Halloween is for Halloween, End of Discussion (Ugh)

Excuse me, but I must rant.

I would like to join a book club in Pasadena.  I already belong to a book club, but the members live scattered throughout L.A. County and we meet sporadically, at best.  Also ... we never talk about the book.  My book club is a just an excuse for several women in their early 30s to get together, eat and talk about everything (except the damn book that we were all supposed to read). 

As much as I enjoy my current book club, I am a bookworm and a nerd.  I would love to actually talk about books with some fellow bookworms for an hour every month or two.  I don't want to join a book club that dictates all the books I read, but I would like to spend more time talking about things like literature, reading, writing and books.  Right now, I talk about these things for about two or three hours every year.  There are 8,760 hours in a year.  I think I can do a little better.

Last week, I saw this sign outside my local bookstore:

I rejoiced.  I have not read Brave New World since high school, and I would love to reread it.  And The Thorn Birds?  I just read that during my honeymoon!  It was wonderful and exactly the sort of book I would love to discuss with some fellow book lovers. 

Then, I looked closer.  The book club meeting for The Thorn Birds is October 31 at 6:30 p.m.  It might as well be scheduled for "Halloween when the kiddies are trick-or treating."  Because Halloween is always on October 31.  And kids always go trick-or-treating just as it gets dark.  Halloween is not one of those holidays that moves around like Easter or Thanksgiving.  A person could accidentally schedule a book club to meet on Easter. "Oh, oops!  Easter is in March this year?  That's so early.  Oh well, we'll just have talk about The Thorn Birds in early April."  But Halloween?  You can't accidentally schedule a book club for October 31 and then tell me you forgot about that whole trick-or-treating thing.

Who organized this damn book club, and why do they hate Halloween?  People, Halloween is once a year.  You have 364 other days to schedule a book club meeting to discuss The Thorn Birds.  Why must you insist on a conflict with a major holiday? 

I'm assuming that this always book club meets on the last Monday of the month.  But if Halloween falls on the last Monday of the month, doesn't that warrants an exception?  Move the book club to Tuesday, Wednesday, or any other day that is not Halloween! 

I briefly considered attending The Brave New World meeting, but I don't want to join a book club that scorns Halloween.  That is just too pretentious for me, thank you very much.  My quest for a Pasadena book club continues...