#Booktoberfest Haul!

I suddenly remembered about my recent book purchases -- so here I am.

Bookoutlet has great discounted prices for books, and during the month of October, they run an event called "Booktoberfest" where they have an additional 15% off everything... So, naturally, I thought this would be a good time to pick up some fresh titles.
It had been a while since I actually bought physical books for my bookshelf. :)

The books I bought are:

"Walk on Earth a Stranger" by Rae Carson. -- I actually already read this one (see previous posts), but that was on my kindle, as a borrowed copy. Now I have a physical copy that I can re-read whenever. (It is one of my favourite reads of this year.)

"These Shallow Graves", and "Deep Blue" by Jennifer Donnelly -- I have read a book by Jennifer Donnelly - "A Northern Light" which I remember really liking (I read it maybe 4 years ago).

"The Distance Between Lost and Found" by Kathryn Holmes

"Rebel of the Sands" by Alwyn Hamilton

"Wild Beauty" by Anna-Marie McLemore

"Daughter of the Pirate King" by Tricia Levenseller

"Weathering" by Lucy Wood

"Brightwood" by Tania Unsworth

"Hotel for the Lost" by Suzanne Young

"Mist of Midnight" by Sandra Byrd

The majority of these I found by scrolling through the fiction section on the bookoutlet website. I only had  "Rebel of the Sands" and "Mist of Midnight" on my 'to-be-read' list prior. The rest will be a surprise. Hopefully they are all good reads!

I am familiar with Jennifer Donelly, and Suzanne Young (I realized after purchasing that I have read a couple of books written by her -- "The Program" and "The Treatment" -- years ago). Sandra Byrd is a familiar name as I had Mist of Midnight on my list for a while now, but I have not read anything by her yet.

A number of these are on the spookier side, so I think I'll start by reading those, it being the end of October and all. :)  Look for a "spooky reads" book review in the near future!

Octobers

My younger sister. Taken on one of our favourite nature walks.

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."   

- L.M. Montgomery

That quotation has always resonated with me because Octobers -- I love them.  Even though it is the midst of the Autumn season, and we can't deny the fact that Winter is on its way, October is still a beautiful month.

The leaves are changing colour and falling off the trees, cluttering yards until tree branches are laid bare.

I've heard people make cynical comments about Fall, saying it's a season of dying.

It's not. It's a season that leads to another -- Winter, where it looks like things are dead.
But it only appears to be that way. The trees that lost their foliage and look bare and dead come back in full force come spring -- they didn't die. They merely rested through the long cold months.

We can learn a lot of lessons looking at seasons. We can type them to our own lives...

All the seasons in our lives have their purpose.

You  might be going through a long season where you are ready to give up in despair. Just hold on. Your Spring is coming -- things will eventually fall back into place, and bloom with all their might and power.

Podcasts I Listen To

Spiritual Encouragement

Recently I discovered a podcast called "Journeywomen".
I was actually introduced to them through a lady I follow on instagram (@kristinschmucker) who posts a lot of biblical and spiritual encouragement for women.

From the Journeywomen website:

Life's a journey we were never meant to walk alone.  

We all need friends along the way! On the Journeywomen podcast we’ll chat with mentors about gracefully navigating the seasons and challenges we face on our journeys to glorify God.

I have listened to a few episodes so far, and they have all been really encouraging and inspired me to get deeper in the Word and in prayer.

If you are looking for encouragement in spiritual areas, check out this podcast! You can find it on Itunes or if you're on android like me, on the "Stitcher" app - you'll need to download the app, but it's free.

"Fun" Podcasts

There are a couple of podcasts I like to listen to while I do housework - 

"Ear Biscuits"

This is the first-ever podcast I listened to. It was the reason I even downloaded SoundCloud on my phone (They are also on ITunes and Spotify). It features Rhett and Link (from the Youtube channel Good Mythical Morning, a daily show which I also have been following ever since their first season). It started out with interviews with fellow YouTubers but they have branched out to interviewing other interesting people and even taking questions from listeners. Sometimes, it's just the two of them talking about relevant and interesting topics.

"Dear Hank and John"

This is a podcast created by Hank and John Green. They are both well known vloggers and creators as well as authors. Their podcast is generally very lighthearted and fun. They take questions from listeners and answer them sometimes seriously, sometimes in fun. It's quite entertaining. They are both well-spoken and intelligent humans.

You can find them on SoundCloud, Itunes, and Spotify as well.

Honourable Mention:

"Bonnets at Dawn" - I've been following this podcast for a while now, but I haven't really listened to them as much because I felt that it required me to be more involved with the topics. They talk about literary things -- pitting Louisa May Alcott against the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen, etc. All authors I'm familiar with, but they do a book club sort of series, where you read the book along with them and then listen in on the podcast to hear their thoughts about it. Honestly, it's something I would really love if I immersed myself into it -- just haven't been super ambitious literary-wise as of late.

I plan to listen to them more, though, that's for sure!

I'm on the hunt for some more educational podcasts -- once I find some I like, I will make another post about them! 

August and September Updates

Whoops, I have neglected to write here since July!

Here we are at October already... Um, it feels like I blinked and summer was done. *Tears*
The garden is at its end... I have to pick a day this week to clean it up and pull out the majority of our tomato plants.

I'm quite pleased with how the garden did this year. I'm already thinking about my set up for next year's garden. This winter is going to be l-o-n-g-g. :)

I think I mentioned in a previous blog post that my church was camping the first weekend of August -- that went pretty well, though it was a lot of work. I tried to help out as much as I could -- cooking, cleaning, keeping the kids occupied, in order for others to enjoy the weekend. :) It was tiring but rewarding.

Reading wise, I am at 27 books out of my goal of 52 - making me 12 books behind schedule, according to Goodreads. I feel like I've been on a roll lately, though. I finished 9 more books since my last book update.

1&2. I finished the 3rd book of the Gold Seer trilogy by Rae Carson plus read the first book of her Fire and Thorns series.
3&4. I read the next two books of Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
5. Read the 3rd book of the Poldark saga (Jeremy) - I'm unsure of whether to continue reading the books or not at this point.
6&7. Read two biblical fiction books - one I liked, one I did not. I gave "The Heavens Before" by Kacy Barnett-Gramckow a 5-star rating. It was so well written and an interesting retelling of the great Flood in the book of Genesis. The one I disliked was a fictionalized tale (by a different author) of an Egyptian woman during the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt in the time of Moses. Will not be continuing that series.
8&9. Finally, I read 2 books by Neil Gaiman - "The Graveyard Book" (such an imaginative, eerie tale!), and "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" (a bit mediocre but I still liked it).

Currently I am starting the 2nd book of Rae Carson's Fire and Thorn series, "The Crown of Embers", and the 2nd book of Barnett-Gramckow's Genesis series, "He Who Lifts the Skies".

I need to read 25 more books to reach my goal. I hope to make October the best reading month yet!

:)