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R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril IX

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lavinia portraitRIP
(Art used for banners is the property of the wonderful Abigail Larson)

“Does something amuse you?’ asked Uncle Montague.
‘I was merely reminding myself, Uncle, that I am getting too old to be so easily frightened by stories.’
‘Really?’ said Uncle Montague with a worrying degree of doubt in his voice. ‘You think there is an age at which you might become immune to fear?”
― Chris Priestley, Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror

Stories can make us look back over our shoulders and question every creak and groan on a dark, quiet night. Stories can cause our hearts to race with ever-increasing tension as we forgo sleep to rush towards a surprising conclusion. Stories can make us suspicious of every character as we challenge the protagonist to be the first to solve the crime. Stories can make us sleep with the lights on, make us pull the covers just a little bit tighter, and can make every shadow seem menacing.

Be they our favorite cozy mysteries, exciting police procedurals, classic tales about things that go bump in the night or contemporary terrors that chill us to the bone, there is something delicious about the ability of the printed word to give us a fright. At no time of the year is this more of a delight than when Summer heat turns to Autumn chill as the days become ever darker.

Nine years ago [NINE?!?! Inconceivable!!!] I became aware of reading challenges and wanted to start one of my own, hoping to find others who shared my Autumnal predilection for the works of Edgar Allen Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker and other authors contemporary and classic who captured the spirit of gothic literature. All these years later we are still going strong, welcoming September with a time of coming together to share our favorite mysteries, detective stories, horror stories, dark fantasies, and everything in between.

I welcome you to join us.

September 1st is right around the corner. It is time to begin.

Mystery.
Suspense.
Thriller.
Dark Fantasy.
Gothic.
Horror.
Supernatural.

Or anything sufficiently moody that shares a kinship with the above.

That is what embodies the stories, written and visual, that we celebrate with the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril event.

As time has wound on I’ve honed this event down to two simple rules:

1. Have fun reading (and watching).
2. Share that fun with others.

As I do each and every year, there are multiple levels of participation (Perils) that allow you to be a part of R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril without adding the burden of another commitment to your already busy lives. There is even a one book only option for those who feel that this sort of reading is not their cup of tea (or who have too many other commitments) but want to participate all the same.

R.I.P. IX officially runs from September 1st through October 31st. But lets go ahead and break the rules. Lets start today!!!

Multiple perils await you. You can participate in just one, or participate in them all.

ripnineperilfirst

Peril the First:

Read four books, any length, that you feel fit (the very broad definitions) of R.I.P. literature. It could be King or Conan Doyle, Penny or Poe, Chandler or Collins, Lovecraft or Leroux…or anyone in between.

ripnineperilsecond

Peril the Second:

Read two books of any length that you believe fit within the R.I.P. categories.

ripnineperilthird

Peril the Third or, the One Book Only option:

We all want you to participate. This Peril involves imbibing just one R.I.P.ping read.

ripnineperilshort

Peril of the Short Story:

I am a big fan of short stories and my desire for them is perhaps no greater than in Autumn. You can read short stories any time during the challenge. When I can, I like to read short stories over the weekend and post about them around that time. Feel free to do this however you want, but if you review short stories on your site (not a requirement) please link to those reviews on the Review Site. It is not just a site for book reviews.

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Peril on the Screen:

This is for those of us that like to watch suitably scary, eerie, mysterious gothic fare during this time of year. It may be something on the small screen or large. It might be a television show, like Dark Shadows or Midsomer Murders, or your favorite film. If you are so inclined, please post links to any R.I.P.-related viewing you do on to the Review Site as well.

ripnineperilgroup

Peril of the Group Read:

This Peril was added a few years back and brought a really fun, interactive dimension to R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril. For the third year in a row bloggers Andi and Heather of The Estella Society are hosting a readalong in conjunction with R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril. This year’s readalong runs from September 1st through October 1st, and the chosen book is Shirley Jackson’s classic, The Haunting of Hill House. It has been a few years since I’ve read this, or any Jackson, but I’ve been having that urge and cannot wait to be a part of this. This is a very laid back event, with questions posted to Twitter (and I’ll put them up here) on October 1st. As this isn’t a large book you do have plenty of time to get a copy from your local library or bookstore and join in.

And they have created a great banner:

HillHouseReadalong

You can follow this link to sign up to participate and to get a larger banner to resize to fit your needs.

