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Jun. 9th, 2012 08:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelseagirlIn memory of Ray Bradbury I did a reread of one of his short-story collections. Thought some of you might be interested, so I'm crossposting my Goodreads review.
A few years ago, I reread The Martian Chronicles, and kind of wished I hadn't, because the best book in the world when you're in seventh grade isn't necessarily the best book in the world when you're in your forties. However, with Bradbury's death the other day, and all the tributes I've been seeing, I've been curious to reread some more. I found S is for Space on my shelves. The title is a misnomer, as most of its stories are actually firmly earthbound, but it's a collection which includes many of my favorites, and I'm glad I chose it.
It's peculiar to inhabit a future where there's lots of cigarette smoking going on, where the atomic bomb is a bigger worry than global warming or economic catastrophe, and where seemingly most women are housewives. But science fiction is, of course, always very much a product of its time. I skipped the mushrooms in the basement story, but I took great joy in "Pillar of Fire" (one undead man vs. a world that's abolished horror), "The Pedestrian" (a lead-up to Farenheit 451, which poses a very good question), "The Screaming Woman" (both the one buried-alive story that doesn't make me *entirely* claustrophobic, and an pitch perfect inquiry into why nobody every listens to kids), and "Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed" (the best of Bradbury's Mars stories). "The Man" and "The Smile" scan as absurdly naive to my older self, but still resonate to my childhood memories of reading them. Others work less well, but there are very few short story collections where everything resonates with every reader.
I even have a new favorite, "The Trolley," about the last trolley ride in a small town. Now knowing the history of public transportation in America, and the concerted effort that was made mid-century to limit/decimate it outside of major cities, this story pressed all kinds of buttons it hadn't when I'd read it years ago. If I ever get to teach my environmental literature class again, this might very well make it only the syllabus.
The book, a mass-market paperback with a 1981 print date, was my original copy and began to deconstruct itself as I read it; the spine is cracking and the pages have gone beyond yellowed into browned. I'm going to respect that and let the book go. However, we've still got copies of Dandelion Wine, Farenheit 451, and Something Wicked This Way Comes on our shelves (the latter two not even crumbling), so I may revisit Bradbury again soon.
A few years ago, I reread The Martian Chronicles, and kind of wished I hadn't, because the best book in the world when you're in seventh grade isn't necessarily the best book in the world when you're in your forties. However, with Bradbury's death the other day, and all the tributes I've been seeing, I've been curious to reread some more. I found S is for Space on my shelves. The title is a misnomer, as most of its stories are actually firmly earthbound, but it's a collection which includes many of my favorites, and I'm glad I chose it.
It's peculiar to inhabit a future where there's lots of cigarette smoking going on, where the atomic bomb is a bigger worry than global warming or economic catastrophe, and where seemingly most women are housewives. But science fiction is, of course, always very much a product of its time. I skipped the mushrooms in the basement story, but I took great joy in "Pillar of Fire" (one undead man vs. a world that's abolished horror), "The Pedestrian" (a lead-up to Farenheit 451, which poses a very good question), "The Screaming Woman" (both the one buried-alive story that doesn't make me *entirely* claustrophobic, and an pitch perfect inquiry into why nobody every listens to kids), and "Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed" (the best of Bradbury's Mars stories). "The Man" and "The Smile" scan as absurdly naive to my older self, but still resonate to my childhood memories of reading them. Others work less well, but there are very few short story collections where everything resonates with every reader.
I even have a new favorite, "The Trolley," about the last trolley ride in a small town. Now knowing the history of public transportation in America, and the concerted effort that was made mid-century to limit/decimate it outside of major cities, this story pressed all kinds of buttons it hadn't when I'd read it years ago. If I ever get to teach my environmental literature class again, this might very well make it only the syllabus.
The book, a mass-market paperback with a 1981 print date, was my original copy and began to deconstruct itself as I read it; the spine is cracking and the pages have gone beyond yellowed into browned. I'm going to respect that and let the book go. However, we've still got copies of Dandelion Wine, Farenheit 451, and Something Wicked This Way Comes on our shelves (the latter two not even crumbling), so I may revisit Bradbury again soon.
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Date: 2012-06-09 02:50 pm (UTC)I wanted to reread or first-read something by Bradbury as a ... memorium? ... and short stories would be perfect, but it turns out that I don't own any, I haven't been able to get to the library, and of course none are yet out-of-copyright to be free online.
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Date: 2012-06-09 02:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-11 05:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-11 09:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-13 03:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-16 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-16 04:47 pm (UTC);-) I am now imagining pages crumbling behind my reading, and having to read faster and faster to keep ahead of the crumble, kind of like the outside of The Never-Ending Story. ;-)
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Date: 2012-06-16 09:29 pm (UTC)Book Came
Date: 2012-06-19 02:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-09 03:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-09 04:18 pm (UTC)As for the mushroom story, I never liked it, so why bother?