What Mr Hallow Read Last Quarter [July - September]

Its the end of December and I'm only just doing this post... I really need to get better at keeping up with doing posts on this blog Mrs H does pretty much everything and its not fair. So here is my 'what I read this quarter' for July - September. After doing this post I realised how little I actually read after going back to work this year. I really need to read more next year.

July

Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix by J.K Rowling
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I think this book is when I really started to enjoy the Harry Potter books, I thought it was great how the story developed in this book and I just had to get to the next one.

Mr Sparks by Danny Weston
⭐️⭐️⭐️
I had wanted to read this book for a while and although I did enjoy reading this I kind of felt like it was very heavily influenced by the goosebumps books and I found it hard to see past that.

August

Nightmares by Jason Segel
⭐️⭐️⭐️
I was looking forward towards this book because Mrs H loved it, I did like this book but I don't think I will read any of the sequels as I have so many books that need reading.

Memento Mori (Tales from the Haunted Mansion) by Amicus Arcane
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I finally finished!! I loved all of these books great read and the presentation of everything was fantastic. I found this one my favourite of the four books but I think that is more because it was the spookiest of the four.

September

The Company of Ghosts by Berlie Doherty
⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book wasn't at all what I expected going in with that being said I really enjoyed it. The Island that Ellie travelled too sounded great me and Mrs H would love to live somewhere like that even better that it had no other inhabitants.

Predators Gold by Phillip Reeve
⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was a great second novel in this series the way it built on the first book was great and it not my usual cup of tea in the way this is more of a Sci-Fi post-apocalyptic story,  I prefer to read fantasy but for some reason I really enjoyed this the next book is based 20 years into the future so I cant wait to see what happens.

A Whole New World by Liz Braswell
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mrs H has been telling me to read this all year and I thought it was a great alternative to story to Aladdin. We have all of these books and I'm sure I will work my way through them at some point.

So that's it 7 Books in three months in this same time Mrs H read 14 books! My aim for this year was to read 30 books so tune back in for the next post to see whether I make it or not... As I am so late in writing this post I can tell you yes, I did! But how many did I read...?

Catch Up with the Pets! // Part 2

 

I almost forgot to post this so before the year ends I thought I'd better get it up. Check out the first of these posts here Catch Up with the Pets! // Part 1 to see lots more cuteness and hear all about what our babies got up to in May through September. This post continues on with the photos I've taken from October right up until now that were included in my daily photos, not from my phone otherwise we'd be here forever, and capture those treasured moments I will now be able to remember forever. 
Obviously, you'll see from the photo above that this post does include our full family so if you don't like reptiles this is your warning...however there is nothing to be scared of, they are the sweetest souls.

That's it! I'm surprised there aren't more photos to be honest because I'm always snapping something cute or funny or interesting, however many are either on my phone or unedited still on memory cards haha. I hope you enjoyed seeing all those beautiful faces! Feel free to leave any links in the comments to photos of your fur/scale/etc babies.

Until next time...

Collective Book Haul // September - December

 

It's been a while! Compared to last year when we were doing monthly book hauls, it's been pretty different to not be compiling these lists regularly. The previous haul here was uploaded back in September and since our book buying has slowed even moreee. Check out the previous haul here > Collective Book Haul // June - August. 

The Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends by Peter Berresford Ellis
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The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste 
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The Art of the Lord of the Rings (60th Anniversary Special Edition) by J. R. R. Tolkien
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The Disney Studio Story by Richard Holliss

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury
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Nightmares! The Sleepwalker Tonic by Jason Segel & Kirsten Miller 
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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone MinaLima Edition
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Disneyland Paris Phantom Manor Decrypted Attraction Book
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Disneyland Paris Pirates of the Caribbean: A Treasure of an Attraction Book

Umbrella Mouse to the Rescue by Anna Fargher
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The Ickabog by J.K. Rowling
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A Middle-earth Traveller: Sketches from Bag End to Mordor by John Howe
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Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature by Natural History Museum

As I mentioned briefly in another post, we had planned to allow ourselves a certain amount of money per book we'd read this year, to spend next year so that we could stick to a budget and not go crazy. However, circumstances have changed and now we need to save as much money as possible which means buying books will be a rare occurrence.
Anyway, this is what we have bought in the past 4 months. To quickly address the issue I'm sure many will find, books were already pre-ordered and we are very much LGBTQIA+ allies and do not condone any Transphobic attitudes. 

The First Walk

 

I am happiest and nicest when out in nature. I grew up with a view of the sea from my room, going on bike rides through country lanes, spying interesting creatures in rock pools and walking through long grass in fields full of cattle. I don't 'do well' surrounded by busy roads, incessant sirens, ignorant people and no escape. Where I live isn't inner city or even a particularly bad area at all, however life near cities is very different, as are the people. It isn't so bad when you have a car and can drive 15 minutes to the beach or half an hour to a woodland walk, which is what we did semi-regularly 'pre-Covid' (as everyone is saying) but that isn't an option anymore.

Back on the 13th, I had to drive up to my parents to pick up my new inhalers and instead of just driving the 1.5 hours there and turning back around again I got to actually enjoy the outside world. With masks on and walking apart (despite the fact both of us have been in isolation all year), Dad and I got to have a walk together for the first time in 2020. 
In the short space of time we were lucky enough to see so many beautiful birds and barely any other humans at all - life goals! Here was our view.