Please join us!

Traditionally we like to discuss what we may read for this event, in large part because we book lovers love to talk about what we are reading and what we want to read. And what is more fun than making lists of books? You do not have to do this to participate, all you need do is sign up below and join in the fun. However, if you do post about R.I.P. IX and what you might be reading please link directly to that blog post below instead of to your main site.

Also, for anyone new to R.I.P. stumbling across this, you do not have to be a blogger to participate.

For those of you who do have a blog and want to review your readings and viewings for R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril IX, there is a book review site located here.

I’ll be posting a link to my potential reading/viewing selections in the comments below and will link to that. For those without blogs or not posting on their blog about this, feel free to do the same.

Before moving on to the sign up box, allow me to take a moment to offer a HUGE THANKS to artist Abigail Larson. You may remember that I interviewed Ms. Larson prior to this year’s Spectrum Fantastic Art Live show. I also had the great pleasure of meeting her there [but sadly was not able to spend much time talking to her…maybe for SFAL 4?!?!]. Ever since seeing her work I knew that I wanted to ask her about using it for the banner for R.I.P IX, and I nearly shouted aloud when the email came through granting me…us…permission. Below you will several different sizes of the banner. Let me know if you need a high resolution custom size that you don’t see here. If you do post about R.I.P. IX on your site, please give credit to Abigail Larson in the post and link to her site.

And while there, click on the link to her store and check out all of her great merchandise. I will be drawing randomly from the sign up list at the end of the day on Labor Day (September 1st) for two winners to receive a print of your choice from Abigail Larson (she has some great The Night Circus related prints, among others).

Thanks again, Abigail! You rock!!!

Here are your banners:

lavinia portraitRIP400

lavinia portraitRIP350

lavinia portraitRIP300

lavinia portraitRIP9275

Well, there you go folks. Now its up to you. Do you have the courage to share in a little fright with us? Or, if not fright, a whole lot of fun.

185 thoughts on “R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril IX”

  1. This is what is on my dream list to read (if I were to suddenly win the lottery and be able to read/view non-stop for two months):

    The Long Way Home ~Louise Penny (just released…and I’m nearly done)

    The Haunting of Hill House ~Shirley Jackson (a re-read)

    The Graveyard Book (Audio) ~Neil Gaiman

    Pietr the Latvian ~Georges Simenon

    Various shorts from Poe, Gaiman, Angela Carter, Lovecraft

    Stranger Things Happen ~Kelly Link

    The Burning Dark ~Adam Christopher

    The Historian ~Elizabeth Kostava (read half last year)

    as for viewing, I’ve been itching to see Nightmare Before Christmas and The Corpse Bride for weeks now. A song in one of the Fallout: New Vegas add-ons sounds so much like a song from Nightmare that I’ve had those songs in my head for awhile now.

    We’ll watch Arsenic and Old Lace close to Halloween, like we do every year. I haven’t watched The Others for a few years and that would be fun to see again (need to grab a blu ray copy). And of course I have a pile of old Vincent Price films and other b/w films that I like to dig through once Autumn weather truly sets in.

    1. I like your list of books. As of today, there is one book I want to read but am thinking about holding off on it soooo……what shall I read? Then I remembered R.I.P. so here I am looking for reading suggestions.

      I think I should read the next Penny book on my list. I think it is The Cruelest Month.
      I cannot seem to get into The Haunting House. A shame as I own the book. 🙁
      And oh… I just purchased Gelason’s book one of Stoker and Holmes. It was on ebook sale. Have you read it? Maybe I will start with that one today.

      I will keep looking at what everyone else has listed (if they crested lists) for RIP for more inspiration.

      You need to finish The Historian. i loved that book.

      1. Ugh…I not only typed in the incorrect URL for my blog, I also misspelled an author’s name… Gleason. 🙁

  2. And how could I forget Colleen Gleason’s new Stoker and Holmes novel coming out October 7th?!?!?

  3. This is how bad my year has been. I totally had forgotten this was coming. I usually anticipate it for weeks. I will do a joining post ASAP and will be looking forward to participating. The art work is wonderful.

