OwlCrate is a young adult book subscription box where every month you receive one new hardcover book and an assortment of bookish goodies connected to the monthly theme. October’s theme was Lost in the Bookstore and was the first time two books were included in the box.

The October box would be my third box from OwlCrate and is my favorite so far. Besides the book every box includes a spoiler card explaining each item in the box, a booklet with more information about the book and items chosen, a collectible pin, and an announcement card for the next months theme.

The items in the October box included a Choco-mint Truffle Tea from the Tea Spot and a heart-shaped tea strainer to brew the tea with. A pair of book nerd socks from Out of Print and Underlined. A small canvas clutch purse designed to fit most small books to protect books during travel and a Harry Potter themed art print. For subscription boxes the items that I prefer to get are practical items that can be useful or things that I would like the look of but could never justify buying myself.

The October box included two books Pride by Ibi Zoboi and Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa. Owlcrate always gets exclusive signed versions of the books and letters from the authors. This month the books also came with matching bookmarks.

Pride is a contemporary modern retelling of  Pride and Prejudice set in Brooklyn. Honestly, I have no interest in this book because I have never read Pride and Prejudiced nor am I a big fan of contemporary books. But since it was included in the box I will try it out to see if there is anything that I would enjoy.

In comparison, Shadow of the Fox is a book that I’ve been considering buying anyways. The story follows Yumeko, a kitsune shape shifter who is on the hunt for an ancient scroll that will grant one wish at the end of each millennium.  Based on Japanese folklore and culture it sounds like a great fantasy adventure.

At the bottom of each months box there is a sneak peek at what the next months theme so November’s theme is Rise from the Ashes.

From Here to Eternity is the second book by Caitlin Doughty where she travels the world to find the good death and what a good death means in different cultures. As a mortician Doughty uses her want to educate the public about the death industry and death care to show case how other cultures practice death care and mourning. The book takes the reader from rural Indonesia, to the a glowing-Buddha columbarium in Japan, and locations in America, among many others.

As I’ve mentioned before when discussing Doughty’s books death is not an easy topic to talk or write about and it feels a little weird to say I enjoyed reading a book about death. However, Doughty never intends to cause the reader shock or horror just to tell the truth and showcase the reality of death. From Here to Eternity takes the reader all across the United States and the world to show different death practices and the cultures that have these death practices. Much of the world has not removed its self from death and death care as much as the United States has and maybe those of us in the West could learn something from other death practices.

Overall, From Here to Eternity is a great book for those interested in death practices from across the world or those who have read other works about the death industry. Those who have read Doughty’s other book Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and her Ask A Mortician series on YouTube will find the same candid information and morbid humor. I give From Here to Eternity 4 out of 5 stars.

 

Every month I intent to do a monthly wrap up of every thing that I’ve read, watched, and played. This type of post will be because I sometimes don’t have much to say about everything I’ve consumed in a month. Not all media impacts me enough to want to do a review or feel like I have enough to say for a dedicated review. I will also leave links to any full review I’ve done through out the month. Currently, I have gotten behind on posts as I have been sick and very busy lately.

Books:

Rise by Mira Grant: Rise is a collection of short stories and novellas connect to the Newsflesh series. I would recommend to read the entirety of the Newsflesh series before touching this collection as many of the stories will not make sense other wise or spoil parts of the story. I absolutely love this series and have a full review on this book here. 5/5 stars.

Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas: This is the third book in the Throne of Glass series. I really liked Heir of Fire in comparison to Crown of Midnight which mostly bored me. I’m glad that we’re getting more information about the world and Celina’s back story. The introduction of new characters was great and Manon and the Witches are everything. 5/5 Stars.

The Art of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children: This book is described as a “visual tour” of the film set for Miss Peregrine’s. While it’s a beautiful book filled with pictures from the set and a decent amount of information about the film and film process including interviews, there are times that the text felt like it was talking down to the reader. Information and terms that could have been easily understood are stated blankly where I feel those who would read such a book would understand these things already. Overall, a good coffee table book form those fans of the series and movie or those interested in film making. 4/5 stars.

Storm Front by Jim Butcher: Storm Front is the first book of the Dresden Files. A decent murder mystery book with magic and other supernatural elements add.  This one I read on audio book which I’m not a huge fan of that way of reading. Overall, an okay book but I might not continue with the rest of the series. 3/5 stars. Full review here.

Spark Joy by Marie Kondo: Spark Joy is Marie Kondo’s second book and is a companion to the Life-Changing of Tidying Up. This book goes more into how to organize and exactly what joy is to keep items. Good for those interested in more information on the Konmari method or those currently decluttering. For me it was an okay read but didn’t really add anything to how I’m decluttering. 3/5 Stars.

From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty: Form Here to Eternity is Doughty’s second book where she travels the world to find what different cultures consider a good death. She interacts with death practices across cultures and discusses new death care practices and innovations. While a hard topic Doughty is always very respectful of the different cultures and only wants to educate. Overall, a great book about how the people all over the world deal with death. I will have a full review posted soon. 4/5 stars.

Movies:

This month I only reviewed two movies Venom and The Witch. Both which I like though Venom was my favorite of the two. I have full reviews for both movies and I hope to do more movie reviews in the future.

 

Storm Front is the first book of the Dresden Files. Storm Front follows wizard Harry Dresden when he gets involved in a murder mystery in Chicago that the police is looking in to and asked to investigate the disappearance of a woman’s husband. Someone is using magic to kill which leads Harry in to Chicago’s underworld to catch the killer other wise Harry will be next.

