#catscantread

… OK. We’re late again. But it’s not like anybody cares, anyway.

So.

The leaves are changing colours. It’s getting colder. It’s time to shop for boots and coats. To buy fake spider webs at the dollar store. To eat the candy you were planning on giving out. To realise that you still don’t have a costume.

Yeah. It’s Halloween.

Which means horror movie marathons, costume parties (for the people who get invited) and eating too much candy that you’d never eat normally. Like Rockets. Does anyone really buy Rockets for themselves??

Which leads us to All Hallow’s Read. It’s a Halloween tradition to give friends and family (or anyone else who deserves a good fright) a scary book.

  We invite you to take the tradition further and actually read the thing yourself before passing it on.

A : I was watching an old Friends episode the other day and Joey was reading The Shining (well, he was hiding it in the freezer because it was too scary). So I plan on reading it some time. Preferably after locking all the doors, double-checking that there’s no serial killer behind the shower curtain and finding a comfy spot to hide in and read.

G: My brother got me Max Brooks’ Zombie Survival Guide for my birthday, and I hadn’t really gotten around to reading it, so that’s what I’ll do! That way I’ll be ready for the inevitable zombie apocalypse.

It’ll happen, some day.

Just wait.  

(And if not, it’s probably applicable to a large variety of catastrophic situations, such as an alien invasion.)

  Oh, and for the people who like to write too, Halloween means it’s almost November, and November means NaNoWriMo! So if you feel like writing 50k in a month, head over to their website. It’s doable. G did it twice. The quality of said writing is debatable, but it’s a lot of fun. And sleeplessness. And complete nonsense at 3AM.

Still just the two of us. And we’re behind schedule. Already. But we’re not giving up (yet). So here’s topic #2 : movies. We both love movies and we’re pretty sure you do too. So we thought “Gee, G. Why don’t we read a book that inspired a movie?” “Fuckin’ A, A! Actually, we should read books that are related to movies in any way.”

And thus, our second theme was born.

Obviously, a book that inspired a movie is a book that a movie was based on. No shit, Sherlock. (Ooh, you could read a Sherlock Holmes novel. Or short stories. Or the whole thing. Which G did, one summer. It was awesome). And if you still haven’t read Harry Potter, well, you know what to do.

(Speaking of Harry Potter movies... who’s excited for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?)

If you’re feeling lazy, or don’t have much time, for whatever reason (like school. Life. Cats. Hiking through the Amazon forest), you might want to read a screenplay. A little dry, but something it’s good to do at least once. And there’s a lot of screenplays available online for free!

Maybe you really loved a movie and you wanted to explore that universe a little more. So you could read a novelisation. Or fanfic.

It’s a bit far-fetched, but you could also read a book that guest-starred in a movie. A has been dying to read whatever book John Travolta was reading in Pulp Fiction. (Plus it’s a great excuse to watch the movie again so you can identify the book in question.)

August 2013 : Ask a friend for a good book

Since we’re just starting out and it’s just the two of us (for now), we decided to do something a little personal.

So we decided that we’d lend each other one of our favourite books (with threats to give it back in one piece) in hopes that the other would like it as much as we do.

It doesn’t have to be your favourite book, just something that stayed with you after you were done reading it. It’s always a good way to find new things to read, whether it’s a family member, a friend or an anonymous internet entity. You could also ask a random stranger on the street. Or subtly glance over their shoulder, swift as a ninja. Or James Bond.

It has the added benefit of giving you something to talk about next time you see each other. Yay!

Normally this is the part where we’d provide more info on the topic and/or recommendations, but, well. We can’t really tell you about the history of book swapping. Though it would be cool if we could.

Here are the books we’re going to read :

A : As I was perusing my (very messy) bookcase, the bright orange cover of Mere Anarchy, by Woody Allen, caught my attention. I liked most of his movies, and I fell in love with the short stories he wrote. I’ve read them again and again, understanding a few more references every time. That book never fails to make me smile, and I hope G will enjoy it as much as I do.

G : I picked Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens because I know A enjoyed the Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series as much as I did (which is to say, a lot). To be honest, Good Omens is kind of my go-to book when I need to recommend something to someone, or for a last-minute birthday gift! It’s hilarious and unexpectedly meaningful, and that’s the kind of book you just have to share, isn’t it?

  Go ahead. Ask for a book. Read it. And then tell us about it.