This contest is now closed. Thanks, everyone, for taking the time to participate! I enjoyed reading the responses and was very pleased with the enthusiastic reaction to the contest.
I've now selected three entries using the random number generator over at randomizer.org. And the winners are:
Rhonda Struthers (comment #40)
Glenn (comment #43)
Jeanette Huston (comment #60)
I'll be notifying them by email as well.
Hachette Book Group is at it again with another themed giveaway! Three lucky readers of book-blog.com will win a box of five scary books:
The Heretic's Daughter By Kathleen Kent ISBN: 031602449X
Sins of the Flesh By Caridad Piñeiro ISBN: 0446543837
When Ghosts Speak By Mary Ann Winkowski ISBN: 044658133X
BoneMan's Daughters By Ted Dekker ISBN: 1599951959
The Historian By Elizabeth Kostova ISBN: 0316070637
On top of this, Hachette will randomly select 20 winners (from their contests across a number of blogs) to receive a galley of Ted Dekker’s next book, THE BRIDE COLLECTOR.
--- --- --- --- HOW TO ENTER --- --- --- ---
Anyone who knows me well at all knows that I loathe Christmas with a great and shudder-inducing loathing. I hate that it's an overly-commercial behemoth that clogs up our highways and emporia for weeks or months at the end of every year. I hate that participation in the frivolities is just assumed by well-meaning people, as if opting out or simply not being Christian is unthinkable at that time of year. I hate that people waste money buying crap for other people who don't want it when that money could be better spent and when they very often don't like the people they're buying the crap for. I hate that participation on some level is obligatory, despite how hard you try to get out of it. Christmas is big and ugly and far removed from whatever respectable roots it had.
On the other hand, I really really like Halloween. Halloween is everything a holiday should be. It's small. It's not religious, for all practical purpose (yeah, yeah, All Hallow's Eve, but get over it; nobody cares). It's not very commercialized (a bit sure, but nothing on the level of Christmas). It's children-centered. It's candy-centered. The customs connected to it are passed down from generation to generation, kids catching on to the requirements of the event almost through osmosis, like they learn playground rhymes. And kids look forward to Halloween not because they're going to be buried under a mound of bank-breaking presents, and I'd argue not really because they're going to be buried under a mound of candy, but simply because it's fun. Putting together a costume is fun. Dressing up is fun. Vampires and ghosts and witches are fun. Walking around the neighborhood is fun. Probably what I like most about Halloween, though, is that in its informal way it brings the community together. When else do your neighbors go out in the dark in such numbers and walk around together? How often do the youngest people in your neighborhood interact with the oldest? The feelings that I assume are supposed to be connected with Christmas--all that alleged cheer and good wishes--I think that's really in evidence on Halloween, and without the crowds and aggravation and expense.
But enough about me. By way of celebrating Halloween, you might want to enter this drawing for the aforementioned box of scary books. To enter, just leave a comment below explaining why you like Halloween and/or describing some noteworthy Halloween-related memory. That's it!
The fine print:
1. Entries must be submitted by 12:00 PM Eastern Time October 31st, 2009.
2. Three winners will be selected in a random drawing. I'll notify the winners by email on October 31st and will ask then that you provide your shipping address.
3. Please include your email address when leaving your entry so that I can contact you if you win.
4. Contest open to US and Candian residents only. No PO boxes please.