Men's Book Club discussion

What's your recommendation for a monthly read?
For October I'd nominate "Halloween Tree" by Ray Bradbury.
3 trick-or-treating boys tire of ringing doorbells; decide to visit the local haunted house to scare the hell outta' themselves. 1 doesn't return.
Shouldn't press your schedule too much- it's a novella.
What's you nomination?

OK! The results are in for the October Read!
And The Winner Is: {trumpet fanfare}
"Halloween Tree" by Ray Bradbury. {YA-A-A!}
Get your copies and settle in!
Let's see what fright, or magic, October brings us.

PRE-READ
Prior to licking your finger to get to Chapter 1, what do you expect will happen to these boys in the haunted house? Do you think they'll be kids of good character- or are they mischievous with mal-intent in their minds?
Tell the club what you think's going to happen in both the current and the future for these guys.
You have the month of October to finish the book.
Any questions?

I just got my ebook copy.I do have some idea of what will be happening as I grew up watching the movie as a kid, so I won't chime in on what I think will happen. I just started tonight, and made progress to chapter 5.

Jake wrote: "I just got my ebook copy.I do have some idea of what will be happening as I grew up watching the movie as a kid, so I won't chime in on what I think will happen. I just started tonight, and made pr..."

Getting to Chapter 5 after just picking it up is pretty good, Jake.
Must say this isn't progressing the way I thought it would. Especially in the case of Pipkin. Mr. Bradbury has him separated, thought he'd be more in with the group at large. There have been moments of fright, well, perhaps trepidation would be the better word. Have found it to be overly descriptive, but only slightly {3 adverbs in the same sentence- my English teachers would have run out of red ink.}.
Appreciated the bit about the origins of Halloween = went back to the ancient Egyptians. Wonder how accurate that is ...

lol. the whole chapter 2 describing Pipken was a struggle. and I agree. the descriptions are....a little too much withoutuch added benefit. Also, apparently non of the other characters deserve backstories, or even names for that matter. Just Tom and Joe

First, want to indicate that I was unaware that this title has been adapted to film.
Apparently a cartoon movie by the same name.
Thanks for mentioning that, Jake.
Will watch it after finishing the read.
Since it's just you and I here, I won't be as concerned with giving away spoilers = you already know the story {I don't though...}
So, I'm half way through it, at Ch14.
Seems Mr. Bradbury saw fit to give all 9 boys a name. At first I thought, 'what a crazy number', but I'm beginning to see why = to accommodate all the facets/customs of Halloween as it descended through different times & societies.
They've also been whisked away on their journey through time by the ever-mysterious host Mr. Moundshroud, whom they met at the haunted house.
Pipkin remains elusive, making infrequent and short lived appearances, seemingly - when Moundshroud isn't around - which gives this reader pause to wonder if Moundshroud IS Pipkin- or some form thereof...
The journey the group goes on utilizes different methods of travel such as brooms, but by far the most interesting method for me was when the boys were transformed into a cluster of leaves and travelled by being blown by wind. It's also apparent the characters they encounter are specters from folklore of other cultures in other times, and that the costumes each individual boy wears reflects that.
So, this story appears to be becoming more of a treatise on the history of how Halloween, or All Souls Day, or The Day of the Dead, in different parts of the world came to be, what it was/is called, and how it was/is handled.
Hmm, kind of interesting actually.
Jake- do you agree; what do you think?

im a little behind you right now, and although I have seen the movie (very hard to find nowadays) it has the same general format although there are some key differences. instead of history, I agree its taking us through different cultural aspects that make up what Halloween is rather than the history of it. at the point I was at, I wasnt getting names, but now we have started to see each boy named with their costume. Its still very detailed to the point of ridiculous. And im curious about your take on Mr. moundshroud. Im eager to see how he is portrayed more. The traveling is quite entertaining as well, such as the kite of monster posters.

Good comments, Jake.
I feel Ray is leaning more toward a historical slant as he goes into Halloween's beginnings at the time of the pharos, then moves its development to the struggles between the ancient Romans & Christians, then to medieval France which happily delivered us witches, demons, black magic, etc.
At the same time, he's also showing the cultural aspect you indicate.
Me too- also looking forward to Moundshroud's development {where'd that name come from anyway do ya' suppose?}.
Monster posters? I missed something {I'm always doing that} = I thought the kite was made out of circus posters.

it references all sorts of animal posters with fangs, roars, snails, claws, etc. bad reference on my part. also I realized Moundshroud was present when Pipken first showed up with pumpkin in hand, right before he left into the past. Moundshroud points out where he went and drove the boys to follow. so they couldn't be the same person.

had to look up Samhain. That was cool to learn about.

After you said that about Samhain, I did too.
It was interesting.
Jake, I finished it. I liked it, it was well done.
I'll withhold final comments until you are too.

im on chapter 15. should be done soon as well

correction. chapter 19

all done.

ok, well, again i liked it, i was wrong about Pipkin and Moundshroud being one and the same.
Must say i had expectations of Pipkin being the MC, given the build-up Mr. Bradbury offered at the beginning.
Expected him to be more involved, and a little disappointed he wasn't.
I don't see any message or theme to this work, and there's nothing wrong with that- a book's primary purpose should be to entertain.
I think this did that, as well as informing us about the background of Halloween- my first introduction to that.
I'd recommend it. How 'bout you?

PS - I started a new topic titled "November Read", asking the membership what they'd nominate for a group read. I put in Chandler's "The Big Sleep". If you'd care to read another one for the "group" read, I'll go along with your choice = I got this one- only fair you get the next one.

I thought it was a nice spin on the boys bargaining for Pipkens life. but I also thought Pipken would play a bigger role. I already knew about it before, but in case you didnt, and they didnt say it outright but give an obvious hint at the end, Mr. Moundshroud is death. This is also why he can bargain for years of their lives. His name I found comes from mound like grave, and shroud like darkness. It was overall entertaining. I think the writing style helps keep it a good book, because it has a style to it that helps it stand out. For a short book, it hits a lot of points which I enjoyed. I was curious how they were going to do the Notre Dame one, as that's in the Movie. I liked that part, but the movie honestly is really good and you should try to watch it.

Ill see if I can find a book to recommend for November.

Jake wrote: "I thought it was a nice spin on the boys bargaining for Pipkens life. but I also thought Pipken would play a bigger role. I already knew about it before, but in case you didnt, and they didnt say i..."

Jake, thanks for Moundshroud being death. I saw the hint, but didn't 'get' it. Also, I now have the film from my library; will watch it tonight.