Reading Spooky Books in a Cabin for a Week

[Applause] hey YouTube welcome back to my channel this week I'm staying in a cabin in the Smoky Mountains and I don't really have any plans other than reading I have planned to only read spooky books I'm ready to get spooked in the middle of nowhere and then not be able to sleep for the next week isn't that fine a lot of fun so let's talk about the books that I am planning on reading for the next week in this wardrobe we don't have an entrance to Narnia but we do have my little bookshelf you know actually here in the back there are some books that were supplied for me so they really knew that I was coming thank you for that I actually brought an entire suitcase just full of books the first book I have is lock every door by Riley Sager this is a thriller that I believe takes place at an elite apartment building and our main character is apartment sitting multiple people are apartment sitting in the building so maybe all of this has been set up as a murderous plot of some sort I don't want to know too many details because this is a thriller and I feel like it makes it less thrilling if you know what's thrilling about it I have Gideon the ninth by Tamsin where I believe this all I know about this is that there are lesbian necromancer's and we have a skull right here necromancy that's spooky there are black sprayed pages that's spooky as well I have scary stories to tell in the dark by Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gamal I never read this as a kid I know so many people read these growing up and I feel like I missed out I have another one that I've been meaning to read for ages that is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley I never read this in school in 10th grade we had an amazing assignment where we chose a classic to read and then we did a project on it and I chose Pride and Prejudice which started a lifelong love of Jane Austen but my second choice was Frankenstein I need to read this original story because it was at the beginning of sci-fi and it's a horror book also I have seen so many Frankenstein stories I have watched Young Frankenstein which is the kind of like you know more comedic version of Frankenstein I don't actually know what the original story is I don't know how much the story has deviated over the years how much they grabbed Frankenstein's monster and just ran with it in the opposite direction so here we go I also have the audio book which was narrated by Dan Stevens from Beauty and the Beast and Downton Abbey he has a very nice voice I just listened to him narrate and then they were done by Agatha Christie which was amazing so I think my plan for this is to listen to the audiobook while I am physically reading it just so that I don't get distracted because I'm very easily distracted so we have this I have the graveyard book by Neil Gaiman I really like wholesome books and someone said this would be right down my alley this follows a boy named nobody Owens who has grown up in a graveyard surrounded by ghosts and I love ghosts I think that they're so fun to read about there's so much potential in a ghost story and I love how they can be either spooky or downright scary I hope this is more spooky I'm guessing because someone said this is a wholesome book I have another book that I could classify a little bit more spooky and wholesome this is a graphic novel called war in the 13th and the all-seeing eye this follows war in the 13th who is the lone bellhop valet groundskeeper and errand boy of his family's ancient hotel there is a mysterious all-seeing eye and he's trying to find a treasure within the hotel are we trying to solve a mystery in a spooky ancient hotel yeah I have so many books that I desperately want to get to right now and I'm only here for a couple of days so we'll see how this works out guess what we have another wholesome spooky Halloween graphic novel this is pumpkin heads by Rainbow Rowell I read a sample of this from the library because I was planning on checking it out but it didn't come in time for me to come here on vacation so I actually purchased this because I love the sample so much so this follows - hi school seniors named Asia and Josie who are working there last autumn at the pumpkin patch it's their last day working there they're going to go off to college the next year they love it they became friends there and since it's the last day Dasia is trying to convince Josie to finally tell the person that he's been crushing on how he feels from the sample I read this is already so cute really will get me in the autumn spirit there are leaves changing outside Wow are you serious that does not happen where I'm from it's just the same temperature all year round but now I am in the mountains and leaves are changing I am living my best automotive now the final two books I have already started so that's really good sign the first one I am listening to the audiobook with my dad it is the diviners by Libba Bray I read this for the first time last October it follows a group of teenagers who are known as diviners because they have supernatural powers so our main character named evey she has psychometry I believe that's what it's called she can touch objects and they will tell her their past the fun part about this though besides that is that it takes place in 1920s New York City also the last book in the series king of crows comes out in February of 2020 so that's even better I'm so happy that this book series does not glaze over the more horrific and unjust things that has happened in our American history and it really delves