Tag Archives: Ray Bradbury

Book Review: The Halloween Tree

This weeks book is of course The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t think of anything more fitting for the day before Halloween.

This book follows 8 boys in a small fictional town on Halloween night as they try to save their friend Pip and discover the meaning of Halloween. Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud takes the boys on an adventure to find out why they’re dressed as witches, monsters, mummies and skeletons. He shows the boys not only the why and the how’s of Halloween, but how far they’ll go to save the greatest boy that ever lived Joe Pipkin.

This book has absolutely no flaws for me, being both written by Ray Bradbury, and a huge part of my childhood. I’d even say that this book has a lot to do with where I live, which is a small town very much like the book where “there wasn’t so much wilderness you couldn’t see the town. But on the other hand there wasn’t so much town you couldn’t see and feel and touch and smell the wilderness.”* Mr. Moundshroud was the first character to show me that sometimes you couldn’t be sure if someone was your friend or a villain until the end. And Pip, oh pip. I hope that by the time he’s 12 my son is just like and has friends as loyal as Joe Pipkin,’ the greatest boy who ever lived, and on the day he was born all the Orange Crush and Nehi soda bottles in the world fizzed over.”*

Final Verdict: I wholeheartedly, full stop, recommend this book. It doesn’t matter how old you are, if you love Halloween, you’ll love this book. Ray Bradbury’s words take you into the world of that Halloween Tree and you find yourself racing with all the boys, and willing to do anything to save Joe Pipkin.

I thought of dressing up in costume this week, but I honestly haven’t worn a costume for Halloween since I was 21. It’s just not my thing anymore. So I decided to wear some of my favorite cozy clothing.

I’m wearing a gray stripey sweater from Gap, Glasses from Kate Spade. Victoria’s Secret Most Loved Yoga Leggings and Pink and Pepper boots. I love this sweater because it’s long enough to cover my butt and make these yoga leggings acceptable for public wear.

Bonus: Pinterest Told Me To blogger Sheaffer recently did a post about Mixing Black Brown and Gray and I totally agree with her. It’s an amazing combination.

There’s howl being adorable with his Owl toy from Martha Stewart’s Petsmart Line. I really love that line for dog clothes and toys.

My makeup is super simple, just Rimmel’s new Stay Matte Liquid Mousse foundation that I received from Influenster, Nars Deep Throat Blush, Rosebud Salve Strawberry Lipbalm, Nyx Skinny Eye Marker, and YSL Baby Doll Mascara.

My Necklace is a Tiny Owl that I have no clue where I got, and not pictured are my Kate Spade Gumdrop Studs in Clear Silver.

Howl decided to get into the Halloween Spirit:

He says he should totally play a Hell Hound on Supernatural. I keep trying tell him he’s too adorable and Hell Hounds are invisible.

He then said he’s not adorable, he has Fangs and is Majestic and Ferocious, and the resemblance is striking.

What are your Halloween Plans? I plan to take my son trick or treating and then come home to curl up with Bitter River which I’ll be reviewing next week. Happy Halloween.

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Stylish Sunday’s: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Every year my town has a Fall Festival that I always attend. It has a few carnival rides, standard fair food, but really I only go for the Hot Apple Cider. I only like one ride there and that’s the Sizzler or Scrambler depending on which company is providing the rides. I usually am pretty lazy with what I wear since I’m running around with my 7 year old.

I wore a sweater from Hollister, a tank from The Limited, Victoria’s Secret Most Loved Yoga Pants, and my Pink and Pepper riding boots. Not Pictured Alex & Ani October Birthstone Bracelet. I did say I’d do an outfit where I made these pants acceptable for public. This is one of them. The only issue was my sweater kept riding up and that was irritating because even though it was long enough, it didn’t look long enough.

