Portable Magic
Reading, for me, is entertainment and an escape from the real world. But it can also inform and stretch the boundaries of the life I live.
Currently reading
The Halloween Tree ★★★☆☆
Bradbury gifts us with his wonderful imagery and realistically grubby little boys, as usual, which made reading this book worthwhile. As a story, though, it was not nearly as engaging as I usually find his work. It probably works better for a young audience, as a not-overtly-scary tale of the real origins of Halloween, the meaning of death and sacrifice, and explores some different cultural ideas of death and the afterlife. I was most struck by the bleak, yet accurate description of how time changes for us as we become adults.
Audiobook version, via Audible. I’m not sure what it is about Bronson Pinchot’s readings that I love so much. He doesn’t really try to provide distinct voices for the dialogue, but his performance is more that of a wonderful storyteller, using inflection and pacing to draw us in and keep us spellbound. Although this won’t be one of my favorite Bradbury stories, I think I’d like to have an illustrated hardcover, because such beautiful images painted in words just deserve to be brought to life visually as well.
I read this for the 2018 Halloween Bingo. The square is Classic Horror - Horror fiction that was published prior to 1980 (Called 9/1/18). This book fits because it was originally published in 1972.
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