plot holes, and well, some things that just don‘t make any sense here….eight years in prison for a first time offense of embezzlement? A woman spends all that time in prison yet doesn‘t seem hardened and shows no ill effects from it?

A festive title by Christopher Moore, filled with the adult humor and fast-paced chaos that seem typical for his work. It was fun and something a bit different to celebrate the holiday season with compared to the titles in the more typical holiday romance or Christian fiction genres. It‘s a story about a truly unintelligent angel on a mission to make a child‘s Christmas miracle come true.

This guide was part history of Yule and its relation to Christmas and part how to book with advice on how to celebrate Yule in modern times. This was to the point and brief, which is great for a general reader like me who isn‘t planning to apply the knowledge. Also, it‘ll earn me a ton of points on the #wgwordsearch with 331 words!

#bookspinbingo #wintergames2024 #wintergames
#Christmaschapterchasers

I read this for the first time in 27 years. It was much more impactful to me at this point in my life compared to when I was in college. I had also forgotten most of the work itself. I started with the Audible adaptation with Andrew Garfield and enjoyed it so much, I then listened to Orwell‘s original work. It remains a thought-provoking, relevant work.

Here‘s my TBR list for #wintergames2024 and #bookspinbingo!

#wintergames #earlybirdpoints #christmaschapterchasers
@TheAromaofBooks
@StayCurious

1. Hot chocolate
2. Christmas Day
3. 🌟
4. Indian food
5. Travel - I got snowed in for one Xmas around eighteen years ago and was bored to death

#wintergames2024
#earlybirdpoints
#christmaschapterchasers

@staycurious

I loved this book! It was like revisiting nostalgia which was reaffirmed for being as good if not more awesome than I remembered it! I loved these guys growing up and would often end up watching their syndicated show after the late-night talk shows went off the air on Fridays. These guys genuinely loved movies and enjoyed sharing their love and criticism of film with the world. They despised one another but came to respect and love each other

This book was amazing! It was so much nerdy fun to revisit this election and get the views from insiders from all of the various campaigns. The only downer is that I had this book several days before the election while finishing it a couple of days on the other side of Election Day…those Obama years where progressive thought we turned a corner seem so far away…no offense to those on the other side of the political spectrum.

This was surprisingly deeper than I anticipated. If Horn‘s other works are similar in nature, I think I‘ll end up preferring his style over his famous father‘s! I wouldn‘t exactly call this horror, but I have no idea of what other categories or genres of work that would better describe this novel! The premise is a guy wakes up and seems to be sprouting horns from his noggin one random morning.

This was probably the winner among my horror reads for the past season. It feels more serous and mature than Camp Damascus, which was a pretty solid work in its own right. There were some pretty creepy ideas and moments in this work and the story was solid throughout! The growth and span of Tingle‘s work is pretty amazing in itself if you‘re not familiar with his full bibliography!

This was a mildly entertaining collection of really short horror stories. For several stories, the author would take the time to tell the story from the perspective of several different characters…when used, this method had mixed results. I may try some of the author‘s other work to see if his longer stories are more engaging and suspenseful.

#hauntedshelf #bookspinbingo #skeletoncrew

This had some very interesting plot twists, especially in the last quarter of the book . However, could the author have written at least one likable character in the story? These are all pretty terrible people.

#hauntedshelf #trappedinaspookyhouse #bookspinbingo #skeletoncrew

This explored the morbid history of Penn‘s Woods to include dark and strange stories for the area to include tales of witches, hangings, murder, and spontaneous human combustion among other things…this was a solid start to the Halloween season for me!

#hauntedshelf #trappedinaspookyhouse #skeletoncrew #bookspinbingo

1) maybe three times per day usually….depending on work visits and such

2) This has been on my TBR for quite some time….hopefully I‘ll actually get around to it soon (after the October/Halloween festivities)

#two4tuesday
@TheSpineView

The Lesser Dead is about a group of vampires living in the NYC underground in the late 1970s. It‘s the first time I‘ve really been sucked into a story about vampires (other than Bunnicula)

A Season with the Witch is a nonfiction work by a reporter who stayed in Salem with his family for the month of October. It‘s such a historic, complex, and horribly cheesy place. Visiting Salem is now near the top of my bucket list!
#hauntedshelf #skeletoncrew

@MatchlessMarie here‘s your list for #TrappedinaSpookyHouse. Pleasant reading, and I hope you survive the spooky house!!

