Ray Bradbury is probably the best American short story writer ever, and certainly one of the most prolific. Although short stories are his preferred genre, Bradbury also wrote novellas, poems, and essays.
Inspired by my sister (who is a huge Bradbury fan), I recently read "The Martian Chronicles" for the first time, and was completely blown away by it. I had read other things by Bradbury before, although not for years, and so expected it to be good. What I didn't expect was how powerful of an impact it had on me, and how incredibly well written it was. As a result, I decided to either read or re-read all of Bradbury's books that I could get my hands on. I enjoyed reading all of Austen's works, so why not do the same with Bradbury? Of the many obvious differences between Jane Austen and Ray Bradbury, one particularly stands out in this endeavor.
I could count all of Austen's novels on my fingers. Bradbury wrote a lot, dozens even. I was going to put in a list of his books, but Google seems to hate me at the moment. I'll try again later when the internet's more agreeable.
I started with "The Martian Chronicles".
Next I read "Farewell Summer". My order is completely arbitrary based on what I can find in the library when I visit. I just keep checking the "B" shelf for his books.
"Farewell Summer" is one of Bradbury's novellas, and--although it works well on its own--it is really a sequel to "Dandelion Wine". It is genius because it accomplishes so much in so few works. It is a sparce novella and Bradbury uses an absolute economy of words, and yet...it doesn't read like it is short. It doesn't have the pared back feeling of Hemingway, for example. It feels lush and atmospheric. It seems horrible to limit it to a single title, but "Farewell Summer" is a great coming-of-age novel (no matter what age that may happen to be).
For my review of "Farewell Summer", click here.
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