Top Ten Tuesday: Books To Read During Halloween

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Happy Halloween!

1. Lamplighter, by D.M. Cornish. I read this for the first time around Halloween, and it's very Gothic and eerie. Perfect! The first and third of the series are very good as well -- lots of monsters and fascinating characters. Factotum even has a masquerade ball.
2. Any Harry Potter, of course!
3. Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen. I love the scene where Catherine scares herself finding the mysterious note, only to discover it's a laundry receipt. It's the kind of thing I might do. ;)
4. Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones.
5. On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, by Andrew Peterson.
6. Rapunzel's Revenge and Calamity Jack, by Shannon Hale. After reading these and seeing all the beautiful art, I wanted to go out costumed as Rapunzel -- she's awesome.

That's all I can think of -- I didn't sleep much last night, and my brain won't cooperate.

steampunkery

I wish I had the skills to sew this costume. So pretty! Mine would be green, and I'd make a cool hat and jewelry to wear with it. If I ever get my sewing machine back I have another project to finish first (a midnight blue, Elvish dress), but I'd try this one after that anyhow, and learn the complicated stuff as I go.

Malina Lassë

Yellow leaf. :)





I love playing with the macro setting. :)

A daydream.

If I was free to do anything I wanted, I'd move either to Canada or to Portland, go to college at an inexpensive school where they don't make you live in a stupid dorm, and then get a job working in a library while I write in my free time. And if that had to involve becoming an indentured servant to a student loan company, then so be it. The debt is a small price to pay (actually, the loan would be pretty small, too) to finally be in a position to do something besides washing dishes and daydreaming! And to not be so lonely. . . priceless.

The heart of a flower, the wings of a butterfly

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time

1. The Lord of the Rings: the first fantasy I ever read and my favorite book of all time. The first time reading it was jaw-dropping amazing, and I wish I could experience the story with such fierce intensity over and over again.

2. Lamplighter, by D.M. Cornish: the first time I read this it drove me wild and scared me silly. (Shouldn't have been reading it so late at night, lol. :P) And the cliffhanger is a killer.

3. The High King, by Lloyd Alexander -- The surprises in this story were so beautiful.

4. Harry Potter. 'Nuff said. :)

5. Isle of Swords, by Wayne Thomas Batson -- I guessed the secret long before story's end, but it was (and is) still an awesome ride.

6. The Hunger Games -- I'm not sure I ever want to read it again. I don't think it's possible for me to enjoy a reread of this, and I really don't want to try. But it was very good the first time. :)

7. Curse of the Spider King, by Wayne Thomas Batson. This was loads of fun to read the first time, but for some reason, just isn't as interesting to read again. :(

8. Surviving the Applewhites, by Stephanie Tolan

9. Wings, by Aprilynne Pike: I like this one a lot, even though I don't usually like paranormal romance. But I've lived in Crescent City, and on my second read the occasional little inaccuracies in the setting stuck out and bugged me.

10. The entire Fablehaven series, particularly Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary, which has a twist so shocking it left me with my mouth hanging open for a full five minutes before I could go on reading. Very cool books, these. :D