    1. I’m sorry the year has been that bad…but it is nice to have something fun sneak up on you once in a while, right? 😉

        1. I’m happy to hear that. At least if the year started bad it could do you the honor of ending on a good note, right?

  4. I am so so so so so excited for this!!!!! And Night Circus related stuff?? *off to check stuff out now*

    My list is up and linked to. This will be my very first RIP challenge in a land with actual fall!!!

    (Yes, I use too many exclamation marks when excited, heehee)

    1. That is true, you really will have an Autumnal experience this year, won’t you. Very excited for you. I imagine Boston in Autumn will be gorgeous.

    1. I hope that is a good one. I love the cover and am tempted to give it a read.

  6. You know I’m in. I’ve had my post in draft, waiting for last minute book additions and images. I’ll link it up soon! Yay!

    I will also be reading some Angela Carter, Gaiman and Poe, I believe. I have a Poe biography on my list and I just can’t imagine not needing to pair it with some of my favorite stories and poems.

    1. That would be a fun pairing. I’ve got a Poe bio focused on the mysterious circumstances of his death. I’ve read part of it and really should read the rest.

  8. Oh Hooray! This is is the only reading challenge I do every year and I always look forward to it so much. Nothing like reading spooky books in Montana in the fall, with the aspens turning gold, crisp blue skies and the mountains getting their first dusting of snow…ahhh…

    Now what to read??? I suspect I’ll be doing some re-reads: The Night Circus, The Historian, maybe even Dracula. I’d also love to try The Supernatural Enhancements, and I hope to be able to force myself to get through Rebecca (I keep hearing it’s so good, but the copy I have is just so cheesy-looking…). Cheers!

    1. I bet the weather is just gorgeous there in the fall. I’m quite jealous.

      I’m thinking of listening to my BN audio version of Dracula. I haven’t listened to it in quite a few years. I also wouldn’t mind doing the audio version of The Night Circus. I loved reading it and the narrator for the book is Jim Dale, who is fantastic.

      Sorry you have a cheesy copy of Rebecca. Maybe a visit to the library to find a more suitable volume. It is very good.

  9. I saw this post and screamed so loud. Luckily, the screaming was done in my head or the kids would have woken up. 😉 I cannot wait to come up with my list. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Carl. I look forward to this event every year.

    1. Don’t scare the kids!!! 🙂 You are quite welcome. I started getting really jazzed about this a few weeks back when we had some unseasonably cool days. I’m definitely in the mood to drift away from SF for awhile and get some gothic/mystery reading in.

  10. I’m signed in, joined up, and blog post is up now too! All linked above 🙂 thank you so much for doing this, Carl, so much, once again. It is truly a most enjoyable challenge. I love how you are able to get different artists for each year to agree to use their art for the headers. This year’s art is lovely and gothic. I have the Louise Penny new in paperback to read (How the Light Gets in), though I didn’t put it on my list. Aren’t her mysteries so good? I think The Beautiful Mystery is my favourite to date. Happy reading, Carl!

    1. How the Light Gets In was…Wow!!! It wraps up that story arc for Gamache so powerfully. This newest one is a bit of a change in tone, but a good one. She is an amazing writer. I am so devoted to these characters.

      Most happy reading to you as well.

  11. I’ve been waiting for this for months! Thank you for hosting this every year, Carl, and a big thank you to Abigail as well, for the gorgeous badge.
    I have many books to choose from this year (if only I could read them all!). Decisions, decisions. 🙂

    1. So happy that Abigail Larson agreed to the use of her art. Her work fits so perfectly with this kind of reading and viewing, and this time of year.

      I can relate to the “decisions, decisions” feeling.

  12. So thrilled that it’s that time of year again. I’m in (of course!) and my post is up. Thanks so much, Carl!

    1. Awesome, Cath. I’ll be by to check it out over the weekend. Great to have you back.

    1. I put the link up there for you, Pat. Sorry it wasn’t working for you. Love it that you are back in again and can’t wait to see what you read.

    1. You are welcome, Naida. Thank you for being a part of this community.

    1. Not quite, but it is getting closer. Of course Summer is mocking me and my R.I.P. post by giving me a week of 90+ temps next week. Tarter sauce!