into that the audio book is amazing January Lavoie is so talented she does so many accents in this audio book it's astounding I desperately want to finish this audio book this week however I'm going to wait to listen to it with my dad because this is the first time my dad is reading it however this is a reread for me so I want to experience it with my dad I did bring the sequel layer of Dreams with me though because in case I finished this early I want to immediately dive into the next book I have not read the rest of the series yet I want to know how this story expands what happens I hear that each book just builds upon the last and gets better and better I'm so excited and the last book I have right here is the seven and a half husbands know seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo no it's the 7 and a half death of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stewart Curtin I believe I was at the start of chapter six so that's only page 34 I was not far into it at all I started it before bed and I immediately fell asleep one because I was really tired and two because this is a really slow start I think it's just the fact that it is very confusing and it's meant to be very confusing because the main character himself he is very confused so the concept of the story is that there's a woman named Evelyn Hardcastle who was murdered at her masquerade party the day of her death is repeated again and again by our main character named Aidan bishop he however each day is thrust into a different person's life someone who has attended that masquerade party so it's kind of like clue in a way except you are playing from the position of like Miss Scarlet and like Colonel Mustard each time trying to figure out who murdered Evelyn Hardcastle he is not able to stop this Groundhog Day of sorts until he solves her murder it's such a unique murder mystery I love murder mysteries this is taking a while to get into because everything needs to be explained to me first and explained to the main character but I think after we get through that little bit after we move on to I'm guessing the next day in his life after Evelyn Hardcastle has been murdered maybe it'll pick up more anyway those are the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 books I brought with me to read I am only here at the cabin until Friday it is Monday right now so will I be able to read all of these I hope so now I'm going to go and read so I'll see you all later it's autumn my friends we're hiking not reading you brought me into nature disgusting I'm kidding no we're going to go see your waterfall yeah we do this oh I made it oh look at that Oh communal living a college and a church silently discouraged Santro it's my obligatory readathon Taco Bell so proud of me we are done hiking and done eating our Taco Bell and now we are driving back on top of a mountain we might fall off who knows no we are currently listening to the diviners we are 7 hours 13 minutes and 22 seconds into the diviners we have 11 hours left I thought we were halfway we're not I think we're halfway because so much has already happened and so much has already been set up but I I guess I just forgot how much happens in this first book it is like over 500 pages so I have theories of how things are going to end up in the next couple of books I don't really want to spoil anyone in this vlog so I'm not going to say any of the theories right now what's wrong with theories because I might spoil someone I don't know but okay what if they would say one wrong okay I will say one of my theories all of the diviners are 17 years old so I'm wondering if all that have the same birthday or like I really want to know why they are all this same age and they are all diviners I'm wondering if it's like a generational thing that the sisters who live in the bennington I'm wondering if they're 67 years old and if they're also diviners if they were 17 years old during the last comment do you have any theories hi my theory is that if I pay attention to my driving down these mountain roads that we will arrive safely what's a great theory hopefully it comes true we are in a duck themed cabin and I really want to go around and count how many ducks there are because it's it's a lot a lot and I admire the dedication but as will Herondale said you can never trust a duck in that right you read the books you know what I'm talking about hey yeah oh no this is gonna take fifty years but I signed up for all of them in the painting or one this will count as one because that will take honestly 25 years oh goodness okay so we have one [Music] ten oh hello Dolly Parton how are you she was watching over all the Ducks thank you for your service do we count it yes okay I think they got their theme wrong kill us later [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we also have duck food underneath the sink but there are no ducks in the pond so sad so very very sad I keep seeing birds everywhere like it's at a hidden bird no it's just a regular latch the moral of the story is to always commit 100% to your theme like these lovely people here now time to continue on with the seven and a half death of Evelyn Hardcastle almost that Evelyn Hugo again I'm excited to actually get further into this story and for there to be the first death of Evelyn Hardcastle [Music] [Music] we have met Evelyn Hardcastle yeah this is a really weird buck so far it's a combination of Agatha Christie Downton Abbey and like black mirror in a way so I am just having a time a real time I don't trust a single person in this book which i think is the whole