Pre-Halloween reading

Some of the books I read on vacation were ones I'd been meaning to get to for a long time.

Once upon a time I had four books that I wanted to read before Halloween last year. I only managed one, Killing Monsters: Our Children's Need for Fantasy, Heroism, and Make-Believe Violence by Gerard Jones.

Part of the issue is that Jones' book was the only one in libraries. It was also the best of them, so if only one is going to be in libraries, that's the right one to be there. It was an excellent read, valuable for parents, but also as a writer who might sometimes write about monsters, or find things going a little dark there was good insight.

For my birthday I got Powells and Amazon gift cards, allowing me to acquire the other books. The next month I finished one of the others, Better Off Dead: The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human.

This was a bit more academic. Well, Killing Monsters is non-fiction, and it is smart, and it refers to other academic studies, but some books feel more academic. The language is more formal, and more stale, but should language about zombies really be fresh? It still had interesting thoughts, but I wouldn't say that everyone should read it.

I finally got to the last two: Pumpkin: The Curious History of an American Icon by Cindy Ott, and The Romance of Dracula: A Personal Journey of the Count on Celluloid by Charles Butler.

Dracula is not academic at all. It is just reviews and synopses of Dracula movies by someone who really loves them. I can respect that. It is again a book that I can't recommend, but it was interesting reading some movies that I had not previously heard of.

Pumpkin was better. It started out slow, but it was well-researched and I learned things, though it does not really explain the obsession with pumpkin spice everything that happens this time of year. I guess after explaining how pumpkin got its mystique that is the natural extension, but some of the points could have been made more clearly.

It is not a big deal. Once I started grouping the books I want to read, there is a sense of accomplishment when a group is completed, whether it turns out that the grouping was logical or not.

However, it is also nice finishing it in the fall. Halloween decorations and candy are already out, and it makes me feel like this could be the year that last year was meant to be. Maybe this time I will finish the movie list I had too. Last year I only watched I Married a Witch and Practical Magic - maybe this year I can do better. Maybe this year I will finish that needlepoint project. Maybe I will wear a costume somewhere.

New years come around, and new Halloweens come around. There is always another chance.