October CalendarCAT

Welcome to the October CalendarCAT!

On October 1st Henry Ford introduced the Model T.

On October 2nd Mahatma Gandhi was born.

October 4th through the 10th is Love Your Pets Week and World Space Week.

On October 6th Thomas Edison introduced motion pictures.

October is National Book Month, Scientist Appreciation Month, International Dinosaur Month, Children's Health Month, and Energy Awareness Month.

October's zodiac signs are Libra and Scorpio; the flower is marigold and the gems are tourmaline and opal.

Authors born in October include Graham Greene, Thomas Wolfe, Gore Vidal, James Herriott, Anne Rice, Jackie Collins, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Frank Herbert, R. L. Stine, e.e. Cummings, P. G. Wodehouse, Italo Calvino, Lee Child, Evelyn Waugh, Sylvia Plath, Zadie Smith, Anne Tyler, Doris Lessing, Ursula K. LeGuin.

I plan to read something scary for Halloween!

Enjoy picking a book for October and don't forget to update the Wiki.

Since I'm thinking of The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein by Peter Ackroyd, I might read the original as well for National Frankenstein Day (which nation?) on 29 October.

My calendar shows October 1 as International Day of Older Persons which would be a shoo-in for The one hundred year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared.

I also have The delicate storm by Giles Blunt, involving the October Crisis of 1970. And for Canadian Thanksgiving which falls in October Thanksgiving by Michael Dibdin

The easiest, obvious one will be to read for Halloween, and I'm sure I'll be doing that, anyway (though I have yet to choose something).

I may also be reading:
- Dinosaur Lake II / Kathryn Meyer Griffiths

so that would fit here for International Dinosaur Month.

Animals always rank high on the list for me, so I may see about reading something for Love Your Pets Week, as well.

>4 LibraryCin: Oh, I was thinking of reading The Great Dinosaur Robbery this week, but maybe I'll leave it for next month.

I am planning on a Halloween read of Hauntings, a collection of scary stories, and since October 11th is the International Day of the Girl and I have a bazillion books with "Girl" in the title, I will pick one of those to read as well.

>2 Robertgreaves: Sorry - that nation is the US, should've been more clear. I tried to pick all international days, but I didn't find anything popping up for 29 October, and I could've spent more time looking but I was running out of time!

Some independence days and other national celebration days in October.

Countries celebrating their independence from the UK: Fiji; Iraq; Lesotho; Uganda
Independence from France: Guinea
Independence from the Soviet Union: Azerbaijan

Germany: Unification Day
Hungary: 1956 Revolution Memorial Day
Slovenia: Sovereignty Day
Turkey: Republic Day
Austria: Neutrality Constitution of 1955
Spain: Columbus discovers America, October 12th

Other Celebrations:

India: Diwali

October 17th: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

I am considering My Driver by Maggie Gee, which is set in Uganda and has been sitting on the shelf for a few years.

I like the idea of Older Persons Day. I have a mystery series on my Kindle that is set on a cruise ship and the main character is an older lady.

I'm planning to read Time is a River by Mary Alice Monroe for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

I'm reading Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl for World Food Day.

Since October is National Book Month, I will read a book - a real book - paper and ink - Antique reading device - Winning American Mah Jongg Strategies: A Guide for the Novice Player
October 12th is National Gumbo Day so I'll read Mumbo Gumbo Murder
October 29th is National Chocolate Day so I'll read Death by Chocolate Malted Milkshake.

For International Older Persons Day, Halali is a perfect fit, as it is written by an 82-year-old author and her main character shares her age. It loosely fits for German Unification Day, as the narrator tells of her experiences in the newly-founded Federal Republic and secret agents from the GDR roam through Bonn looking for susceptible secretaries in government offices who can be persuaded to spy for them. This was oddly entertaining.

I recently read Pumpkinheads, a graphic novel by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks, which is set in a pumpkin patch on Halloween. An excellent October read!

Jack o' Lantern is a 1929 British thriller, all melodrama and preposterous plot. I finished it last night.

Halloween

Saga of the Swamp Thing, Book 1 / Alan Moore
3 stars

It seemed like I was missing something right at the start! I guess this only started with Swamp Thing #21, when Alan Moore took over the writing of it. Oops! Didn’t realize. And didn’t really know the story. It did seem to back up a bit after the opening bit to explain, and I found the explanation of how the Swamp Thing came to be quite interesting. The rest of the book was ok. I don’t think I’ll continue the series.

