Hello, i have been asked to do a school project on Ray Bradbury and i'm taking the angle on how other people started reading his books and what you yourselfs like about them! I have read a bit of one myself and written my opions on that one, but i would like some other peoples opions on his books who have a better knowledge. Thank you for reading this and i hope you repley.

Read the posting right underneath yours "What Bradbury story got you started?" to get an excellent preliminary feel for his influence on other people. I would print this out and make it an appendix to your paper. Then spend your paper discussing what the contributors all said.

I go back and read through this pretty often. I'm no longer in my youth, but really am inspired to read about other peoples' introductions to Bradbury.

That thread seems to have been by far our most successful to date.

And, to me, the most inspirational. I go back and read it over and over again.

The thing is I have printed that out!!! So i was asking for some thing more but I don't know what!!
Like you I read it over and over again to try and get your views on things!!

That is a good question! After having read and re-read RB's works for some time now, I have now found myself being drawn more frequently to his essays and (semi)autobiographic works.

Why? A thought, as Douglas begins his narration in the opening of Dandelion Wine, he refers to himself as a conductor and a magician. I believe this captures well the view this author has had of himself from the very outset of his career. The blank page is his canvas - a brush in hand, his silk top hat - a rabbit awaiting, and even his music sheet -lines ready for notes.

I try to get a glimpse of things (metaphorically speaking) by catching a nuance here and a single celluloid frame there. It puts his writing more clearly into perspective, but it still remains a search for elusive clues. How did he do that? Is he able to read all of our minds?

The likes of Zen in the Art of Writing, Yestermorrow, Green Shadows White Whale, his many introductions offered in his books and those of other authors (fiction, art, science, and space related), and his poetry tell some of the tale. Of course, hearing him explain his own stories is the greatest source of knowledge in these areas (Dark Carnival cd, comments on other audio titles.) RB: An American Icon, the video, is also informative and highly entertaining.

I await his new biography "An Illustrated Life" which has already received accolades from what I have been able to gather on line.

So "How do people get started reading Ray Bradbury?" It almost comes down to this! One needs to continue reading him (and re-reading) to find out what the answer really is. How about "literary magic"?!

[Point in case, this month - 2 classes grades 9 & 10. Units in Ill. Man and F451 just completed. Teenagers excited and talking about the stories, finishing assignments on time and often ahead of time, and asking for more RB books.....Magic!]

I'm glad to hear someone say they enjoy reading Ray's non-fiction. After plowing through all of his fiction, several times now, I'm afraid that initial thrill is gone. But his non-fiction work. Ah, yes, now there's something I don't grow tired of.

I've posted before that I find Ray's poetry to be where he's weakest. Funny, isn't it, because I think what really attracts a lot of us to his stories is his poetic way with prose.

To disprove my point, this is the time of year when I re-read Something Wicked and The Halloween Tree. Again, the magic has gone to some extent but that's just me. Still, there's some of his prose that literally raise goosebumps. (I'm reading now, and marveling, his description of the train bearing the evil carnival. Prose gets no better than this!)

But I find Zen and Yestermorrow to be immensely interesting for their own sake and would welcome a new book of non-fiction more than I would his poetry.

(Sad to say, I've also grown a little weary of his stories of his life. Surely there's more that has happened to him than being called a sonofabitch by W.C. Fields! Man, am I tired of that story!)

Please don't think I'm being rough on Ray. I speak with love and as one who's run out of new Ray to marvel at.

Pete

Thank you you two were most help full.

More than anything Ray puts more of himself in his work in the most recent work in the One More For The Road. I think he is a bit more candid about his own feelings. His contemporary obserations in some of stories in that collection seemed very first hand. I don't recall the titles right off but they seemed plausible.
I have been applying his methods of writing from Zen in the Art of writing, and Finding them to be successful myself. Writing is a contagion that you have to continue, or it will consume you. I need to write or create some how daily, or I will become my own production of frustration or elation. I Love Rays Non-Fiction work
In fact when on vacation to Disney world with my in-laws to Orlando in Florida
I was the only one to go to the Epcot center because Ray had designed the progression of Man ride in the epcot Geodesic dome. The rest of the Family went to the cute non-science Disney World part. I figured if I was from Utah in Florida I am not going to miss this. This is a late night rambling post, but Ray puts more of his heart, and humanity into his writing. That is the main reason I think is why he endures.

[This message has been edited by uncle (edited 10-06-2002).]

[This message has been edited by uncle (edited 10-06-2002).]