all from R is for Rocket:

The Strawberry Window

The gift

The Long Rain
(downer at first but when the Lt. reaches sun dome it makes you feel so good inside)

Here There Be Tygers


[This message has been edited by Ettil (edited 05-19-2004).]

The strawberry window is a great one!

A Medicine For Melancholy really puts a smile in my soul. But I think for sheer humanity of character and bittersweet humour of daily life, The Anthem Sprinters is my favorite 'feel-good' RB tale.
But now that I consider things, ALL of RB's stuff makes me feel good, even the dark, brooding, or sad tales.
But wait, what was the name of the story (like Anthem Sprinters, has the Irish characters) where they bury a friend who stated in his will that his legendary liquor stash was to be buried with him, but they couldn't bring themselves to burying forever such a stout, heady treasure of alcohol, so they drink it and STILL bury it with him (cleverly, revoltingly, and perfectly in keeping with RB's sense of humour)...?
That story had me giggling for days.

"One For His Lordship, and One More for the Road."

"Powerhouse"!
Although the story contains a touch of sadness (the dying mother), in the end its main character finds true equilibrium - in a way the reader wouldn't expect: The strange and unfamiliar setting of the powerhouse turns out to be the very place that gives her the ability to see "a bigger picture" and develop a new perspective. When I first read this story, I think it was first of all this unexpected turn that transported the feeling of the new found comfort and faith so well.
A story to recharge your batteries!

Dandelion,
"One For His Lordship, and One More for the Road" is very funny - based on an old joke, actually. Though, this is one story that I'm not sure I would like to see made into a movie!

I guess for me it's a little different. Bradbury is so transcendental that I don't a story to be "happy" per se to be transported by it. Of all the wonderful qualities of Bradbury's work the one that turns me on the most is his child like sense of wonder, his enduring faith in the possibilities of humankind and for that I'd have to point out "The Golden Apples of the Sun", "The Million Year Picnic", and --this is gonna sound strange-- "Pillar of Fire". Just cuz the dead guy is more alive than the living people and goes down in flames shouting the words of great literature. Awesome and inspiring.