Month: October 2020

Throwback Thursday #2 – After Anna

Yes, yes – we know. This was suppose to have been done weeks ago. We are so far behind, it appears as if we are ahead again! I really wanted to do this feature on a weekly basis. Even though it’s suppose to only be once a month. So I guess I’m half-way covered? There are so many spins on the idea of Throwback Thursday, but I still like Davida’s idea the most: The Chocolate Lady’s #Throwback Thursday takes place on the Thursday before the first Saturday of every month. Yes, there is a linky and it will remain open until she uploads the new one. Thank Goodness. My first and last sometimes gets very confused. Your post must highlight one of your previously published book reviews and Davida encourages other participants to do the same. Add the link to your post and remember to link back to The Chocolate Lady’s Book Blog And do not forget to #ThrowbackThursday! This is exactly what we need to get the blog sorted out. Admin is not my Mommy’s strongest suit, so we need tips and tools to keep things on track. This week, we’ve decided to combine Throwback Thursday with Books from the Backlog, hosted […]

Posted October 29, 2020
28 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday – The Would have, Could have, Should have and Did reads for Halloween 2020

Greetings Humans. It’s time for Top Ten Tuesday and I have no idea why that little white ball of fluff thinks this is so much fun. She and Mother always rant and rave about this highly popular feature, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. If you’ve been following our blog over the last two weeks, you will know that blogging is not my idea of an afternoon stroll and I do not have Elza’s bubbly personality to set the tone. I don’t do tones at all. She however, refuses to do this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, because she is still scared of the books that might go bump in the night. Seeing that I’ve tolerated hosted The Fraterfest Read-a-thon on this blog, Elza feels it’s my duty to pick my ten favorite scary reads for this annual readathon. Of course she still believes in the goodness of puppies and rainbows and that we’ve actually read 10 books. We only managed 3 books, 2 short stories, 1 audiobook and 1 graphic novel. The rest was nothing but a bit of hope in a dark and stormy night. I just call them the Would have, Could have, Should have and Did reads for Halloween 2020. The ones […]

Posted October 27, 2020
41 Comments

The Sunday Post #16

Hello all you beautiful Humans! Did you miss me? As you can see, poor Stinkie is dead tired after his week of the Fraterfest read-a-thon. Or maybe it wasn’t the read-a-thon, but just life in general that has him so tired. I do know my mommy suffers a bit from that at the moment. What a week the poor woman had! She and Stinkie were planning a nice, normal school week with a couple of hours every day to read their scary books. Alas. Life seriously got in the way this week. Luckily they still have me to always jump in at the last minute and safe the day. Almost like America in WWII. Okay, I didn’t really safe anything. But I am doing today’s Sunday Post – even though Stinkie should have done it. I also cuddled the whole day with my Mommy yesterday and helped her to finish her last two books for Fraterfest Read-a-thon. And that is how you safe the world. Just some small acts of random kindness. That’s not my cleverness, it comes from the Big Man himself. How did you do with the Fraterfest Read-a-thon? Team Mommy & Stinkie’s final tally: 3 Books 2 Short […]

Posted October 25, 2020
36 Comments

Weekend Book Friends #12

It’s Friday and the Fraterfest Read-a-thon only has 24 hours left. My Mommy and Stinkie didn’t do very well with this one. Or rather, as well as they’ve hoped to. Life is what happens while you have other plans. Like a read-a-thon. Maybe if they planned this a bit better and Stinkie didn’t like roaming the neighborhood so much, they would have fared better. And if Mommy didn’t have such a hectic week at work. At least they had really good intentions and wanted to read a few classic horror books and authors. We will share the intended list on next week’s Top Ten Tuesday. You can’t have a scary book read-a-thon without the following authors on the VIP list: Shirley Jackson ✔ Stephen King ✖ Agatha Christie ❔ Mommy do hope to at least finish one Agatha Christie. What better choice to end the Fraterfest Read-a-thon than with this classic Christie? A teenage murder witness is drowned in a tub of apples… At a Hallowe’en party, Joyce—a hostile thirteen-year-old—boasts that she once witnessed a murder. When no-one believes her, she storms off home. But within hours her body is found, still in the house, drowned in an apple-bobbing tub. That […]

Posted October 23, 2020
35 Comments

Wednesday Wisdom from The Haunting of Hill House

It’s that time of the year. Everyone is obsessed with ghosts, vampires, zombies, pumpkins and of course – haunted houses. Are there a more well-known haunted house than Hill House? Even if you’ve never read the gothic classic by Shirley Jackson, I bet you’ve heard of it. Even more so with the hit series streaming on Netflix. I haven’t watched it yet, will get to it soon. We are slam-dunk in the middle of the Fraterfest Read-a-thon and what better time to read this novella. It was my first time reading it and I started reading in bright daylight, because I was scared the book might just go bump in the night. I ended up not being scared, but rather psychologically spooked. I strongly suspect that has been the main aim of the book for the last 60 years. It’s not about what happened, rather about what you thought and perceived. Aaaah perceptions and interpretations. Are you ever really wrong? But maybe it really was just a haunted house. Some houses are just not fit for human habitation. “It was a house without kindness, never meant to be lived in, not a fit place for people or for love or for hope. Exorcism cannot […]

