6 Things I Did That Won't Get Their Own Post - Part 5

Hello There!

Got another post of things that won't get their own post.

Strange History

Fun read with random history trivia. I have a few books like this one and I really enjoy them.





The Berenstain Bears and the Galloping Ghost 

by Stan & Jan Berenstain

Basic Berenstain Bears chapter book. But! This


sent me for a bit of a loop. Just... a pair of bear brothers being sent to jail on a drug conviction in a children's book made me go a bit 😳






Ellie Jordan Ghost Trapper

by J.L. Bryan


This one actually deserves its own post, but... I finished it and then... sort of forgot I finished a book for a week, so by the time I realized I should do a blog post, I forgot a lot of details (this is a me issue, not a sign that the book was forgettable). This book was really good. It's the first in a series so now I have to go check out the other books.

Basic plot is that Ellie is a ghost trapper, she goes to haunted places and gets rid of ghosts basically. Book was well written and I liked the characters. Totally recommend this one.




Deviant

by Harold Schechter

A book about Ed Gein. Which, people need to stop calling him a serial killer. He killed two people. He's a murderer and a grave robber.

This book isn't bad. Not my favorite true crime book.




Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them

This book was kind of boring. I am a nerd and love books that just tell me about mythological creatures and such. And this was possibly the worst one I've read. I know it was just a tie in with the Harry Potter books, but it could have been done better. It was bad. No like. If you want a list of good books that are just encyclopedias of mythological beings and creatures, I can make that.




The Blair Witch Project (1999)

I have never seen this movie before. Saw it was on Roku and figured I should watch it. 

I want my hour and a half back.

I need to start assuming "most terrifying movie" means "Steph, you will be bored."

This movie was boring as shit. It was just three kids lost in the woods and yelling at each other about being lost in the woods.

Hated it. 0 Stars. Do not recommend.

 That's all for this one.

Stephy Read The Stand by Stephen King

 “That wasn't any act of God. That was an act of pure human fuckery.”

 

About/Summary

A superflu hits and wipes out the majority of the population of the world. Now the survivors must deal with the aftermath. Oh, and there is a whole Good vs Evil thing happening.

Content/Trigger Warnings

There are soooo many, and I know I will forget some (a lot...). Sorry. 

Death

Gore

Sexual Assault (both offscreen and onscreen)

Nice Guy ™

Murder

Racial slurs

Abelist slurs

Major Character Death

Minor Character Death

Suicide

Animal Death

Cannibalism

Physical Abuse

Okay. I might have gotten most of them. For reference, most of my notes for this book were trigger warnings. Cause godsdamn. Just... If you have triggers, assume they are in this book.

 

Characters

Stephen King is very good at writing characters that I want to die. But he's also good at writing characters that I don't want to die. And then he just kills them all. 

There were a lot of characters in this book. I forgot about a few. But it's fine, a lot of them died. Still sad about some of the deaths. Still celebrating some.

 Kojak was my favorite character... Yes. The dog. And (spoiler) he lives through the whole book. In case anyone was worried (I know I was). The dog lives!

 I also liked Glen, Nick and Stu. 

Fucking hated Harold. Fuck him.

Writing

Very typical Stephen King writing. If you like his stuff, you'll like the writing of this one. If you don't like his stuff, you're not gonna like this one. I liked it well enough. 

Plot

As I said in the first little bit, a superflu hits the world and the majority of the population is dead. So, the first part of the book is dealing with that. The flu, how quickly it spread, and a lot of people dying. The second part has the survivors traveling. One group is going to where Mother Abigail lives. The other group is off to Vegas and Randall Flagg. 

Romance

Let's just say Stephen King is not a romance writer. Aside from a couple toxic relationships, I felt nothing for the romances. 

How diverse is it?

Not very.

Overall Thoughts

Y'all, it took me six months to get through this book. 

Six.

Months.

I will say that it didn't take me this long because I didn't like the book. It is a good book. But it is fucking heavy, so i had to take a lot of breaks and read something easier for a bit. There was no moment where I wanted to stop reading the book completely, I just needed some breaks.

 It's not my favorite Stephen King book. Carrie still holds that honor. But it's still a good read. 

 

That's all for this one.

Stephy Read Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

 

“Most books on witchcraft will tell you that witches work naked. This is because most books on witchcraft are written by men.”

 

 About/Summary

Published in 1990, this book by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman is about the end of the world.

