They all say Stephen King is quite the author. I’d never read any of his work before now. Why now? Well it is October, and I wanted to plan for Halloween the whole month.
Halloween isn’t as big here in Sweden, but I still try to celebrate in my own way every year. Some years we bake Halloween treats and invite friends over, sometimes I try to watch a scary movie. The thing is I don’t like watching scary movies alone, and I can’t seem to get anyone here at home to watch with me. So this year I tried something new. What I didn’t realize is that horror books are also quite the scare fest. Definitely worth it though. Pick up a copy near you if you haven’t already read this one!
Yes, Halloween is tomorrow folks, and that means I get to eat my weight in candy! (Right?!) In preparation I’m going to take a look back at the Halloweens of yore, or at least the past few years. On Halloween 2013 Evelina and I had a mini celebration, which consisted of a “scary” movie and treats. But the real par-tay was the following weekend, when our hockey team had our second annual Halloweenfest! It is what it sounds like and we dressed up, got together, and had a grand time.
As previously mentioned, 2013 marked our second annual Halloweenfest, the first one taking place the fall of 2012.
Don’t worry your little heart, 2014 also contained some dressing up, this time as a pirate.
2015 marked the first year where we didn’t have a big Halloweenfest, but that’s okay, I still got my necessary dressing up fix at work. With the addition of carving a pumpkin and filling my stomach with candy I felt it was an extremely successful Halloween.
This year I’m looking forward to a 2013 repeat – in terms of eating treats and watching a scary movie. Or at least I’m really hoping for a scary movie this time… Hopefully you all will have a scary and sugary day tomorrow as well!
In following my book of September, I’m continuing to read in Swedish. This month I both read and listened to the audio book Tatuerad torso by Helen Tursten.
Fun fact: In the titles of books in Swedish only the first letter of the first word is capitalized.
Both reading and listening gave me the added advantage of being able to hear the pronunciation of all the new words. As previously mentioned I’m working on learning Swedish, so my plan is to learn more words through reading.
When I was younger I wasn’t too convinced that reading expanded the vocabulary, but this really seems to be working! Plus it was a really great book to boot! Fitting right in to the spooky creepy theme of Halloween and October in general this book is about a murder discovered in Gothenburg, Sweden. The body was discovered on a beach. When I say body I mean a tattooed torso was found. Yes, a torso, lacking head, arms and the lower half of the body. All packaged in a black plastic bag. More murders are discovered and the drama increases.
As I rode my bike down the ever darkening cobblestone streets of Sweden I listened to the voice of Alexandra Rapaport describe dismemberment, the stench of decaying bodies, and an ever suspicious cast of characters. October was a scary month for me, and not just because of the Halloween tricks, but because most of my evenings included that described above.
They made a movie of the book, which I’m definitely looking forward to seeing. If you’re looking for an exciting crime novel in Swedish. Look no further.
I know today is Halloween (so I hope you all have a very spooky Thursday), but Evelina and I celebrated yesterday. You see, we have practice pretty much all night tonight, and spooky things don’t usually happen at the rink. (Watch, now that I said that practice will be terrifying.)
To celebrate the scariest day of the year we decided to eat a Halloween treat and watch a scary movie. The treat that was served with the movie was ‘worms in dirt’. One of my favorite childhood memories from Halloween is eating this lovely concoction. Plus it is super easy. It involves crushed cookies (Oreos or we used Ballarina cookies), chocolate pudding, and gummy worms. You can make your own in 3 easy steps:
Crush a cookie in the bottom of a cup/container/whatever you’ll be eating your Halloween treat out of.
Whisk together the pudding mix and pour it over the cookie crumbles. Let cool in fridge.
Adorn your ‘dirt’ with more crushed cookies and a few gummy worms squirming their way out of the ground.
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There you have it, ready to eat.
For our entertainment for the evening we picked The Devil’s Advocate, which was listed under horror and thriller, and even had 4 out of 5 stars. Also, who doesn’t want to see Al Pachino as the devil? That’s good fun. Plus, it starts with “The”. Everyone knows the scariest movies start with “The”. The Sixth Sense, The Silence of the Lambs, The Ring, The Grudge…except…not The Incredibles, that movie is just plain fun.
Anyway, for a movie made in the late 90’s it did have good graphics and was surprisingly fashionable. That being said it wasn’t exactly a terrifying movie. There were some creepy scenes, and some mental illness, but over all I probably wouldn’t make the choice to call it a horror movie. If you’re looking for a scary movie tonight, I would skip this one. If you’re looking for a decent late 90’s movie with an at-times-slow-moving plot, but some partial nudity, choose this one.
I love this holiday. Candy and costumes galore. What more could you possibly want out of a holiday.
Seeing as it’s Halloween, and that the last of the month is when I post my book of the month, this month I read a scary scary scary story in honor of the holiday!
Alright, you caught me. That was a huge lie. I do not think that far in advance. Sometimes I try to think in advance, but it never seems to happen how I plan things. So I’ve stopped with that.
This month’s book of the month is How To Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran. It is absolutely hilarious. Not scary at all. Except for when she starts shouting at you about feminism. On second thought that wasn’t too scary. She was shouting though. . .
If you have the opportunity to listen to the audio book I highly recommend it. She has an English accent, which makes the book approximately ten times funnier. You get to hear her say delightful things in her English accent such as:
Fuckadoodle
You just haven’t taken enough MDMA in a field at 3am love
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If you read this book you will also get to learn fun and interesting things like:
The minimum you should ask of your footwear:
That you can dance in it.
It doesn’t get you murdered
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Things you actually need in your handbag:
Something to absorb HUGE quantities of liquid.
Eyeliner
Safety pin
Biscuit
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How to take care of a baby:
Put it in a cardboard box and eat tinned hot dogs.
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That’s all you get, because you should seriously go read this book for a good laugh. And if you want a really good laugh you should listen to Moran read it to you.
Enjoy Not Knowing 