It's ALMOST the time of year for me to re-read Ray Bradbury's classic novel Something Wicked This Way Comes. Each year I look forward to October primarily for that reason.*
So when I saw a new book at my library called Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews, by Sam Weller, I got super excited. And I was not disappointed. This was one of those books I was going to wait on, because I have lots of other library books that should get read and returned first...but I couldn't wait, and then I blew threw it in a couple of days.
Organized in sections titled things like Childhood, Faith, Art and Literature, Writing and Creativity, the book is a straightforward question-and-answer session. To his credit, Weller is an appropriately understated interviewer, which leaves plenty of room for Bradbury to work his magic. Now, I did not agree with everything Bradbury said, and I actually learned some things I didn't like about him (**SPOILERS** he likes Ronald Reagan; he cheated on his wife). But I still have to appreciate the fact that the man does have an entirely unique mind. And any librarian is going to love a man that says things like this:
"The library was very important. After high school, I went two or three nights a week for nearly ten years. The library is all the education you need. When I married Maggie in September 1947, I figured I was done. I graduated from the library when I was twenty-seven." (p. 203.)
Weller is also the author of a biography of Bradbury, The Bradbury Chronicles, which I also want to read sometime soon. Do give this one a try, even if you're not a particular fan of Bradbury--he's never dull.
*I'm thinking this year I'll re-read Fahrenheit 451, too, it's been ages since I read it the first time.
Have you ever learned so much about a writer that you stopped liking his or her books? I suspect I might, but I can't think of anyone. if I like someone enough, I think I would make up excuses to keep reading them.
Posted by: Tripp | 09 September 2010 at 10:43 AM
I think I'll read that next. Thanks.
Posted by: John | 09 September 2010 at 11:53 AM
Well, Ms. CR, somehow I didn't know you were a Ray Bradbury fan (how did I not know that?) Anyway, have you seen this? I hesitate to assault your delicate ears, but I can't resist. You are at least 18 years old, right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IxOS4VzKM
Posted by: Cindy | 09 September 2010 at 03:12 PM
To Tripp’s question: I can’t think of writer where his/her personal life has impaired my ability to like a book. Ayelet Waldman comes to mind, not that I have read anything she has written. Authors generally aren’t as publicized as Hollywood types (I know a few people who won’t see a Mel Gibson and Woody Allen film due to their off-screen antics).
Wasn’t there some white supremist who wrote (under a pseudonym) a well loved children’s book?
Posted by: Ruthiella | 10 September 2010 at 12:47 PM
Hmm, Education of Little Tree maybe?
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/13921
Posted by: Tripp | 11 September 2010 at 07:12 PM
"Education of Little Tree", that's the book. Thanks. I have never read it however.
I was thinking this weekend that I have heard negative things about Saul Bellows and I read that his biographer by the end of the biography had developed a hearty dislike for the man...So I think I might use this knowledge to avoid his books in the future ("The Adventures of Augie Marsh" was torture for me to read for the most part).
Posted by: Ruthiella | 13 September 2010 at 05:37 PM