I read Storm Front as an audio book which I rarely do. I’ve just never been a huge fan of audio books and find that narrators can put me off a book I would have otherwise loved. However, James Marsters’ narration of the book is amazing and is what really pulled me in and caused me to finish the book.

The Dresden Files is a series that I’ve heard of for years but never really considered reading until I heard that James Marsters did the audio books. Storm Front is pretty much a murder mystery novel with some magic and supernatural elements thrown in. Thought well written by Jim Butcher I never felt very invested in the story or the characters. It wasn’t until very close to the end of the book that I actually even wanted to finish it. So, I’m not sure if I will continue on with this series as the story was okay but I don’t really feel a need to know what happens in the rest of the books. 3/5 stars.

Rise: A NewsFlesh Collection is the compilation of all the short stories and the novellas connected to the NewsFlesh series. This collection is intended for those who have completed the series and would spoil the ending if read earlier. Rise contains 8 stories set before, during, and after the rising and continues after the end of the third book. These stories are: “Countdown”, “Everglades”, “San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats”, “How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea”, “The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell”, “Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus”, “All the Pretty Little Horses”, and “Coming to You Live”.

Countdown is the story of the rising, how the world got to the point that we see in the first NewsFlesh book Feed. This story is told in snippets giving the date and location showing how the cure for cancer and the cure for the common cold mutated and were able to create the zombie apocalypse. The story feels very real, like something that could happen today as it’s about people doing what they think is best and having the worst possible outcome. It also introduces characters that show up later in the series. 5/5 stars.

Everglades is the shortest of all the stories in the collection. It follows one young woman who has survived the initial rising but ultimately decides that living in this new world is not what she wants. I really didn’t like this story not because of the subject matter but because of the way its written. The story weaves current events with the woman’s childhood which fells a little disjointed to me. 2/5 stars.

San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats follows the events of the Rising at San Diego Comic Con and the only survivor of the incident. The story is told in sections divided by Mahir Gowanda interviewing the survivor Lorelei Tutt. This is my favorite story of this collection because of the comic convention angle. I’ve attended several comic conventions though never San Diego Comic Con and honestly it is probably one of the worst places that a zombie apocalypse could happen. 5/5 stars.

How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea follows Mahir Gowanda traveling to Australia and learning how the country deals with zombie kangaroos and other wildlife. This one is set after the original trilogy and primarily focus on the fact to not everyone/every country would deal with zombies the same way. Australia doesn’t have all the extreme systems in place as the United States and maybe that’s a good thing. Thought the story doesn’t have much of a plot to speak of. 4/5 stars.

The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell is essentially the back story of Foxy a character from the main series. This short story focuses on how schools would function after a zombie apocalypse where everyone is infected and can become a zombie at anytime and how the precautions end up failing. I found the kids in the story while realistic kind of annoying, as everything happens because one kid refused to tell a teacher that he had cut himself which causes the infection to spread and everything to be his fault. Also I don’t really get why anyone would be willing to go to  public schools in this world. 3/5 stars.

Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus follows Dr. Shannon Abbey and the difficulties of running her underground lap since the end of the series. This story real can be read without any of the others as it follows one incident that Dr. Abbey must deal with and the consequences from the end of the series. As I love Dr. Abbey anything with more of her is great. 5/5 stars.

All the Pretty Little Horses is the story of Stacy and Michael Mason in the aftermath of the rising but before they have adopted Shaun and Georgia. While it does give more back story on these character and allows the reader to have more empathy for them I still hate these characters.  But at least we finally have a justification for how they act during the main books. 3/5 stars.

Coming to You Live is a direct continuation from the trilogy that follows Shaun and Georgia in the aftermath of Blackout. I absolutely love Shaun and George which is why I feel like this story wasn’t really needed. The ending of Blackout was a great place to end their story and gives the audience the knowledge that their story isn’t over but they have done more than enough. Though I say this I still loved this story. 5/5 stars

Overall, Rise is a great collection but what each reader looks for in a good story will impact the enjoyment of this collection. However, I still give the entire book 5/5 stars.

The Witch is a horror movie from 2015 that follows a family of pilgrims who have angered their community and church and have been banished to live outside near the dark creepy forest. After the disappearance of the family’s infant the family becomes increasingly paranoid and the younger members believes there is a witch in the woods that is causing all of the families problems.

I love horror movies so for me the movie was not all that scary but I think the movie isn’t try to scare in the traditional sense with jump scares and gore. The atmosphere and how creepy the movie is amazing which makes the viewers feel uneasy and paranoid like the characters.  The movie has the perfect setting, nobody know what is out in the woods and as a story about the Puritans the fear of the unknown/the devil being in the woods is incredibly accurate to history.

The imagery used in the movie is very similar to reported cases of the witch trials. The movie shows the witch near the beginning but at times like it’s more the family is experiencing real sickness and possibly mental health issues. Through most of the movie interactions between the witch and the family occur when only one member of the family is in the scene so there is no way to tell if what they are seeing is real or not. The witch preys on each member showing them what they want. Very few scenes include other people besides the family so for the audience what is happening can seem like it’s not really there. The end of the movie shows that there are witches in the woods but I feel if it was all real or not is up to interpretation.

As someone who has studied the Salem Witch Trials, I constantly questioned throughout the movie if the witch was real or not though the Witch is clearly shown at the beginning of the movie. One of the theories about the witch trials is that the food was contaminated causing people to have hallucinations and seizures which lead the Church and community to believe that Witches were real. I feel like if you don’t know much about the witch trials the movie would be more scary as you probably would not question the existence of the witch.

Overall, it’s a very atmospheric and creepy movie that is great to watch around Halloween.