#20BooksOfSummer Wrap Up & RIP

Way back in June, you might remember that I was super excited to spend my summer reading books and stumbled across the #20BooksOfSummer thingy, which I wrote about here. My plan was to read much more than 20 books, and in the end, I read 25. Yay! Out of those, 11 of those were on my original book pile list, and I'm still reading another two. So, all round better than I expected.

The next reading thingy is RIP (Readers Imbibing Peril), a challenge to read more creepy/scary/spooky/mysterious books in the lead up to Hallowe'en. I'm all for this- looking forward to Hallowe'en is the best way to chase those post summer blues! I'm going to be taking part in the first level, which is reading four books that fit the theme of the challenge before 31st October.

I actually don't read this sort of genre that much... but two books I'm currently in the middle of fit the bill, so that's a good start! The two books in question are Ghost Story by Peter Straub, which I've been reading forever because my library e-book keeps expiring, and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, which maybe isn't scary exactly but there's a murder in it, so that'll do.

As far as the others go... I actually want to use this time to reread some books that handily fit the criteria! Here's a few I'd like to get around to reading:

- Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry- the definitive book about the Manson case. I loved this when I read it a few years ago and I've been looking for an excuse to reread it. The Manson case is so disturbing on so many levels- the violence and horror of the murders themselves, and then the cult element which is fascinating to me. This book also functions as a riveting courtroom drama which is so interesting to read.

- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ranson Riggs - I read this when it came out and don't remember it very well, so I need to reread it before the movie comes out. Owes its place in this list purely because of those photographs *shudders*

- Night Film by Marisha Pessl - Seriously creepy book about the apparent suicide of the daughter of a cult horror movie director, and all sorts of messed up stuff about the family arises. This book has multimedia elements which I missed out on during my first read as I didn't have a phone capable of reading the QR codes. So, I obviously need to remedy that and get the full experience!

I also recently bought My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix as part of a big birthday money/gift voucher book splurge and I'm super excited to read it. It's by the author of Horrorstör which was surprisingly good (and possibly another candidate for rereading soon). This is another multimedia adventure- I've got the enhanced e-book edition- and it even includes an 80s Spotify playlist. So, super exciting!

So, that's the plan for the next couple of months. What are you planning to read in the lead up to Hallowe'en? :)