point but the Hardcastle family sketchy everybody else who is at their house very sketchy I don't think I trust any of the household staff I think everybody murdered each other it was an entire big plot also something probably died in the air-conditioning vents we loved a haunted cabin I don't know what died in the vent maybe it was Evelyn Hardcastle oh no our IP vent creature I'm sorry we just got the reason that they are hosting the masquerade party at the house and it just makes everything so much juicier oh my gosh oh I'm eating dinner and reading more of Evelyn Hardcastle so we are now on day three I am on chapter 10 and things really start to pick up once we meet Evelyn Hardcastle and then once we get to the second person that our main character is inhabiting and I really like the way that this is done it's kind of like the time Turner in Prisoner of Azkaban where everything has already happened he's reliving the same timeline so every time he inhabits another person he has always been the other people so he can see his decisions happening in the other people from a different perspective does that make any sense but I really like how everything that has happened has happened and everything that will happen has happened as well so it's nice to see how everything is tying together how all of his decisions have ramifications it's fancy bath with my duck overlord looking over me hello it is much later in the evening I think it's 10:30 or so right now and I am on page 143 of Edwin Hardcastle I just got to day 5 and Wow I am of definitely I'm of two minds with this book because one I am sufficiently spooked I am actually a little scared of going to sleep tonight because yeah I'm in the middle of nowhere in a cabin this is a really bad idea that I decided to read all spooky books I was really excited to get nightmares but that was when I was brave in the middle of the day so now that it's dark out and I'm about to go to bed this was a bad idea I am really stupid I really like how this story is constructed I think it's really smart and I am I have no idea how this is all going to pan out I have no idea who the murderer is so kudos to that but also mmm day 4 made me really angry because it is so fat phobic so rampantly fat phobic so our main character is in the body of a much larger man and the whole time he's talked well we start off and he's like oh I'm crushed under the weight of my belly he broke down in tears when he saw himself in the mirror and just the whole time he's commenting on how he's sweating and how he's disgusted by how much he can eat this was just published like last year and I don't understand who approved of this because I felt like we have progressed past this point I understand the core bit of why oh my gosh there was someone in the bathroom I thought there was gonna be a murderer coming right here on camera I understand from a strategic standpoint why our day for host needed to be less mobile but there are other ways to go about it there are less insulting ways to go about it but because this wasn't just a one-time like our main character getting used to his new host body and the same way that he was getting used to his first host being incredibly tall he just wasn't used to that body but no it progressed through the entirety of day four I honestly don't think I can recommend this book to anybody because of all of that fat phobia so that's upsetting I'm still going to finish this book though at least that's the plan right now other things start happening so that's that that's all I have to say I have a Nightmare Before Christmas shirt fun hopefully day four with The Nightmare Before the Christmas that is the rest of this book I tried to tie that together didn't work out should I just go to bed angry I don't think that's a good idea maybe I'll watch some booktube videos to make myself happy or you know since we're in a read-a-thon I kind of forgot that I was in a read-a-thon um maybe I can read one of my graphic novels I can just hold off on continuing with day five of this and read something happy before bed so we have my two graphic novels we have pumpkin heads and we have worn the thirteenth honestly I'm going to go with the one that is shorter and I'm guessing that is going to be pumpkin heads also I already read the sample of it on Libby so that makes it even shorter oh my gosh look at that it's some map of the pumpkin patch this is so cute also worn the thirteenth is a mystery and I'm not sure if I want to read a mystery to take my mind off of the mystery that I've been reading [Music] goodbye I just finished pumpkinhead's it was so cute it is the perfect autumnal graphic novel do pumpkin patches like this exist in real life because if so I would like to go to one please and thank you the tackier is the better this is really cute I really like the relationship between deja and Josiah they have a great dynamic I love how hard-working and just how much of a good boy Josiah is I know it's only a short graphic novel but I wish that it talked more about going off to college and moving on from their job that they've been at for the past three years I wish that that type of nostalgia leaving some place that you have been comfortable in and their whole idea of having their pumpkin patch friends separate from their year-round friends I wish that was delved into a little bit more this was just a nice cute story but I definitely recommend I feel like this may be one of those that I read maybe every fall to get me in the spirit this really got my mind off of Evelyn Hardcastle Oh wowie yeah now I can actually sleep so that's a