mstrust#4- Just a General Autumn Ambiance

Welcome to my Lightly Autumnal thread.

I'm Jennifer in Phoenix. I read as much as I can and write Autumn Lives Here on Substack.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/
If you're looking for more Autumn vibes you can head there or to my 75 Challenge thread, where I dig deeper into the season.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/344007#unread

My Favorite Authors


1. The Fantastic Mr. Fox- 4 stars
2. James and the Giant Peach- 4
3. The Magic Finger- 3.5
4. Danny the Champion of the World- 3
5. Jamie at Home- 4
Done!
6. Welcome to Night Vale- 5
7. The Great Glowing Coils of the Universe- 4.2
8. Al Capone Throws Me A Curve- 4
9. Esio Trot- 3.5
10. Every Living Thing- 4
11. The October Country- 4
12. Excuse Me While I Disappear- 4

Fresh, New Authors (To Me)



1. The Icepick Surgeon- 4
2. Winter's Bone- 4
3. The Storied Life of A.J. Firky- 4.5
4. Patty Jane's House of Curl- 4
5. Floors- 3.5
6. The Middlesteins-4

World Reading


1. Diary of a Bookseller- 4
2. The Geography of Bliss- 4
3. Blood on Snow- 4.2
4. Cream Teas, Traffic Jams and Sunburn- 3
5. An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed- 4
Done!

Mystery, Crime and Noir



1. Murder at Melrose Court- 4.5
2. Murder at Teal's Pond- 3
3. Farewell, My Lovely- 4.5
4. When the Mob Ran Vegas- 4
5. The Praying Mantis Bride- 3
6. The Case of the Terrified Typist- 2.5
7. End of Watch- 4.5
8. The Killer Across the Table- 4

Horror


1. Horrorstor- 4.5
2. Nothing But Blackened Teeth- 2
3. Witch: The True Story of Las Vegas's Most Notorious Female Killer- 3.5
4. Fat Vampire 2: Tastes Like Chicken- 4
5. 1922-4
Done!
6. The Smashed Man of Dread End- 4
7. Mexican Gothic- 5
8. Secret Santa-4

Autumn/Halloween


1. Halloween Merrymaking- 2.5
2. We Sold Our Souls- 4
3. Heck: Where The Bad Kids Go- 4
4. The Mansion in the Mist- 3.5
5. Goosebumps Most Wanted: The Haunter-4
6. Goosebumps Most Wanted: Zombie Halloween- 4
7. The Dead Beat- 3.5
8. Spooksville: The Witch's Revenge- 3.5
9. A Very British Murder- 4
10. Tales from the Haunted Mansion III-5

Classics


1. The Giver- 4.5
2. Their Eyes Were Watching God- 4
3. Winesburg, Ohio-4
4. The Cricket in Times Square- 3.5
5. The Martian Chronicles- 4
DONE!

6. True Grit- 5
7. Pericles, Prince of Tyre- 3.5

Food, Drink & Home


1. Foodheim- 2.5
2. Gastro Obscura- 5
3. Best Wishes, Warmest Regards- 4
4. Vintage Cocktails- 3.5
5. Cocktail Hour- 3.5
Done!
6. Jamie's Food Revolution- 4
7. Disney Villains: Devilishly Delicious Cookbook- 3.5
8. What's the Difference?
9. Cape Cod: Gardens and Houses- 3
10. Gin Made Me Do It 4.5
11. Shake Strain Done- 5
12. Vacationland- 3

All The Rest


1. 100 Things We've Lost to the Internet- 3.5
2. Elvis in Vegas- 4.5
3. Travel Hacks- 3
4. Las Vegas Then and Now- 4
5. A Taste for Poison- 4.5
6. Don't Applaud. Either Laugh Or Don't- 3.5
7. The Big Blueberry Barf-Off- 3.5
8. The Tricky Art of Co-Existing- 3

Happy new thread! :)

Cheers to your new thread!

Happy new thread. It has suddenly turned into autumn, hasn't it. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.