Characters

 Main characters are Aziraphale and Crowley. And I love them.

I also really like Newton and Anathema, even though I still have trouble pronouncing her name (it's a me thing...)

Oh, and Agnes was just delightful. 

All the characters were great, really.

Writing

Writing was fantastic. This book was my introduction to Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's work and I need to read more. It is simplistic at times, and I mean that as a compliment. I get frustrated sometimes when writing is super complex. It's an easy read.

Plot

 Aziraphale, an angel, and Crowley, a demon, met in a garden. After someone ate an apple (or some sort of fruit, not important). And they continued to meet up for six hundred years. At one point Crowley is tasked with taking (not delivering. Not as such. Just… handing off) the antichrist. Who was supposed to go to an American couple that was in England (Tadfield to be precise) for politics or something. But… the Satanic nuns maybe sort of gave the baby to a couple from Tadfield. It was an accident. I'm sure Satan would understand. Now, Crowley and Aziraphale don't want the end of the world to happen. Which is supposed to happen when the Antichrist is, like, 11 or something. So they decide to help raise the child. The child they think is the antichrist. The American couple's child. On the supposed Antichrist's birthday, he is supposed to receive a hellhound. But… it doesn't show up. Well… it does show up. To the actual antichrist. Adam. Who is spending time with his friends. And coincidentally is telling his friends what kind of dog he would want. A small dog that you could have fun with. Named Dog. And so, the hellhound Dog joins his Master.

Meanwhile, Anathema Device, a witch who knows of the coming apocalypse thanks to her ancestor Agnes Nutter's book of prophecies, is trying to stop this as well. 

Romance

 Aziraphale and Crowley are totally married. Or, the angel/demon equivalent, at least.

 Overall Thoughts

This book is fantastic from beginning to end. I adored it. Five stars. No notes.

 

That's all for this one. 

Stephy Read Star Wars Young Jedi Knights: Jedi Under Siege

 

Hawke is not amused. And my book is looking haggard... And yes... That is tape covering it. As a child that was how I repaired books.

 

Spoilers ahead

Because I refuse to shut up about things sometimes.

 About/Summary

The final entry in the Second Imperium arc in the Young Jedi Knights series. 

The Second Imperium attacks the Jedi academy on Yavin 4. To... stomp out the Rebellion or something. Fucking Empire is godsdamn stupid. Y'all lost, get over it.

 

Content/Trigger Warnings

Major Character Death (but it's just some of the villains so 🤷🏻‍♀️)

violence

 

Characters

Same bunch of characters as usual. A couple new very minor characters show up. Most don't get names. One did. He died.

 

Atmosphere/Setting

Book mostly takes place on Yavin 4. During a battle. So the atmosphere is a bit tense. And we get a bit more description of Yavin 4. Which, might have happened in previous books, but I can't remember. Do y'all know how many Star Wars books there are? I have been buying them since I was 10 and I am no where near close to having them all. Which makes me sad. Please send me money so I can buy Star Wars books. 

Writing

As with the other books in this series, the writing is good. A bit simplistic at times, but still good. 

Overall Thoughts

Great ending to this arc of the series. Tied up all those loose ends. Killed off some villains. Left plenty of openings for more to happen with the characters.

I do question including a Fake Emperor plot... Which I cannot remember if I mentioned before, but a couple books back, it is revealed that Palpatine is still alive. Supposedly. And when he goes to the Shadow Academy he refuses to see anyone. And then Brakiss discovers it was all a lie. I mean, it works in the books. The bad guys think the ultimate bad guy is still alive and they're gonna be back in power in no time at all. But, even as a kid I remember thinking it was a bit suspicious when no one was allowed to see him aside from his personal guards. Eh, I guess the bad guys were just looking for any bit of hope or whatever.

 

That's all for this one. Sorry it's a bit half-assed, but I told myself I couldn't start reading the next book until I got this wrote up. And I was super excited to start the next book.

Stephy Read Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

"Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're related, for better or worse... and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum."

About

Written by Rick Riordan and published in 2006, The Sea of Monsters is the second book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. 

Go read my ramblings about the first book in the series here.

Content/Trigger Warnings

Violence

Abusive Parent

 

Ummm... that's all I can think of. If anyone knows any that I missed let me know.

Characters

Most the characters from the first book come back for this one. And a new character is introduced! 

 Percy, Annabeth and Grover are back. Grover has a smaller but no less important role in this one. 

