Anytime I think about autumn or fall themed book covers I don’t necessarily turn towards leaves. I tend to lean towards things that are spooky and more horror themed. Some of my favorites are actually middle grade books that have come out pretty recently, but let’s be honest – book designers have been doing a stellar job on covers as of late.

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There are also some young adult covers recently that have no only intrigued me but also creeped me out just a little bit. Call me crazy, but that makes me want to read them even more. I’m not usually the biggest fan of the typical girl on the cover books, but these take that to the next level.

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There are so many other covers I could show, but then my post would be nothing but graphics. Needless to say, if a book has a creepy cover with amazing detail, I will most likely be drawn to it and be more likely to at least look into it. So many of these tell a story with just their covers, which is one of those things that pull you in.

What are your favorite things to see on covers? What will make you pick up a book you’ve never heard of just by the cover alone?

Happy reading!

Those of us who have marathon reading sessions know that you have to be prepared. Plenty of snacks and hydration within reach are required. Everyone has their preferences regarding what those are and certain rules that they may apply (such as nothing greasy so that you don’t mess up pages).

I will typically make myself a plate with an assortment of things such as some kind of fruit (apples, grapes, strawberries), cheese, crackers and more. Variety of items means that I’m not going to be searching for more snacks in the middle of my reading. I also make sure that I have water and some other kind of beverage available that contains caffeine such as Diet Coke, a chai latte or coffee.

For me the main point of getting set up with snacks and drinks is to ensure that I have everything I need for a long reading session. If you are deep into a book you are not going to want to stop and go foraging. Not everyone is going to have the same habits, but that’s what works for me.

Happy reading!

I’m not hugely experienced when it comes to pumpkin carving. Besides doing the standard face on a pumpkin a few times as a kid, it just wasn’t something we did. While I’m not that skilled at it, I do love seeing the designs that people create.

I definitely believe that so many things from books, especially those in the fantasy or horror genre would make great designs on pumpkins. The Hogwarts House Crests would be amazing, as would logos from a number of different franchises.

Also, when displaying your pumpkin I think it would be interesting to have a bookish design pumpkin sitting on stop of a stack of books. If the design was spooky and it was set on top of a stack of old hardbacks, then draped with fake spiderwebs? I think that would be awesome on a spooky front porch.

Since I don’t have a ton of experience with pumpkin carving myself, I found a few links from Buzzfeed, Bookbub and Bookish that have some stellar ideas and examples.

Enjoy!

As discussed in previous posts, I’m not a huge person for seasonal decorations but there are certain things that I am a sucker for and will surround myself with.

Baking/Fall/Christmas scents – I love anything that smells of fall/winter, especially maple scents, anything reminiscent of baking and those wonderful scents that mix the smell of campfire with other scents. For some reason those especially scream fall to me.

All the multicolored leaves! – I know it’s cliche to immediately reach for multicolored leaves, but it’s one of my favorite things. I grew up on a road that was one of those picturesque drives once fall came. So not only is it aesthetically pleasing, it feels like home.

Jewel Tones – I love the rich burgundies, deep teals and dark emerald greens that come out this time of year. Something about those decadent and vibrant colors just sing fall to me.

Coats and Scarves – Ok, so this isn’t aesthetic, but I love being able to pull out all my coats, boots and scarves. I love the warm and cozy feeling of bundling up when it’s just a little chilly. I know that if I’ve started pulling them out when fall has truly arrived.

What’s your fall aesthetic? Happy fall!

We’ve all been there, we have so many books we want to read but just can’t get into anything we pick up. At first you just think it’s the current book you are reading, so you try something else but then comes the realization that you are in a reading slump comes. September was one of those months for me. I was loving pretty much everything I was reading, but I had to push myself to get through them. So what can you do to break that cycle and ramp back up your reading? It varies depending on the person, but these are some of the things that work for me.

Re-read a favorite book – This is one of the sure fire ways I have to get myself out of a reading slump. I’ll download the audiobook of a favorite, or pick up my print copy to read. Sometimes this jolt of the familiar is just the jolt and reset I need.

Switch up your formats – I tend to listen to a lot of audiobooks because I am able to listen to them at work, but sometimes it ends up being too much and puts me in a reading slump. When I notice that happening I’ll switch back to print format and put audiobooks on hold for a little bit. Too much of a good thing can easily send you into a slump, so it’s ok to ease up if you feel like you’ve had too much of a certain format.

Set aside time to read – Create a block of time where you disconnect from everything else and just read. I will usually set my laptop up with some ambient sound, hide my phone from myself and make sure my boyfriend knows it’s reading time. Sometimes simply eliminating some of the outside distractions and giving yourself a solid block of time to read can help.

It’s okay to give yourself a break – Let’s face it, sometimes the only way to get yourself out of a reading slump is to simply give yourself a break from reading. I’m not saying take a month off (though if you need to don’t feel back about doing so) but sometimes what your mind needs is an actual break. I’ve been going through this a little lately with my audiobook reading, so I downloaded a bunch of podcast episodes and that’s what I’ve been listening to. I wasn’t enjoying the audiobooks I had, so I knew the quality of my reading was suffering. Sometimes it’s just what you have to do.

Hopefully some of these techniques will help some of you when you deal with a reading slump, they certainly help me!

Happy reading!

As of late I have been trying to be better about consistently posting on my blog and blogtober has been great to kick me into doing that, but sometimes with a day job and other obligations it can be hard. Shout out to Jenniely for creating these prompts.

When I’m reviewing books, I usually try to jot down some notes since I know that by the time I finish a book there may be some things that are not as clear.

If I know I’m going to be linking to a bunch of items in my post, or I need twitter handles for my twitter post, I will open up notepad and compile all of the things I need before I start the post. Having to look for links in the middle of a post can interrupt my train of thought, so I like to gather all of that ahead of time.

One thing that I am going to try, so I don’t know if it’s going to be an essential or not, but I’m going to create a bullet journal just for my blog. I already have one for my reading with all of my stats and keeping records of my ratings and the comparison of how many books I read vs. how many I bring in. I think starting one just for my blog will help with scheduling posts and keeping track of books and posts that I have a deadline for. We shall see!

Other than that I just like to have all my resources at my fingertips so that when I sit down to write up a post I don’t have to go scrambling for information. The more smoothly I’m able to write, the more posts I’m able to work on and get scheduled. I’m hoping that further organization will help refine my posts as well as help the blog grow!

Happy reading!