I'm Obsessed!!  Poe has stolen my heart with his beautiful words.  I've been working my way through Edgar Allen Poe's stories and I'm falling head over heels for it:)  His writing is literal art on the page.

Check out my latest 7 in 7 readathon vlog while I talk more in depth of my love for Poe!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ-eQh4Tj48

Yep, I'm doing another challenge:)  Just heard about the 7 in 7 reading challenge and decided on a whim to do it!  But this time I'm not trying to read 7 books, I'm doing short stories.  I'm picking stories from Edgar Allen Poe, and fairy tale retellings.  It's day 3 of the challenge and so far I've read four Poe stories and one fairy tale.  So I'm doing pretty darn good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMXK12QQPrE

BookTube-A-Thon Day 7 Instagram Pics!

Yesterday was the last day of BookTube-A-Thon 2016!  All in all, I'm happy with how I did:) 

I ended the challenge with 3 and a half books read, and one book related movie watched.  The books I completed were Sea Witch by Virginia Kantra, which I gave a solid 4 stars.  Mysteries and Legends Virginia by Emilee Hines got 3.5 stars. 1984 by George Orwell that I'm giving 5 stars, and my half finished book is Common Sense by Thomas Paine.  I won't rate that one.  But I will say it should be required reading in school! 

The movie I watched was Anna Karenina, the 2012 version with Keira Knightly.  I finished the book two weeks ago, and put off watching the movie, because watching a book to movie adaptation was one of the challenges.  I wasn't a huge fan of the book, well at least not of Anna.  She just might be my most hated character of all time!  The movie was visually stunning.  The stage, costumes, and cinematography were all outstanding.  All the scenes with Anna though were hard to watch, especially towards the end.  Watching her fall apart, and cry all the time just made me hate her even more.  I was also surprised at who they picked to play some of the characters.  Anna's husband and Levin were nothing like I had imagined them.  The movie reminded me a lot of Moulin Rouge, which I absolutely love.  It was very similar in the way it looked.  I was surprised to see the movie had low ratings.  It's obvious how much work went into it.  Even though I don't love the story, it was still worth it to watch.

Yesterday was also the last day for the Instagram challenges.  I'm pretty bummed about that.  It was a lot of fun:)  Here's the pics I took. 

I didn't have time to go anywhere special to take pics, so I just did them in my back yard.  The duck is Roxy, my 4 month old Mallard.  The dog is my pain in the butt Doberman Sonya.  Both were fantastic models and enjoyed their books very much;)  Here's my Instagram, check it out!  https://www.instagram.com/stac2277/
 

Getting back into Blogging!

The mood has struck, so here I am, back at the blog I've left two years ago.  You Tube has been my passion since I've left the blog, but I've been wanting to get back into it.  For little over a year, I've been working on my You Tube channel.  Here it is, if you're interested.  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOgPJOjEmcWHC1OhGfqJ_Vg . I plan on adding my videos to this blog as I make them! 

So here's what's going in my book world at the moment.  Today is the last day of the BookTube-A-Thon.  I've never done a book challenge before, and for same crazy reason, I felt like jumping into this one.  Even though it was scheduled for the same week that I'd be gone at summer camp with the kids.  Crazy right?  I knew going into this that I'd never read the seven book goal, but I have been able to get through much more then I normally would.  Apparently I like to be challenged, Who knew? 

Yesterday I even went out and took some pics for the BookTube-A-Thon Instagram photo contest.  The challenge was to take a pic of a second hand book.  I picked 3, and drove out to Leesylvania State Park.  The park was insane.  Everyone and their brother was there.  Parking was a nightmare, and I wasn't able to get two of the pics that I had planned on.  But I was able to get a few pics at the beach there, after I was able to find a sliver of beach that wasn't already occupied.  Here's a few shots that I took there!

With the park so packed, I wasn't able to get to the other two areas that I wanted to, so I left there and stopped by a wooded park by my house.  There I was able to get these shots of a book about mysteries in Virginia.  I had wanted to take the pics at an actual haunted place, but I was still happy with these shots in the woods.  It's kinda funny, because today's Instagram contest is pics taken outside.  I don't want to post the same ones I did yesterday, and I'm busy trying to read as much as possible today, so I doubt I'll be able to take pics for today:(  I wish the contest went on longer, I really like taking pics of books!  Here's what I took in the woods. 

And here's my vlog about my photo taking mission!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcZ2O_1QAeI

Thanks for taking the time to check out my blog!  More to come soon:)

Dust and Shadow Book Review

Writing reviews for two Books in a day, I'm rocking this! Ok, I kinda suck at keeping up with the blog, but life happens, ya know? So anyway, here's my review for Dust and Shadow by Lindsay Faye. I really enjoyed this book, and gave it 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. The book is about Sherlock Holmes and Watson trying to solve the case of Jack the Ripper. A Brilliant idea, I can't believe no one has written yet! Lindsay Faye did an amazing job writing the dialog of Sherlock Holmes. I found it a little hard to read in the beginning, I think Sherlock is easier to watch then to read, but I got the hang of it. Sherlock is not only super smart but I thought he was very likeable as well. I liked all the characters in the book, except for the Ripper of course. I also feel like I learned a lot about the White Chapel Killings and that particular time in London. The story is written from Dr. Watson's point of view, and he writes about the crime scenes in great detail. Some parts are quite gruesome. The ending has a clever twist. You do find out who the killer is, unlike in real life. I'd recommend this book to Sherlock, historical history, and mystery fans. It's worth the read!

Mrs. Poe Review

Better late then never, right? So let's get started. I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. Mrs Poe is a fictional account of Edgar Allen Poe, his wife, and his mistress Frances Osgood. Although I had a hard time with the subject matter, infidelity doesn't sit well with me, I still really enjoyed the story. Mrs Poe is set during the 1840's in New York city. The authors description of that time and place was perfect. I love details, and I think she did a great job with it. I also enjoyed the main character, Frances, who was also a writer/poet like Poe. She was married with children, and had an absent husband, but she was willing to work hard and didn't like taking from others. I found her admirable in that way. Poe's wife was very young, beautiful, and also pretty darn clever. As a character, I loved and hated her at the same time. There's an interesting twist with her in the end, that I thought was well done. Poe I found to be quite miserable. I did not like him as a person at all. I found him arrogant, mean, and selfish. I was often amazed that Frances loved him. I didn't feel like the woman that she was described to be, would love a man like him. I really can't imagine anyone loving him. He annoyed me, can ya tell? Great writer, terrible guy. With that being said, it was still a good read. I would recommend it to historical fiction lovers, especially if you love New York!

More Halloween reads

I had to pick up my new glasses today, and decided to hit the thrift store on my way home. Thrift stores are the best places to get books. I may not always find what I'm looking for, but I always come home with something good. Anyway, I picked up eight books today, two of which I'd like to read this month. The first one is called Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen. It's about the love triangle between Edgar Allen Poe, his wife , and his mistress. I'm kinda ashamed to admit, I've never read any Poe and don't know much about him. Being from Baltimore, you'd think we would have read his stuff in school, but we never did.

I'm also going to try to read Dust and Shadow by Lindsay Faye. This is a Sherlock Holmes/Jack the Ripper Story. Seems like the perfect Halloween read.