Ray Bradbury Forums
What Bradbury Story Got You Started?

This topic can be found at:
https://raybradburyboard.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6891083901/m/8101063372

06 September 2002, 02:24 PM
Sun
What Bradbury Story Got You Started?
I must have been about 12 years old when I discovered R.Bradbury, I remember it was near closing time at the local library and it was autumn. The book was "The Illustrated Man" - I couldn`t believe it was possible to write like he did, I had to stop every once in a while and just breath. Someone mentioned "Uncle Edgar", you are right, it`s beautiful.
10 September 2002, 02:31 PM
Keli Linda
It was the Veldt in the 8th grade. Frightening and fascinating. I was hooked. I now have upwards of 30 Bradbury books, comics, and the like (small in comparison to others).


~Keli Linda~
19 September 2002, 06:53 PM
deanzat
I'm 44, and my 13-year-old son introduced me to Ray Bradbury this year. Sure, I'd heard of him for most of my life; my brothers were Sci-Fi and Fantasy enthusiasts, so I avoided the genre at all costs.

But my son is an old soul and very trustworthy, so when he recommends a book, I read it (and vice-versa). He recommended Something Wicked This Way Comes. I read it in one sitting during a day of jury duty (not on a jury!).

I was struck by RB's ability to write his prose in poetry, and of course I was moved by my son's attraction to this tale of fatherhood/childhood.

We followed with Martian Chronicles, and I am now working on Dandelion Wine, which he finished a couple of nights ago.

Before my son could read, we made up stories about the Knights of The Big Table, warriors who derived their strength from their service to others. It's no surprise to me that he is attracted to the writings of a man as morally centered as RB.

We're going to the Long Beach event on 04 October, and I think I'm more excited than when we went to see The Who in July. You don't know me, but I assure you that's a big compliment.

Thanks for reading, DZ

[This message has been edited by deanzat (edited 09-19-2002).]
23 September 2002, 02:01 PM
ben
when i was 10 my teacher showed us a film of All summer in a Day. while i'm sure we read the story as well, (i sincerely hope) the video seems to stand out in my mind more. it upset me so much i actually had to be escorted out of the room. i guess i took things a little too hard back then.
i then remember reading the martian chronicles and consequently Edgar Allen Poe, which is someone i really appreciate bradbury leading me too. (although i'm sure that teacher probably showed us a video of "the tell-tale heart", too)
then came RB's Dandelion Wine. i was then, completely consumed with him.. the rest, i read and re-read and then moved on to what i thought was more serious reading.. dead russians, for instance, my wife's obsessed with them.
never having gone to college i read constantly to try and make up for it. i seem to think i can find answers to such questions as my inability to connect with society..( leading to a virtually gorophobic's state of mind..) in books. or answers to my questions on everything i.e. life/religion/science/etc..
to the point...
i recently re-read the martian chronicles and realized that nothing has ever voiced my inner fears, loves, and desires more than these simple science fiction "fables" and there remarkably poignant look at humanity then and today... and even more so today.


~ben
28 September 2002, 09:25 AM
Nessmuk
R is for Rocket. I went to a grade school that went to the 8th grade. Our librarian would only allow you to check out books that was assigned to your grade level. This was all fine and dandy except I was one of those "early readers" and soon exhausted that source of reading material.
Over in the 8th grade section was some science fiction. R is for Rocket and S is for Space. She did not consider science fiction to be "real literature" and had no problems in letting check
out those books. Hence started a 34 year love affair.
04 October 2002, 01:38 PM
Bulldoggrrl
When I was in my teens, I read "Tricks! Treats! Gangway!" in the Reader's Digest (1975) and it described exactly how I felt about Halloween as a child. My favorite time of the year, fall, and the vivid description of the boy's feeling of Halloween brought me to start reading Bradbury at that point. Unfortunately, I cut out the article years ago and have misplaced it and cannot find a copy anywhere - anybody have a suggestion of where I might secure a copy of this story??
Thanks ever so.
05 October 2002, 09:49 PM
Snow
The story was The Garbage Collector. I never, to this day, have stopped trying to come up with a fresh air bottle that matches his. The closest I could come was to stuff a coke bottle full of fresh orange and mint leaves and a little lemon rind. It was wonderful! And all this before aromatherapy was ever heard of. Way to go, Ray!

Books? All of them! But the ones that I continue to re-read for almost thirty years are Dandelion Wine, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and more recently Death Is A Lonely Business. Then came From The Dust Returned, like an answer to prayer.

In my twenties I lived in Orange County. I made frequent trips to Santa Monica during the summer nights. I practically lived on the Santa Monica pier. When Pacific Ocean Park closed down, some of us slipped inside the grounds one night. We strolled down the abaondoned midway, smelling stale popcorn. We found the carousel with it's sad, paint flaked horses. We pushed it around, trying to get a groan of music, but it was silent, and it did not make us older. We sat in a rusty gondola about six feet off the ground, letting the night winds blow us back and forth to the creak of rusty metal. When 'Death Is A Lonely Business' came, it was like reading parts of my own life.

As I write this, I am ready to head to a Pow Wow that is in the park below my work place. A PowWow with Indians from Montana and South Dakota beating on a sacred drum, holding ancient ceremonies in an ancient Hawaiian queen's park in the middle of Oahu Hawaii!

