#author: ray bradbury

[havewereadthis]

"Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known."

[pers-books]

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.

Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing

[misireads]

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

[physical book, read in english]

an anthology of short related stories about the human colonisation of mars around the year 2000. starts from a couple of first expeditions that failed, then (briefly) moves on to successful colonial life in space.

➕ the most beautifully written book i've read in a long while, very nice poetic prose

➕ people in this book behave exactly how white people would if they were suddenly let on a new planet, namely absolutely infuriatingly. it was a frustrating read but a great one because yeah, that's what white people would do. expect to be celebrated as heroes when they arrive, then proceed to wipe the ingenious folks' towns and expect them to be christians.

➕ since the chapters were short stories, this was a very fast read.

➕ this is apparently a fix-up novel, meaning the stories were originally separate and were later brought together to create a more or less coherent novel. there's still a few weird aspects that don't quite work if you don't realise it's a fix-up, but overall it's fascinating.

➕ i'm not really much of a sci-fi person and especially not fond of stuff situated in space, but i didn't find this one off-putting for the theme.

➖ so… this is an old book, originally from 1950s. i'm not sure if i just missed some cue or if that's part of the social criticism, but… why are all the people in mars americans ??? i feel like there was some implication in the early chapters that "because of course americans would be the first to do something like travel to mars, therefore they came from america" but, for the rest of the book we only see american characters throughout. not a single person from some other country came in? really? as a european reading this it really kind of broke the immersion for me throughout, but if that's the entire point, that americans are just so full of themselves that they hoarded space travel and colonialism and made the new planet just another america with cities named new new york and whatever, then i accept it. plus basically all the characters are either weird, crazy, or unlikable in some other way so i'm fine with them all being american, actually. but from the point of view of how space colonialism like this would "realistically" work, i just don't think it would be average american-only families moving there to make their white picket fences in mars, i think it would be the super rich from all around the world. ah well i guess this wasn't the agenda of these novels (which, again, were originally separate). it's still a minus from me tho because i dislike america-centrism and it felt lazy and like no thought was put into what world would actually be like in 2000. the use of n word as if the society would be the exact same in this year felt like no thought was put into whether things would actually change in this time, yeeaah. i feel like, don't set a story in 2000 if you're going to write it like it's the 50s still. some things just don't sit right with me

➖ i also haven't read much sci-fi and especially not older sci-fi for the aforementioned reason… but the martians in this book were way too human-like and. like. they had human genders, heteronormative lifestyles (and were very american to begin with.. the not-human shaped aliens talked about sins to the priest with the implication 'oh we're way ahead of you and have been good christians before you were even born' ???? ok. i'm not sure if i just misunderstood that?????) even if a book is from the 50s, i feel like authors surely had enough imagination to come up with something other than this? or maybe this was part of the colonial aspect and maybe the martians were very human-like because they're like native americans who get wiped out from their own planet when white americans come and take their lands, i don't know. i guess, as someone who doesn't usually read sci-fi, i was confused by whether this is more of a satire about how much white americans suck, or a story about outer space and what martians and their world and way of life in mars could be like. it was my over-arching problem with this book and persisted to the very end where [spoiler] apparently it's again just some average middle class american family that's the only, literally ONLY people who move to mars to escape nuclear war? really??? it's just not feasible. it was kind of really fucking stupid, to be frank.

➖ the story about the guy who lives in the mountains and one week finds everyone's gone down in the city and answers a phone to find a woman calling it, and he goes all horny for her voice and decides to find her and has all these fantasies, and when they finally meet she's described as having a fat face and she's eating chocolate and spends all her time in beauty salons and he's immediately disgusted by her and proceeds to run away so he doesn't need to associate with her despite them being the only two humans left in mars. this was the most blatantly misogynistic garbage i've read in ages? why is it in the book, why does it even exist??? what's the point

⭐ score: 3 -- the writing itself would have been a 5 buuuuuut i had way too many problems with the book as a whole to score it any higher than this.

[azure-clockwork]

How Does it Feel to Read Classic Sci-Fi?

Orson Scott Card: Two of the most interesting books you’ll ever read if you’re willing to look past a handful of things. And then you find the planet of Chinese people who worship having debilitating OCD. And the Mormonism. And the fact that the author is wildly homophobic and ought to read his own books.

