R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril XI

This will be my first time participating in this seasonal reading challenge. I'd seen it on others' blogs for years now and now I want to give it a go.  I know I'll be reading some appropriate books and will have enough to get four for the first level.  It runs through September and October. Click the link above to sign up and see more details.

(Much thanks to Hugo Award winning artist Abigail Larson for the use of her art)

To be up front, there will be no thumb-pricking here.

After all, one might get blood on one’s books!

Well, the year has gone and done it again. Winter gave way to Spring, Summer came blazing in, and here before we know it Autumn will officially take the reins. Every year when September arrives I feel a lightening in my spirit, knowing that the constricting heat and humidity of the Midwest summer will soon give way to my favorite season of the year.

Orange will become a predominant color, and pumpkin-flavoring will invade every drink and dessert that we love to imbibe.

Speaking of imbibing, eleven years ago I embarked on a quest to bring a community of readers together to enjoy the literature most associated with the darkening days and cooling temperatures of Autumn:

Mystery
Suspense
Thriller
Gothic
Horror
Dark Fantasy

I wanted to be able to use the well-worn graveyard acronym, R.I.P., so I came up with the name “R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril’. And for over a decade that is what we have done, imbibed together.

For the 10th anniversary I took a break and the hosting duties were fulfilled (quite wonderfully) by the team over at The Estella Society. I am so grateful to them for so doing, I truly needed the rest.

But I am back for year eleven and it is time to embrace the delicious thrill of things that go bump in the night, to figure out if the butler actually did do it, to cover our eyes during the scary bits and to conquer our fears together.

Welcome to R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril XI.

Many of you are probably frequent participants in this event, but for those who are new, or returning after an absence, I grew up reading scary stories illustrated by the incomparableEdward Gorey, watching horror films starring Vincent Price, and generally discovering the literary wonder of authors like Bram Stoker and Edgar Allan Poe. I did go through a brief high school, early-20’s phase where the overly gorey films like Nightmare on Elm Street were my fancy, and while I do not look down on anyone who continues to embrace that kind of entertainment, my first love when it comes to those lengthening Autumn nights are stories in the gothic vein, classic and modern mysteries, and the kind of atmospheric stories, in any format, that give you chills up your spine and make you want to pull the covers up tight.

It is in that spirit that this event began.

Reading and watching television are solitary activities, but can be expanded to a community if you get together to share what is exciting your interest and to discuss like passions. That is the entire point of R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril.

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril XI takes place from September 1st, 2016 through October 31st, 2016.

There are only two expectations if you want to participate with us:
1. Have fun reading (and watching*).
2. Share that fun with others.

Read four books, of any length, from the very broad categories earlier defined as perilous. They could all be by the same author, a series of books, a random mix of classic and contemporary or whatever you like.

Here is what I am reading:

1. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children--Ransom Riggs
2. The Infinite Sea--Rick Yancey
3. The Last Star--Rick Yancey
4. All the Lovely Bad Ones--Mary Downing Hahn
5. Old Black Witch!--Wende and Harry Devlin
6. The Gates--John Connelly
7. Vampires in the Lemon Grove--Karen Russell
8. The Ghost Bride--Yangsze Choo
9. The Third Witch--Rebecca Reisert
10. Eighth Grade Bites--Heather Brewer
11. Ninth Grade Slays--Heather Brewer
12. Tenth Grade Bleeds--Heather Brewer
13. The Night Before Halloween--Natasha Wing
14. Eleventh Grade Burns--Heather Brewer
15. Twelfth Grade Kills--Heather Brewer
16. Anya's Ghost--Vera Brogsol
17. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer--Michelle Hodkin
18. It Takes a Witch--Heather Blake
19. Thirst No. 2--Christopher Pike
20. Lenobia's Vow--P.C. Cast
21. An Uninvited Ghost--E.J. Copperman
22. Blood and Chocolate--Annette Curtis Klause
23. Five Black Cats--Patricia Hegarty
24. The Graveyard Book--Neil Gaiman

Challenge completed on October 30