My ultimate favorite selection writen by Ray Bradbury would be Hail and Farewell. A Fiction selection that i enjoyed reading.

Rebecca Archibald

THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS is a masterpiece- A work of art which proves beyond any doubt that the artist has mastered his craft and developed his own unique style.
I think SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES also qualifies as a masterpiece.

FAHRENHEIT 451 is my favorite book ever, but I think SOMETHING WICKED is a "better" book because not one word is wasted and the tempo of his prose doesn't miss a beat. Where F-451's prose seems to stumble in a few places(first 30-40 pages) and at times he seems to be trying too hard to establish a tempo(prose), but once that tempo IS established it's a beautiful thing. A lot of people have a hard time falling in step with his march those first 40ish pages and end up getting trampled under foot.

my favorite is something wicked this way comes.

After much consideration of this over the years, with choices landing on Dandelion Wine, 451, Something Wicked, collections like Golden Apples or Illustrated Man, it just dawned upon me!

My favorite Ray Bradbury Book is the one I am reading at the time. At times I have thoroughly enjoyed the shenanigans in Green Shadows, White Whale; found revelations and inspiration from Zen in the Art of Writing; was troubled by the flames and humbled by the hope in 451; had hearty laughter overtake me while reading Death is a Lonely Business; admired the insights offered into friendships and character in Wonderful Ice Cream Suit; am amazed by the visions and imagery of the classic Martian Chronicles (with students telling me its poetic style had brought them to tears during assigned readings); run through my own small town dandelions like Doug and Tom in DW; and have been chilled to the bone by the Poesque effect with the likes of early Golden Apples and Dark Carnival selections.

So, I guess, to choose one is neither simple nor fair! Currently I re-reading selections (randomly) from Stories of RB with the intention of offering many in an upper level SF class. Pure enjoyment even with many previous encounters in some cases.

Maybe it is because in each RB work there is some essence of "masterpiece" to be found.


[This message has been edited by fjpalumbo (edited 02-09-2005).]

dandelion wine is a wonderful book

Frank,

I couldn't have said it any better. Each novel and collection of short stories is one of itself and can't really be lumped together. Each is distinct and has it's own flavor and indiosyncrosies (did I spell that correctly?) and should viewed as such.

Im reading my first Bradbury book for an English project. Im reading Martian Chronicals. Its Amazing! Except that im completely lost. well, not lost, i could just use some guidance because im a little confused....
but the book is so good!
<3 CoLeY

It's a tie between Farenheit 451 and the Martian Chronicles. Both of these books show the poetic mastery and the majestic power that we have all come to know and love about Bradbury. These books in a way are the power that we all wish that we could posess and the amazing affect on society that we wish that we could have. They're both equally amazing books.

Dandelion Wine, Martian Chronicles, SWTWC
and The Illustrated Man. DW probably tops the list with Something Wicked a very close second.

Weather out here where we are is calm. Uneventful. Gives some us time to catch up on reading. By the way, one of the favorite books here is ''Green Shadows, White Whale''.

I am reading A Graveyard for Lunatics for american Lit class. I greatly enjoyed it. Ray Bradbury is an awesome writer.

It is a real toss up between Something Wicked This Way Comes and Dandelion Wine.

I appreciate his other novels greatly, particularly Martian Chronicles and F-451.

However the two stories that always get me -- just plain get me -- are Rocket Man and All of Summer in a Day

I haven't read all of his books yet. I just recently started reading Ray Bradbury, So I can't really say yet what my favorite book is until I read them all.

I really enjoyed his stories "Kaleidoscope" and "Mars is Heaven".

I also enjoyed "Silent Towns." I laughed so hard at the end.

I'll be reading "Death is a lonely Business" tommorow. I know it's going to be great!

Dandelion Wine ("I'm alive!"), but I think his poem "Too Much" best evokes the feeling his writing gives me.

Something Wicked This Way Comes is definitely my favorite book by Bradbury, but then again it is also the only book that I have ever read by him. Maybe that has something to do with it.
I really enjoy this book anyways though. Even if it is the only I have read by him so far.