Robert Heinlein (or at least the Wikipedia Summaries): I guess that’s a neat concept—oh, it’s a sex thing. Um. Gotcha.

Ray Bradbury: Man, I gotta read this thing for class huh. Well here’s hoping it’s good! *three hours later* oh. that’s why he’s famous. this will stick with me forever and I will never look at the phrase ‘soft rain’ the same again. christ. And then repeat 3x.

Isaac Asimov: Wow, this is such an interesting concept! I wonder how the exploration of it will influence the plot! Wait, hey, are you going to add any characters? Any of em? No like, with character traits other than ‘robot psychologist’ and ‘autistic’ and ‘woman’? None of em? No, ‘detective’ isn’t a character trait. Those are all just facts. Aaaand now I’m bored.

Ursula K. Le Guin: Hah, get a load of this guy! He’s never heard of nonbinary people before. Lol, what a riot; how dumb do you have to be to comprehend that these people aren’t men *or* women actually? Oh, wait, what’s happening. Oh shit, it was about society and love and learning to understand each other? And now I’m crying? And perhaps a better human being for it??

Andy Weir: Alright, this guy’s a really good writer. Funny, creative, knows so much engineering stuff…ooh, a new book! …I guess he can’t write women. Well, he wouldn’t be the first sci-fi writer…ooh another new book! And it’s more engineering problem solving and—wow. It’s not just women he can’t write. Please stop letting your characters talk to each other.

Lois Lowry: Oh, I remember this being fun when I was a kid! Wouldn’t it be fucked up to not see color? …upon reread, it would be fucked up to have your humanity stripped away, replaced with a tepid, beige ‘happiness’ for all time. Yeah.

Tamsyn Muir (let me have this ok): Haha, “lesbian necromancers in space” sounds fun. Lemme read this. Oh wow, yeah, this is right up my alley. OH GOD WHAT. NO. FUCK. OH SHIT WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING AND WHY IS IT REFERENCING THE BOOK OF RUTH AND HOMESTUCK BACK TO BACK!!! AHHHHHHHHH!! Now give me more please.

[litandlifequotes]

Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get. Life should be touched, not strangled. You’ve got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it.

― Ray Bradbury

[blackswaneuroparedux]

If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it. Peace, Montag. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change.

- Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Christmas Haul, 2023 Edition!

I am forever and always asking for books for Christmas, and this is what I was gifted this year! (If you think you see me stacking my TBR based on my own writing projects.....yeah okay you do lmao.)

[xenokhi]

Been in a mood with my writing so I decide to read some books about/by great authors. It has been a good pick me up right from the beginning. From Zen in the Art of Writing By Ray Bradbury You can borrow it for free from the Internet Archives https://archive.org/details/zeninartofwritin0000brad/page/6/mode/2up

[bradburyworks]

Happy Birthday, Ray Bradbury!

August 22, 1920

“I’ll make a sound that’s so alone that no one can miss it, that whoever hears it will weep in their souls, and hearths will seem warmer, and being inside will seem better to all who hear it in the distant towns.”

The Fog Horn, Ray Bradbury

[mhb-oficial]

🇺🇸 Everybody has forgotten that Russia helped start the Second World War.

- Ray Bradbury

[bonerdonorxxx44]

Happy Birthday Sir Bradbury!

Ray Douglas Bradbury

Born: August 22, 1920 - Died: June 5, 2012

[markredfield]

[dark-ethereal-visions]

I have always loved Ray Bradbury's writing. He had a unique style that was a vibe all its own!

[virtuouslibertines69]

"Some people turn sad awfully young. No special reason, it seems, but they seem almost to be born that way. They bruise easier, tire faster, cry quicker, remember longer and, as I say, get sadder younger than anyone else in the world. I know, for I’m one of them." — Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

[whitecappslll]

'The Halloween Tree' By Ray Bradbury

[blackswaneuroparedux]

We save up a tension for tears, so I as a writer come along and try to help you to cry. Nietzsche puts it beautifully: we have art, that we do not die of reality.

Ray Bradbury on violence, art, and civilisation (1968)