Clarisse is back with a bit of a bigger role. And she's less of a bitch... 

Ares is a dick. Just... yeah... dude is still an asshole.

 

Writing

Writing is fantastic. Again, simple without making the reader feel stupid. 

Plot

Thalia's Tree has been poisoned, and Percy is going to get to the bottom of it. Even though he's told not to leave camp. That is just a small detail. It'll be fine. 

And it is! Percy, Annabeth and their new friend, Tyson, are off to save Camp Half-Blood, and Grover. Because Percy has also been having weird dreams about Grover being in trouble. So they have to save him, too. Because no way is Percy leaving his BFF behind.

 Romance

Well, a cyclops thinks he's going to marry Grover but the relationship falls apart when the cyclops learns that Grover is a male satyr not a female cyclops. 

Other than that... no romance.

Overall Thoughts

 Writing reviews for these books is hard cause i really don't wanna spoil anything. I want everyone to read these books and be surprised by every twist and character introduction and all that shit. So while I wanna gush about the various characters from Greek mythology that show up, another part of me doesn't wanna say anything. Ugh. 

Anyway!

This book is a great follow up to The Lightning Thief. It starts with a game of deadly dodgeball and keeps the excitement going until the last page. Which, little bit of a cliffhanger. Because that's what Rick Riordan does...

Everyone should read this series. I said it before, and I'll keep saying it until I die. Not even joking, I will probably be on my death bed trying to convince someone to read these books.

 

 That's all for this one.

Stephy Read Interview With the Vampire

 

 “For what can the damned really have to say to the damned?”

 

 About/Summary

Published in 1967, Interview With the Vampire is the first book of the Vampire Chronicles. The book focuses on a vampire, Louis, telling his "life" story to a reporter. 

Content/Trigger Warnings

Death

Child Death

 Slavery

Underage vampire (this gets a warning because sometimes it gets a little weird when you remember Claudia has the body of a five-year-old)

Lestat (he gets his own warning... like seriously)

Emotional manipulation

Characters

I'm sorry, but the characters in this book are all horrible. Just, horrible little creatures that entertain me greatly. Like, who knows what kind of shit Lestat is going to get up to. He doesn't even know! It might be heartbreaking, it could be hilarious, but no matter what you will not be able to look away cause that man is a car crash.

Also, I love Armand. He is baby. I love him.

And one of the main characters is just called The Boy through the entire book. Which, rude, Louis. Ask for his name before whining to him for 10 fucking hours straight.

 

Setting

Book is mainly set is New Orleans and Paris. And technically San Francisco cause that's where the room is where Louis whines at Daniel (that is the reporter's name, unlike Louis's rude ass, I care) for an entire night. 

Writing

Anne Rice's writing isn't for everyone. Sometimes it's not even for me, if I am perfectly honest. I am not saying it is bad. I am saying some people might not enjoy it. 

Plot

The entire plot was Louis, a 200-year-old vampire, telling a random guy how shitty it is being a vampire. That's it.That's the plot. I mean, other things happen, but the main plot is vampire is whining about his existence.

Romance

Louis and Lestat were totally a couple. A toxic couple. But still a couple. 

How diverse is it?

The only people of color were slaves.

 

Overall Thoughts

No thoughts about this book will ever top when my kid was reading it, they burst into my room and shouted "Lestat baby-trapped Louis!" You could have the most thought-provoking insight for this book and I will look you straight in the eye and go "Lemme tell you about the time my kid was reading this book". 

But aside from that... This isn't my favorite book from the Vampire Chronicles. I enjoy it, but I tend to find myself thinking "oh gods, shut up Louis..." a lot while reading it. 

Another thing, I need to know how long Louis and Armand traveled together. How long did Armand have to deal with Louis just... going through the motions and probably talking constantly about how beautiful Lestat was? Poor Armand for dealing with that. 

Also, I need to know is how long Lestat, Louis and Claudia stayed in New Orleans. And if it was longer than five years, how did nobody notice the three weirdos that didn't age? And did anyone notice the amount of death that happened? Louis says they have to kill to feed, which, fine, whatever. So that was at least three dead people a night. At least 90 dead people a month. That's over a thousand people a year. I know this took place way back in the day, and the mortality rate was higher back then, but still. That is a lot of dead people that no one seemed to notice or care about. 

 

I think that's about it... Stay tuned for me to ramble about the drama that is Lestat de Lioncourt some more. Cause that boy is just drama in human form.