Day 371: Something Wicked + Caruso CD 1

SomethingAhhh. This is more like it.

I’m done with The Tale of Genji.

I’m sure it’s a fine novel, especially for being 1,000 years old. But October is my favorite month. And Something Wicked This Way Comes is my favorite read during my favorite month.

So, even though Ray Bradbury’s incomparable book was written in 1962, and the next book (Pride and Prejudice) on my Year Two reading list was written in 1813, and my plan was to read books in chronological order, I don’t think anyone is going to complain that I changed my own rules at the outset.

Right?

Day 370: The Tale of Genji + Caruso CD 1

GenjiBooksStill reading The Tale of Genji and listening to Enrico Caruso CD 1, which was recorded 1902-1903.

Tale is tough going.

Caruso is fascinating.

I just remembered a book I read every October, and it’s not The Tale of Genji.

It’s a book by the late science fiction/fantasy author Ray Bradbury called Something Wicked This Way Comes.

I do believe I’m going to abide by my yearly tradition.

Life is too short not to have the best time possible.

And, since Something Wicked This Way Comes ranks up there in my Top 2-3 books, I’m going to stop the tough sledge through The Tale of Genji and I’m going to enjoy the hell out of Something Wicked This Way Comes, which – since it takes place in the month of October – is always best read in the month of October.

Day 31: Something Wicked

HaydnCD31There’s nothing wicked about this morning’s Haydn selection. It’s somewhat bland. But it’s hardly evil.

No. My title refers to a book, one of my very favorite books. Every year, around this time, I read Ray Bradbury’s superlative Something Wicked This Way Comes.

If you’ve never read it, I encourage you to do so. It’s truly scary. And written with such precision and verve that each word crackles with life. Some of Bradbury’s sentences are so well written that I often re-read them, in awe, savoring every syllable, before moving on to the next one.

Screen Shot 2013-10-31 at 9.13.23 AMOh? You don’t believe me? Try this, the opening paragraphs, on for size:

THE SELLER of lightning rods arrived just ahead of the storm. He came along the street of Green Town, Illinois, in the late cloudy October day, sneaking glances over his shoulder. Somewhere not so far back, vast lightnings stomped the earth. Somewhere, a storm like a great beast with terrible teeth could not be denied.

So the salesman jangled and clanged his huge leather kit in which oversized puzzles of ironmongery lay unseen but which his tongue conjured from door to door until he came at last to a lawn which was cut all wrong.

Bradbury, Ray (2013-04-23). Something Wicked This Way Comes (Greentown) (Kindle Locations 101-105). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Not good enough? Hmm. Tough crowd. Okay. How about Continue reading