October 24.*

Well, you know that every October I have to re-read and talk about Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes. My reading it this year was even better than usual because I had my very own copy, given to me by Mr. CR last Christmas with a card that said, "Now you have your very own copy!"

Why do I have to read it every fall? Well, because:

"So it was on this night that blew warm, then cool, as they let the wind take them downtown at eight o'clock. They felt the wings on their fingers and elbows flying, then, suddenly plunged in new sweeps of air, the clear autumn river flung them headlong where they must go.

Up steps, three, six, nine, twelve! Slap! Their palms hit the library door.

Jim and Will grinned at each other. It was all so good, these blowing quiet October nights and the library waiting inside now with its green-shaded lamps and papyrus dust." (p. 13.)

I love autumn, and Bradbury's book is like experiencing an especially intense prototypical autumn. Every year I re-read it, and every year I find something new in it, and every year something in it soothes me like you can only be soothed when you know what it is to be up at three a.m. with worry or sickness (and most adults know what that is) and need something both completely removed from your surroundings and something which gives you the strength to accept your surroundings.

This year what particularly struck me was remembering that this book stands as one of my greatest readers' advisory triumphs and one of my biggest failures. I gave it to my sister and now it is one of our literary touchstones ("it reminds me of that part in Something Wicked this Way Comes..."); we both thought our Dad, who always liked Arthurian legends and myths and fiction, would really take to it, and so passed it along. He hated it. Hated it from the very start. He just brought it up to me the other day as the weirdest book he's ever started, and what was I thinking giving it to him? So that just makes me laugh. Now, I know my Dad about as well as one reader can know another, and I still am capable of misfiring on what he'll love or hate (he recently read and loved the religious allegory The Shack, which I had no time for). So, all you readers' advisors out there? Give yourself a break if you can't always find readers books they love. Books are bigger than we can always define, and know, and really, so are readers. So don't be so hard on yourself.

*"One year Halloween came on October 24, three hours after midnight."

Comments

[lesbrarian]

I started reading this on your recommendation last year (or was it the year prior? Where does the time go?) and could not get into it, no way no how. It never seems to work when I take fiction advice from you... except that sometimes it does:
http://bfgb.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/the-bookshop-by-penelope-fitzgerald/

[Citizen Reader]

See? Sometimes it's impossible to tell. Reading's a wild animal, and the more we think it can be tamed the more we're kidding ourselves.

I am, however, extremely glad that I landed one with The Bookshop. Thanks for the reminder, I've got to get me some more Penelope.

[Lu]

I just read this at the start of fall and it was love at first sight. I went around my house quoting different passages to my roommates who rolled their eyes at me. I then ordered them all to read it. One did, but didn't take to it and I was only a little bit heart broken. The other really liked the passages I read to them, especially the dad's musings on motherhood and women. I plan to reread this one again and again, especially around this time of year. It's a classic. I can't wait to share it with my future kids! They better love it.

[Terri B.]

I do this too. Every autumn!

[Eva]

I read that one during October a couple years ago and loved it! This year, I'm getting a different Bradbury to try out for Halloween, but I might end up rereading this one too!

[Citizen Reader]

Lu,
I'm so glad you found this one, and at the beginning of fall, too. Fate. Every year a new quote takes me, and every year I fall in love with all three of the boys: Will, Jim, AND Will's dad. Good on you, planning books your future kids must love. Sure, get tattoos, get nose rings, do whatever the other kids are doing--but remember you must love the same books as me! Now that is parenting.

Terri,
Yup, one of my very favorite traditions. Glad it's yours too!

Eva,
Every summer I try to read his "Dandelion Wine," and every year I can't get through it. I guess I'm just one of the (evil?) "autumn people" Bradbury describes in this book. It's my natural season; I can't help it. Every time I read about the smoky October sky and whisper of broomsticks in this novel I get a rightful shiver up my spine!

[lisa peet]

Oh! I was just thinking, on my walk with the dog after work, that it was a Ray Bradbury evening. And then trying to remember which book it was that gave me that association. So thanks! I wonder if I have it here in the house...

[Rachael]

Love love love this book. Also The Halloween Tree.

Any Bradbury lovers in the Chicago area should head to the annual Ray Bradbury Storytelling Festival at the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan, sponsored by the Waukegan Public Library. It's this Friday, and it is amazing what a professional storyteller can do with his work. {{shiver}}

[Jessica]

Help!

Coincidentally, I decided to grab this for Family Reading Hour, and last night we read about 20 pages. Sweetie Junior elected to go to bed early rather than read more (she has the flu) and seems completely bored. I hesitate whether to quickly get a different title or keep pushing for another few chapters. It looks like it doesn't get scary for another 60 pages or so.

I remember loving Bradbury from the first page, starting when I was 11 or 12. I don't understand why it doesn't seem to be clicking. Maybe it's just because she's sick. What do you think?

[Citizen Reader]

Lisa,
I love the descriptive phrase "Ray Bradbury evening." I think we're in for one here tonight, I couldn't be more excited. Looking forward to leaf-smoky air and an orange-purple sunset.

Rachael,
Thanks for the library event info. Hopefully if I remember I'll post something about it in the main blog later this week.

Jessica!
Depending on how old sweetie junior is, it may just be a little too old. I read it first in my early 30s and it seemed about right--I honestly can't say how kids would take to it. Being sick probably didn't help--I think when you're sick you need an easier, more straightforward, and faster story than it's got. I would say put it away and try it some other time, or let Sweetie Jr. discover it later on her own, and switch to something more story-driven for tonight. I'm sorry I don't have any suggestions--oh, what about The Westing Game, also a good Halloween read, and a cracking story, or anything by E. L. Konigsburg?

Oh, I just re-read your comment about loving Bradbury at 11 or 12. I don't know what I would have thought about SWTWC at that age, honestly. I did enjoy his Fahrenheit 451, but I got that at about 14 or 15, I think. Either way--good luck with book choice tonight, and here's hoping SJr. feels better soon!!

[Jessica]

Reporting back from the front:

Last night was a complete turnaround. Maybe because she stayed home and slept 13 hours. Anyway, I look over and her eyes are as big as saucers and she's got the blanket pulled up to her mouth. We got through 60 pages (up to the backward carousel scene), and I think we would have been up for more but it was bedtime.

I did tell her, "You know, this is my friend's favorite book and she reads it every year." I think setting the expectation made a big difference. We're all looking forward to continuing tonight!

[Robert Brown]

I recommend James P Blaylock.

esp. "Land of Dreams" and "The Last Coin"

[Citizen Reader]

Jessica!
Hey, it worked! Kudos to you for sticking with it. How interesting it must be to hear it aloud, in a way. I never think of books that way; my parents were booky and literate in their own way but I don't really remember them reading to me at all, although they were quite nice about not minding when I snuck off to read from a pretty early age.

I hope it goes just as well, if not better, tonight, and that it doesn't get too creepy! I forget that it's creepy, too, because mainly it always seems so beautiful to me. But the Dust Witch? Shiver. I guess she is pretty creepy.

Robert,
Thank you, as always. I don't know about Sweetie Jr. but I'm going to find some Blaylock now.

[barbara]

John Miedema (I, Reader) sent me over with a reference, but I am going to stay for awhile. And now I have to try to find my copy of October Country. Thank you for the reminder.

[Citizen Reader]

Barbara,
Thanks for stopping over! I've got to get John's URL in my sidebar--I'm hoping the more Canadians I have over there, the smoother my eventual application for Canadian citizenship will go. A girl can dream, right? And I'm always glad to provide a Ray Bradbury reminder. He's awesome.