@PuddleJumper

Join me in participating in @PuddleJumper #HauntedShelf an October challenge where you earn points for reading, participating in readathons or other challenges, and helps tackle those growing TBR piles

You can participate as much or as little as you want. It‘s a little bit of fun

Signups will be open all the way through September

https://forms.gle/EYiyBXSKoybhkKDX6

This was a thorough look at the political scene in the early 1990s with a heavy focus on the 1992 presidential election. I was a teen at the time and this brought back a lot of memories…like watching the Ross Perot infomercial. A lot of the things I didn‘t remember though…like how awful of a human being Pat Buchanan is. This is great for lovers of history and political science

#bookspinbingo
@TheAromaofBooks

If you‘re like me, you‘ve been stashing books for almost a full year and it‘s now time to whittle it down to the Halloween TBR list! I‘ll be thrilled if I get to read 1/3 of this!

#hauntedshelf
#skeletoncrew
@Emilymdxn

I‘m particularly nostalgic for circuses and carnivals and experiencing them as an adult still strikes me with wonder. So I‘m an easily-to-please target for this book…but I swear it‘s both informative and entertaining. It‘s especially fun once we meet the characters of Barnum and Bailey. It‘s interesting to learn about the mergers and how the circus changed over time. My favorite moments were the side stories about the performers and their acts.

Here‘s my list for Sept!

#bookspinbingo
@TheAromaofBooks

D&D truly changed the world of strategy and RPG games. Unfortunately, the tale behind its creation was not as exciting as it had been billed to me. I felt this book was a textbook-like retelling of facts to include annual sales numbers. The game‘s very slow build from mocked fantasy game to cultural icon is interesting. Overall though I just felt like something was missing…like any type of connection to the creators.

This was a surprisingly entertaining memoir covering the early days of Blue Ribbon, a tiny shoe distribution company that almost went belly up several times. It would survive, somehow, and would eventually evolve become the behemoth that is Nike. It‘s hard to think of Nike as the “little guy” facing astronomical odds, but it truly was a very long time ago. Regardless I‘m still more of a Converse and Adidas guy!

#bookspinbingo
@TheAromaofBooks

So this book took awhile to finish, apparently I started this in January 🤷‍♂️. It was just so thorough, which was both a positive and a negative. This book covers all types of nuclear accidents to include those related to research and tests, the transportation of weapons, and those at power plants. This was informative if not a bit unsettling at times with the number of close calls reported. The author‘s light tone and sense of humor helps

This is a tale of two Scottish immigrants who come to America filled to the brim with dreams and naïveté. The book was as epic and sprawling as the land the homesteaders try to survive and build their lives on. Even if some plot points are a bit formulaic, Doig‘s writing style provides a depth I never expected. I look forward to more of his tales. If there isn‘t a PBS miniseries for this and possibly the whole trilogy, there needs to be one!

It‘s August…..time for another round!
#bookspinbingo #bookspin #doublespin
@TheAromaofBooks

This was a fast and enjoyable read that took me back to simpler times. I liked the Apprentice when it first came out and was at least indifferent to Trump or even kind of liked him for when he‘d show up and say ridiculous things on the Late Show and always laughed at how he‘d slap his name on everything. This is a fun behind the scenes of how the Apprentice came to be and how the show helped propel him to the presidency. #bookspinbingo

This is the first Tingle book I‘ve read. It‘s surprisingly serious compared to much of his work. I found the book to be creative and frightening in the sense that I could see certain conservative groups implementing this kind of strategy to prevent people from living authentic, LGBTQ lives. We‘ll just say it makes conversion therapy look like amateur hour. I think Tingle landed the ending well, which I find rare in general and especially horror.