On My Face: Nars Sheer Glow in Siberia, Nars blush in Deep Throat, Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer in Vanilla, Benefit Watts up, Benefit They’re Real Mascara, Various Lancome Shadows. Hair pulled back in a very messy bun using an Emi-Jay hair tie.

Howl was a bit apprehensive about a carnival in the fall. He’s in good company though.

Howl wore his Worthy Dog Harness. I think he was just happy to be out and about.

A big reason why I like going to this festival is because it reminds of one of my favorite Ray Bradbury books Something Wicked This Way Comes. I know book reviews usually go up on Wednesdays, I really do recommend either this book or the movie for fall. It’s about a carnival that comes to Green Town in mid-October called Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show. Mr. Dark being the true owner of the carnival is also the Carnival’s illustrated man bearing a tattoo for each person bound to the Carnival. The Novel focuses on 14 year old boys (12 in the movie) Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade and Will’s Father Charles. The boys are excited for the Carnival that comes so late in the year but Charles Halloway is apprehensive about what it could mean.

I adore this book, and have for years. As I mentioned before it’s a bit hard for me to be unbiased when it comes to Ray Bradbury’s writing because I’ve loved his books since I was a child, and The Halloween Tree is one of the very first books I remember reading. It’s also the first movie I remember watching. I do recommend it though. Ray Bradbury is a famous Author for a very good reason and if you’ve never read his work before then this is a good place to start.

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Real Books Again

Note: I know there should be a book review up, but yesterday was my birthday and I took the day off to spend with my family. Since Howl has been ill, I’ve been incredibly stressed and torn between trying to keep up with my blog and just spending time with my family trying to cope with a very sick puppy. Taking my birthday off was a much needed break, and I am feeling much better. This weeks Stylish Sunday’s will be what I wore on my birthday, and then there will be a “What I got for my Birthday” up next week since I want to include what I got from my parents and I won’t be seeing them until Sunday. Now on to today’s actual post:

I’ve been buying more and more books lately. They’re less expensive than makeup and clothing and give me just as much joy. I’ve bought 7 books total in less than 2 months. That’s more books than I’ve bought in a long time. Really for a while the only books I was buying were ones recommended by Katie of ChapterStackss, and those were on my nook, mostly I was just reading library books on my nook, and getting the Free Friday books.

fashionandhappythings-0126 I bought Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, which has been called the most misinterpreted book ever written. According to the Author, it’s about Technology causing the death of literature as we know it. I adore Ray Bradbury, and could easily call him my all time favorite author. Since my copy of this book had long since fallen to pieces, I decided that I should repurchase it. Even though before his death Bradbury gave permission for his books to be sold in Ebook format, it just feels wrong to buy his work in anything other than physical media. I probably will buy them as ebooks, but only after I already own the actual book.

fashionandhappythings-0127 I also picked up The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, this book has been making the rounds as being completely awesome for a while and I don’t know why I hadn’t bought it before. Since it’s being made into a movie soon, I decided that I should probably read it, since I like to read the book before the movie. I actually don’t know much more about this book than what I’ve heard from Youtubers who’ve read the book, but I can say that with this book being as hyped up as it is, I will be reviewing in as soon as I finish it.

It might be a while before you see reviews on these books since I have library books and other books I’ve bought to read first. But I will forewarn you that anything written by Ray Bradbury will always receive a glowing review from me, and you should probably read the books and be the judge for yourself.

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And Other Spooky Stories

Yesterday when my Husband called me to make sure I knew it was raining so I could open the windows, he also reminded me that this Friday would be the 13th. Personally I love Friday the 13th, but I know that a lot of people think it’s unlucky, and would much prefer to stay in. So if you have that opportunity, then I’d really recommend reading a book. I mean it would be just your luck that you’d get electrocuted turning on your DVR. Since Halloween is just around the corner, and Friday the 13th is a scary day for a lot of people anyway why not make that book a scary one?

I’ve decided to list out some of my favorite scary books that I completely recommend. There will be full reviews later. Most likely you can get these at your local library, or on nook or kindle if you really don’t want to go outside.

1. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

Really anything by Ray Bradbury, no one does Horror/Sci Fi like Bradbury. He is the king of creepy. Bonus: there was an episode of Criminal Minds based around the Illustrated Man

2. My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews

If Bradbury is the King of Creepy, Andrews is the Queen of Demented. While not outright Horror, these books are scary, and straight up messed up.

3. Misery By Stephen King

I’m virturally 100% certain Stephen King has been called the Master Of Horror. I agree.

4. The Killing Edge by Heather Graham

Be careful which you pick up, she writes both Horror and Love Stories, I’m not a fan of the love stories, but the Horror are some of the best I’ve read. I adore her.

5. Video Kill by Joanne Fluke

Best known for her Hannah Swensen Series, Joanne Fluke does murder well.

That’s it for the Adult books, but I do have some YA books that fit into the Horror and Supernatural Category.

1. The Night World Series by L.J. Smith

These books are the right amount of Vampires, Witches and just a bit scary. Best known for The Vampire Diaries, L.J. Smith has some amazing Supernatural Fiction.

2. The Den Of Shadows Quartet by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Barely older than me, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes publishes her first book at age 14, and they’re good.

3. The Wicked Series by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié

Loved this series. So much that after finishing Witch in the first volume, I went back and bought the final two volumes in the set. There are 5 books in the series total, 2 in the first volume, 2 in the second and the third is the final book.

4. Fear Street Nights by R.L. Stine

I’ve been reading R.L. Stine since I was little and my grandmother much preferred me to be reading Sweet Valley High or Nancy Drew instead. While I liked those books (okay Loved Nancy Drew) nothing compared to the thrill I got from the Fear Street books.

5. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

This book (now a major motion picture) freaked me out. But more than this one, I recommend Alice Sebold’s Lucky. It’s the true story of her Rape and it’s aftermath. There is nothing scarier than reality, and that book made me afraid to go anywhere by myself at night for months.

Moving on to Childrens books. I don’t have as many of these as I do the others, I graduated from childrens books to YA completely by the time I was in 3rd grade. I actually read My Sweet Audrina in 1st grade (Boy was my mom pissed when she caught me putting it back on the shelves, then she was even madder when she found out at the end of our long conversation that her 1st grader fully understood what was had happened in such a dark and twisted book.) However these books are suitable for kids and will always hold a special place in my heart.

1. A Night In Terror Tower , Goosebumps Series by R.L. Stine

I adore Goosebumps, my 2nd grader is obsessed with the series right now, and not only are we absolutely devouring the books, but the series is on Netflix instant play. Know your kid before you hand these over though, even as an adult some of these still creep me out. My kid is all Ook and Spook, but if yours is more into faery-tales then these may not be for them

2. Grimms Faery-Tales by The Brothers Grimm

If you have the kind of kid that’s into Faery-Tales and you want something scary then this is the book for you. Bear in mind that this is not disney’s Cinderella and Snow White. Bad things happen in these books. Noses are pecked off, Bears eat people. These are the Originals.

3. Wait Til Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hann

I’ve mentioned this book before, I read this in 3rd grade and it is still my All Time Favorite book. Mary Downing Hann does Children’s Horror well, I recommend A Doll In The Garden and The Old Willis Place. I remember being warned that I would have nightmares, and my father had to call the school with the Hellraiser story (My mother put on Looney Toons for me when I was in Kindergarten, fell asleep and woke to find me laughing at pinhead. I still find him funny, a pin cushion is not a proper monster.)

