Blog Books

Another Year, Another Spookoplathon

I enjoyed Becca’s Spookoplathon so much last year, that I’ve been eagerly awaiting October to give it another go!  My aim for October is to read some books that have been sat on my bookshelf for over a year, so I can either give them some long-awaited attention, or donate them to work if they aren’t my cup of tea.  Here goes…!

Roll 1:

6 + 5 = 11
Landed on ‘Leatherface’ – Read a book that features family as the main cast, a central theme, or core part of the plot.

Chosen book:
Growing Goats and Girls: Tales from the Good Life on a Cornish Farm
by Rosanne Hodin

Synopsis: Growing Goats and Girls lovingly and invitingly charts the rural, hardworking and joyfully haphazard lives of Rosanne and her husband as they escape London to live off the land. In their tumbled-down farmhouse in Cornwall, they learn to rear goats, chickens, cows, bees – and two children – get to grips with unruly machinery and cantankerous farmers, and chart the changing seasons in glorious countryside over thirty years.Heart-warming and uplifting in its celebration of the simple things, this earthy portrait of life on the land taps into our collective imagination.

Roll 2:

3 + 5 = 8
Landed on ‘Bone’ – A book with a “bone” coloured cover (anywhere from white to light brown)

Chosen book:
The Last Devil to Die (Thursday Murder Club #4) by Richard Osman

Synopsis: Shocking news reaches the Thursday Murder Club.  An old friend in the antiques business has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing.  As the gang springs into action they encounter art forgers, online fraudsters and drug dealers, as well as heartache close to home.  With the body count rising, the package still missing and trouble firmly on their tail, has their luck finally run out? And who will be the last devil to die?

Roll 3:

4 + 2 = 6
Landed on ‘Ghost Tour’ – Read a book with a historical element. This does not have to be historical fiction, it could be a book inspired by history but not actually set in the past

Chosen book:
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Synopsis: Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with – of all things – her mind. True chemistry results.

Like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show, Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (‘combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride’) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.

Roll 4:

1 + 4 = 5
Landed on ‘Dice Roll Roulette’ – Roll 2×6 sided dice, each dot represents 50 pages. Pick a book that is a similar length to the number you rolled.

For the prompt, I rolled a ‘3’ and a ‘5’ so am looking for a book around 400 pages, which luckily is fairly standard for a chunkier fiction book!

Chosen book:
The Magicians by Lev Grossman (402 pages, that’s pretty darn close)

Synopsis: Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. Obsessed with the fantasy novels he read as a child, he finds the real world just doesn’t compare. Then one day it happens: he stumbles unexpectedly into a hidden world and is invited to join a very exclusive college, where he will learn the secrets of magic. But something is still missing. And now Quentin will do anything to find what he’s always been looking for.


Though these all look brilliant (of course, ‘cos they’re all on my shelf!), these are 4 books I definitely wouldn’t have reached for anytime soon, so I’m pleased this has guided my reading towards books I’ve been putting off.

Follow me on Goodreads to see my reading progress through October: hi, over here!

What are you reading this Fall?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *