From One Book Lover

Neil Gaiman had a great idea: give a scary book for Halloween. Here, let me let him tell you himself: I fully support All Hallow's Read , but I'm a little different: I give poems with the candy.  This year, Halloween falls on Poetry Wednesday, so you can get your poetry fix right here. Feel free to print out the poem I post October 31 and give it to the trick-or-treaters who come to your door. (If you need the title early so you can better prepare, let me know .) Other poems I've shared in years past include "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe and " The Little Ghost " by Edna St. Vincent Millay. So, what are you reading this All Hallow's Read? If you're looking for a novel, I suggest John Dies at the End by David Wong. I just finished it and if I could explain it, I would get a medal. It was wild, freaky and very, very good. I also will be reading Shadow of Night (and re-reading A Discovery of Witches , which is totally worthy...

The Raven Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. "'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door - Only this, and nothing more." Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore - For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore - Nameless here for evermore. And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before; So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating, "'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door - So...

Just when I thought it was safe to post a holiday list, They come out with another literature-related one.  ("They" always do.) The Dead Poets Society of America is promoting its new holiday: Dead Poets Remembrance Day.  Held on October 7, the date of Edgar Allen Poe's death, the holiday remembers all of the poets who have come before us. The society is ramping up to that bash by having Dead Poets events in nearly every state.  In Virginia, it's at the Edgar Allen Poe Museum in Richmond.  In Maryland, it's at Poe's grave.  (Do I see a trend here?)  In D.C, they leave Poe alone.  Check out the list on the link from the Dead Poets Society Web pag e. A little macabre?  Sure.  But if you can't love a dead poet, who can you love?