YA Weekend: R.I.P. Challenge Books

October is a fun month to read creepy books. Halloween and Autumn just put me in the mood for mysteries and thrillers.

I've had my eye on Bad Girls Don't Die by Kate Alender since I first noticed it in the blogging world last spring. From the reviews I read, it sounded so deliciously creepy.

High school student Alexis goes along with her life in typical teenage fashion, trying to fit in with the "Doom Squad" and but not quite feeling like they are really her crowd. She's not entirely sure where she fits in. She also has a fairly dysfunctional family with a workaholic mother, a dad who doesn't really seem to be involved much, and a younger sister Kasey who borders on quite weird. Kasey seems overly obsessed with her doll collection, even at age thirteen. Kasey has been ostracized by her friends and Alexis starts to see things are getting a little out of control. But Alexis can't quite figure out what Kasey's deal is. Bad Girls Don't Die evokes a few memories of The Exorcist. ;-) Actually, I'd be curious to know if the author got a bit stuck in the middle of the book. I felt the first half had one feel or tone to the story and then all of sudden with help from an unlikely friend Alexis figures out what's going on and the second half of the book has a much different feel to it. I actually liked the first half of the book better. The sort of mystery of it all. And the second half felt like I was reading a movie script...predictable and contrived. But overall, I enjoyed this quick YA read and would recommend it to anyone looking for something creepy to read. I would have LOVED this book as a teenager. Sidenote: I ended up reading the second half of this one night, in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep. THAT made it even more CREEPY! Shockingly I was able to go back to sleep when I was through and didn't have freaky dreams.

Though I have the novel Coraline on my bookshelf and was hoping to knock it off my TBR list and get one of my bookshelf books read. It's been sitting there for over a year now. I actually decided to read the graphic novel version instead. I've been in the mood for a graphic novel lately and this just seemed to fit the bill. About half way through, I was thinking to myself that I probably wouldn't read the novel after reading the graphic novel, because I felt like I would simply visualize the comic people in my mind instead of whatever I would have conjured up myself from Gaiman's descriptive writing. However, by the end of the graphic novel, I do believe I would like to read the novel as well. This story was just as creepy as Bad Girls Don't Die. I'm actually surprised that a graphic novel creeped me out just as much as novel. I think it was the Other Mother. Man, she was just awful! I highly recommend either version of this story for a fun Halloween read and I'm sure the movie that came out last year is just as good.

Closed for the Season by Mary Downing Hahn is a middle-grade mystery that I have seen reviewed several places around the book blog world. The reviews only mildly peaked my interest. It wasn't until passing it on the library bookshelf that I decided I wanted to give it a try. And even though I've already read my four books for the R.I.P. IV Challenge, I figure why stop just because I hit FOUR. I also have a copy of Hahn's The Doll in the Garden sitting on my bookshelf. If that is as good as this one, I think I might have to delve into that one soon.

In Closed For the Season, Logan and his family move into an old rundown house in a new town and quickly learn that it is referred to as "the murder house". The previous owner, Mrs. Donaldson was murdered because she discovered someone embezzling money from The Magic Forest, the local amusement park. Logan meets a brainy and precocious boy next door named Arthur. The two pal around and decide to try and solve Mrs. Donaldson's murder running into the rough and tumble of the town as well as the hoyt-y toyt-y (hmm....spelling on that one?). The boys soon learn they don't know who they can trust, but they persevere and try to solve the mystery.

This book is a very fun middle-grade mystery. It actually reminded me a bit of a Nancy Drew book (or I suppose Hardy Boys--though I never read any of those. The Hardy Boys were mentioned in passing by one of the characters in this book.). Just an old-fashioned kids-stumble-upon-a-mystery-and-try-to-solve-it book. I really enjoyed this one and I think the middle-school version of me would have loved it!

These would be books #3, 4 and 5 that would work for the R.I.P. IV Reading Challenge! Yay! I completed a challenge! And this was a great one! I plan on doing it again next year, assuming Carl plans on hosting it again. :-)

Source disclosure: I borrowed all of these books from the library.

The Hanging Hill by Chris Grabenstein

Last year, I LOVED Chris Grabenstein's The Crossroads. It was one of two five-star books I read last year (here's my review). So for me, his follow-up had some high expectations to live up to.

Unfortunately, I feel The Hanging Hill fell a bit short of those expectations. But was a worthwhile and fast read nonetheless. In The Hanging Hill, we find it has been two months since the incident at the Crossroads. Zack and his family are living in an extended-stay hotel while their house is rebuilt (it burned down in the first book). Zack and his stepmom Judy travel to Chatham, Connecticut to spend some time at the Hanging Hill Theater where her popular children's book series, Curiosity Cat, is being turned into a musical.