Posted October 21, 2020
8 Comments

The Sunday Post #15

Greetings Humans. Trust you all had a prosperous week and are enjoying a comfortable weekend. As I’m sure you’ve noticed just from the tone of voice, it’s not the little, annoying kitten talking to you today. Stinkie here. Your reluctant host for Fraterfest Read-a-thon 2020. Elza has been in hiding for the past 3 days as she is scared of horror and scary stories. It’s impossible to deny her anything, therefore I need to play host for todays post and all the Fraterfest updates. This might only be in your favor as I don’t have time for all that chitter-chat. Our week was good. How was yours? Are you taking part in The Fraterfest Read-a-thon? Not much interested in your progress, but Elza and our mother will be aghast if I don’t at least ask. How’s it going? Scratching the Blog Pole You will notice that Elza has been in charge of all the posts. If you haven’t read all her chitchat yet and have time for that sort of thing, simply click on the image that finds your favor. Direct links are added. A ridiculous Top Ten Tuesday Post. But they loved it. Our sign-up post and updates. Featuring our First Fraterfest […]

Posted October 18, 2020
56 Comments

Nine and three quarters through a reading challenge

If I’m not mistaken, we should be about nine and three quarters through the year by now. Halloween is staring us in the face with those creepy eyes and Christmas is just around the corner. According to my Mommy’s Goodreads 2020 Challenge, she is at 102% with her reading challenge. How is that even possible? I’m very proud of her, although she’s a bit of a cheat. She constantly gets off-track from her planned Alphabet challenge. The one with the 27 letters in. She has to complete 27 books starting with each letter of the 27 letter alphabet, as well as 27 books whose authors start with each letter of the 27 letter alphabet – before 31 December 2020. Unfortunately, she is is bit like the dog in Up, very easily distracted. Mostly by other books. I just had her back on track, but she’s currently distracted by the Fraterfest reading-a-thon and it’s not as if she picks books that can qualify for the reading challenge. This is a useless battle. I gave you an update on her progress when we were slam dunk in the middle of the year The Battle of Midway (halfway through a Reading Challenge). Let’s see how far she […]

Posted October 17, 2020
10 Comments

Weekend Book Friends #11

It’s Friday and the Fraterfest Read-a-thon is about 12 hours in. Are you taking part in this fun event hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer? Neither am I, but my Mommy and my big brother Stinkie is. I’m way to scared of ghosts and other creepy things. Stinkie isn’t scared of anything. If you want to join in the fun, just follow the link above, or have a look at our signup post – Elza Reads are joining the FraterFest Read-a-thon My Mommy thought it clever to just use the first book she plans on reading for the read-a-thon, as the featured book for this week’s Weekend Book Friends. Jupe, Pete, and Bob’s next case sends them to Skeleton Island, an eerie spot inhabited only by pirates’ bones and a young girl’s ghost. A movie company has chosen the island as the perfect place to make a scary film, but mysterious events are disrupting the crew. They call in the Three Investigators. But just as the boys arrive on the island, so does the ghost! My Mommy took this book from the school’s library and apparently, anything with the name Hitchcock, will be perfect for a read-a-thon of scary books. Let’s go […]

Posted October 16, 2020
25 Comments

FraterFest Read-a-thon 2020

It’s the month October and that means a large part of the world put on their scary costumes and pull up the pumpkins. The chills and thrills books get dusted and every one remembers they still have a Stephen King or Shirley Jackson book somewhere on the shelf. As you know, we are from South Africa and Halloween is not a very big event here. You won’t find any houses that appear haunted over night or pumpkin ghosts on any front steps. Trick or Treat is unheard of and completely out of the question. Here you lock yourself behind your high walls and electric fences as soon as the sun sets. No one will dare send their kids outside after dark to go knock on the neighbours door for candy. That still won’t stop me and my Mommy to enjoy a few scary reads during October. We haven’t really planned any books yet, so I think that the FraterFest read-a-thon hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer, is the perfect opportunity to get a few scream-queens in. If you also want to take part, here are all the rules and stipulations – FraterFest Read-a-thon. If you are interested, you better get your ducks […]

Posted October 14, 2020
19 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Books with Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Titles

Greetings! It’s time for Top Ten Tuesday and I suggest you make yourself comfortable for the long haul. I do believe that a spoon fool of sugar might come in helpful as well. Today we are having a look at books with exceptionally long titles. Most of you are acquainted with the rules of Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. My Mommy likes to add her own rules here and there. Number one, only use books I have read or at least desperately want to read. I thought it was going to take her ages to come up with titles, but she obviously enjoys books with long titles. She also likes long walks, talks and tall men, so I guess it figures. In no particular order, here’s our 10 books with Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious titles: 1. The 100-year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson – This book has made it to so many lists on this blog. It’s just such a fun, memorable read. 2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer – One of those “have-to-read” books. My humble opinion. 3. The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan – I love this series. Light hearted […]

Posted October 13, 2020
44 Comments

Month: October 2020

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