DAILY TRACKING AND DISCUSSION - Dark Academia and more (Individual) 2025

[Ariail]

I definitely enjoyed this readathon and feel like I read a good amount! Here is my weekend overview!

Friday, September 26:
Books read: Love, Mom
Pages read: 54
Hours listened: 0
Prompts completed: Anything from your TBR, Something Spooky

Saturday, September 27
Books read: Great Big Beautiful Life, The Ghost Woods
Pages read: 195
Hours listened: 2h 16m
Prompts completed: Anything from your TBR, Something Spooky

Sunday: September 28
Books read: The Ghost Woods, The Cat Who Went to Heaven, House of Flame and Shadow
Pages read: 87
Hours listened: 2h 9m
Prompts completed: Anything from your TBR, Something Spooky, A Cozy Mystery, Fall colors on the cover

Totals:
Books read: 5
Pages read: 336
Hours listened: 4h 25m
Prompts completed: Anything from your TBR, A Cozy Mystery, Something Spooky, Fall Colors on the Cover

[TerryJane, Challenges]

Oops! I missed when the questions were posted, but I'll add my answers now.

1.) How are your reading challenges going so far? Are there books you are excited about for this readathon? Which one(s)?
I've surpassed my Goodreads goal for this year, but I'm short on some of my yearly challenges. Need one more for Bibliopoly, two for 20 Questions, and another handful for Opposites Attract and Magical Mystery Tour. I'm working a couple of my Opposites Attract stragglers into this readathon -- Poison for Breakfast (opposite for The Antidote read earlier this year). Also, From Here to the Great Unknown, where Unknown is opposite to Famous from Famous Last Words.

2.) Are there annual events in your area that you like to attend for the fall season? What are they?
A few years ago, I'd have been taking Girl Scouts to pick apples or to traipse through a corn maze, but now my troop girls are all grown and gone. Last year, we visited the pumpkin patch with our first grandson. We have another one now, so we may go do that again.

3.) What is your favorite spooky book from childhood? Are there any favorites from adulthood?
Gosh, when I was a young kid, I scanned library book spines looking for any spooky words in the title... werewolf, ghost, witch, vampire, etc. I also loved mysteries like Nancy Drew. By middle school, I was still doing the same with title words, but had also discovered classics like Dracula and Frankenstein. By high school and college, I had become a huge Stephen King fan, greatly enjoying Carrie, ’Salem’s Lot, The Shining, and his short stories, but my favorite of his was/is The Stand. I don't read much of his work these days. I liked him far better in his author blurbs than I do in this internet/social media era.

Thanks for the fun readathon, Theresa. I'm looking forward to more fun next year!

[Jennifer]

Thanks for leading!
1a. How are your reading challenges going so far? I didn't get as much read this weekend as expected because it was our 26th wedding anniversary weekend, and we went away Friday/Saturday.

1b. Are there books you are excited about for this readathon? Which one(s)? I was excited to finally finish The Picture of Dorian Gray I have started it several times and was unable to finish it before because it breaks down in the middle to what I believe is a description of all the artsy works Oscar Wilde had in his house.

2. Are there annual events in your area that you like to attend in the fall season? What are they? Our church does a harvest festival for the community around the end of the month. We dress up as a mix of Bible characters and others and hand out candy at booths as well as free pumpkins while they last, plus there is a mini train ride and hay ride for kids and a few other activities like face painting. Despite our church having a total attendance of less than 100 people, we had 400 kids show up last year and are hoping to beat that this year.

3a. What is your favorite spooky book from childhood?
I never was into horror. I think Something Wicked This Way Comes is one of the few books I would consider spooky that I read and enjoyed with Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH as a close second. I enjoyed Dracula, Cujo,Firestarter, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Firefly, and others that I wouldn't necessarily classify as spooky, but books like The Tell-Tale Heart, The Amityville Horror, or The Monkey's Paw that I would classify as spooky were not my cup of hot chocolate even though I read them. (I didn't drink hot tea much at the time.)

3b. Are there any favorites from adulthood?
I guess Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children would be considered spooky by some, so I think that is probably my favorite in adulthood at the moment, but The Metamorphosis is one of my all-time favorites (with "spooky" being used loosely). I also liked The Castle of Otranto, Carrie, The Cumbersome Collection (which I read in adulthood for my children), The Shining, but I didn't really find these spooky. I think I generally dislike books that I consider "spooky" so I avoid things like The Exorcist or Legion.

[TerryJane, Challenges]

Happy anniversary, Jennifer! 🎉

[Jennifer]

TerryJane wrote: "Happy anniversary, Jennifer! 🎉"
Thank you, TerryJane!!!