Day 373: Something Wicked + Caruso CD 1

WickedThe first time I read Ray Bradbury’s incomparable book Something Wicked This Way Comes I was both scared spitless and embarrassingly jealous at the same time.

The former because it’s just a scary story. No question about it. The tale of the strange carnival that comes to one small Midwest town in the dead of night can scare the pants off anyone.

The latter because Bradbury’s writing style is inimitable. It crackles with life. I wish I had a fraction of Bradbury’s talent.

I think, with this book especially, it’s Bradbury’s vivid descriptions combined with his short, often one-word, verbs, usually set off with an exclamation point that gives the book a vibrancy, an immediacy, enabling it to transcend its medium.

See!

That’s how Bradbury writes.

Hear!

This is more than a book. Something Wicked reads like a first-hand account of the rise of a malevolent evil.

Bradbury adeptly weaves a spell so unbreakable that it holds me until I reach the last page. Even then I want to turn back to the front and start over – and be just as engaged (and surprised!) as I was the first time.

Something Wicked This Way Comes works on many levels. It is not a story for Continue reading