  17. I’ve been following this challenge for several years and I always look forward to it.

    1. I appreciate you doing so, Lara, and am glad you are back.

  18. Yes, yes, yes, does a little twirl and dances a jig!! (Then falls flat on face!!!)
    So excited. I love this time of year and I can’t believe RIP has come around already. I’m really looking forward to this and will have to do a post.
    Thanks Carl for being such an ace host.
    Lynn 😀

    1. Was that first line about me? Cuz that is certainly what would happen if I danced a jig, lol!

      Thank you for being such an ace partner in making this such a fun event. I appreciate it.

  19. Thanks Carl!

    My goal is Peril the First and the Group Read. The books I have planned are:
    – Feed – Mira Grant
    – Exquisite Corpse – Poppy Z Brite (if my local library can find an interlibrary loan from somewhere)
    – The Dark Defiles – Richard K. Morgan (super-dark fantasy, coming out in October, and it’s 450K words, so I’m hoping I finish this before the 31st)
    – The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson

    1. Glad you’ll be joining us for the group read, Steve. Have you read the book before?

      All your other choices sound great. I have a friend who is a big Poppy fan.

  20. Hey Carl, do you have way of deleting that first entry of mine? It had the leftover entries in the field from the fantasy challenge. Sorry for the mess.

  21. I know I’ve talked about it before (probably ad nauseam 😛 ) how I have such a strong love/hate relationship with autumn–the hate coming nearly all from the back to school thing. But there are so so so so sooooo many things to love about autumn, and RIP most definitely ranks very high on that list! I can’t wait to get my butt back into gear with blogging so I can make a big pool and sign up officially!
    Oh my gosh, and Abigail Larson’s art! *swoon* I clicked over to her store, and then told Rich he would be doing his Christmas shopping for me there. 🙂
    Thanks yet again, for all the work you do to make this such a fun community event! You are awesome. Really.

    1. The day will come (and trust me, you’ll blink and it will be here) where all the kids will be grown and Autumn won’t have that school taint anymore. I’m sure you will both welcome and dread that day because you are a good mom. 🙂

      Ah, you do indeed have an incredible husband! I saw she had some pillow cases over there and I’m very intrigued. She is a sweetie, I hope she can make it to SFAL again next year.

      You are awesome as well, thanks. Tell the whole family “hi” for me. I think of you guys alot, especially when I look up from my seat and see my Tolkien movies sitting next to the tv.

  22. I’ve been waiting all summer for is, and saving up all the mysteries I’ve been wandering to read this year until now. This will be fun! I’ve linked my post above.

    1. Thanks Amanda, I think it will be fun too. Look forward to seeing what mysteries you have on your list.

    1. Me too, Sheila. I enjoy all the challenges I host, but this one was my first and is by far my favorite. My baby. I always get so jazzed about it.

  24. I learned about this even when I asked someone about doing an interview on their site and they suggested reading one of my mystery/thrillers for this event. This is amazing.

    I’m already reading James Patterson’s Kiss the Girls and Tess Gerritsen’s The Silent Girl. Lets go!

    1. Awesome, Lorne! So glad you found out about it and are joining the gang. Kiss the Girls…I remember the movie adaptation. Probably not faithful, but it gave me chills all the same. I’ll have to check out the Gerritsen book, I don’t recall seeing her name.

      1. Ah, she did Rizzoli and Isles. I’ve been wanting to watch that show based on her books.

        1. The only thing similar between the show and the books are the names…which makes them both good as you can read the books and enjoy the shows without knowing what happens

      2. Ah, she did Rizzoli and Isles. I’ve been wanting to watch that show based on her books.

    1. Wonderful Jean, so glad to have you with us. Thank you so much for coming along for the fun.

    1. Me too, Helen. It has been so hard to hold off on posting about this until a few days here before Sept. 1.

  27. As usual, I’ll do what I can, spotty thought it may be. I’m currently reading the same book as you, though I suspect you have finished it, while I am only about 100 pages in.

    1. I’ve got 40 pages left. I’m going to be so sad when I’m done and have to wait another year (lets hope) for the next Gamache book.

      As always, I do appreciate you being a part of these things, however much it is.

  28. Hello–I’m new to this reading challenge! So please forgive me if I get confused along the way. I’ve posted on my blog, and I attempted to post the link above, but I think I entered myself twice! Drat it.

    I’ll be doing Peril the First, and Peril on Screen.

    Thank you–it sounds like fun! –Sandy

    1. Welcome Sandra. Ask any questions you want, its meant to purely be fun and not confusing. And don’t worry about the dual entries. More than anything that is up there so that I and others can stop by to visit.

