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Machineries of Joy
The Machineries of Joy • (1962)
The One Who Waits • (1949)
Tyrannosaurus Rex • (1962)
The Vacation • (1963)
The Drummer Boy of Shiloh • (1960)
Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar! • (1962)
Almost the End of the World • (1957)
Perhaps We Are Going Away • (1962)
And the Sailor, Home from the Sea • (1960)
El Dia de Muerte • (1947)
The Illustrated Woman • (1961)
Some Live Like Lazarus • (1960)
A Miracle of Rare Device • (1961)
And So Died Riabouchinska • (1953)
The Beggar on O'Connell Bridge • (1961)
Death and the Maiden • (1960)
A Flight of Ravens • (1952)
The Best of All Possible Worlds • (1960)
The Lifework of Juan Diaz • (1963)
To the Chicago Abyss • (1963)
The Anthem Sprinters • (1963)
The One Who Waits • (1949)
Tyrannosaurus Rex • (1962)
The Vacation • (1963)
The Drummer Boy of Shiloh • (1960)
Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar! • (1962)
Almost the End of the World • (1957)
Perhaps We Are Going Away • (1962)
And the Sailor, Home from the Sea • (1960)
El Dia de Muerte • (1947)
The Illustrated Woman • (1961)
Some Live Like Lazarus • (1960)
A Miracle of Rare Device • (1961)
And So Died Riabouchinska • (1953)
The Beggar on O'Connell Bridge • (1961)
Death and the Maiden • (1960)
A Flight of Ravens • (1952)
The Best of All Possible Worlds • (1960)
The Lifework of Juan Diaz • (1963)
To the Chicago Abyss • (1963)
The Anthem Sprinters • (1963)
213 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
84 people are currently reading
2333 people want to read
About the author
Ray Bradbury
2,561 books25.3k followersRay Douglas Bradbury was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and realistic fiction.
Bradbury is best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and The October Country (1955). Other notable works include the coming of age novel Dandelion Wine (1957), the dark fantasy Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) and the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992). He also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space. Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books. Bradbury also wrote poetry which has been published in several collections, such as They Have Not Seen the Stars (2001).
The New York Times called Bradbury "An author whose fanciful imagination, poetic prose, and mature understanding of human character have won him an international reputation" and "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream".
Bradbury is best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and The October Country (1955). Other notable works include the coming of age novel Dandelion Wine (1957), the dark fantasy Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) and the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992). He also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space. Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books. Bradbury also wrote poetry which has been published in several collections, such as They Have Not Seen the Stars (2001).
The New York Times called Bradbury "An author whose fanciful imagination, poetic prose, and mature understanding of human character have won him an international reputation" and "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 154 reviews
September 21, 2021
21 stories from the late 50s/early 60s, a mixture of five wretchedly unfunny comedies including two patronisingly Oirish ones, six moderately interesting fantasies, two weird Mexican outings, three unclassifiable items and five actual real-live science fiction stories.
With all of this smorgasbord comes lashings, downpours, cataracts,hosepipes and full-throated uncontrolled vomitings of the purplest prose and the sugariest sentimentalism; never is there an emotional pang or twinge, usually of the wistful variety, which Bradbury doesn’t jam an amplifier in front of with the volume cranked up to 11. You almost have to read this stuff wearing protective clothing to avoid your teeth dissolving, nay, your spine and your very brainpan too.
Priests josh each other about papal encyclicals on space exploration; in cinemas Irish guys sprint for the exit before the English anthem comes on; just before the big battle the general gives a beautiful personal pep-talk to the little frightened drummer boy; an old woman confronts Death in the form of a charming young man with a bottle in his hand which contains the day before she turned 18; a guy wishes everyone in the world except his wife and son would just disappear, and they do (cue instant nostalgia for yesterday); a mad old guy remembers the detail of consumerist plenitude (sweet wrappers, bicycle clips, flavours of ice cream) before the big disaster struck and everybody ended up on severe rations; aliens invade earth via mail order; you can see that Ray Bradbury wasn’t short of ideas for stories, and God knows he could whisk up a whole string of beautiful titles, but mostly, in this period of his writing, it was like his DNA had been fused with Bambi – you know in The Fly where Seth Brundle’s DNA gets fused with a fly and he becomes Brundlefly? Well in Machineries of Joy it’s the equally horrifying Raybambi.
The best thing here is the must-be-autobiographical “A Flight of Ravens” in which – suddenly, like the clouds parting – there’s a shaft of anger and bitterness, some real bite and malice.
Bradbury’s first decade of writing was brilliant. It seems as he motored into his second decade that the magazines were willing to print anything he wrote, and he was willing to write anything they would print.
With all of this smorgasbord comes lashings, downpours, cataracts,hosepipes and full-throated uncontrolled vomitings of the purplest prose and the sugariest sentimentalism; never is there an emotional pang or twinge, usually of the wistful variety, which Bradbury doesn’t jam an amplifier in front of with the volume cranked up to 11. You almost have to read this stuff wearing protective clothing to avoid your teeth dissolving, nay, your spine and your very brainpan too.
