Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury

Two boys have lived their lives side by side having been born just minutes apart. The two are so completely different and yet in sync. Jim is always racing ahead and Will is always trying to catch up. One day the carnival comes to town and the boys sneak out to watch it set up. Instinctively they know that there is something wrong with this carnival. Something about it worries them as they watch the tents going up at 3am in the morning. In the daylight all looks normal and many people are enticed in to have their dreams and wants come true. Jim and Will discover that there is more to this than there seems and set out to stop anyone else getting hurt. However, they are discovered by the owners of the carnival and now their own lives are in danger as the carnival hunts them down.

I love Ray Bradbury. I have read a number of his books and I always forget just how wonderful they are. With this one it was the writing style of the book. It was almost as if the words wanted to take a poetic format. I seriously think this could easily have been read out in a performance. Possibly not surprising since Bradbury intended the original of this book to be brought to life on screen.

The boys themselves were fantastic characters. Each so very different and yet sharing that strong bond of friendship. Their characters almost complimented each other. I also loved Will's dad who looked over the boys longing for the freedom and youth they have. A desire the carnival picks up on and tries to use to sway him. Little does her realise that his son doesn't see him as the old man he sees himself as.

As well as being a fantastic piece of writing the book has confirmed something to me. Carnivals are creepy places. I have never really liked them and now I know why. They are scary and bad things can happen. I've actually came across a few stories about carnivals which have added to this hypothesis. These boys are certainly braver than me. I would never leave my house at 3am just to watch one being set up. I certainly wouldn't wonder around it alone after hours.

A great Halloween read. I highly recommend it. Oh, and the next time you go to a carnival maybe think twice about going into the hall of mirrors or going onto the carousel.

Odd Thomas - Dean Koontz

Odd Thomas lives up to his name. He is a little Odd, a harmless eccentric to the people who don't really know him in his own town. Being born with his gift being Odd is understandable. He can see dead people. He can't hear them and so has to use his intuition to discover what it is they need from him. The rest of the time he is a fry cook and boyfriend of the lovely Stormy. On August 14th he is working in the kitchens when a strange man enters the cafe. His food order is strangely large but there is something about him that gives Odd Thomas a bad vibe. Something is going to happen in the town and it centers round this creepy man. Odd believes that he has to do something to stop him or many people will die.

I got into Dean Koontz round about the same time I started reading Stephen King. Even then I knew they weren't in the same league but I still enjoyed reading Koontz. He was at the lighter range of horror which can be a nice change. I eventually stopped reading them though and I certainly didn't feel the need to read his entire back catalog because all of his characters started to feel the same to me. They all ran into one another and I couldn't honestly remember the names of the main characters in the books that I had read months after reading it. I picked this one up because it was recommended to me as a Halloween read. It's been years since I have read any of his books and I did actually like the fact that it was the first in a series starring this one character (plus with the name Odd Thomas I am not likely to forget). So, I was actually looking forward to it.

I very much wanted to like the book and not just for old times sake. I liked Odd Thomas. He was a sweet if rather strange guy. I liked his out look on life even if he did seem a little naive at times. Definitely likable which showed in the fact that everyone in town seemed to love him if not understand him. The first and main problem I had with the book is the first person narrative. It was great because I got to see they way Odd worked and what he thought. However, he did have a tendency to wonder off the point. From the first few pages I would find I had read a page and not taken anything in because my mind started to wonder. I would go back and re-read it only to find that I didn't need to bother. What I had missed had nothing to do with the story at hand. I felt that there was a lot of that in there. Plus a lot of repetition in there too. I don't know how many times we heard that Granny Sugars used to like to gamble or that Odd's dad was trying to send land on the moon.

The plot itself I felt was a little weak. Most of it was chasing round one guy and then nothing really happened until the end. All of a sudden a satanic cult was involved and the detail in that was light until the end too. The fact that Odd can see something called baldocks was interesting but in the end they didn't really have much to do with what Odd was trying to prevent. Although I can see that they might have a part to play in another book. Odd also experienced something supernatural in the house of the stranger but again it had no real part to play in the plot. We never really found out how or why it happened other than some guess work made by Odd. I have to admit that I spent most of the book impatiently waiting for the story to move along.

As much as I liked Odd as a character I don't think I will be reading any more of these books. I am actually a little sad about that because I really did like him. Oh, and as a Halloween read I would give it a big zero. Wasn't scared for a minute and I am a bit of a wimp.