      Look forward to seeing what you read and watch.

  30. I am signed up again too – for Peril the First. And reading the comments makes me want to revise my list, which has barely been up 10 minutes! I think I’ll add Dracula to the list first. And I have The Haunting of Hill House on the TBR stacks too.

    Thank you again for hosting this, it’s such fun!

    1. Great Lisa! And I so know the feeling, lol! Glad you’ll be joining us for Haunting of Hill House. Although I don’t think either movie adaptation is faithful to the book, I think I’ll have to watch them when we are done doing the reading.

    1. I’m happy to be a part of such a great community, Jessica. Thanks for being a part of RIP again this year.

  32. This’ll be my first year doing RIP. I seem to have built up a pretty good collection of suitable books and have made a shortlist: Full Dark, No Stars – Stephen King, The Ghost Hunters – Neil Spring, Weirdo – Cathy Unsworth, Dream London – Tony Ballantyne, The Passage – Justin Cronin, The Coldest Girl In Coldtown – Holly Black, The Little Stranger – Sarah Waters (a reread) and The Silkworm by “Robert Galbraith.” Looking forward to spooking myself with this challenge.

    1. So great to have you with us, Katie. Welcome! Great list, you’ll definitely be spooking yourself with those choices.

  33. Really looking forward to this but totally kicking myself that I didn’t think of Stoker and Holmes as I have the first one on Kindle yet to be read. I may slip that one in if no-one is looking 🙂

    1. I enjoyed the book last year, and look forward to the sequel. Thank you so much for taking part.

  34. I’ve been looking forward to this challenge all summer. It will be my third (or fourth, not entirely sure) RIP this year, and I love it. I will probably end up doing Peril the First, Second and Third, because the majority of what I read fits into the allowed genres anyway.

    I will be reading Joyland by Stephen King, The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and The Witch with No Name by Kim Harrison. I may also finally try the first Robert Gailbraith book and am sure I will find others that fit into the categories as well. Really excited about reading other people’s reviews as well, to get more book tips for later in the year.

    1. Thanks Malin, I have been as well. I just looked at Joyland on my shelf the other day and had a “hmmm….” moment. I too enjoy seeing what others are reading. My to be read pile grows exponentially during these events.

  35. I love the kind of books that fit the R.I.P. challenge and am looking forward to participating this year. Thanks for hosting it! I try to read a lot of ghost stories every October, which should fit in perfectly with this challenge. 🙂

    1. Me too, Lark. When the weather starts to change it just feels like the right time to read creepy stuff.

    1. You are welcome, Joy. Thank you for continuing to take part. I’m so excited that September has rolled around.

    1. That’s right, it is the 30th anniversary of Ghostbusters…man, makes me feel old! Still, it is a perfect excuse to see it again. Glad you are back, Christina.

  38. Carl, your buttons! They are SO BEAUTIFUL. I always participate in this challenge unofficially, but perhaps now is the time for me to make it official 🙂 I feel like it’s one of two (#diversiverse being the other) that I could actually complete!

    1. Thanks Aarti. I feel blessed to have such generous artists to work with. Welcome “officially” to R.I.P., lol! Wonderful to have you and hope you can combine some reads for both events.

  39. I haven’t done this challenge in a few years, but I am really excited. I automatically think creepy reads should start on Sept. 1st now. I’ve been conditioned.

    1. Thanks for coming back, Jenn. And I agree, I’ve pretty much conditioned myself to start hankering for mysteries and ghost stories come September 1st.

  40. You know I always look forward to this one! I got an early start on Peril on the Screen yesterday. I saw As Above So Below. I really liked it! Thanks for always making my Fall, Carl!

    My sign up post is at my challenge blog and is linked in the linky. 🙂

    1. I’ll have to look that one up, Michelle. Haven’t heard of it. I’m all for early starts, though, so good for you! And thank you so much for the kind words and for participating.

  41. ok..I need your expertise! as you know when I tried to leave my link up above it kept telling me “an error has occured, try again later”.. now it’s doing the same thing on the link page for RIP… do I need to fix some sort of setting on my computer?????

    meanwhile here’s the first post: Witches by Roald Dahl: http://herethereandeverywhere2ndedition.blogspot.com/

      1. That is odd…but not surprising. Despite the wonders of technology, it still tends to be persnickity.

  42. I’ve been aware of the RIP challenge since 2011 and every year I consider joining. I’m a huge scaredy cat but I still love a scary read once in a while. Also, we don’t really do Halloween in South Africa… but I so wish we did. So… lemme think on it for a day or two. This may well be the year..!

