It’s That R.I.P. Season…Again!

Oh. My. God. I’ve been remiss. Seriously. Why? Because, first of all, about two weeks ago this happened:

Yeah, that’s right all you lovely lad and lady readers out there. I got ENGAGED! Future-Mr.-Book-Maven and I took a trip to Colorado a few weeks ago where he popped the question on top of Pike’s Peak. Yep, that Pike’s Peak. The 14,000 feet in the air Pike’s Peak. And it was amazing, for all the reasons an engagement should be and more. That is the primary reason that I have been so absent the past month or so. HOWEVER, I am damned glad to be back just in time for yet another year of Carl V’s RIP VI Challenge!!!

I’ll let the man himself tell you a bit more about the challenge:

Regardless of what my thermometer tells me, my heart tells me that autumn is here and that it is once again time to revel in things ghostly and ghastly, in stories of things that go bump in the night. It is time to trail our favorite detectives as they relentlessly chase down their prey, to go down that dark path into the woods, to follow flights of fantasy and fairy tale that have a darker heart than their spring time brethren. To confront gothic, creepy, horror stories in all their chilling delight.

Every September 1st through October 31st for the last 5 years I have hosted the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril Challenge, affectionately known as the R.I.P. Challenge.

Oh. My. Ghostiness I was waiting for this challenge to roll around! As many of you who stop in here even somewhat regularly know that fall (especially the Halloween-y time) is my favorite time of the year. And part of that is because it means getting to read my favorite type of book during my favorite type of weather – dark and creepy while it’s dark and creepy! So this year, because my academic load is admittedly light, and because I need something to shake me out of a bit of a reading slump (it’s so hard to concentrate while visions of centerpieces and cupcakes go dancing around in my head) I’ve decided to participate in the Peril the First Category, among others (full details can be found here):

Read four books, any length, that you feel fit (my very broad definitions) of R.I.P. literature. It could be Stephen King or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Ian Fleming or Edgar Allan Poe…or anyone in between.

As part of Peril the First, I’ll also be joining in on one of Carl’s absolutely wonderful sounding group reads of Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders. I’ll probably also be tossing in an old Stephen King re-read, just for fun (The Shining, maybe? Or Pet Semetary? Maybe It, as that seems to be the one floating around the blogosphere now…either way, it’s about time my old friend Stephen and I got to catch up!) I’ll throw a classing in, just for good measure (I’m thinking Dracula or a really good H.P. Lovecraft, but I’m open to suggestions – maybe something along the Gothic lines?) and then also something new, either YA or adult – I haven’t really decided yet! I’ll also try to keep reading from Dark Alchemy: Magic Tales from Masters of Modern Fantasy, a short story collection I’ve been dipping in to over the last year or so. I’m still trolling the blog-o-sphere for recommendations, though, so the final list of considerations might not be up for a bit longer (you can check it out here when it is). In case it’s not clearly evident from this post, I couldn’t be more excited for this challenge to start/to start early, and please consider heading over to Carl’s blog to join in on the madness! Now I’m off to the library (we still can’t seem to come to an agreement about that pesky fine issue) and then hopefully it’ll be back home with a gorgeous stack of new books! Happy reading!

PS: I can’t believe that I forgot to mention it, but Jen of Jen’s Bookshelves is challenge that pairs up beautifully with the R.I.P Challenge:

Another challenge devoted to all things gothic and creepy and bump-in-the-night-y, the Murder, Monsters, Mayhem (Mx3) Challenge will feature everything from give aways to guest posts, so it’s definitely something to check out. I’m a bit hesitant to volunteer for a full on position within the challenge, but her Mr. Linky for general participation goes up at the end of September and I can’t wait! Do yourselves a favor and go check it out.