Now for some Honorable Mentions:

The Mysterious Mr. Quinn by Agatha Christie
Bedlams Barde Series by Mercedes Lackey (And virtually everything else she wrote)
Dresdin File Series by Jim Butcher
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan (Bonus this book was Banned from a lot of libraries, personally I don’t think any book ever should be banned. Especially not this one, it’s one of my childhood favorites, and I’d kill to have a copy of it now)
Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves and Other Monsters by Rosemary Guiley
The Vampire Chonicles by Anne Rice
The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith

And Last but not least the Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling, I don’t consider it horror, but my mother absolutely insisted it be included. When you think about it some absolutely terribly stuff happens to young Potter, and it certainly could be considered scary to some kids. Mostly I think it fits the Supernatural bill, but you might find it under action or adventure as well.

For more Horror Novel Recommendations I suggest you check out this video by Katie from Chapterstacks on Youtube.

What are some of your favorite Horror Novels?

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Blogmas Day 8: Top 8 all time favorite books

Since today is Saturday and I don’t have anywhere to be and my computer is still dead, I’m going to spend the day snugged up in my coziest sweater and just read all day. I haven’t decided what to read yet, but I’ll probably read an old favorite.

I actually have a lot of “old favorites” when it comes to books. That doesn’t mean I’ve loved every book I’ve ever read, some of them I’ve down right hated, but most of them I’ve liked and a few I’ve loved. Then there are the ones I’ve loved to their death, the ones I’ve had to repurchase because they fell apart. It’s probably going to be one of those books I choose for today.

Below I’ve listed my all time favorite books. I’ve cheated a bit as 2 of the “books” are technically series, but since they’re continuing the same storyline I count them as one story.

1. The Ramona Series by Beverly Cleary.

I’ve loved this series since I was a child. I remember Ramona better than any other book character I’ve ever read, and if it weren’t for her, I probably wouldn’t love reading as much as I do. Also if it weren’t for these books I wouldn’t be so obsessed with Hunter boots, since it is Ramona that started my rain boot obsession.

2. Wait Til Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn.

This was the book that got me into spooky stories. It’s about a blended family who move into a renovated church and what happens to them afterwards, focusing mostly on the children and a ghost. It really is creepy, almost too creepy for children.

3. The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury.

This book was a big part of my childhood. It’s what started my love of Autumn and Halloween. I’ve read it so many times I know the opening lines by heart. It’s another spooky book and it’s what really cemented my love of the spooky, creepy, mystery type books.

4. My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews.

I remember my mother freaking out when she caught me reading this book in third grade. I believe she said it was too advanced for my age and that the book was going to give me nightmares. Actually by the time she’d caught me it was my second time reading it, and I hadn’t had any nightmares at all.

5. The Aunt Dimity Series by Nancy Atherton.

Normally, I’ll read a mystery series like this once and never touch them again so Iusually borrow from the library, but for some reason these were different. I adore everything about this series, I love where it’s set and the characters and just everything. I own them all on nook except the newest one, and I’m working my way through buying the actual books. The Aunt Dimity Series is probably my all time favorite book series.

6. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

I bought this book because I saw it in one of Fleur de Force’s videos and had never heard anything about it, but I thought it looked interesting and it was and now I love it. The is twisted It’s been made into a film too but I haven’t seen it yet.

7. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides.

I love this book. I saw the movie first, then I found out it was a book and just had to buy it. I’ve read it so many times, the story is so compelling. This particular copy of the book will always be special because it was the first piece of mail I ever got at the house where I live now.

8. P.S. I love you by Cecilia Ahern.

I love all the books I’ve ever read by Cecilia Ahern but this one is the best. It’s sad, and sweet and hopeful and it’s probably the mot romantic of all my books. As you’ve noticed I tend to err towards books that are dark, and this one has it’s moments but it’s also probably the best love story I’ve ever read.

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve read these books, the words are so familiar now they’re a comfort. I know you hear of books being like old friends, but it’s a cliche for a reason. It’s like walking down a familiar path, one that you can walk with your eyes closed, everything is just so and it will always be that way.

What are your favorite books? Not what ever is cool to be into right now, but your honest, loved to pieces, favorites?