I haven't been neglecting all you faithful readers out there. The problem is that the new book in the Song of Ice and Fire series is out and I have been reading as often as I can. I feel like it is taking forever. I really like it so far, but with a 1000 page book, its hard to feel like you're getting anywhere. Last night, I was eating dinner with TC and he said something to which I had a great response. I kept it to myself because it was a joke about a Dornishman. Now, I know I am completely enthralled with this book when I am thinking of jokes about characters and people from said book. TC hasn't read the books yet, so he wouldn't have found it funny, but I promise you, it was a zinger!

I am about 65% done with the book and am looking forward to reviewing it. I am also being reminded of all the things I had forgotten about book 4 (not my favorite). So, if you're wondering why I haven't written any reviews in the last few days, it's because I haven't finished any books!

There are 62 of these books, so you might be hearing about them for a while. I just finished “Let’s Get Invisible” and “Night of the Living Dummy”. I had read NOTLD before, but had forgotten most of it. I am well aware that ventriloquist dummies are creepy and a half. Let me just briefly sum them up for you.

Let’s Get Invisible: It’s about a kid and his little brother who find a mirror in the attic. Whenever they turn the light on in the room with the mirror, the person looking into the mirror becomes invisible. After a few minutes, the invisible person gets a weird feeling like they’re floating and going numb at the same time. Once the light goes off again, the invisible person has to wait a certain amount of time before they become visible again. The problem is… their reflections start taking their place.

Night of the Living Dummy – A ventriloquist dummy comes to life and causes all sorts of trouble until it turns out that it’s just one of the main characters, twin girls, playing a trick on the other. But is it really a practical joke? When the dummy actually comes to life, no one believes it. The book ends with a total cliff-hanger, and I know there is a sequel, so I’m not too broken up about it.

I am now on book 8, which is “The Girl Who Cried Monster”. Like I’ve mentioned before, I intend to take a break when the next book in the Song of Ice and Fire series comes out.  Which is about 3 days away!!!

On my quest to finish the Goosebumps books has been going well. I read three yesterday. 

I read "Monster Blood", "Say Cheese and Die", and "The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb". Let me tell you about them.

Monster Blood - About two kids who buy a can of monster blood and a spell is cast on it against their knowledge. The monster blood, similar to our Gak, is cursed to grow and grow and consume everything!! Scary, right? 

Say Cheese and Die - About a group of kids who find a camera in a hidden compartment in an abandoned house. The camera is cursed, and it causes bad things to happen to the subject of the photo. 

The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb - Two kids get the opportunity to get lost in a pyramid in Egypt... and that's just what they do. There are some mummy's and an attempted kidnapping, but the really scary part of this book is the abandonment. 

So, those are the three that I read. I have noticed a couple things about these books:

1. There are usually two main characters, a boy and a girl. 
2. The main characters are usually 12.
3. No one dies. 
4. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb featured two main characters of Egyptian descent. 

I'm fairly certain R. L. Stine's target audience is anyone... anyone at all around the age of 12. A clever ploy. 

I'm having fun reading through these again, but it's super easy and is going super fast. Just another thing to like about it, I guess. 

I recently watched “Click”, that Adam Sandler movie. The premise was familiar and I knew I had read a similar story somewhere. It took a little digging through my memory before I finally figured it out. The Book of Virtues has a story called “The Magic Thread”. For those of you that don’t know the story, let me just sum it up for you. The main character has the opportunity to fast forward time at their own discretion. Don’t like doing the dishes? Fast forward. Don’t like that long drive to work? Fast forward. Don’t want to wait around for your promotion? Fast forward. The thing is, once you start fast forwarding things, you start missing things. You miss opportunities, you miss moments. The moral of the story is self-discipline and living in the present.

Well, in my research looking for this story from the Book of Virtues, I found out that “Click” was also based one of R. L. Stine’s Goosebumps books. I loved reading those books as a kid. They totally creeped me out. I was a fast reader, so I could finish one In one sitting. I still remember some of the stories, and after watching “Click” I decided that I wanted to reread them. TC was kind enough to procure them for me, and I am looking forward to reading through them. Thus far, I have read the first two: “Welcome to the Dead House” and “Stay out of the Basement”.  The first one gave me that creepy feeling. Maybe I’m just easily scared. Second one just seemed ridiculous. I’m not going to say anything about the writing because it was just as bad as it was when I first read them. As a younger kid, it was really easy to read and I appreciated that. It helped me reach my book limit in my reading programs.

 I know a lot of you read the Goosebumps books too, so I will keep you posted on my reading through and let you know which ones you should reread! I will definitely have to take a break from it in 10 days though because that’s when the next book in the Song of Ice & Fire series is released and I will definitely be reading that as soon as I get it!