good thing I will see you all in the morning and we'll see how I feel about what I am currently reading so see you tomorrow sleep tight don't let all those spooky ghost C's get you in the night something is skittering oh I'm so scared a whole goodness so um because I am terrified I am watching do you hear that they're coming for me what okay so because I am terrified right now I am watching some Chelsea Dali reads because she's so pure and so happy and so the opposite of getting haunted in the middle of the night in a strange cabin in the middle of the woods please leave me alone spirits it is the next morning I slept terribly but I didn't die in the night so that's a that's a win for me yeah apparently it could have been tree branches against the roof because it was raining a lot last night but it was a dark and stormy night I was reading the murder mysteries it is 10:30 a.m. we are going to Rainbow Falls we're going to do a little bit of a hike it is 61 degrees outside so oh there's a truck coming this is a very small road I feel like we're in Twilight look at this see say it out loud vampire yeah I've stolen National Parks property not yet yeah hi so in the diviners this time around that I'm reading it I really like Sam I the first time I read it I did not like him I'm like how dare he from the moment he showed up I liked Mabel more as well I'm just liking everybody more because now that I'm reading it for the second time I've spent more time with the character as Memphis is still my favorite I love them so much fada Henry yes everybody yes I also have some theories about how I think things are going to go in the next couple of books I don't want to spoil anybody who hasn't actually started it but I'm so excited to continue my reread and then read the next couple of books I just want to sit down and read everything we're still hiking this is a much longer hike than we anticipated but it'll feel so good once they're at the top if there is a top yeah it's all around that's going to be like an 8 mile hike but that's fine we were totally prepared for that it is pretty though it reminds me of like a fairy grotto or something you know with a nice mariokart names such as Rainbow Falls you think it would be as punishing as it is oh we're getting our steps in i'm as active as a mountain goat a dead man go look at all of these quality leaves [Applause] this is the last vlog clip before I die of exhaustion but we finished our 8.8 mile hike oh we did get more than halfway through the diviners though which is a perk yeah look at you always going on the bright side alright so it is about 7 o'clock on Tuesday and I read a few more chapters of the seven and a half deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle I am still only on page 162 I am NOT going through this as quickly as I was expecting to I am not invested in the story like I thought I would be the plot of this is moving so slowly I'm fine with the slow moving books if I have characters to connect to but I don't and I still have 300 more pages in this if I'm not having fun reading I don't think you will have fun watching me reading to be honest I don't care who killed Evelyn Hardcastle at this point so the case of Evelyn Hardcastle's murder remains unsolved so here are all of the books on my TBR we have lore in the 13th and the all-seeing eye I thought this was a graphic novel but it's really not it is an illustrated novel we have Frankenstein not sure if I want to take that on right now because I'm trying to fly through a book and I'm not sure if one can fly through Frankenstein I might be wrong I want something that will maybe lift my spirit in terms of reading so the book I'm going to pick up is the one that I am most excited about and that is the graveyard book by Neil Gaiman so let's dive into this one please give me characters to root for it's all I want right now I just finished chapter 1 I already really enjoy this ok so one it has a community of friendly ghosts all of whom have such interesting backgrounds like we have an old Roman occupant of England which is really interesting we have a serial killer and when the ghost is not a serial killer it's a human because ghosts would never be serial killers no I'm not sure whether to call the little kid bud or baaad because his full name is nobody so I'm guessing Bo D would be bud because no bud e but it's B Oh D blonde it's a little bit later in the evening I am honestly exhausted by our hike today so I think I'm going to go to bed a little bit early I am NOT able to really focus on reading right now but I am really liking this I am on page 93 I just got to the beginning of another chapter and this story has much more going on than I thought it would for such a short middle grade book also I have like tea stains all over my shirt because I don't know how to drink apparently so don't pay attention to my stupidity ok ok thank you even though most of this takes place in a singular graveyard this doesn't feel claustrophobic well we are visiting places other than the graveyards so maybe that's why but there's so much to discover in this graveyard there's not just one type of dead supernatural creature so there's not just like plain Jade and ghosts we have goals we have whatever Silas is he can just like go wherever he wants he still can like the thing with ghosts in here is that they can touch things and Silas can like go get food and I'm like talk to real living people so I don't fully understand how ghosts work here it's definitely a dark spooky book but I don't think it goes over the edge of being scary which I am happy about because