Sidenote: The creepy building on the cover is the Hanging Hill Theater depicted as it looked when Judy and Zack first pull up to it. Until I read the passage in the book (page 41 toward the bottom), I never noticed the lights making a jack-o-latern face. Pretty cool, huh?

Obviously, by the name of the theater you might be able to guess that it was built on top of the place where historically they used to hold public hangings. And therefore, many ghosts (good spirits and demons) haunt the old theater. Zack meets some of the cast members--children his own age--and becomes friends with Meghan who can also see ghosts! He's thrilled someone else can see them besides him and Judy. And he stops to notice that Meghan does in fact eat food proving she is not a ghost herself. He's had trouble with befriending ghosts in the past, not realizing they're ghosts right away.

The two friends start to explore the theater and find themselves involved in a ceremonial ritual meant to release angry demons from their spirithood. If the ceremony finishes, these evil ghosts can come back to life more powerful and deadly than when they were first alive.

While this was a fun entry in a ghost series, I didn't find the story as gripping or as interesting as The Crossroads (there is one tie-in in this book with a ghost from the Crossroads...I thought that was pretty cool--very insignificant to the plot, but a fun tidbit). I guess the sacrificial ceremony plot just didn't grip me as much as the ghost story of the first one. I did like the appearance of Zack's mom's ghost though (I won't say more, I don't want to give too much away). I believe it really helped in developing Zack's character a bit more and helping him become more confident to move on from the past. The book was fun overall and I'm sure middle-grade readers will enjoy it immensely. I do hope that Grabenstein continues the series. I'll be sure to keep reading to see if he can top The Crossroads, at least in my mind.

This is book #2 for the R.I.P. IV Reading Challenge. Two down, two to go for this challenge. I think I might actually make it with this one!! ;-)

Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain

I received an ARC of Evil at Heart through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. And the timing of it was perfect for me because I had to read it for LibraryThing AND it fits in with the R.I.P. Reading Challenge I recently joined.

Evil at Heart is Book 3 in the Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell series by Chelsea Cain, preceded by Heartsick and Sweetheart. Archie Sheridan is a police detective originally in charge of the task force put in place to catch The Beauty Killer, a serial killer on the loose in the Portland Area. In the first two books, we learned Gretchen (the Beauty Killer) had manipulated herself into the investigation and got close to Archie. In the end, she kidnapped and tortured him. In Book 2, she escapes from prison and continues to torment him, this time taking a newspaper journalist Susan Ward along for the ride. Now, in Book 3, we find Archie has checked himself into the mental ward of a hospital voluntarily. He could leave at any time but prefers to stay closed off from the "real" world and hopefully out of Gretchen's clutches. But dead bodies start appearing around Portland again in signature Gretchen Lowell sites. The city has gone crazy with their fascination with the Beauty Killer and the police don't know if she has resumed killing or some crazy Beauty Killer cult has taken up where she left off. Trying so hard not to be involved, Archie can no longer resist and checks himself out to try and figure out what is going on and journalist Susan Ward is again long for the ride.

I like this series more with each book. I started out with the first book thinking it was just sort of "meh". And I also wondered how long Cain could drag the cat and mouse game of Archie and Gretchen out. It's sort of like one of those television shows where two main characters like each other, but find for one reason or another they can't be together even though they long to be. And you keep watching to see just when the show's producers will finally let them get together and then you continue to watch to see the aftermath of the relationship. Well, in Book 3, Cain has found a way to have Gretchen be central, but then again not really. I won't say anything more because I don't want to spoil the story for you. In the end you really don't know just how much Gretchen was involved in the whole story or not. I really liked how Book 3 evolved and I liked that throughout the book Archie finally seemed to mentally be on the road to recovery.

I'll definitely read the next one to see where Cain takes the story from here. My only problem with the book is the gory-ness of it. There are some extremely graphic parts and I tend to read while I'm eating lunch and whatnot. Not a great book to read while you're eating. But if you can look past it or gore doesn't bother you then read this series! The back of the ARC touts, "Stephen King placed both Heartsick and Sweetheart on his 10 Best Books List of 2008, and praised Cain's "ferocious" writing." I have to say this book certainly evokes classic Stephen King with its torture theme and Cain doesn't hold back ata all. Anyone who has read Misery, this is definitely in the same category as that. I think Mr. King would approve of Book 3 just as much as he did of Book 1 and 2.

If you're interested in reading an excerpt from the book, please click here. You can even visit a website from the book called: iheartgretchenlowell.com

Here's a book trailer:


My reviews of Books 1 and 2:
Heartsick
Sweetheart

Other Blog reviews of Evil at Heart:
Charlotte's Web of Books, The Novel Bookworm, The Genreview, Fatally Yours

Completed Book #1 for the R.I.P. IV Reading Challenge.