>12 Jackie_K: >13 christina_reads: >14 Helenliz: Thank you, ladies, good to see you!
>14 Helenliz: We've been having an intense heat wave for the past week, but it should let up a bit this weekend, which means getting below 100! I look forward to it.

Happy new thread, Jennifer. It is definitely autumn now, we have seen the first Christmas cookies in the supermarkets.

Thanks, good to see you!
I haven't seen any Christmas cookies, but definitely seen ornaments. The stores can't wait!

Hi there, happy new thread! We are seeing lots of mums in different colors all over the place, no Christmas items yet (but I have not been to Hobby Lobby lately).

Thanks! I'm ready for cold weather!
I don't think flowers are part of Autumn around here, but I do have some yellow blooms on one of my black strawberry tomato plants.

67. 1922 by Stephen King.
Wilf and his wife Arnette have become an unhappy couple over the years, something their fourteen year-old son Henry has to watch. Wilf owns 80 acres of Nebraska farmland that has been passed down to him and he wants to pass it down to his own son, which is what Henry wants too. Arnette owns 100 acres and hates farming and living such an isolated life. When a big pork slaughtering company makes an offer on Arnette's land, she wants to take it and go to the city, even though the company would make the land and water supply a disaster for the other farmers. Wilf and Henry do the only thing they can think of to stop Arnette, but it's the catalyst for for more tragedy.
4 stars

>67 mstrust: I will need to find this one and read it sooner rather than later.

I liked it and it has a good amount of spookiness. I saw the Netflix version when it came out but at that point I'd never heard of the book. The movie stayed very true to it.

It seems to have changed from Summer to Autumn overnight! The days are still warm but there is a delicious hint of coolness in the air - and the nights are perfect for sleeping. I have my fingers crossed for a long Autumn season this year.

We're having a cool(er) couple of days with a good chance of rain today, but then we'll go back to 100F. I hate summer :-D

I've enjoyed the cooler weather this week. It's supposed to be a little warmer next week, but I keep hoping it will just keep getting cooler!

We had a storm last night that brought us down to 77!

The new Autumn Lives Here is up! The season is here! Scary short stories, seasonal viewing and the history of Mars chocolate bars.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

>22 mstrust: Beautiful! It's such a relief when autumn sets in after a long, hot summer.

I couldn't agree more! We're back up to 100 today. Blegh!

I totally sympathize with you, Jennifer. I am not a heat lover and I am looking forward to the lovely, rainy days of winter. I hope you get some cooler weather soon!

I brought out my autumn decorations and swept the porch and walkway. We had rain last night and today, so the temps are down here too.

>29 DeltaQueen50: Our weather has been cooling rain one day, 105 two days later. It's erratic this summer and I'm constantly shifting my plants between outside and indoors.

>30 LadyoftheLodge: I have my Autumn decor up! At least it feels like the season inside.

I woke up this morning to see that my largest squash plant, the red kuri, was covered in moving yellow dots. Squash bugs. I bought a bottle of neem oil at the nursery and it seems to have dissolved them fast but the plant looks weak. It was doing so well!
I also bought a little locally grown tomato plant called Dark Galaxy. It should produce streaky purple fruit. And I bought the fertilizer recommended for the straw bale that I've been conditioning for the past two weeks. I may be able to start planting tomorrow.

68. Heck: Where The Bad Kids Go by Dale E. Basye. Eleven year-old Milton and his older Goth sister, Marlo, are killed by a falling decoration at the mall. Next thing they know, they're in Heck, a hellish place for bad children that is run by Bea "Elsa" Bubb, the Principal of Darkness. Marlo was indeed a bad kid, she loved shoplifting and being a problem, but Milton was a good kid who shouldn't be in Heck. To make things worse, the bully who led to Milton and Marlo's death is also in Heck, and he's so mean that he's quickly promoted to being in charge. Milton and Marlo are determined to get out of Heck, and to take another good kid, big Virgil, with them.
A really funny and original story, and I believe it became a series. I'll mention that the way from Heck to freedom involves crawling through the sewage pipes of the underworld, and it's graphic and gross, but the age group this is aimed at is 9-12 years of age, of which I am not. I still enjoyed it.
4 stars