I would like to sleep tonight so tomorrow I have nothing planned I'm not going to go hiking or anything I really enjoy hiking especially when I am up in the mountains in nature but I am really excited to just spend an entire day reading so I'm going to go rest up for my very exciting day tomorrow okay see you later in like two seconds bye so something just happened and I mean I should have seen it coming I shoulda but oh yeah I just finished the graveyard book oh my gosh this was so bittersweet I teared up I love the ending and how it really tied all of the themes together so well it started off as such a kind of whimsical tale about a kid who is raised by a graveyard full of ghosts and other supernatural creatures but then it got really deep near the end and it talked all about like not wasting your life and going outside of your comfort zone and you know leaving the nest I'm really happy that I read this this is only I think the second books that I've read by Neil Gaiman last October I read Coraline and I liked this significantly more than Coraline I loved Coraline the movie and the soundtrack all of that superb but this is in my opinion a much better book now we are back to my little bookshelf and we have these books to choose from except not lair of dreams not that one so we have four to choose from we have Frankenstein which I'm really tempted by we have lock every door we have oh I forgot that I brought the scary storybook we have Gideon the ninth and we still have Evelyn Hardcastle so I think what I'm going to do I'm going to read a chapter of these books also I might try another chapter of Evelyn Hardcastle see which one strikes my fancy and which one I will read for the rest of the night because it's already 3 p.m. I've had such an unproductive day but I am determined to keep on reading I just finished the first chapter of Gideon the nine I'm not immediately loving it I think that if I gave it more of a chance I could really get sucked into it but I'm not going to pick this up as my next read the first chapter is only two pages long and then it flashes back to six days earlier I'm hooked honestly now moving on to another chapter of this one just kidding I was halfway through a chapter so I guess I'm just going to finish this one [Music] so I finished the chapter going into this I really thought that I was going to give this another go I really honestly truly want to read lock every door those first two pages man Wow so I'm going to go read more of this I'm already on page 41 I am flying through this all I want to do now is just sit and read which is what I've been searching for all week so far I love how this isn't spooky scary from the beginning it's just like oh a girl who was down on her luck trying to get a job trying to build up some money get out of debt doesn't really have a direction in her life ends up becoming an apartment setting start to get suspicious all of her friends are suspicious and I am rooting for her I have no idea how this plot is going to unfold I don't know what's going to be thrilling about this thriller but this has a lot of potential thus far also I got a cinnamon broom my favorite part of fall just sitting here smelling a broom I'm on page 99 just waiting for my nails to dry but I do not want to stop reading this book oh my gosh that's the end of this update loving it but I that it is 11:30 and I just got to one day earlier when I tell you my heart is a pounding the thriller part of this book really took a long time to develop it started off mostly as like a really subtle mystery we were just wondering why things were happening in this apartment building and getting to know the residents and I was still really hooked the writing is so compulsively readable but I was like what had the thrilling bits going to happen and then here we go so with how things are going now in the book I guess that a little while ago so I really hope especially because there are a hundred pages left I really hope that there's a twist and that things are not just going to stay down this path because I feel like that's a little bit obvious I'm liking how smart Jules our main character is she at the beginning of this whole investigation she called the police and she is asking questions and not just running towards danger well she's smarter than a horror movie character so you gotta give it to her I do love that two books I've read so far this week this book and the diviners characters have willingly crawled into dumbwaiters to do things to like hide or to like investigate I love that trope and I love that I'm seeing it everywhere maybe that's what's been missing from the other books I read this week it means more dumbwaiters hello it is the next day it is Thursday and when I woke up this morning I immediately picked up lock every door by Riley Sager I finished it I blew through the last 100 pages I did the ending was like I it went in an interesting direction and I liked where it went I wish that this book was more thrilling I think most of this was more of a mystery more of just wondering what the heck is happening overall I really enjoyed this it kept me guessing and it kept me wanting to come back for more I honestly would have stayed up way late into the night finishing this but a girl's gotta sleep because she's going hiking right now so I need to go back inside get my backpack and water and stuff and then we're going to go on our last hike of the trip look at these leaves nice we're back home we listen to some more of the diviners on the way and I think now we are 10 hours and 15 minutes into the audiobook but now I have