This was the exact book I needed to decompress from the whirlwind craziness of the past 2 days. We have a woman president here in the U.S., and her son, Alex, our FSOTUS, falls for Henry, the Prince of England. Sweet, funny, I never knew shit talking someone so much could be so sexy, lol. That Alex has a mouth on him. The mix of e-mails in between the action was really nice. What a completely charming story!!!

Lol....This book is the perfect balance to getting ready for Thanksgiving.

I enjoyed this very much. There is a wide array of topics: sugar‘s horrible history, to a couple of known and unknown foodie rockstars, to billionaire farmers and the impact they have, to Kit Kat‘s in Japan and how popular they are, to what it means to a girl who grew up in the system and what it means now that accessibility to food is under attack, to Utah what the demonumentization of lands might mean for them, and the equally great and 👇🏼

@BookishTrish Thanks so much for this pick. This was had a lot going for it. There was some police procedural, a little mystery, some rooting for the underdog, the said underdog surprising themselves, and so many brain puns!!! I even got teary eyed in 2 parts. Sooo good! #screamsbymail

Not gonna lie, was bummed when the unit gave out at home but the unbothered reading time is a bonus once I got over those flashbacks of the early 90‘s laundromat Sundays where no one had washers and dryers in their homes and everyone did the laundry at the ONE laundromat in town and you had to fight for dryers. Good times! Lol, happy reading on this laundry Wednesday, Littens!

@danibolahood Thanks for the #screamsbymail pick because this was great. 22 yo Eileen gets lost in a forest and then starts to realize something may be following her. After missing for a couple of days her brother and some of his friends go looking for her. With the way the chapters are set up it became extremely addictive and fast paced. It was a definitely never going into the forest alone, Pick!!

Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a stimulus, image, or sound where the mind perceives a familiar pattern where none exist. The lady in the tree, the Yoda Pig, the angry slippers, and of course the Jesus in the toast. I had no idea there was a word for this until I read this book. How fascinating.

Tonight, I had a great time hanging out with @GatheringBooks at a bookstore and going to dinner. Many of you who did the survey about Litsy mentioned the joy of finding other people who like to talk about books. At the bookstore I had a great time talking books with her as we perused the aisles and happily wondered ‘is this what it‘s like in real life?‘ Lol. She is so kind and brilliant. Thanks for nice night, Myra! #screamsbymail

1. Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni
2. I would love to hear about India but what she feels she has most loved about being here and what she misses most about there. Also I would guilt her into writing a 3rd book after Sister of My Heart and Vine of Desire where Sudha and Sunil get together, he becomes Dayita‘s dad, and Anjali and Sudha make amends and Anjali is a huge author with a book loving boyfriend. Why? Because we need a pick me up in these 👇🏼

Another book I never would have picked up if it weren‘t for the LPMBC. After being traumatized with what happens in the first six pages I settled in for this fairy tale retelling of Sleeping Beauty‘s daughter, Aurora, and her quest to save her brother and reclaim the kingdom. A prince with his own troubles accompanies her on this Mulan-LOTR mashup, adventure, romance, romp. I enjoyed the metaphoric writing that had some good messages. Pick!

I #cherish any author who can put into words what #music can do and mean for people, just like what Grady does here. There are two pages that go along with this paragraph and they were powerful. #Movember @Cinfhen

I want to admit that sometimes John Langan‘s writing tries my patience as I feel my eyes glaze over at the overly detailed, but goddamn does he write a good story. The theme of these stories is betrayal as evidenced with stories about a woman on her way to confront her husband‘s cosmic mistress, a gay couple in Scotland trying to heal on a wizard‘s path, a meeting with the Devil about addiction, a story about vampirism without a vampire. PICK!!!

I know Halloween is over but I love when books direct me to look up a painting that inspires a story. While writing “In Paris, in the Mouth of Kronos,” Langan was talking to another writer friend, Laird Barron, who shared his inspiration for a story he was writing from the pictured, Saturn Devours His Son by Goya. Creepy stuff. Lol

@Addison_Reads thanks for the tag. These are the books I‘ve read in the last year that I‘ve wanted to talk, cry, gush, argue, and smile about with other people in the past year so these would be my bookclub picks. #myidealbookclub

Kris Pulaski is a metal band has been who feels something is missing, her soul. A soul sold from under her by an ex band mate. Now we follow her a decade later on her journey to save not only hers but maybe the world‘s. Hendrix mashes a cosmic music tale and a Faustian bargain filled with different types of horror, some claustrophobic, some technological. Like a character in here I also felt I needed a tin foil hat at one point. A rockin‘ pick!