69. Yours Cruelly, Elvira by Cassandra Peterson. Her autobiography of growing up in Kansas and Colorado with a nice father and abusive mother. You've likely heard that this book was Peterson's coming out, where she revealed that she's been with a woman for twenty years. After all the things she reveals about her life, that's the least surprising. Who knew the Elvira make-up covered up extensive burns on her face and neck from an accident when she was a child, or that she began go-go dancing in her bra at fourteen. Her parents lost control of Peterson at a young age and her teen years sound like hormones gone berserk, leading to her being a seventeen year-old topless showgirl in Vegas. Throughout the book she discusses a brief relationship or one night stand with some pretty famous guys. There's also an extensive listing of all the small gigs and extra work that got her through years of barely scraping by, and that includes after she was playing Elvira.
This book would appeal to the Elvira fan and it shows how much work went into making this iconic character, but the book would also appeal to anyone looking into show biz types of the 70's, because they are here. She met anyone who was anyone in Vegas or rock music in general, including Elvis and Tom Jones.
3.5 stars

70. The Mansion in the Mist by John Bellairs. Thirteen year-old Anthony has one friend, the old librarian, Mrs. Eells. When she tells Anthony of her vacation plans, he begs to go too, so they meet up with Mrs. Eells brother, Emerson, at an island rental.
One stormy night, Anthony finds an old chest in an unused room and climbs in, as teens do, to find himself on the grounds of a spooky mansion. He enters and finds a meeting of sinister black-robed people who are discussing the destruction of Earth.
This has some real tension, and Bellairs books are always good.
3.5 stars

>35 mstrust: Lovely graphic! I am ready for autumn. It looks as if the temperatures here will start to go down this week too.

We're still hot, but the anticipation of it getting cooler makes it bearable ;-D

And the new Autumn Lives Here is up. A visit to The Salem Witch Museum, the history of Smarties and more King:
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

71. Goosebumps Most Wanted: The Haunter by R.L. Stine. Sammy and some classmates are assigned a project, to either prove or disprove haunted houses. To accomplish that, the group decides to spend Halloween night trying to get proof at the local abandoned house that everyone says is haunted. The other kids think this is a good idea, but Sammy has earned himself the reputation for being chicken to the point that even his parents encourage him to go and see that nothing will happen. But the kids do experience a sinister presence and Sammy gets the worst of it.
This is the most intense Goosebumps I've read. Published in 2016, this has a more up-to-date feel. The kids are trying to mimic the ghost hunter shows and have expensive ghost equipment, but more than that in terms of updates is the acknowledgement of a boy who isn't brave. The only thing that seemed outdated was that Sammy is being constantly bullied and assaulted by a bigger boy, both in front of classmates and even in front of a teacher, who only tells the bully that his behavior is terrible, then goes back to teaching.
But this book is scarier than the usual Goosebumps.
4 stars

Yesterday was dark and rainy most of the day, with the sun coming out for just about two hours.
I lost the red kuri. I'm still hoping the cavilli squash will grow.
I have a tomato on the Black Strawberry that's about the size of a marble. I found it yesterday and I'm excited that it has several yellow blooms.
I have two terra-cotta tomato sprouts growing in the straw bale! I sowed evil olive seeds on the opposite side of the bale.
I cut the largest of my choy sum leaves yesterday, along with the top of the lemon basil. These went into a pork and veg stir-fry with garlic and coconut milk and was delicious.
I should have a black nebula carrot in a week or so. One that I sowed over a month ago made it through the heat, so I sowed many more just a week ago.

