Book Review: Stories Volume 1 by Ray Bradbury

If anyone knows how to effectively review a book containing 100 short stories, please hit me up. I’ve just been sitting with this caption open for about 5 minutes, blankly staring at it...

“I was in love, then, with monsters and skeletons and circuses and carnivals and dinosaurs and, at last, the red planet, Mars.”

Where to begin! I will say that the range of genres covered by Bradbury is incredibly broad. You’ve got science fiction, fantasy, horror, and those stories that I just adore where Bradbury delivers little slices of American life. Those are my personal favourites.

But I’ll highlight a few that stood out for me:
- The October Game was an incredibly dark story centred on a game being played on Halloween night. I was almost taken aback at how dark it was...
-  The Fog Horn. I had read this before but it is still one of the best short stories I’ve ever read. Just go into this one knowing nothing!
- The Black Ferris was clearly Bradbury’s inspiration for Something Wicked This Way Comes. A Ferris wheel capable of turning back the years, or moving them forward...
- The Emissary was another one that I was happy to revisit - a sweet little tale about a sick young boy and his dog that turns quite dark...
- There Will Come Soft Rains is considered to be one of the best sci-fi stories and I can see why. A house is completely controlled and managed by machines whilst it’s inhabitants have perished.

It was extremely difficult to even whittle down the 100 stories to pick out a few highlights. Ray Bradbury was a genius, his imagination blows my mind and I find his writing to be some of the most beautiful I’ve ever read.

This collection has solidified Bradbury as one of my top 3 favourite authors. I’d highly recommend this to ANY reader - the perfect collection to dip in and out of! 5 stars.

Johann
x

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

50 Horror Books You Must Read!

Image
Behold! A blog post I've been working on for a few weeks now. I often get asked which horror books I would recommend, so I thought I'd make my life a little easier and create a mammoth list. So as of this minute, here are 50 books that I've read and enjoyed. I have included some that I personally wasn't overly enamoured with, but reading is such a personal experience that I thought I'd give you the chance to make up your own mind! In a year or so I might post an update with great horror books that I've discovered since this list was made. In the list you'll find novels, some short stories and a few novellas thrown in too... Enjoy! 1. Pet Sematary - Stephen King It’s me. Of course this book is at the top of the pile! (Even though the rest are in no way ranked…). An incredible horror novel providing heartbreaking insight into death, loss and grief. The horror is not found in huge tense, scary moments, but in those quiet and soul-crushing moments ...
Read more

50 States 50 Horror Books

Image
One of my reading goals for 2021 is to start working through my 50 States, 50 Horror Books challenge (inspired by lists on NYT and Bustle). For those who haven't heard of these lists, essentially a horror book has been assigned to each state in America depending on where the book has been set. Throughout 2021 I am aiming to tick off 2 states per month. And if others want to take part, then great! You can either follow along with me, or work through the list at your own pace, picking whichever books appeal to you (or inserting some of your own!) I've combined both the NYT and Bustle lists, adding in some suggestions of my own to get started (and thank you to anyone who sent me their suggestions too!) Alabama The Elementals by Michael McDowell Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke   Alaska 30 Days of Night by Steve Niles         Polar Night by Julie Flanders   Arizona The Revelation by Bentley Little   Arkansas Southern Gods by John Hornor Jaco...
Read more

Book Review: Books of Blood Vol 1-3 by Clive Barker

Image
Comprised of insane and downright horrifying tales from Clive Barker, Books of Blood is a strong debut release which led to King referring to him as "the future of horror". This edition contains Volumes 1-3, a grand total of fifteen stories (sixteen if you include the intro) - a large number of which have been subsequently adapted into movies.  "Everybody is a book of blood; wherever we're opened, we're red." Having already been blown away by The Hellhound Heart, I was excited to get into more Clive Barker - and oh boy, this did not disappoint. The sheer range of stories within these first three volumes of Books of Blood is staggering. And the quality remains consistently high throughout. Barker's imagination is unparalleled - I mean, King has a pretty awesome imagination too, but his skills are slightly different to Barker's. One minute you're reading about a serial killer who quite literally skins his victims and hangs them up like ...
Read more