This was great. We meet Rebecca, a grieving mother trying to find the killer of her daughter, the boyfriend. She goes to the small town of Bright Fork where things that start out grey and tinged with grief turn bright red with blood and guts!! At a 153 pages it was tight, well written, and went from 0-100. Also if you‘re a parent, this is the Halloween book for you because it is a DOOZY and would make you rethink some things. A folk horror pick!!

Holy crap, look at that cover!! These 13 tales were pretty good. Some were short, some ended in vapor, some really tugged on my insides, some kinda freaked me out. Part of this book was being on that scary ride or going through the haunted house, and laughing when it was all over. Part of it spoke of the real horrors of life that can keep you down. This was good. I look forward to reading more of Christa Carmen. A Halloween worthy pick!!

Taken from the story, “All Souls Eve,” I really liked this take on Dicken‘s A Christmas Carol, where 3 dead exboyfriends come to show a bride her past on the night before her wedding. Good stuff.

I don‘t know why I‘m surprised at the range of genres these stories cover. I know Joe Hill can write. I‘m always impressed when short horror fiction yanks me around emotionally and leaves me wrung out. These did that. I thought all of these were solid. My faves were Late Rerurns, All I Care About is You, Mums, and You Are Released. Total pick!!👇🏼

❤️ New Mexico
🧡40
💛I‘m a slot supervisor at a casino.
💚Single
💙He
💜It‘s my name.
💔Last week. I went to McDonalds for a McRib and was told they were out.
❣️I have not given blood but did give plasma for extra cash in college.
💓Last time I was shook was when I heard my new favorite horror story, “Til the Road Runs Out,” last night on Pseudopod.
💘Guys who don‘t use a fork and knife to eat pizza.

Thanks @ishan0986 for the tag!!!

If anybody‘s interested in a 30 minute spooky story about a young girl and the devil in a whorehouse nestled in a backwoods swamp, back in the early 1900‘s and choices that must be made, this story is great. Not gory at all but a great Halloween season story. The host always puts his final thoughts to the story in the back and I just really dig them. Give it a listen. http://pseudopod.org/

#HalloweenHaiku19

Out of 19 stories, 17 did something for me so that‘s definitely a pick. This collection of short horror fiction has something for everyone from chicken zombie horror to a mother who has her hands full with her daughter who might be Satan, to a pregnant woman being Andromeda‘ed before the Kracken(I could have read about this one all day), to a sister who discovers a black hole in her brother‘s head ( this one too!!), to some tales that seemed 👇🏼

@rohit-sawant A couple of things:
1. This story was AMAZING.
2. There‘re some very OMG moments that revved me up.
3. I‘m a sucker for writers who use the word inexorable.
4. I believed all of this story. The brother/sister relationship. The parents.
5. I had this moment where I forgot who wrote this and thought ‘I need to check out this writer‘s novels.‘
6. I can‘t wait until you come out with a novel.
7. I‘m so proud of you!! Great job!!

Whoever put the order of stories together on this book did real well putting this one first. From those first two paragraphs I was hooked and irritated and my skin started to itch. This was a great story about a world in which there can be no darkness for fear of monsters coming through. But what do you do when you close your 👀??? It‘s also a great allegory about the woman in the role of a homemaker who doesn‘t want have to want that. Good stuff!

George Romero, in the anthology he was part of right before he died said that in the mid to late 80‘s, John Skipp and Craig Spector came to him with an idea for a book of zombie short fiction, the first of its kind. Romero thought no one would even bother with the idea, much less attach their names to such a project. Imagine his surprise when all the invites sent out were responded with such enthusiasm. I liked this book but these stories were👇🏼

(Zombie Kiss by Rob Sacchetto) Thank goodness this anthology was anchored by “Eat Me” this beautiful story by Robert McCammon where two very lonely zombies find solace in each other, because the whole book was dark. “lying on bits of flesh like petals of strange flowers”-that‘s just lovely.

@Jas16 Um, I feel like I went on Ellen or Oprah and they said, “We hear you like books.” Seriously, thank you sooooo soooo much for the books. Holy crap, words cannot really say what I‘m feeling but thank you. Tears may have been shed.

Jenny was kind enough to have me on. Take a listen.

http://readingenvy.blogspot.com/2019/10/reading-envy-167-book-pendulum-with.html...