Priests josh each other about papal encyclicals on space exploration; in cinemas Irish guys sprint for the exit before the English anthem comes on; just before the big battle the general gives a beautiful personal pep-talk to the little frightened drummer boy; an old woman confronts Death in the form of a charming young man with a bottle in his hand which contains the day before she turned 18; a guy wishes everyone in the world except his wife and son would just disappear, and they do (cue instant nostalgia for yesterday); a mad old guy remembers the detail of consumerist plenitude (sweet wrappers, bicycle clips, flavours of ice cream) before the big disaster struck and everybody ended up on severe rations; aliens invade earth via mail order; you can see that Ray Bradbury wasn’t short of ideas for stories, and God knows he could whisk up a whole string of beautiful titles, but mostly, in this period of his writing, it was like his DNA had been fused with Bambi – you know in The Fly where Seth Brundle’s DNA gets fused with a fly and he becomes Brundlefly? Well in Machineries of Joy it’s the equally horrifying Raybambi.
The best thing here is the must-be-autobiographical “A Flight of Ravens” in which – suddenly, like the clouds parting – there’s a shaft of anger and bitterness, some real bite and malice.
Bradbury’s first decade of writing was brilliant. It seems as he motored into his second decade that the magazines were willing to print anything he wrote, and he was willing to write anything they would print.
July 7, 2020
Hace unos días, tuve la enorme suerte de encontrar en una librería de usados, cinco libros del grandioso Ray Bradbury de la vieja editorial Minotauro, publica allá por la década del '70, así que me propuse leerlos uno tras otro.
Este es el primero de los cinco libros de cuentos y como siempre sucede, el viejo Ray nunca me decepciona. Si bien en este caso se aparta un tanto de la ciencia ficción, sus cuentos ofrecen una diversidad sorprendente, plagados de metáforas, metonimias y comparaciones.
Es, de todas maneras un libro un poco disímil, algo ecléctico. No tiene tal vez la cohesión de "Las doradas manzanas del sol", "El hombre ilustrado" o "Crónicas marcianas", pero eso no significa que vaya en zaga de esos dos grandes volúmenes de relatos.
Como siempre sucede, no todos los cuentos me impactan de la misma manera, por lo que me detengo a detallar alguno de ellos.
Lo que sí vale aclarar es que frente a mundos imposibles Bradbury nos muestra siempre el costado más vulnerable y sensible del ser humano frente a su desnaturalización ante los efectos de la fría tecnología.
En el cuento que da nombre al libro, "Las maquinarias de la alegría" nos propone un profundo contrapunto entre la religión y la carrera espacial.
"El que espera": es un cuento cargado de metafísica y en donde una entidad marciana que toma posesión de los cuerpos de astronautas que llegan a su planeta.
La última familia que queda viva sobre la faz de la Tierra reflexiona profundamente acerca del pasado y el futuro en el aterrador "Las vacaciones".
En "El día de Muertos", Bradbury nos narra una historia con una prosa digna de Gabriel García Márquez, jugando con la comparación entre lo que le sucede a un niño y a un toro en una corrida donde ambos se están jugando la vida.
El mejor cuento del libro es "Casi el fin del mundo" en el que dos mineros llegan a una ciudad que por extraños efectos de las manchas solares, los habitantes han pintado absolutamente todo los objetos que existen en la ciudad. Una paranoia colectiva que asusta.
Maravilloso cuento es "Y el marino vuelve a casa", basado en una leyenda acerca de una mujer que nunca envejece mientras esté navegando en altamar mientras no toque tierra. La historia se repetirá con los personaje de este relato arriba de un barco. El efecto de lo fantástico equilibra la belleza de la narración.
"Y así murió Riabuchinska" es un escabroso cuento que oculta un crimen, un ventrílocuo y una muñeca de madera y marfil que esconde una oscura obsesión.
En "La obra de Juan Díaz", Bradbury juega un poco a ser el Juan Rulfo de los cuentos de "El llano en llamas" y lo logra con creces.
Vale la pena leer este libro, cargado de entretenimiento y reflexiones propias de este genio surgido del pequeño pueblo de Waukegan, Illinois.
Ahora, voy por "Fantasmas de lo nuevo".
Este es el primero de los cinco libros de cuentos y como siempre sucede, el viejo Ray nunca me decepciona. Si bien en este caso se aparta un tanto de la ciencia ficción, sus cuentos ofrecen una diversidad sorprendente, plagados de metáforas, metonimias y comparaciones.
Es, de todas maneras un libro un poco disímil, algo ecléctico. No tiene tal vez la cohesión de "Las doradas manzanas del sol", "El hombre ilustrado" o "Crónicas marcianas", pero eso no significa que vaya en zaga de esos dos grandes volúmenes de relatos.
Como siempre sucede, no todos los cuentos me impactan de la misma manera, por lo que me detengo a detallar alguno de ellos.
Lo que sí vale aclarar es que frente a mundos imposibles Bradbury nos muestra siempre el costado más vulnerable y sensible del ser humano frente a su desnaturalización ante los efectos de la fría tecnología.