R.I.P. Challenge

Sooooo, I'm not doing so well with my Art History Reading Challenge. I've only read 2 of the 6 books for it. I do have until the end of the year. So you never know. But right now it's not looking good.

All that aside, I'm thinking of joining in the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril IV Challenge. I've never done this before but have seen it in past years and it looks like fun! I plan to read creepy and/or mystery-type books before Halloween anyway, so I might as well have them count for a challenge if they are going to fit in with it anyway, right?
Here's what I was planning on reading in September and October:
--The Hanging Hill by Chris Grabenstein (Cannot wait for this! I LOVED The Crossroads last year)
--Creepers by Joanne Dahme (wanted to read this last winter and decided to wait for Halloween time)
--Coraline by Neil Gaiman (been on my TBR list for awhile, a great time to knock it off the list)
--Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain (won this through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. Enjoyed Cain's first two books in the series and looking forward to this one)

I was hoping the second Joy of Spooking book would be out this fall, but I'm not sure when it is supposed to be published (anyone know?!). That would be another fun book to read around Halloween.

If this sounds like a fun challenge to you! Head over to read Carl's post and sign up! And here's a link to the R.I.P. IV Review website as well.

The Museum Vaults: Excerpts from the Journal of an Expert

I used this graphic novel by Marc-Antoine Mathieu as a quick entry for the Art History Reading Challenge. Yes, I do plan to actually read an adult fiction or nonfiction book for this challenge. But just haven't gotten there yet. :-)

I enjoyed the three other graphic novels I've read in the last year so I thought this would be a fun addition to my reading for this challenge. The basic storyline follows Monsieur Volumer, an expert in his field of indexing, cataloging, and evaluating museum collections as he travels through the Museum. He enters the Museum and begins to go through its holdings, making his way through each and every storage area, traveling deeper and deeper into the depths of the museum. This very short book (at 60 pages) is full of fun and sarcastic humor with regard to museums and the art world. For example, the first few pages discuss how the lower levels of a museum all look the same and you can get lost in the similar hallways, but that you eventually "end up getting used to it all." (page 8). Anyone who has ever worked in the basement of a standard museum will chuckle at this as yes, most museums have limestone, solid foundations, built to withstand all. And most are all painted exactly the same and seem to be a maze of hallways with access doors. Later in the book, fun is poked at "the archives service" or the mountains and mountains of paperwork found in a museum. And so it goes on from there.

The philosophy of art is also discussed throughout the book with regard to paintings and what truly is art. Are reproductions of art art within themselves? or just the original masterpiece? There is one section where a gentlemen is obviously referencing the Mona Lisa without really saying it. He discusses how the invention of the camera obscura really changed the way art was viewed. He said there were many copies of different paintings and the staff would change them out. He used the example of one painting of a woman in which they had many copies each with a different facial expression. He would change them out in the gallery periodically and people would be curious about her change of expression, never knowing that the painting had actually been changed. But someone took a photo of the painting where she is smiling slightly, and it ended up in an art book. He's had to leave that one up ever since. He claims it's a shame that no one will ever see the other paintings again. Obviously this has never happened, and its meant to be funny. I really got a kick out of how creative Mathieu was in getting his points across about the irony of art and the museum world.

Now, all that being said, the book was a bit jumpy, moving quickly from topic to topic, never expanding long on anything. And I'm not sure someone without a museum or art background would really enjoy this book at all. I give it four stars because I loved how accurate he was with his museum references, but I think this would be a 2.5 or a 3 out of five stars for someone without this kind of background. But then again, I'm not sure why someone would be drawn to a book like this if they weren't interested in art and museums. So that shouldn't really be a problem. :-)

The Art History Reading Challenge

I think I said in my year in review post that I don't join challenges because I don't want to commit to reading certain books; I like to go with the flow. Well, I did find one challenge that I think I can actually commit to and finish by the end of the year: The Art History Reading Challenge.

All you have to do is read six books within the year, fiction or nonfiction in any genre from historical fiction to graphic novels. And I already have five books here at home that would fit the bill. It's been way too long since I've engaged the art historian side of me. So this year I'll knock some books off my TBR stack and maybe, possibly finish a challenge!

Here's my list:
From my current TBR pile
1. Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet (YA Fiction)
2. The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr (Nonfiction)
3. The Art Thief by (Fiction)
4. The Shadow Catcher by Wiggins (Historical Fiction)
5. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (Historical Fiction)
Borrowed from the library
6. The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century by Edward Dolnick (Nonfiction)

Others that I might swap for or just add to the list:
--The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft by Ulrich Boser (Nonfiction)
--Glacial Period by Nicolas De Crecy (Graphic Novel)
--Museum Vaults: Excerpts from the Journal of an Expert by Marc-Antoine Mathieu (Graphic Novel)