I feel like this was so close to a pick, and I wanted to give it a pick because let‘s be honest, someone had to write the slasher roller rink book. However, this was several drafts away from being ready. The first 3rd is the setup of high school kids going to a roller rink lock in on 1980 New Year‘s Eve. The 2nd 3rd is the slashing. The last is the surviving. I did get sucked in by the nostalgia, and I rooted for some kids but the story and 👇🏼

#horrorcovercrush Day 7

Does anybody listen to the podcast pseudopod? It‘s just narrated short horror stories but the episode I listened to today had this poem grouped in with a story read by a guy who had the deep low voice of the devil. It definitely had a chilling effect. And it made me think of Weaveworld by Clive Barker. #poetry http://pseudopod.org/2019/09/20/pseudopod-666-breaking-the-waters/

#horrorcovercrush Day 6

#horrorcovercrush Day 5 Yowzas, this was intense. Short on characterization but good on action and I couldn‘t stop reading it. Sofia is the new girl at school and just wants to make friends. She befriends the popular girls at school and freaks out when one night she is taken to an abandoned house where the popular girls have kidnapped an ex-friend wanting to give her an exorcism. All I got out of this was it‘s tough being a teenage girl. Lol pick!

#horrorcovercrush Day 4 Not in the database yet but also on the TBR this month.

First book of October down. I‘ve always loved zombies. I remember watching the original at my grandmothers house when I was a kid and not being able to sleep. This anthology is all based in the original movie universe. Some stories were soooo YOLO and full of testosterone I could only smile and laugh. And then the end stories were given weight by Mira Grant, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Chuck Wendig, and Neal and Brendan Shusterman. Pick!!!

Thanks @TrishB for putting out his scheduled tour because I went to see him earlier tonight in Denver. He read us one of his stories, You are Released. He‘s quite a funny guy. My favorite part of his talk was when he said, I‘m paraphrasing, “When you get one of my 400 pg. novels, there was a good chance that it was 700 pgs to begin with, because there is an editing process and I‘m not upset about it but I‘ve gotten good at recognizing the 👇🏼

#horrorcovercrush day 3

#horrorcovercrush Day 2

Taken from the first story “Dead Man‘s Curve” by Joe Lansdale.

#horrorcovercrush Day 1. On this month‘s TBR.

Yeah, so never in a million years would I have picked up this book on my own but my LPMBC chose this. I wanted to bail because it just seemed like some Disney/Lifetime cheese. But the longer I read the more I realized this cheese was delicious. That this retelling of one of Cinderella‘s stepsisters had whimsy, had magic, was funny when it needed to be and dark, and had a great message of forging one‘s own path in this world. I really liked this.

I have grossly underestimated this book.

I‘ve been so lucky to read some really great YA this year that I wished was around back in my day. Darius is a Star Trek The Next Generation/LOTR loving, Persian American, nerd (I mean this in the best way possible) who deals with depression and being picked on and trying to find his place in this world. His grandfather falls ill and his family goes to Iran to visit where he makes a new friend and comes into his own. Easily a new favorite. Pick!!

This young American teenager is meeting his grandmother for the first time in Iran and there are some simple sounding sentences that just blindside you in here. Oof.

I just have to say I hate Sally Rooney. 2 books, outstanding books, before the age of 30. How dare she!!! Lol. I really liked this book about two young people who love each other but as we all know, nothing is ever that simple.

Oof!!! I‘m glad I read the ending of this during the day. This was a good, horrifying, primer going into October. A father who thought he had escaped his past is horrified when the past shows up when he has a wife and 2 daughters. This was very creepy. Thanks for the pick @scripturient #screamsbymail.

Frank Li is a Korean-American high schooler who is neither American enough or Korean enough. He wants to date a girl who just happens to be white but comes up with a ridiculous fake date scheme with a close Korean friend to fool his parents. This book was so deep and representative of what it means to be caught between cultures. And it was hilarious because of Franks strong and questioning voice. Reading the back interview between David and 👇🏼

Cantoras means singer but also a slang term for women who love other women. 5 women in Uruguay find a secluded beach area in Cabo Pollonio where they make a safe space to be themselves in the 1970‘s away from the city and its dictatorship. There was a heady desire in here that lead the way to personal evolutions onto personal revolutions all the while Uruguay is also in a revolution. This is easily a top 3 book of the year for me. Loved it.