COMPLETED Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and starting The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein by Peter Ackroyd, both for Frankenstein Day, which apparently is 29 October.

I have the Calendar for November and will get it done in the next couple of days, Thanks for your patience.

I am reading the Halloween mystery Vampires, Bones and Treacle Scones by Kaitlyn Dunnett. It has a great cover.

I have completed The Girl With the Persian Shawl by Elizabeth Mansfield in honor of October 11th - International Day of the "Girl".

I have finished Goethe's Die Leiden des jungen Werther to mark Frankfurt Book Fair. The book was the publishing sensation of the German Book Fair held in 1774.

COMPLETED The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein by Peter Ackroyd

Halloween

The Dead Girls Club / Damien Angelica Walters
4 stars

When Heather was 12-years old, she was best friends with Becca. Rachel and Gia rounded out their group of friends, and the one summer they called themselves the “Dead Girls Club”, as they discussed serial killers and Becca told the other girls the story of the “Red Lady”, a witch who was horribly murdered, but maybe wasn’t actually dead.

Almost 30 years later, Heather begins receiving things in the mail that remind her of that awful summer – the summer she killed her best friend (not a spoiler – it is revealed very early on in the book). Who could be sending these things!? Who even knew what happened that night?

I really liked this. It pulled me in and kept me wanting to read. It turned out to be a pretty fast read. It is told alternating between Then and Now, as the reader slowly learns what happened that summer, while at the same time trying to figure out who has contacted Heather now. Yes, I was surprised by a couple of twists at the end. Maybe some will figure it out (at least one of the twists), but it never occurred to me! And, there were a few creepy parts, so fitting for an October read.

Halloween

Appointment With Fear / Valentine Dyall
3.75 stars

This is a BBC radio show that aired in the 1940s. This audio book features four of the programs that aired: “The Pit and the Pendulum”, “The Clock Strikes Eight” “The Sleeping Clock”, and “And the Deep Shuddered”.

I read “The Pit and the Pendulum” in high school, so I remember the gist of it. The other stories were new to me. I enjoyed this. I like these radio shows and dramatic productions of stories. I liked the “Deep Shuddered” one, as well as one of the “Clock” ones (but I can’t remember which was the one I liked better; one ran right after the other, so I’m not sure which was which!). Really, they were all entertaining. I’m giving it the extra ¼ star for the radio dramatization.

I have finished Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. by Ulrich Plenzdorf, who was born on 26 October.

I've started Funny Girl by Nick Hornby for Oct 11, International Day of the Girl.

I've read The Pit and the Pendulum and The Fall of the House of Usher for Halloween. Both were creepy in different ways. Poe is always good for Halloween I think!

I read The Prelude, a novella, from The Complete Short Stories of Katherine Mansfield. Mansfield was born in October.

COMPLETED Scorpion Rising by Marilyn Todd now that we are in Scorpio.

Halloween (again!)

Dinosaur Lake II: Dinosaurs Arising / Kathryn Meyer Griffith
4 stars

It’s been five years since the park at Crater Lake had to deal with dinosaurs that appeared and were attacking people. Now, they are back! But, not the same dinosaurs – these are different ones, these ones can fly…

I really enjoyed this one, as well. There was a stretch in the middle where it slowed down a bit and we were dealing with the head park ranger’s (Henry’s) wife’s (Ann’s) illness, but it picked up again soon after that. Speaking of Ann, I still quite liked most of the characters (the only ones I didn’t like were very secondary), and I was interested in how things would go for them. Also loved the kitten. :-) I do hope to continue with the series (though, it’s self-published, so a bit trickier to get my hands on).

More Halloween: The Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubbs. Written in 1953, it was made into a movie thriller starring Robert Mitchum. The original novel is loosely based on a real-life serial killer during the Depression, which has connections to my hometown, Park Ridge, Ill.

I've never seen the movie, but the novel was very scary. Particularly effective was that the book is told from a young boy's perspective.

I finished Jim Butcher's Proven Guilty over the weekend, and since it included a number of attacks by scary monsters/creatures, I think it counts for Halloween and this thread also!

I read a book from my library's display for Boooooktober (i.e., Halloween reads): Bedbugs by Ben H. Winters. This was a fun and campy ghost story by the author of The Last Policeman trilogy.