    1. So happy you’ve overcome your fear and decided to enjoy the fright with us. And hey, I’m all for you starting up the Halloween tradition in South Africa. You could be a trail blazer!

    1. Me too, Randall. I snagged a copy last night and will probably start it tonight.

  46. I thought I’d already added my name, but guess I messed up. Looking forward to this year’s Challenge!

    1. Happy to have you back again, JenClair! Would not be R.I.P. without you.

  47. so excited! and I, too, made an audible cheer that Abigail agreed to do the banners! Now to find some atmospheric reads…!

    1. Me too, L. I read the email at work and let out a “Yes!”. “atmospheric” is definitely what I’m looking for as well.

  48. Blimey, this got popular fast. Every year bigger and better, eh? Should be some good stuff to go around with some many interesting people on board.

    I’ll defer picking a challenge, but I’ve definitely got a few things on the TBR that qualify for this and it’s always nice to have the motivation to dig into it’s further reaches (instead of just giving in to temptation and pulling the most recent shiny-shiny from the top). Looking forward to it 🙂

    1. I feel the same way about the “most recent shiny-shiny”…and then of course I went out last night and bought The Supernatural Enhancements. It is a lovely looking book, and I’m enjoying it thus far. Glad you are joining in Kamo, and I do hope the event this year helps both of us to knock a few books off of the growing piles.

  49. Oh lovely, it’s my favorite time of year again! I haven’t made a reading list yet, I prefer to keep my options open. I tried to read ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ for RIP last year, but it didn’t click. I think I will start by giving it another chance. I’ve also just bought ‘Endeavour’ season 2 on DVD. Talk about good timing. And I will definitely read some short stories. Last year it was Le Fanu, the year before M.R. James, maybe this year an American writer? Ambrose Bierce maybe? Let the fun begin!

    1. I love the Endeavour series…so well done. Trust me, when Season 2 is over you are going to be aching for the next episodes. The waiting game is not fun. I may go back to some Le Fanu this year, its been a long time.

  50. Honestly, I kinda returned to blogging for this event and Aarti’s A More Diverse Universe. I’m pretty excited!

    1. Yay! Thanks Elizabeth. Hope you enjoy both of the events this year.

  51. Ahh, my favorite time of year! I love this challenge! I need a little bit of fun this year, while I’m going through all of my “stuff” and your post made me giggle with maniacal glee with my plans for books and films this year. I need some distraction! And this will do just fine. Thanks for hosting every year. (This artist is amazing, absolutely love her work.)

    1. I’m keeping you in my prayers, Natalie. Was thinking about you last night. I’m glad that something like this can give you something fun and distracting.

    1. Brrr…spiders…. I can’t wait until hot cider weather!!!

  53. Very excited to be a part of another reading challenge here, Carl! Will be choosing some good reads, for sure! maybe some Peter Straub or Anne Rice! So many decisions to be made!

    1. I know the feeling, I’ve already went out and bought a brand new book, The Supernatural Enhancements, because of this…and it wasn’t like I didn’t have plenty of qualifying books on the pile. Thanks for taking part!

  54. I’m so excited! This will be my first time participating! I think I’m going to read The Haunting of Hill House for the read-along. In addition, I will try to read A Discovery of Witches, The Thirteenth Tale, and The Penguin Book of Witches. So excited!

    1. It is so great to have you along for the first time, Jancee. And you have some great choices there. The Thirteenth Tale is one of my favorite books…love it! I grabbed a copy of The Haunting of Hill House and plan on starting it tonight.

  55. This will be my first ever RIP but I’m going to go in at the top Peril!! Just to decide on my books. The Haunting of Hill House for sure and maybe a Stephen King. Do Zombies count? 😉

    1. Zombies do indeed count, and welcome to R.I.P.! 🙂 Happy you are also joining us for The Haunting of Hill House as well.

  56. This is my first time to participate, and I’m really excited. It’s great to find a challenge that really isn’t that challenging – this includes ALL my favorite genres and gives me an excuse to select books I really, truly want to read for a change. I can take a break from reading what I MUST and read what I WANT. Oh, JOY!! Thank you for coming up with this great challenge.

