i would have to say mine are:
Dandelion Wine
The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matissie
The story about those irish Sprinters
The one where the guy pulls down his pants at a photo shoot
And The Rock Cried Out
Skeleton
The way i see it, with Bradbury, His only bad stuff is REALLY bad.
how bout you guys?

Oh, there are Bradbury stories that I don't care for, but are you kidding? You put Dandeliion Wine on this list? That is simply one of the best books he has ever written, in my opinion! Probably my all-time favourite. And I think "Skeleton" is a classic (The October Country is one of my favourite short-story collections). But, everyone is entitled to their own list of likes and dislikes.

I don't want to be too negative here, so I won't come up with a list of what I don't like--better to focus on those that I do, and there are plenty of those! Still, the last short-story collection of Bradbury's that I really enjoyed was The Toynbee Convector. (This, despite "Junior," which I didn't care for the tiniest bit.) I don't know.... The last few collections for me are a mixed bag. They each have some stories that I think are excellent, but the ratio of pieces that I don't care for is much higher than in his older works...

In most cases, stories I don't care for fade quickly from my memory. Probably just to make room for the good stuff. And when you're talking Bradbury, there's plenty of good stuff.

I imagine it would be hard to reproduce the strength and cohesiveness of collections like October Country and Illustrated Man. But what a delight to have the Elliot family stories collected into From the Dust Returned. And I hope I live to see Farewell Summer!

[This message has been edited by WritingReptile (edited 06-24-2003).]

Most of the Irish stories, "The Anthem Sprinters" being one of the better ones among a generally sorry lot. I was quite disappointed to learn the movie described in the story doesn't actually exist. See the thread "Anthems and Accuracy" about that.

Exceptions: the best Irish stories are "The Haunting of the New" and "Banshee." "The Better Part of Wisdom" is also very good.

I only considered that Bradbury wrote one or two truly depressing stories, one of which was the Irish story "A Wild Night in Galway," my possible least-favorite. The other one might have been "Getting Through Sunday Somehow," but I'd have to look at it again.

well, when you write SO many short stories, you will have a few bad ones.

I know, i know, i deserve to die for not liking Dandelion Wine. At the time i was reading it, i was at work with my mom, and she works with little kids, so they were all screaming and stuff. Maybe that broke my concentration, and prevented me from enjoying the story, i don't know.

IF YOU HAVE NOT READ "SKELETON" DO NOT CONTINUE READING.

This story confused me a bit. At the end, was that skeletal worker-guy some alien or something? When they describe his jaw unhinging and the hot water in his mouth, was that his skeleton being pulled out of him? The way i understood it, the guy ripped out his skeleton and sucked out the marrow with that tube-like tongue of his. And the whole jellyfish thing. Obviously, he was the "jellyfish" because he had no bones, but could you talk with no bones ("but it's when the jellyfish calls you by name")?

Trixta:
You better not be the last librarian in the last library if I am still alive to check out books. Possibly one's life experiences greatly influence how stories are perceived. If you have never heard the audio of the Irish stories, that may help with the appreciation, Ray can read with a great Irish accent that amplifies the impact and subtile humor that is nestled there.

Well, whether or not you could talk with no bones isn't the point. It is a fantasy with a dark twist. Whether the bones are all pulled out and then sucked on or whether they are eaten inside him (it says it was like a mouse chewing away inside) or whether it was a little of both isn't the point, either. It never says he was or wasn't an alien, although the tongue description is not anything like I've seen. I sort of just assumed it was a kind of "Dark Carnival" type person in the fantasy worlds of Ray's own mind. A being who is partially human and partially . . . who knows?

The story is a great story about obsession and alienation. In that it falls into a similar literary category as some of Poe's work and stories such as "The Birthmark" and "Rapacinni's Daughter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Great story. One of my favorites.

I agree with Mr. Dark. Brabury has never been one to let the "facts" get in the way of his imagination.

He's been teased about putting an atmosphere on Mars, and no matter how many times he says Martian Chronicles is fantasy, not science fiction, I'm sure he'll get called on that one again and again.

Bradbury writes metaphors. There is some letting go of the literal required when reading him.

Trixta, as for not liking Dandelion Wine, that's okay. Maybe in a few years you'll come back to it and it will mean something different to you. Huck Finn was like that for me. If you want to take another crack at it, we are all reading Dandelion Wine together this July (some of us, *ahem*, have already started).

Hey WritingReptile-

Good for you for starting your reading of Dandelion Wine. I just finished One More For The Road last night and was planning on starting Dandelion Wine today (just to get a jump on the July reading). I'm glad to know I'm not alone.....

[This message has been edited by Chrisman43 (edited 06-25-2003).]

Sorry, when I said some of us had already started, I was looking in Mr. Dark's direction -- but how can you tell from a post?

I'm trying to finish a couple other things right now, and the southern California weather has not been at all summer-like and just all wrong for maximum DW enjoyment, if you can believe that.

Actually, today isn't bad, so I'm hoping summer will actually get here by July. (I can actually hear people in other parts of the country playing sarcastic violins right now.)

[This message has been edited by WritingReptile (edited 06-25-2003).]

Well, since I am also a So. Cal boy (San Gabriel Valley), I know exactly what you mean. The weather warmed up today, just in time for the ceremonial cracking open of Dandelion Wine!

To Trixta,
When I finished reading Dandelion Wine I knew I had read something that touched me deeply. In my circle, at that time, people were lauding Catcher in the Rye as being "the novel" to teach right of passage from child to adult. Dandelion Wine presented a far more realistic approach to this passage in terms that young people spend time combining fantasy and reality as they maturate. I think Bradbury portrays this far better with his characters than does Salinger
with Holden Caulfield.

Near competition to "Dandelion Wine" in this category would be "The Member of the Wedding," by Carson McCullers.

Iloved Catcher in the Rye in HS. Re-read it a couple years ago and still loved it. Maybe I'll try to read Member of the Wedding while I read Dandelion Wine. I got Carson McCuller's Library of America Edition with that as one of the novels in it. This Library of America Series is great. The Carson McCullers edition has: (1) The Heart is a lonely Hunter (2) Reflections In A Golden Eye (3) The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (4) The Member of the Wedding and (5) Clock Without Hands. This series is not cheap, but they are excellent.

to Mr. Dark and Dandelion,
McCullers and Salinger write too close to reality with their works. Neither explore the fantasy of imagination that Bradbury does in Dandelion Wine. I have read them all and neither is as much fun.