In the words of Sue Sylvester, Halloween is better known as "the day when parents encourage little boys to dress like little girls and little girls to dress like whores and go door-to-door browbeating hardworking Americans into giving them free food."
So true, Sue.
I get to avoid the browbeating and the inevitable parade of Snookis this year because I'll be in DC this weekend!
In honor of the Rally for Sanity and/or Fear, I thought I'd ask these questions three:
Which book still scares the bejesus out of you?
Which book do you turn to when you need some sanity back in your life?
If you are dressing up for Halloween, what is your costume?
Have a good/scary/chocolate-filled weekend, everyone!
(awesome)
CORALINE by Neil Gaiman scares the hell out of me. Always will, though I think if I had read it as a child, I would have been more thrilled than scared. I heard him say in an interview once that adults see CORALINE as a scary story, while kids see it as an adventure. In my case, that's pretty accurate.
ReplyDeleteAs far as comfort books, I'm a fan of anything Beverly Cleary, but the Ramona books are my favorite. They're so freaking irreverent. And I can still relate to Ramona. I read the part where Beezus tells her to grow up, and Ramona yells, "I'm trying!" and couldn't stop nodding my head.
I'm not dressing up for Halloween. I wish I could, but... well... I work from home, so it just seems kind of creepy. I might slap on a plushy, cat-ears stocking cap for the trick-or-treaters, though.
Wow that pumpkin is something else.
ReplyDeleteI like Stephen King but I can't read him! I scare SO easily.
I only reread a handful of books and my favorites right now are gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson and Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson.
I have a ridiculously expensive costume from the Ren Faire so I wear that every year. Boring but I always feel like a princess (who can't breathe).
I don't think I've ever been scared by a book, but I never read horror, so. The closest I've been to spooked is Harry Potter, I guess? That makes me sound 5 years old.
ReplyDelete"Bird by Bird" is a very sane book, for me.
James Patterson scares the hell out of me. Not so much because I believe his gruesome torture porn but because I know he's the top selling author in the US and people read his stuff for FUN.
ReplyDeleteFor sanity, I re-read Jane Austen. And Dickens. Plus the poems of Yeats for spiritual insight and Edna St. Vincent Millay because the sonnet form, perfectly executed, brings order to the Universe.
Scariest book: Capote's In Cold Blood.
ReplyDeleteI still read Bukowski, mostly his poems, to restore my sanity (there, I said it, the B-word).
My costume: Snooki.
Scariest book: 1984. That scene with the rats still gives me cold chills.
ReplyDeleteComfort book: Anne, I go to Austen for literary comfort food, too! My copy of Pride & Prejudice is falling apart I've read it so many times.
No Halloween for me this year. But I'll probably eat some candy.
Scariest book: Misery by Stephen King. The scariest part for me is when Annie burns the only copy of Paul's 190,000 page manuscript that took him two years to write!
ReplyDeleteComfort book: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier or Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.
On Halloween: I'm giving out candy bars at the door to all the little ghosts, witches, angels, vampires, and Harry Potters that trudge through my neighborhood.
Safe weekend, Sarah!
I'm afraid I don't read scary, but comfort? Austen all the way. (Or a little Robin McKinley).
ReplyDeleteNo planned costume, but kids will all be dressed for the occasion (batman, clone trooper, and little red riding hood).
And welcome to DC! Hope you have a great trip. :)
The Stand creeps me out even though I've read it four times.
ReplyDeleteA little Harry P. always helps to make me feel young and happy.
And I'm not dressing up but my boys are:
Christian = Slash
Jack = Punk Rock Zombie
Have fun in DC...so jealous.
I read the Amityville Horror when I was in 7th grade and I slept with the lights on for weeks. I've pretty much avoided scary since then.
ReplyDeleteSanity...not sure, although "Working" by Studs Terkel always kind-of puts things in perspective.
I also work from home, so no dressing up for me.
Have fun in D.C., a cold front just came through, so it's nice and fall chilly. And speaking of scary, check out the "Exorcist Stairs" in Georgetown while you're there.
My comfort book is Sula. And I define comfort as "the book to which I return even just to read excerpts". When I was younger maybe I was spooked by something in a Christopher Pike novel, but I just can't think of it. Certainly not Goosebumps.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I go to film moreso for both. Comfort/satisfaction: The Hours...Yentl
Spooky: Mothman Prophecies
I...have dressed up for Halloween one time in my life and it was highly overrated.
It takes a lot for a book to scare me, but Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill got me a few times.
ReplyDeleteI also re-read books only once every decade or so, but Dave Barry tends to help put things in perspective, even if it's just a column from one of his collections.
Didn't dress up for Halloween this year, but I did take my 3-year-old daughter trick-or-treating for the first time, and that was more fun than any of the crazy parties I used to dress up for back in my college days. Parenthood rocks.