    1. I decided years ago to take the “challenge” out of the Challenge. It should all be about fun, sharing our passions. Thanks so much for coming along for the fright, it should be a fun couple of months.

  57. This will be my first RIP and I am signing up for Peril the First. Thanks for hosting!

    1. Welcome, Mary! So glad you found out about this and are joining in. Hope you have a wonderful time.

  58. Has it been nine years already? Time sure does fly! You know this is the only challenge I do these days and I start looking forward to it in April!

    1. I so appreciate it, Stefanie. Yes, it is indeed unbelievable that its been nine years already.

    1. That’s perfect! Thanks for the link to your list, and thanks for taking part. I love it when people can combine events.

    1. 7 years? That is fantastic, Diane. Thanks for taking part again.

  62. I can’t believe I have never heard of this challenge before!! Count me in! :)Wish I would have know about it earlier to join the read along but I would still need to buy the book. 🙁 Next time!

    1. I’m glad you discovered us, Stormi. 🙂 Welcome!!! The Haunting of Hill House is not a long book and we are reading it over the course of the whole month and then doing questions/review beginning October 1st, so you still have time. I just bought the book last night and plan to start it tonight.

  63. This is the only good thing about the end of summer! 🙂 Not sure yet what I’ll be reading, but I’ll be doing Peril the First, as usual 🙂

    1. Ha, thanks! I’m not a big fan of Summer, so I’m thrilled that it is on its last legs. Great to have you back again.

  64. I woke up this morning thinking that I forgot to register for RIP, so here I am. THis year I am even going to try the Group read! I will do my post for the challenge this weekend!

    1. I’m so glad RIP was on your mind when you awoke! Welcome once again! I’m excited about the group read, I hope to get started on it tonight.

  66. Wow…it’s that time of year again? I’m off to see what sort of R.I.P. goodies I have on the TBR shelf for this year. Then I’ll get my entry post up tonight.

      1. Great! Happy to hear it, and thanks for taking part.

  67. Love this year’s images Carl, they’re great.

    And as soon as The Haunting of Hill House comes in at the library I’ll be joining the group read for that 🙂

    So next year it’ll be the big 1 0 anniversary of the first ever RIP challenge, that’s a big landmark in anything online-related.

  73. Love RIP! I was sorry to not have enough time to participate the last couple of times after two times in a row of participating. Glad to be getting back to it!

  74. Egads! I posted on my blog about the challenge on the 1st, but apparently forgot to link up here. Note to self: more gingko tea for memory!

  75. Already one book into the challenge with Feed by Mira Grant. I am planning on rereading some Poe (and maybe writing about how obsessed I have been with the poem The Raven since the fourth grade). I suppose The Southern Reach trilogy also counts as horror huh? So there’s another one. And I might do the Shirley Jackson read along mentioned here too. Yip yip!

  76. I’m fashionably late, and will probably fail again, but it’s too good to pass up so I’m here! 😀

  77. wow NINE years? Congratulations Carl for hosting such an awesome event for so long. This is the only challenge I ever really do as I’m so not organized enough to keep up with all the other challenges. You’ve got a quality event going on here that so many of us look forward to all year! Four years for me! Thank Carl!

  79. I love this challenge! Thanks for hosting, Carl!! I have always wanted to read The Haunting of Hill House, so this is a great time to join in!!

  80. A total newbie to book challenges, but I’m in. Thank you! I’m going to jump in The Haunting of Hill House, too. Can’t wait.

  81. I’m glad to join one of your challenges again, and I am challenging myself by choosing horror, a genre I don’t usually wander into, though I love scary, thrilling suspense books. Thanks for hosting and good luck to all.

  82. Yikes, I’m late this time! But I finally got my launch post up and signed-on. Wouldn’t miss it! 🙂

    And I somehow managed to listen to a mystery audiobook the first month of September without even remembering about the challenge–I must have been subconsciously participating…

  83. Oh so glad I just found this! Looks like a frightening good time!

  84. So very excited for this! Just finished my first book and now on to The Haunting of Hill House!

  85. Got directed here from my friend Cheryl’s blog (http://marveloustales.com/), but it sounded like too good an idea to pass up — though I’m already up to my eyeballs in my TBR list. For this challenge, I will re-read The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (squee!).

