Ray Bradbury Forums
What Are You Reading? II
01 November 2006, 01:13 PM
Braling IIWhat Are You Reading? II
I'm halfway through "Farewell Summer" and it's going by too quickly! I love the quintessentially Bradburian description of the candy shop.
(Where did I put my metronome?)
01 November 2006, 07:03 PM
rocketB-Two, I too loved that very descriptive part revolving around the "nickel emporium", so good in fact that it made my mouth water. It was surprising where they went and what they did with all of their goodies. Thanks for teaching me what an ellipsis is. When I saw that, I thought you meant oval shaped.
I didn't want to interrupt that interesting turn of conversation on the other thread. Nobody answered my query regarding the difference between a toadstool and a mushroom. Are toadstools always poisonous, is that it? BOYS, raise mushrooms in your cellar...
By the way, I'm not complaining or anything because I did really love Farewell Summer, but is it me or is it substantially shorter than Dandelion Wine. It seemed like a fast read. I mean, when double spacing is considered, it just seems short. Was that the publisher's decision to double space? Does anyone know how many words are in Dandelion Wine verses Farewell Summer? Just curious, either way, it does not detract from the story or my appreciation of it.
She stood silently looking out into the great sallow distances of sea bottom, as if recalling something, her yellow eyes soft and moist...
rocketsummer@insightbb.com
02 November 2006, 07:47 AM
Braling IIrobotmurmershifter,
I just posted one or two of my reactions to the book elsewhere, but I too was surprized how quickly the book is over! More like a long short story...
02 November 2006, 02:35 PM
rocketOh my, why didn't I think of that, it's the perfect name, hold on a second while I change this again. I know what you mean, I was wishing for a fatty like a Michener book. I'll take what I can get though, I ain't complaining, too loud. I can always pick up 100 stories to sate my cravings...am I doing this too much? I'll chill.ooo
She stood silently looking out into the great sallow distances of sea bottom, as if recalling something, her yellow eyes soft and moist...
rocketsummer@insightbb.com
02 November 2006, 04:11 PM
grasstainsPerhaps they resemble frog poop. I was always told that toadstools are mushrooms which aren't for eating. I knew a guy who died from eating the wrong kind of shrooms. He was a member of a very wealthy Sonoma Valley winemaking family (Sebastiani) and always an oddball. He and several of his friends went picking shrooms and I think at least one other died. Terrible way to go, organ failure.
Rest in peace, Sammy. Miss you much.
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"Years from now we want to go into the pub and tell about the Terrible Conflagration up at the Place, do we not?"
02 November 2006, 04:43 PM
grasstainsI just finished THE JERICHO ITERATION by Allen Steele. It's a post-apocolypse SF novel with some cyberpunk elements. Being one of those people who has to be able to give everything a name, these kinds of books drive me crazy--is it post-apocolypse or cyberpunk?
It was a good read, nothing great. Stellar. I do recommend other stuff by this author, but this one I'm hesitant to give my stamp of approval. Only because it never really knocked my socks off or drew me in to the point where I couldn't put it down to answer the phone.
Now I'm reading some short stories from DANGEROUS VISIONS, I might read the whole book, I'm just tickled to finally be able to hold this book in my hands. I've been looking for it for half a lifetime and finally found it on Teusday. I only shop at used bookstores and thriftstores, because it's more fun that way... yeah, not because I only make $10.75 an hour.
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"Years from now we want to go into the pub and tell about the Terrible Conflagration up at the Place, do we not?"
03 November 2006, 01:59 AM
philnicgrasstains,
Dangerous Visions, eh? Welcome to the 1960s! There are some great stories in there. I guess it has stayed in print fairly continuously since first publication, but I also looked for a long time before finding a copy (this was back in the '80s).
Although 'new waves' are supposedly about youthful rebellion, I find the best, most durable stories in that volume to be the ones by the old-timers: Pohl, Bloch, Leiber.
03 November 2006, 07:37 AM
grasstainsPerhaps I could have found it sooner had I looked to buy a new issue, but because I only shop in secondhand stores it has taken all these years to stumble upon a copy. It really IS more fun this way. My elation when finding a book I've been searching for is an added bonus.
The fact that it took so long to find this particular book might suggest that it's the kind of book people don't get rid of after reading it. There are a few other books which have managed to elude me and on this one trip I happened to find another book besides DANGEROUS VISIONS which I've also been searching for for a very long time. Don't laugh, it was STAR TREK Log Ten (a novelization of animated series) which was the last one I needed to complete the series.
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"Years from now we want to go into the pub and tell about the Terrible Conflagration up at the Place, do we not?"
03 November 2006, 12:18 PM
philnicquote:
Originally posted by grasstains:
...Don't laugh, it was STAR TREK Log Ten (a novelization of animated series) which was the last one I needed to complete the series.
No laughter here. I remember that series of books well. Alan Dean Foster, determined to spin each 24-minute cartoon out to novel length!
03 November 2006, 01:36 PM
Alternating Aliterationjust read- Scarlet Letter
now reading-walden
next-alice in wonderland
im in love with classic lititure. So many books so little time.
03 November 2006, 02:23 PM
grasstainsI read ALICE IN WONDERLAND a few years back and originally intended to immediatly follow it up with reading THROUGH THE LOOKINGGLASS. Boy, like Alice, I barely made it through "Wonderland". Only through sheer determination and teeth-clenching concentration did I finish that book. What rubbish. Page after page of rediculous absurdities in antiquated english. Never even began "Looking Glass". Good luck.
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"Years from now we want to go into the pub and tell about the Terrible Conflagration up at the Place, do we not?"
03 November 2006, 03:57 PM
Braling II"I played the egg in the picture."
- W.C. Fields
03 November 2006, 06:29 PM
patraskquote:
Originally posted by grasstains:
I read ALICE IN WONDERLAND a few years back and originally intended to immediatly follow it up with reading THROUGH THE LOOKINGGLASS. Boy, like Alice, I barely made it through "Wonderland". Only through sheer determination and teeth-clenching concentration did I finish that book. What rubbish. Page after page of rediculous absurdities in antiquated english. Never even began "Looking Glass". Good luck.
She puzzled over this for some time,
But at last a bright thought struck her.
"Why, it's a Looking-glass book, of course!
And, if I hold it up to the glass,
The words will all go the right way again."
Jabberwocky:
The greatest of all English Nonsence poems:
"...it seems to fill my head with ideas -
only I don't know exactly what they are." - Alice
Everyone should know this poem as the prime example of a true Nonsence poem, wherein every word has absolutely no real meaning, but sounds as though it must! A true work of the highest art. I have it framed in my den next to an original print of the artwork drawing of the Jabberwocky being attacked with "Vorpal sword in hand". Had my daughter memorize this for an elementary school project, she never forgot it.
Some think this poem invokes feelings of the description of particle physics, or of the state of affairs in human relations, all nonsence anyway, eh?
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04 November 2006, 07:35 PM
fjp451The "EGG!?" No wonder we never stay on topic on this board!
There goes another clean screen...
06 November 2006, 09:45 PM
grasstainsNearing the end of John Christopher's WHITE MOUNTAINS. Tonight we read about Will tossing his "egg" into the tripod. I always thought that was the best part. After this we'll finsh reading Fred Pohl and Jack Williamson's UNDERSEA trilogy. I've never read DANDELION WINE to the kids. Maybe after our little aquatic adventure we'll take our shoreleave in Greentown. I love traveling.
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"Years from now we want to go into the pub and tell about the Terrible Conflagration up at the Place, do we not?"