I had never heard of this book or series until a few weeks ago. This was innocent fun that I would have enjoyed a lot more when I was young and reading stuff like Bunnicula and the Indian in the Cupboard. I really enjoyed how humble and gracious the four children are for what meager belongings they had and more for having each other. Overall it was nice to read something different than the typical stuff.

#bookspinbingo

Thompson delivered a balanced take on the Hell‘s Angels. He portrayed a quirky bunch of outsiders who came together to form a brotherhood. He educated on how they often fell victim to lies and exaggerations from police and the media to build them as greater risks to the public than they were. He warned how this same group of characters can perform violent acts with little or no provocation to the point of being rightfully hated and vilified.

Here‘s my list for the month!
#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

Blume tells the story of Hemingways struggles to get his big break and the story behind The Sun Also Rises. What did I learn? Hemingway wasn‘t nearly as creative as I had thought, in this case using the story of a strange bender with friends as the plot for his book. It confirmed than Hemingway was quite honestly an ass. Yet at the same time, I‘m tempted to actually read one of his books for the first time in over twenty years.

#bookspinbingo

This was the first book I‘ve read by Moore and I loved it. It‘s a fictional tale on the life and times of Jesus. At times it felt as though the Bible had crossed paths with American Pie or some other hormone-fueled, rated R teen comedy. Somehow, Moore walked a fine line with this story and remained quite respectful to the subject matter. This was fun and creative and I was sorry to say goodbye to the characters at the end.

#bookspinbingo

I absolutely loved this book as I was a huge fan of the unique personality that was Bill Walton. If you enjoyed his odd, rambling commentary on TV, you‘ll enjoy if not love this. Bill is among the few I could listen to ramble on and barely understand what the hell he was talking about, but still absolutely adore him. This book made me adore and miss him even more, as a world without Bill is a darker place. #bookspinbingo

June BookSpin Bingo…..let‘s go! 😂

#bookspinbingo
@TheAromaofBooks

This was a fast-paced nonfiction read filled with gritty and grisly details. This provides a pretty detailed account of Sinatra‘s relationship with the mob and their involvement in US politics. Most surprising was that Sinatra was never offed by the mafia. His childish temperament and buffoonish behavior seemed to cause the organization more headaches and lost opportunities than keeping him around was worth.
#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

This is a detailed account of Peter Freuchen, a legendary polar explorer. He had one of the more ridiculous, badass, and gross survival stories from his days of exploring Greenland. Outside of polar exploration, his life was filled with a variety of unique adventures and twists and turns.

#bookspinbingo
@TheAromaofBooks

I listened to this book of mildly entertaining stories on the way to the airport for my Key West trip. None were particularly frightening. It was interesting to learn a bit about the legends and history of the area, such as the tree at Captain Tony‘s supposedly being the original hanging tree for the town and about the supposed ghost of Hemingway still spending time at his place. I‘d rather recommend a ghost tour for anyone planning a visit.

This was an adequate collection of photos comparing what Key West looked like in the past to modern times. This is the fourth book I‘ve read in the Images of America series and the reality has typically failed to live up to my excitement going into the book.

#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

This was a great book to introduce some of the history of Key West through a series of profiles. It helped to explain the somewhat complex vibe of the area which has both progressive LGTBQ and conservative Florida vibes and elements. I particularly enjoyed reading about how the island became the Conch Republic, how the town had the first openly gay mayor in the US, and how the gay community struggled to gain a foothold and grow in Key West.

This was a very short read that gave some interesting ideas for activities and things to do in Key West. My only complaint is that it should be revised and updated as some of the recommended businesses haven‘t been around for several years (unfortunately I won‘t be doing any “scorpion shots” on his trip 🦂😕).
#bookspinbingo #doublespin

I listened to this audiobook recently and loved it. Bourdain left me feeling both disappointed and relieved that I‘ve never worked in professional kitchen. His honesty about his own career to include the mistakes he made was refreshing. I wish I had gotten around to this sooner and now plan to check out his other books.

Time for another month‘s list! May is a special vacation edition for me!

#bookspinbingo
#doublspin