Reading Journal Entry: The Vintage Bradbury

Bradbury is still alive, so he's the greatest competitor to the title of greatest living spec fiction author which I award to Gene Wolfe two days ago. This collection contains many of his most well-known stories, such as 'Dandelion Wine', 'The Illustrated Man', 'The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit', and the wonderful classic 'There Will Come Soft Rains'.

It's hard for me to accurately assess these stories; I've read them so many times. After the hundreth read, what seemed so fresh and joyous now seems stale. Or maybe the context of early exposure has locked me into bad associations; the 'Ice-Cream Suit' now seems to smell entirely of the safe middle-school anthology.

I enjoyed the audio collection of Bradbruy stories I reviewed late last year. I don't remember whether 'There Will Come Soft Rains' was in that collection, but I have a strong memory of listening to an audio version that gave me goodebumps.

Maybe these stories were made to be read.

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