72. Goosebumps Most Wanted: Zombie Halloween by R.L. Stine. We meet Mario, his younger brother, and neighbor Ivy in 1944. The Manzetti boys have just moved into the neighborhood, right across from the graveyard, and discover their basement has a trap door. When the kids go down to explore only two come back.
Decades later, Mario's son and his family, including grandson Kenny, move into the house to care for him. Mario has spent his life talking about zombies, a weird quirk that he's passing on to Kenny, who now believes zombies exist.
Another Most Wanted that has more character development than you'd expect from a Goosebumps.
4 stars

The latest Autumn Lives Here is up! A psycho pumpkin, a phobia and a recipe for ube chocolate chip cookies. Come see me there!
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

73. The Smashed Man of Dread End by J.W. Ocker. When thirteen year-old Noe's family finds an amazing deal on a house on a cul-de-sac, they grabbed it and move in weeks later. Noe and her little sister are fine with the move until Noe notices a group of girls standing in the street watching the new family move in. One girl gives Noe an ominous warning to stay out of the basement at night, but Noe isn't one to take warnings, and she discovers a monster that slips out of the basement cracks at night. Turns out that he isn't just in her basement, the Smashed Man can climb out of the cracks of any of the homes on the dead end that have kids.

Good scares, and the least helpful mentor possible in the form of grumpy Fern, an older woman who is tasked with observing the Smashed Man but not interested in protecting the kids he's after.
4.2 stars
S.S.: 2 walkers

The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft. The story of the outcast Whateley family, which suddenly gains a new member when somehow the grossest Whateley, Lavinia, has a baby boy. Wilbur grows at four times the speed of a normal baby, growing huge, learning to read and write and study the dark arts. He quickly becomes a huge, devious and threatening man who stalks the libraries of universities trying to get his hands on restricted ancient materials.
Creepy, tense, weird, and with a team of hero librarians!

74. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Set in 1950's, the story of wealthy and glamorous Noemi, whose father receives a disturbing letter from his recently married niece, Catalina. As her domineering husband refuses to bring Catalina back to Mexico City for an evaluation, Noemi is persuaded to go to the remote mountain village to see for herself if Catalina is ill, an if so, to her home.
Becoming a resident of High Place, the crumbling, once grand house of the Doyles, is to be shackled by rules. The family had come to Mexico from England decades ago to open a silver mine, and their money and power, though long gone, created an isolation that is ruled over by Howard Doyle, an emaciated patriarch who is dying. Noemi's every move is watched by the family and she's rarely allowed to see her cousin. Stubborn and unwilling to give up and leave when she can, Noemi stays at High Place and begins digging into the strange family dynamics.
Starts out as an atmospheric gothic that proceeds into a real horror.
5 stars
S.S.: 3 Walkers

The new posting of Autumn Lives Here is up, and it's free to read. Trilogy of Terror, Leopold & Loeb, and a library haunting.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/p/autumn-lives-here-ff8

75. The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs and the Perverse Pleasure of Obituaries by Marilyn Johnson. Former editor of Esquire and Life staffer, Johnson pursues the people behind one of her interests, reading newspaper obits. She meets with several of the most followed obit writers in NYC and London, and attends an obit writers convention in New Mexico. She studies the various styles of obit by newspapers big and small, and looks at what sets the great obit apart from the standard. She discusses the obits of the famous and great obits written about the non-famous, and talks to writers who took on the post-9/11 obits.
Published in 2006, this is a study of a particular type of writing, and it involves more travel and humor than you'd likely expect. One of those books that sent me googling people mentioned.
3.5 stars

>48 mstrust: that sounds interesting. I read the obits column every morning. I like finding out about people who have lead apparently ordinary lives, but done extraordinary things. I sometimes think it a shame that you only discover this after they've died.

This book is probably perfect for you. I don't know if the obit writers convention still takes place, but attendees didn't have to be the writers, fans could attend. Took place in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

76. Spooksville: The Witch's Revenge by Christopher Pike. Adam, Sally, Watch and Cindy enter the castle of the local witch, Ann Templeton, hoping she can heal Watch's dimming vision. Ann meets the kids, but only after they have found and put on hexed necklaces that give them something they've always wanted, with dire consequences. They spend the day being terrorized while searching for a way out of the castle.
A fun volume in the series.
3.5

Some pics I took yesterday:
Black strawberry tomatoes. The tomato will be very dark red with purple streaks.