  86. Hi Carl–I am a little late leaving a comment but I have been looking forward to this for months now. I am already in the middle of two books and have a stack of short story collections to read from as well. And it even feels very autumn-like outside here, too! 🙂

  88. I’ve made my lists. Which I will now, most likely, avoid, in favour of other lists. *contented sigh*

    Thanks for hosting and, again, beautiful images!

  90. Another Halloween, another RIP reading challenge… Super exciting!

    I had to create a blog just for this because my old blog has been retired and I moved to Tumblr. This will be the first year I participate in the group read b/c I can’t resist Shirley Jackson.

    I am a little behind, and I haven’t quite got my reading list together, but it will be up soon.

    Thanks for the 9th year and here’s to at least 9 more.

  91. I am a bit late to the party this year, but I am in nonetheless. Thanks for hosting this always fun reading “challenge”!

  92. Yay! I’m definitely signing up again! Like last year, I’m a little late, but I’m probably going to do most of this in October anyway, so that’s fine. I’m sure I’ll meet my goals! Thanks for continuing to host such a fun challenge!

  94. I’m in. I haven’t figured out what books I’ll be reading (other than the two I’ve currently got going), but I’m in!

  95. Clearly I should have done this first, but I posted on my site today a list of books for Peril the Second (cheating slightly b/c one is a novella) and for the Peril on the Screen challenge. What I am calling the “old school edition.”

  96. This is the first year I didn’t enthusiastically sign-up and make a ridiculous pool and all that fun stuff. I just can’t seem to get back into blogging, but how can I miss this challenge? I have done ALL of your challenges over the years even if some years were quiet… The busier years made up for the quiet ones! So, I should dust off my blog and at least attempt to read one book, right?

  97. I’ve come across this challenge before but have never participated, as I state in my blog post. I’m very excited about this, though, as it’s a perfectly good reason for me to finally read The Mysteries of Udolpho. 🙂

  99. I’ll be reading thirteen “dark” stories, many of them by “lesser known” writers from my area. Happy reading, everybody!

  100. Better late than never:) Here is my list:
    1. Revenge by Yōko Ogawa
    2. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
    3. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
    4. Artful by Peter David

  101. Hi Carl! So it turns out I’m reading quite of bit of “perilous” literature these days. So I may be posting a few reviews more than the four for the Peril the First. I’m doing it mostly because I want to share my excitement (or as in one case, my disdain) for these books. Particularly, my next review is for “The Bone Clocks” by David Mitchell. I’ve never read him before and won an ARC from the publisher. I was floored by it, and I wept uncontrollably at the end! And I’d love people to know about this book. Thanks for sponsoring this challenge!

  102. This is one of the coolest reading challenges I’ve seen so far. I’m only doing it for the month of October, but I haven’t been this pumped about reading in a while now! 🙂

  103. Hi Carl,

    I’m on a hiatus from writing book reviews, but I look forward to this challenge each year and I wanted to participate this year.

    I just finished London Falling by Paul Cornell. It’s perfect for this reading challenge. This book is Cornell’s first urban fantasy and it has a wonderful surreal atmosphere to it.

    1. Hey me too!! It’s wonderful, wonderful. I am getting started on the second novel, SEVERED STREETS — I will be posting a review of both novels as soon as I am done.

  106. Sorry Carl – put a link in the wrong place here – you might want to delete my comment!!! Apols 😀
    Lynn

  107. Can I join the 1 series with audiobook of 1 story? 😀 Actually it’s a radio adaptation of Stefan Grabiński’s story. Have you read his books? He’s translated into English. He got nicknames of “Polish Poe” or “Polish Lovecraft”.

    I’ve been wanting to read his books for a long time, but they are always other books… and so little time 😉

    1. Oh absolutely! I haven’t read his books, but I will check him out. Any comparison to Poe or Lovecraft makes me take notice.

  108. Hello! I’ve been reading your site for some time now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give
    you a shout out from Huffman Texas! Just wanted to say keep
    up the excellent work!

    1. Awww, thanks Beatriz. It is always good to hear from people, so feel free to jump in any time and give your two cents.

      Are you a Dallas Cowboys fan? I’ve been a fan since the 3rd grade and I’m excited to see them doing so well this year.

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