The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson

Dr Montague sees himself as an expert on psychic activity. He stumbles over Hill House and decides it's the perfect place to study this phenomenon. A reportedly haunted house that no one will talk about openly. So he invites some people along who are know to have shown some psychic ability. Eleanor decides to go now that she is all alone in the world. She has nothing else to lose and maybe it will give her the sense of belonging she craves. The beautiful Theodora also accepts and Luke, heir to the house, tags along. The house immediately makes itself felt and the group are aware that it won't be long before something happens. They are unsure as to what that will be but don't believe it will put them in any physical danger until it's too late.

My first knowledge of this book was actually the 1999 film "The Haunting" starring Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luke Wilson. It's a film my mum would watch relentlessly. A film I hated as it just wasn't very good. When I asked for some Halloween book recommendations my friend urged me to read this one. I picked it up although I had my doubts when I discovered the book was based on it. I know I always share why I decide to read a book and it's usually not relevant. In this case it is though as I had to push my memories of the film out of my head in order to read the book. Or at the very least try not to let my dislike of it prejudice my view of the book.

The book actually has a very different tone. It's set in the late 50's and the characters in the book actually had a very different feel to those in the film for that reason alone. We immediately feel for Eleanor who has spent most of her life caring for her mother. She takes this offer to Hill House as a way to get out the house of her selfish sister and her husband. For her sake I wanted her to keep driving round America rather than to end the journey she was enjoying so much at Hill House. I was so relieved for her when she quickly fit in to the group and found a niche for herself. A relief that the character felt herself. As the book continues though that niche isn't as secure as it first seemed. Either by Eleanor's doing or by the people around her. Maybe as her neediness showed the other characters were put off by it and in the end pitied her.

What I really think though is that it's the house. We know as soon as Eleanor arrives at the village that there is something wrong with house. The people are strange and uncommunicative. Then the people caring for the house are exactly the same. Possibly the house has seeped into all of these people. Eleanor herself is afraid as soon as she arrives at the house. As the book continues the house is found to be creepier. Doors that won't stay open, noises in the night and an unexplained cold spot not to mention the dark decor and forbidding decor. The blurb of the book says that the house wanted to claim one of it's guests as their own. I think it seeped into the guests and deliberately gave Eleanor that feeling of being an outcast again. Through out the book she continually reached out to people only to be shrugged off.

The book didn't seem particularly scary or creepy at first. There were a few dark moments such as Eleanor's arrival at the house but the mood of the book was quickly brightened again with the arrival of more people. This just added to the build up because I hit the half way mark and I was extremely glad that I was reading it during the day. In fact I managed to finish it during the day too so no sleepless nights for me (fingers crossed).

A fantastic book which I am glad I read. It goes back to that view of the film never matching up to the book. In this case I am thankful of it.

October purchases

The books I have ordered have arrived and I am pretty excited about them. Most of them have been recommendations from people. I asked for some spooky reading ideas last week. Here is what I picked up;

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
The Fall of the House of Usher and other stories by Edgar Allan Poe.

The Poe was really a must have. Every Halloween for the last three or four years I have said I am going to read some Poe and haven't quite managed it. This time I have no excuse as I now have a very pretty copy of his collection of stories (love vintage classics). The same friend who has been nagging at me to read it also recommended The Haunting of Hill House. I have been told that it's very scary and as I scare easily I am expecting a few sleepless nights. The Ray Bradbury was recommended by the lovely Satia of Satia's Reviews. This is actually another book I have been meaning to read. I read a few Bradbury when I was into my sci fi and loved it. Lastly, I saw someone on the bloghop on Friday list Odd Thomas as a favourite spooky read (I'm sorry I can't remember who it was). I read Dean Koontz long after I discovered Stephen King. Not in King's league but I did enjoy them for a while. Then all the books started to run into each other in my head, the were all so similar, that I took a very long break. Actually this will be the first since then so I am actually looking forward to it.

The book at the bottom of the pile has been renamed 'my baby'. Yep, it's the first two books of Haruki Murakami's "IQ84". It's going to take a lot of will power not to drop everything and read that one. I will be good though and read my Halloween books first. I haven't even opened the cover yet in order to resist temptation.

Anyone have any exciting book purchases this month?