"Stuff your eyes with wonder" Ray has said, and I have never ceased to rise to the challenge. Life is a magical mystery tour!
11 October 2002, 01:26 PM
gary_books
In Junior High, about 14 years old (52 now), I read a collection of science fiction from the library. I cannot recall the title of the collection, or any story in it, except "A Sound Of Thunder". That story sent chills up and down my spine (still does!). I ransacked the shelves for anything with Ray's name on it, and I've been collecting his work ever since. I've just ordered a copy of "Green Shadows, White Whale",- it's being reprinted (HOORAY!!) Now, if I can only get 'them' to reprint "Dark Carnival" and "Journey To Far Metaphor"...


Gary
11 October 2002, 01:52 PM
fjpalumbo
Gary, It may have been from "Golden Apples of the Sun." If so, see my post on page 1 of this board: posted 01-09-2002 08:36 AM

Sounds like a similar thunder shook us at the same times in our learning experiences.

As for Dark Carnival, Gauntlet Press has done so. Still some available ?? And brand new publication "An Illustrated Life: Journey to Far Metaphor" may be just what you are looking for.

[This message has been edited by fjpalumbo (edited 10-11-2002).]


fpalumbo
11 October 2002, 02:21 PM
gary_books
Thanks for the info. The collection was an anthology, not all Bradbury (if it had been, the library may have been missing a book, and I'd have been out my allowance for a while!)

I remember some time ago hearing that Ray was doing another collection of essays, similar to "Yestermorrow" (brilliant book!), to be called "Journey To Far Metaphor". I'm not sure this new biography is the same thing, though I'm looking forward to reading it.

Gary
17 October 2002, 01:01 PM
Corran
Fahrenheit 451. I read it for school in 9th grade and loved it. Then we read Illistrated Man in 10th.
17 October 2002, 03:23 PM
Keli Linda
You know, I just went back to my old middle school (about 10 years later) and talked to the teacher who first introduced me to Ray Bradbury's work. She was extremely uninterested in talking with me about him and less interested when I mentioned that I met him. She even pretended to remember my name by looking down at my name tag and saying "Keli, oh yes I remember you." It's ashame she is not as passionate about Ray Bradbury as I am. Though I am grateful that she introduced me to his work.

[This message has been edited by Keli Linda (edited 10-17-2002).]


~Keli Linda~
28 October 2002, 10:28 PM
owltherapy
quote:
Originally posted by Mr. Dark:
The first Bradbury book I read was Farenheit 451 -- in 9th grade. I was, except for Mad magazines and Marvel comics, a total non-reader. I was in my adolescence and this was the era of the mini-skirt and the halter top. What could reading do to compete with that? My parents took me to a counselor to find out what to do about my refusal to read. The counselor told them to get me all the Mad Magazines and Marvel Comics they could, and to encourage me to read whatever was interesting.

In 9th grade, a friend of mine urged me to read Farenheit 451. I resisted. He loaned me his copy. I reluctantly took it. When I finally did read it, I was in shock. It had never occured to me that ideas mattered. The style and poetry of it . . . the haunting nature of the story and dialogue . . . all got to me. I took the book back to him and asked if he had any more. He gave me either The Martian Chronicles or Something Wicked This Way Comes -- I honestly don't remember which. In either case, I read it, loved it, and returned the book. I then went down to the bookstore and bought everything by Bradbury they had on the shelf.

I had become a reader! Through High School, I read about 60 books a year. From Bradbury, I went on to Clark, Sturgeon, Silverberg, Clarke, Heinlein, Ellison, Pohl, Herbert, Tolkien, Aldiss, etc. What was so fascinating to me was that reading Bradbury got me reading sci-fi, and reading sci-fi got me turned on to literature, philosophy, Theology, religion, etc.

For example, I was reading Starship Troopers and was talking to my dad about the requirement to serve two years in volunteer service for the government before you could earn the right to vote. The idea of having to actually "earn" a voice in government was interesting. My dad asked if I was interested in types of governments, and I said I was. He pulled down Plato's Republic off his shelf. I read that. Before I was out of HS, I was reading James, Aristotle, Plato, Sartre, Camus, etc. I wasn't (and continue not to be) a genius. I had just come alive intellectually. Literature, philosophy, religion, theology all actually had things to say about the human condition!

I have since earned a Masters Degree in English and another Masters Degree in Philosophy. When I teach Jr High and community college, Bradbury is always somewhere in the curriculum.

It is interesting to me that all of this education, passion, pleasure, and fun, stems from a 9th grade reading of Bradbury's Farenheit 451.

Can I pick a favorite? I don't think so. I absolutely love a lot of his short stories. I love Farenheit 451. I love Something Wicked This Way Comes. I love Martian Chronicles (I have students compare it to Hemingway's In Our Time and Anderson's Winesberg, Ohio.). Stories like The Pedestrian, All Summer in a Day, Kaleidescope, The Veldt, The Dwarf, The Skeleton, The Rocket Man, The Long Rain . . . these stories, when I read them now (at the ripe old age of 46) are still just as alive to me as they were when I was young.

Anyway, this was my start to Bradbury. Reading Bradbury continues to be an inspiration to me. I never tire of re-reading his work.

18 November 2002, 04:10 PM
Jez
My first Ray Bradbury book was Farenheit 451. It really cuaght my attention. I read it way back in the 10th grade. None of my other classmates liked it but i love it. my dad has an autographed copy if it.

Then i read R is for Rocket and i was hooked.


"And on either side of the river was there a tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; And the leaves of the tree were for the healling of the nations."
07 December 2002, 03:53 AM
jimhanks
I started just a few days ago.I'm a college student.One of his novels Mars is Heaven is one of our extensive readings'lesson.


I'm a service man.