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 […]

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Posted October 23, 2020
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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 […]

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Posted October 21, 2020
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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 […]

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Posted October 18, 2020
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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 […]

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Posted October 17, 2020
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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 […]

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Posted October 16, 2020
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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 […]

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Posted October 14, 2020
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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 […]

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Posted October 13, 2020
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The Sunday Post #14

Greetings Humans! How was your last 7 days? True to its form, week 41 of 2020 was nothing but chaos and mayhem. Not all bad though. School started on Monday and I hardly saw my Mommy this past week. She left early in the mornings, worked till late and attended meetings 3 nights this week. Yes, I am extremely naughty this weekend. Our country has also been in so much turmoil again this week. My Mommy says she doesn’t really want to talk about it. Although what we actually need is more international coverage on the brutal attacks and murders of farmers in South Africa. Our government turns a blind eye and the people are really getting fed-up now. Concerns over escalating protests should govt fail to deal with farm murders The bestest news for this week, is that my Mommy’s art classes started again on Thursday. I’ve told you before that my Mommy works in a mainstream school, but she and her lovely team run the special needs program. And she’s the librarian (books balance everything out). Of course she needs therapy, and what better therapy than art. They are a colorful bunch of ladies who gather weekly with lots […]

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Posted October 11, 2020
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Wednesday Wisdom from Circles in a Forest

We haven’t done a Wednesday Wisdom in a couple of weeks. Time flies by so quickly. On Sunday, I promised you that my Mommy is not done with the elephants. She is still going to talk about them for a few posts to come. Todays Wednesday Wisdom, comes from most probably the best known Afrikaans book of my Mommy’s generation. Luckily it’s been translated into English, so I can share this post with all of you. Kringe in ‘n bos was the prescribed book for Grade 11/12 for over 20 years. I’m sure there are still schools in South Africa that use this for Afrikaans first language literature studies. If you ask a large number of people, especially men, who are my Mommy’s age (ancient in cat years), what their favorite book is, they will say Kringe in ‘n bos. For some of them, it’s most probably because it’s the only book they’ve ever read. But for a read-aholic like my Mommy, it’s just one of her favorite books and truly the greatest Afrikaans book ever written. Saul Barnard is a woodcutter with a restless soul – he wants to keep strangers away from the Forest and stop the […]

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Posted October 7, 2020
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Six Degrees of Separation October 2020 – The Ghost Edition

Welcome to our third edition of Six Degrees of Separation. Once again, we are a couple of days late for this monthly feature, but every month I am closing the gap a bit more. We apologize profoundly to our host, Books are my Favorite and Best. On the first Saturday of every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Books can be linked in obvious ways, for example: same authors, same era or genre, or books with similar themes or settings. Or you might choose to link them in more personal ways: books you read in the same holiday, books given to you by a particular friend or books that remind you of a particular time in your life. The choices are endless here! This month’s chain is set of with The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. I’ve always loved books and reading, but what really got the reading juices flowing like a river, was when I discovered C.J. Langenhoven’s ghost stories. Unfortunately, they are not available in English, so unless you speak Afrikaans, you won’t be able to join in my excitement. Ever since then, I love a […]

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Posted October 5, 2020
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