Mizuna. The leaves are about nine inches long, the stalks a vibrant purple:


And these are several squash sprouts growing in the straw bale. I threw some delicata seeds into my compost bin, just as a veg scrap, and wouldn't you know it, every one of them sprouted in the bin. So I've sorted them out and planted most of them to see what happens. Now I have 22 squash plants of different varieties. Hard to tell, I know, but these are about two inches tall.

77. A Very British Murder by Lucy Worsley. The subtitle on my book says "The curious story of how crime was turned into art", while LT's subtitle is "The story of a national obsession". Either fits, as this is historian Worsley's study of infamous British murders that caught the public attention, making both victim and murderer famous.
Worsley discusses famous cases such as the Red Barn Murder and the Madeleine Smith poisoning, and the formation of the Metropolitan Police and rise of crime detectives such as Mr. Wicher. And she discusses how death or murder became a form of entertainment, whether it was the real public executions or detective novels.
4 stars

A new Autumn Lives Here is up! Birds, a scary book review and a short story debut- come get Halloweenie!
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/p/autumn-lives-here-c2f

>53 mstrust: I've seen the TV series that this book accompanies, it was very interesting.

She picks interesting topics and has a fun way of presenting them.

>52 mstrust: Ooh, I love your tomatoes. I'll have to try the Black Strawberry variety sometime. I've planted Cherokee Purple tomatoes the past few years and they're delicious. Unfortunately, the growing season has come to an end here in Ontario.

>46 mstrust: Glad to see you enjoyed Mexican Gothic. I've been a fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia since the beginning of her career and I really like her spooky atmospheric stories.

78. Tales from the Haunted Mansion III: Grim Grinning Ghosts. A group of ne'er do wells are hired to bring a shipment of very special artifacts to the mansion in the middle of the night. Marge and Pascale were actually hired, and massive mean guy Declan pushed his way into the high-paying job. He'll regret that, because the trio is met by the mansion librarian, who terrifies them with the backstory of each item they are delivering, and why it belongs in the haunted mansion.
5 stars

Visit Autumn Lives Here for the new post, which is just crawling with creepy kids.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/p/autumn-lives-here-067

The Halloween edition of Autumn Lives Here is up! Monsters, candy and costumes, right here!
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/p/autumn-lives-here-000

79. The October Country by Ray Bradbury.
A collection of horror and fantasy published in 1955. There are several in this collection that were used in the tv series Ray Bradbury Theater, including "The Crowd", about a man who survives a car accident but notices that a crowd appears within seconds of car accidents all over the city. "The Man Upstairs" is surprising because of the fearless little boy who hates his grandmother's new lodger the minute he sees the man. I think "The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Mantisse" has a contemporary feel. An incredibly boring man becomes the ironic obsession of a group of hipsters who seek out the mundane. They observe him like he's an exhibit, listen to him prattle on about boring subjects, and he finds himself popular for the first time in his life. But he's aware when the novelty of his dullness wears thin and works at finding ways to keep them interested in him.
4 stars

The newest Autumn Lives Here is up! The scariest books I've read, the legend of the Hand of Glory, and some fine haunted house stories.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/p/autumn-lives-here-646

The new Autumn Lives Here is up and it's all The Walking Dead. We're down to the last episode.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/p/autumn-lives-here-67c

The last episode of "The Walking Dead" :(

I have a confession, I have recorded all the shows of this last season but I haven't yet watched one, I am prolonging the torture! Seriously I am ready for it to be over, but at the same time, I'm going to miss it!

Seasons 8-10 got bogged down with way too many characters but I never missed an episode. This season has been more interesting and I'm sorry it's ending. They should have paid Andrew Lincoln an obscene amount of money to stay.

