Halloween Reads

Halloween is fast approaching with darker nights and brisk autumn mornings. I always read more during the autumn and winter months as there's something so comforting about curling up with a book on a dark evening with a cup of tea. Halloween is one of my favourite holidays but over the last few years I've found myself being a bit too busy to go all out. So to make the most of it I like to read some books that are a little spookier. Today I've rounding up some Halloween themed reads. I know not everyone is fond of a classic, gory horror so I've also included some thrillers and some Halloween read based at children. Lets face it, Halloween is never as good when you're not a child. Trick or treating over Halloween parties any day. And sometimes I think that a good thriller can actually be scarier than a horror!

Horrors

The Silence of the Lams by Thomas Harris - Could you really talk about classic horror without mentioning Hannibal Lecter? This isn't the first book in the series but it's definitely the most famous and you can read it without reading the others. Hannibal Lecter is a very creepy character, I mean, he eats people. This book isn't very scary in a traditional sense but it is very unnerving. The movie is also very good so a great one to read and then watch. If you've seen the film then you definitely need to read the book as it adds a lot more strength and understanding to the story. 

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix - This book would definitely win an award for the most unique idea. This is a horror story set in a furniture store. They obviously couldn't call it IKEA in the novel but it's very obvious that it's modelled off of IKEA. The book itself is physically set up to look like one of their catalogues. The staff keep noticing that things are moving in the store overnight and  so some staff members are pain extra to do an overnight shift and try and get to the bottom of things. Lets just say that night was definitely not worth the overtime. This book is actually really scary at times so a very impressive one indeed.

Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake - This book isn't particularly scary but it is very enjoyable. Its about a boy who hunts ghosts. He is tracking down a particularly nasty ghost called 'Anna Dressed in Blood' who is known for brutally murdering anyone who enters the house she haunts. But Anna makes no move to kill him and he finds himself trying to help her rather than kill her. She has something that she needs to do before she can 'pass on'. This is definitely the least scary out of the horrors I've included and is for those that don't want something too scary but still want a little bit of horror for Halloween.

New Crochet Projects

I have a confession to make. I am really, really sick of crocheting elephants. They were a lot of fun at first but then I got so many requests for them that it felt like I was never stopping. I've lost count of how many I've made in total but I'm on my second pack of safety eyes. And they come in packs of 50 pairs so I know that the number is somewhere between 50 and 100. Yup. That's a lot of elephants. So I made the decision to close my Etsy store and just go back to the basics with my crocheting. It's been a nice, welcomed break. It was also part of my 20 before 20 goals to crochet some animals that aren't elephants. Since my elephant break I've completed two new projects. A bunny and a panda. Aren't they adorable? This is just a quick post to show them off a little bit and write little mini reviews of the patterns as well. 

Flopsy Bunny

Pattern Creator: Miss Neriss

Pattern Link: Here

September Reading Wrap Up

September has, unsurprisingly, been a really poor reading month for me. It always is as the start of the university year is a really busy time for me. So its to be expected that I'm not really committing a lot of my free time to reading - third year is no joke. I did manage to get two books read which I don't think is terrible and I'm also quite far through a new one too. One of the books I read this month really let me down but I really enjoyed the other...

Martini Henry by Sara Crowe* - This is a new young adult novel about a girl who dreams of being a writer. She's living with her old, ex-rich aunt in her old crumbling manor home. Whilst also trying to sort out her love life and researching the history of the old house. The plot interested me but I have to admit I felt a little let down by the book. I found the characters to be really snobby, weird and unlikeable. There's a point in this book where the main character gets called middle class and she corrects the person and tells them she's upper class. Think that about says it all. I did read this pretty quickly but to be honest, it didn't grip me like other young adult novels have and I just feel very lukewarm towards the whole thing. I gave it 2/5 stars.

Chaophraya Edinburgh

Chaophraya is a restaurant that is recommended in Edinburgh time and time again but one that I hadn't gotten around to visiting. It promises excellent views over Edinburgh and the castle and some really high quality, authentic Thai food. Chaophraya has been in Edinburgh for a few years now and there are a few other branches in Scotland and England. This is the first time in years that they've launched a new menu and I was very kindly invited along to review. We attended on a Thursday night and I took along my friend Kathryn as a little celebration for finishing our first week of third year. With a glass box dining area offering an amazing view of Edinburgh castle and the rest of the city this restaurant packs a pretty impressive punch when it comes to atmosphere. With lots of amazing authentic decorations, a beautiful salt water fish tank and lots of atmospheric lighting there is a lot to catch your eye. Chaophraya are paying attention to all the little details - everything down to the waiting staff's uniforms are incredibly intricate.