October is always my favorite month because I was born in October, the biggest German book fair takes place in October and I just love autumn in general. But this year October has been even more amazing than usual because Maraia came to visit me for almost the whole month and I even got to spend a few days in my favorite city – why can’t every month be like this? 😀

Books & Audiobooks

While I had the greatest time last month I am actually a little bit embarrassed when it comes to my reading statistics because I only managed to read FOUR BOOKS which feels like an all-time low. No regrets though.

• Die Stille vor dem Tod – Cody McFadyen: After six years of waiting I was pretty excited for the new Smoky Barrett thriller and while I’m not exactly disappointed because I still felt well-entertained I can’t deny that I had hoped for a better novel.
• Inferno – Dan Brown: The last stage of my re-read of the Robert Langdon series to prepare for the new movie. I was surprised to find out that I enjoyed it more than the first time but I still like „Angels & Demons“ and „The Da Vinci Code“ better.
• One to go: Auf Leben und Tod – Mike Pace: I didn’t have super high hopes for this mystery thriller but eventually its plot was way too ridiculous to be able to enjoy the book.
• Mind Control – Stephen King: The final book in the Bill Hodges trilogy and I’m so sad that this great series is over. I loved Stephen King’s old-school crime novels a lot and still hope that some of the characters will reappear in future novels.

London calling

   

I’m usually not that excited to celebrate my own birthday but this year I had the BEST. BIRTHDAY. EVER. Since my birthday is always a national holiday in Germany (though I guess it’s not because I was born but because of the reunion of East and West Germany^^) and it fell on a Monday this year my family and I skipped the birthday party and went for a short trip to London. Sadly we only had two full days in this great city but I loved every second of our trip – especially because I got to visit the legendary Wembley stadium and even watched an NFL game there. I even had the chance to do some book-shopping at Waterstones and could there be a better way to spend a book lover’s birthday? Now I kinda want to do such a trip every year 😀

Movies

       

• MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN: I was pretty excited about seeing Ransom Rigg’s book being turned into a Tim Burton movie and I really enjoyed the first 80% of the book. But the ending was completely different to the book ending and I can’t say that I liked the changes they made.
• THE DA VINCI CODE: Re-watch to get in the mood for the new Inferno movie and even though I’ve watched it quite a few times now it just never gets boring.
• INFERNO: Really liked it as a thriller movie but I wouldn’t say it’s a good adaptation of the book because they made quite a few changes to the story. I don’t care about minor details but in my opinion they kinda gave up the message of the book to make the ending more spectacular.
• THE OTHER GUYS: I’ve watched this cop movie for the third time now and still find it funny as hell.
• WHO AM I: I convinced myself to watch a German movie again because it had gotten good reviews and was about hacking. It was okay but couldn’t live up to my high expectations.
• SCREAM: This year’s Halloween pick #1 because I had to introduce Maraia to this modern horror classic and while it scared the hell out of me as a teenager I nowadays find it quite hilarious and appreciate how it plays with horror clichés.
• TUCKER & DALE VS. EVIL: This year’s Halloween pick #2 even though it’s not the tiniest bit creepy but it doesn’t disappoint when it comes to gore and splatter. Also it’s probably the most hilarious horror movie parody you’ll ever watch.

TV shows

    

• GOTHAM: Only watched two episodes but it looks like season 3 is going to be just as good as the second one.
• PUSHING DAISIES: Finished my re-watch of one of my favorite shows and am still not over it’s early cancellation.
• BROOKLYN NINE-NINE: Maraia and I binge-watched seasons 2 and 3 within just a few days and even caught up on the new season – definitely my favorite comedy show at the moment and I love those characters so much.
• AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.: I found the first two episodes of the new season quite lame but since then it’s definitely gotten much better and now I find the Ghost Rider storyline quite interesting.
• CRIMINAL MINDS: Finally finished my re-watch of season 3 and the two-hour episode for the season finale is definitely one of the best things I’ve ever watched – I had to remind myself to breath because it was SO intense.

   

• TWIN PEAKS: I finally know who killed Laura Palmer and while I first was wondering why they even continued the show after the end of this storyline I’m definitely enjoying the new mysteries at the moment. Also it still gets weirder with every episode.
• HAPPY VALLEY: Who on earth thought it was a good idea to name this show „HAPPY valley“? I don’t recall a single happy moment in the whole first season, instead it was painful as hell but also SO. DAMN. GOOD.
• RIVER: Not quite as depressing as „Happy valley“ but still with some very painful moments, the BBC definitely knows how to break me. Also why can’t German crime shows be as good as the British ones? Side effect from watching: I still have the Tina Charles song stuck in my head 😀
• THE BIG BANG THEORY: Still trying to adept to the situation that I have to wait a full week for a new episode but the show is still worth it.

Reviews

   

Other blog posts

• [Leserunde] #SmokyIsBack – Diskussion zum 1. Teil von „Die Stille vor dem Tod“
• [Leserunde] #SmokyIsBack – Diskussion zum 2. Teil von „Die Stille vor dem Tod“
• [Leserunde] #SmokyIsBack – Diskussion zum 3. und letzten Teil von „Die Stille vor dem Tod“