Halloween Reads

I Love Halloween time! It's one of my favorite holidays and one of my favorite times to read. The days getting colder and darker, just make me want to snuggle up on the couch and read the world away. I have a couple books that I'm really excited to get into for the month of October, so I wanted to share them and see if anyone else has some more recommendations. First off, I'm starting with Dracula by Bram Stoker. I read it back in high school and loved it. I've been in a funk with the last three books that I've read, so I felt I needed to read something I know would be good. The movie is amazing as well, and I'll be watching it again soon. Also really looking forward to the movie Dracula Untold!

My next book will be The Keeper of the Realm by Bre Faucheux. This one is a paranormal romance. I have high hopes for this one, and I'll be giving a review on it when I'm done. Also, that cover, stunning!

Last on my list is Grimms Fairy Tales. I've never actually read any of these, but I hear they're quite creepy and nothing like the Disney versions that we all know. Again, I'll let you know my thoughts on them.

The White Mare by Jules Watson Review

I've been going back and forth on whether or not to post a review on this book, since my review of The Pillars of The Earth was so terrible, but my thoughts on this book just have to be said. If I can save even one person from feeling like I do right now, then it's worth it. If you can't already tell, I did not like this book. I so wanted to. I had high hopes for this one. On paper, it had everything I could want in a book. But it truly failed to deliver. It is a historical epic tale set in 79 A.D. Scotland. It has Roman invaders, Druids, Warriors, and kings. It had all the makings for a great story. It just couldn't pull it off. The two main characters were mind numbingly boring. I never cared for either of them. They could get together or not, whatever. I ended up skipping pages of details, and I'm a details person. For instance, Diana Gabaldon and Ann Rice do it fantastically. This book is 600 pages long. I HATE quitting on a book. But at page 580, I put it down and said "NO MAS!" I just couldn't even give it the last 20 pages. If the author waited until those pages to wow me, then shame on her. Someone recently just told me to only give a book 100 pages, then feel free to quit it if it's not working for me. I think I'm going to have to adopt that rule. I could have read several other books that I might have loved instead of wasting my time on this one. Well, lesson learned.

Well, I didn't like it:(

OK, I know it's been forever since I've posted about reading The Pillars of The Earth, but hey, life happens. Here's my thoughts on it. It took me two tries, but I finally finished this book. The beginning is incredibly slow and boring, but I was told it gets better so I trudged through. By midway I was angry most of the time while reading it. There are several characters who are so incredibly evil and constantly getting away with horrific acts. It was like watching train wrecks and not being able to do anything about it. It would have been better if there were even one character that I truly liked, but even the so called good characters made me nuts. You need to be on anti-depressants to read this book. It was so draining to read about their horrible lives day after day. I couldn't wait to finish it to to see if something good would finally happen. I was not happy about the ending. All in all, I'm still kinda angry about the whole thing. On a side note, for anyone who has watched Days of Our Lives, did Waleran totally remind you of Stefano DiMara?

Horrible Histories

Let me just say, if you don't already love history, this series will change that.  Horrible Histories is a set of books and videos that teaches all about the grossest, nastiest, and meanest bits of history, but in the most entertaining way.  The videos and books are disturbing and hilarious at the same time.  My kids and I laugh out loud while watching the videos.  We use the books to supplement along with Story of the World.  It adds a whole new layer onto our lessons and really makes the people and places we're learning about come to life.  I highly recommend checking it out! 

I'm reading Pillars of the Earth

 I'm a huge fan of historical fiction.  Just about any time period will do, although I do love me some Scottish Highlanders.  The book I'm currently reading is called The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet.  I'm only about 30 pages in so I don't have much of an opinion on it yet.  I did come highly rated by my husband, who's the biggest reader I know.  He's been wanting me to read this book for years.  I actually did start to read it about 12 years ago.  We were living in England back then, and the book is set in medieval England, so he thought I'd love it.  For some reason I didn't enjoy it at that time, and I stopped reading it.  I rarely ever stop reading a book once I've started.  It's been on the book shelf for years taunting me and I've decided to give it another chance.  It's a pretty long book, so here's hoping I can get through it this time.  I'll keep ya'll posted on what I think.
OK, I know it's been forever since I've posted about reading The Pillars of The Earth, but hey, life happens. Here's my thoughts on it. It took me two tries, but I finally finished this book. The beginning is incredibly slow and boring, but I was told it gets better so I trudged through. By midway I was angry most of the time while reading it. There are several characters who are so incredibly evil and constantly getting away with horrific acts. It was like watching train wrecks and not being able to do anything about it. It would have been better if there were even one character that I truly liked, but even the so called good characters made me nuts. You need to be on anti-depressants to read this book. It was so draining to read about their horrible lives day after day. I couldn't wait to finish it to to see if something good would finally happen. I was not happy about the ending. All in all, I'm still kinda angry about the whole thing. On a side note, for anyone who has watched Days of Our Lives, did Waleran totally remind you of Stefano DiMara?