80. End of Watch by Stephen King. The last in the Bill Hodges trilogy, this sees Bill and Holly running a sort of detective agency as partners, which has opened up Holly's world considerably. Jerome is in Arizona for a while, and Bill has stopped going to the hospital to see if he can prove that Brady Hartsfield, aka Mr Mercedes, is faking his brain damage. But Bill was right. Brady's doctor, Babineau, has been giving Brady illegal, experimental drugs that have woken something in him, along with the outdated gaming tablet Library Al dropped off just on the off chance Brady would like looking at the cartoon fish. He does, because the hypnotic fish allow him to reach out to strangers.
A page-turner that involves crime, murder, telekinesis, and Bill's adopted family. Nearly 500 pages long, but it wraps up the whole story. 4.5 stars

The latest Autumn Lives Here is up, and it's got the easiest strudel recipe ever, toxic flowers, and a new creepy bookshop.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/p/autumn-lives-here-9db

The new Autumn Lives Here is up! More beverages and a short story about a bad birthday:
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/p/autumn-lives-here-3e4

81. Excuse Me While I Disappear by Laurie Notaro.
Notaro has been a go-to for me for years when I want a laugh, she never fails to deliver. She started out as a humor columnist for a Phoenix paper, then came out with a series of memoirs, my favorite being The Potty-Mouth at the Table.
In this latest book, she continues with her over-sharing, this time about aging, menopause, and getting a colonoscopy (she woke in the middle, even after telling them to "drug me like I'm Judy Garland"), and her surprise at finding her GenX punk rock self being avoided by younger people. Of all the embarrassing private moments she writes about, the most surprising to me was that someone who has 20 years of books and articles under her belt was dumped by her editor because one book of historical non-fiction didn't sell. Needing health insurance, Notaro went back to working in an office, which became the subject of several essays here, including fighting the office building owner. 4 stars

82. The Killer Across the Table by John E. Douglas.
Douglas is the original FBI profiler and the author of Mind Hunter, along with several other books about the work he and his early colleagues did in creating profiles on the worst criminals in America. In this book, he discusses many murders, some that involve children, where he was able to conduct extensive interviews with the killers. Much of the book is about how he studied the murderers beforehand, and what techniques he used or advised parole boards to use in order to get the murderer talking, and often giving unintentionally honest answers. 4 stars

The new Autumn Lives Here is up!
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/p/autumn-lives-here-5c3

83. Secret Santa by Andrew Shaffer. Lussi interviews for a position at Blackwood-Patterson publishing, a firm with a reputation for dull, serious fiction that doesn't sell, yet somehow they are able to maintain a huge Gothic building in Manhattan. She quickly angers ancient Xavier Blackwood, who collapses right in front of her, and dies soon after, which a desperate Lussi turns into a job offer and a promotion from Blackwood's incompetent son. She's the head of the new horror department, but if she thought a bit of hazing would blow over, it's clear she has a lot to learn about her coworkers.

Set in the 80's, this is a fun horror set over Christmas in NYC. 4 stars

A new Autumn Lives Here is up! Poe museums, true crime podcasts, and a black sesame cookie recipe.
https://jennifermorrow.substack.com/

84. The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg.
The story of a Jewish Chicago family that crumbles under such dysfunction over the decades that it can't hold together anymore.
The matriarch, Edie, is by far the more dominant personality in her marriage, and has been able to push people into what she wants since she was a small child. Her husband, Richard, was an outgoing young husband who became a civic leader for some years, but the younger generations stopped shopping at his outdated pharmacy. Edie was a successful lawyer who gained a significant amount of weight and frightened everyone with her sudden anger, and her daughter and granddaughter are copies of her.
After 40 years of marriage, Richard finally left Edie, knowing for years that they would both be happier apart. He's right, but that doesn't stop the friends and family from taking sides and blaming Richard for the family falling apart.
Going between humor and despair, I always looked forward to picking this up again. 4 stars

>74 mstrust: Attenberg is fun to read. I still need to get to Middlesteins and you're making me want to hurry.

I've never heard of the author before, but I'd be happy to read more.

>72 mstrust: This is one I'd like to keep in mind, so a BB for me!

It's a fun but sinister story!

Merry Christmas to All!

Happy new year!
Come see my new place: https://www.librarything.com/topic/346491#n8013351