From the Dust Returned - Ray Bradbury

Advantages: Superb imagary evocative of summer.
Disadvantages: Recurring theme of death and loss

...Although Dandelion Wine is listed under Sci Fi/ horror, it is in fact neither of these. Ray Bradbury’s novel is a nostalgic and imaginative collection of stories evoking memories of childhood experiences and discoveries. Dandelion Wine is a semi-autobiographical novel. In his introduction to the book, Bradbury explains that he did in fact construct the novel from memories of his own childhood, that he did have a best friend called John Huff and that their was a serial killer known as the Lonely One who terrorized his home town. Douglas is even Ray Bradbury's middle name! The main character, Douglas Spaulding is a young boy’s transition into adolescence set in Green Town, Illinois during the summer of 1928. Both the character and the town recur in many of Bradbury’s later novels. Douglas decides that this summer he will write down... Read review

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Advantages: engrossing read, beautifully written, full of actions and emotion
Disadvantages: none

...~~~~A bit of Background on the Author~~~~ Each writer puts a bit of him or herself into their writing as the stories flow from somewhere deep within their soul. Hence, I feel it is always pertinent to learn at least a bit about the writer to gain a deeper appreciation of their work. Ray Bradbury is no exception to this rule. Born in the US state of Illinois to Swedish immigrant parents in 1920, Ray came from a family who had newspapers in the blood. Both his great grandfather and grandfather were newspaper publishers, and it was no great surprise to the family when the young avid reader grew up and decided to sell newspapers himself and educate himself rather than go on to college. Literally selling newspaper from a corner in LA, he spent all his spare time at the public library, reading everything he could get his hands on. Like many... Read review

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Advantages: Captivating short stories
Disadvantages: A couple of duds

..., and midnights stay.” Bradbury’s settings for the short stories from the October Country are commonplace enough for the reader’s familiarity. Most are set in everyday homes, farms, boarding houses etc. Even the more out of the ordinary settings most people are aware of, including the fairground’s mirror maze of “The Dwarf”, the catacombs in Mexico for “Next in Line” and the underground water cistern in “The Cistern”. Of course there is an occasional gothic-style setting like the sprawling old mansion in “the Jack of the Box”. It is perhaps the unfamiliarity of horror occurring in familiar places that is disturbing. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a horror book, Death features quite significantly. Unlike a lot of horror stories, Ray Bradbury uses the psychological influences of death. In “The Lake” a man revisits the place he first encountered death... Read review

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