Chapter 22!!

20,000 words in at Chapter 20, and that puts me a few chapters from the halfway point. Yippee!! Excuse the cryptic photo. Couldn't find anything with stairs that worked for the mood of my novel except for this one with the words across it. It's a great reference photo, though. ;o)

Went to a book sell at the libary Sunday and picked up a bunch of new books for $1 a bag!!

"Poppy" by Avi, who also wrote "Crispin and the Cross of Lead." That was a pretty good book. I wandered through the other books he's written and liked the variety, so I thought I'd start with this one.

"Witches, Wit, and a Werewolf," retold by Jeanne B. Hardendorff and illustrated b Laszlo Kubinyi. Really, the title and the pencil renderings sold me on this one.

"The Inch Boy" by Junko Morimoto. It looks to be a great little story a fearless boy who wants to become a famous Samurai. Beautiful illustrations with thick brush strokes.

"Going Hollywood: A Dinosaur's Dream" by Hudson Talbot. This one is close to me. This Dino goes out to Hollywood and loses himself (and almost his friends) then makes his way back home and to who he was. Really cool illustrations in this one, too.

"Teacher's Treasury of Stories for Every Occasion." This is a book from 1958 that is set up like an encyclopedia, alphabetically by subject. Each listing has a few stories and quotes that relate to it.

"Secret of the Samurai Sword" by Phyllis A. Whitney. A story about a couple who visit their grandmother in Japan and find her garden haunted by a Samurai.

I also checked out some books to read:

"Shattered Mirrors" by Amelia Atwater Rhodes. That's her third published by the time she was like 19.

"Mostly Ghostly #1: Who Let the Ghosts Out?" by R. L. Stine. Always been a fan. ;o)

"The Keys to the Kingdom #1: Mister Monday" by Garth Nix (I kept thinking the title was Garth Nix. ;o) Looks really interesting. Makes me think of King and Straub's "The Black House."

And, finally:
"Donuthead" by Sue Stauffacher. Only a few chapters in, but, so far, it's an hilarious (and actually touching) book about a paranoid boy named Franklin Delano Donuthead. I'm really excited about the rest. Plus, it has that great cover by C. F. Payne.

Plus, I plan on reading "Frankenstein, Dracula, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" the collection (with an introduction by Stephen King) for Halloween.

So, I've got reading material coming out of my ears for the next few months. Yikes!! ;o)

If you've read any of these, let me know your thoughts on them.