nothing to physically read since I finished lock every door so I'm going to pick up war in the 13th and the all-seeing eye and I'll let you know what I think about it moving on this is my last night in the cabin honestly when I first got here it creeped me out but now I don't want to leave my palace of ducks look at this art style I love the black white and red so spooky is so gothic I could do a really fun part of this book on page 41 there is a message written backwards in cursive so I'm going to grab my phone and in selfie mode I am going to read it backwards this is so cool I feel like I'm reading this really reminds me of a series of unfortunate events but it has a similar grim Victorian Gothic vibe there are mysteries and porn is the only actual smart sweet person in the entire series so far there are a few adults that aren't terrible but his two guardians are terrible and um uh ah I love that on the next page it doesn't just like translate it for you you actually should go find a mirror or something and then read it for yourself I'm not going to tell you what it says because I feel like that might be a spoiler of some sort but I really hope there are some more of like little puzzles or other secret codes or something that you should find throughout the book what a nice touch back when I was in elementary school my siblings and I had one of those detective cases that you buy from like Target or something like that that has invisible ink and other sorts of bits and bobs so I've always been into like signing secret codes and solving cases and stuff I love this I just finished war in the 13th and the all-seeing eye I really enjoyed this I didn't know even though it says right there that this is the first book in a series so I really want to check out the other ones I have no idea how this is going to continue I mean I can because they set up a scenario where they can do other things so I would like to see how the story continues and other characters that we meet this still a lot with witchcraft but I'm guessing that the other ones will not deal that much with witchcraft I liked her main character Warren I liked how the mystery unfolded it wasn't too complicated this is a children's middle grade book so I wasn't expecting it to be like an Agatha Christie novel but I had a really fun time I think my favorite part was the artwork because it is so vivid and I loved just the style of this look at that oh I want to show you my favorite one right here this one is my favorite one of the entire book The Witches can shape-shift into animals I really thought that was cool but the thing that I didn't enjoy though in this book is that they appropriated the word spirit animal for the animal form that they can turn into you that really rubbed me the wrong way I really think that there could have been another word used JK Rowling used animagus but the rest of this novel was really gothic and atmospheric like I said if you like a series of unfortunate events check this one out goodbye duck cabin you are all your quacked up to be editing so here I realize that I didn't actually properly end the vlog so hello again on our way home we stopped by the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina which was so gorgeous and historical I loved touring the old house here is the part of the house that I think will most interest you the library it was glorious it's a dumbwaiter yeah you want to curl it but especially love touring the guard is oh I'm currently in the gardens of the Biltmore Estate it's so calm there's no one around me and I feel like I'm in a Jane Austen novel or something like that just walking by myself in the garden audiobook it only took us the entire week I still have not picked up layer of dreams even though it was planning on doing so this is why I could not stick to TBR's but I am going to try to get caught up I'm determined to get caught up with a series before king of crows comes out in February I want to be on time with a series for once in my life but let's wrap up my reading for the week shall we I read the diviners by Libba Bray gave that 5 out of 5 stars big surprise I then read pumpkinhead's which I gave 3.5 out of 5 stars the graveyard book by Neil Gaiman got 4.5 out of 5 stars lock every door I gave four out of five stars and I also gave four out of five stars two more in the thirteenth and the all-seeing eye but in total I read 1861 pages I wrote in Tom right there because it included the chapter I read of giddy in the ninth and my attempt to read Evelyn Hardcastle I still haven't picked it back up and I don't think I will but if you read that book or any of the other ones that I read in this video please let me know what you thought about it what you liked about it what you didn't because I love hearing your thoughts on the matter maybe I will give Evelyn Hardcastle another chance I gave it back to the library but maybe I'll go back out and get it again for round two thank you so so much for watching this video all the way until the end I really appreciate it and I will talk to you all soon in the next video bye [Music] you [Music]

Channel: readbyzoe

Views: 166,483

Rating: 4.9682155 out of 5

Keywords: readbyzoe, BookTube, BookTuber, reading vlog, book review, The Diviners, Libba Bray, The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman, Pumpkinheads, Rainbow Rowell, Warren the 13th, The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, Stuart Turton, Lock Every Door, Riley Sager, Gideon the Ninth

Id: S5gbuhGkWy4

Length: 45min 16sec (2716 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 08 2019