En el cuento que da nombre al libro, "Las maquinarias de la alegría" nos propone un profundo contrapunto entre la religión y la carrera espacial.
"El que espera": es un cuento cargado de metafísica y en donde una entidad marciana que toma posesión de los cuerpos de astronautas que llegan a su planeta.
La última familia que queda viva sobre la faz de la Tierra reflexiona profundamente acerca del pasado y el futuro en el aterrador "Las vacaciones".
En "El día de Muertos", Bradbury nos narra una historia con una prosa digna de Gabriel García Márquez, jugando con la comparación entre lo que le sucede a un niño y a un toro en una corrida donde ambos se están jugando la vida.
El mejor cuento del libro es "Casi el fin del mundo" en el que dos mineros llegan a una ciudad que por extraños efectos de las manchas solares, los habitantes han pintado absolutamente todo los objetos que existen en la ciudad. Una paranoia colectiva que asusta.
Maravilloso cuento es "Y el marino vuelve a casa", basado en una leyenda acerca de una mujer que nunca envejece mientras esté navegando en altamar mientras no toque tierra. La historia se repetirá con los personaje de este relato arriba de un barco. El efecto de lo fantástico equilibra la belleza de la narración.
"Y así murió Riabuchinska" es un escabroso cuento que oculta un crimen, un ventrílocuo y una muñeca de madera y marfil que esconde una oscura obsesión.
En "La obra de Juan Díaz", Bradbury juega un poco a ser el Juan Rulfo de los cuentos de "El llano en llamas" y lo logra con creces.
Vale la pena leer este libro, cargado de entretenimiento y reflexiones propias de este genio surgido del pequeño pueblo de Waukegan, Illinois.
Ahora, voy por "Fantasmas de lo nuevo".
July 2, 2024
En "Las Maquinarias de la Alegría", Ray Bradbury presenta una colección desigual de relatos de ciencia-ficción, fantasía, terror y realismo casi costumbrista, pero no exento de un halo mágico. No existe pues, a primera vista, una unidad temática como en "Crónicas Marcianas", o impuesta desde fuera, como el hilo conductor de "El Hombre Ilustrado", que permita comprender por qué se han conjugado estos relatos y no otros en un mismo libro. Hay temas que se repiten en varios de los relatos, es cierto: el día de muertos de México, la pobreza un poco golfa y pícara de Irlanda, la desolación suave del fin del mundo... pero creo que se trata más bien de temas que se van repitiendo a todo lo largo de la obra de Bradbury, que de temas propios de este libro. Quizá fuera eso precisamente lo que buscaba el editor: dar una visión global de la obra de Bradbury; porque tampoco se trata de relatos escritos propiamente en la misma época, y cuya unidad pudiera justificar la cronología. En todo caso, creo que el resultado final está más que bien conseguido. Uno lee el libro de un tirón, dejándose sorprender por cada relato, sin saber qué es lo que se va a encontrar hasta hallarse inmerso en su lectura.
Todos los relatos en este libro tienen un trasfondo filosófico, o una moraleja y sin duda todos merecen la pena, aunque desde mi punto de vista unos pocos brillan sobre los demás, por lo tanto me centraré en los que para mi son los mejores:
En "El tambor de Shiloh", el General alienta al joven del tambor a realizar su labor con magnificencia y podemos observar como hasta en los trabajos mas sencillos existe la oportunidad de sentirnos orgullosos, ya que cada pieza es necesaria para la constitución del todo y que se requiere el trabajo bien desempeñado de las partes para alcanzar la sinergia que traerá el éxito en la misión y el orgullo personal, es pues, un cuento que nos enseña que "no hay trabajo pequeño".
El relato de los hongos es bastante dinámico y nos encontramos con que el peligro puede venir de fuentes insospechadas y que van metiéndose en nosotros de la manera más simple sin que nos demos cuenta hasta el momento en que el cambio es demasiado grande para pasar desapercibido y no se puede dar marcha atrás.
En "Casi el fin del mundo", podemos dar un vistazo a un mundo sin televisión ni radio debido al daño causado por las manchas solares en nuestra tecnología. En un mundo cerca volverse loco debido a la "falta" de actividad recreacional, alguien comienza a pintar su casa y los demás encuentran que esas actividades de renovación son su nueva ocupación, ocurriendo lo mismo en otras ciudades. Entiendo de lo anterior el efecto narcotizante de la televisión y la radio (en aquellos tiempos) y tal vez ahora podríamos mencionar los videojuegos, las redes sociales y demás que son solamente un sustituto de actividades que podrían hacer de nosotros personas más felices y de nuestro mundo un lugar del que pudiéramos disfrutar más.
Luego de una breve introducción, "El día de los muertos" narra los tres acontecimientos (el niño atropellado, el Cristo que se desprende de la cruz y el toro que muere en el ruedo) como una sinfonía, como algo que ocurre en cámara lenta pero de manera simultánea y nos da un breve entendimiento de que lo que para alguien es muy importante, para los demás carece de sentido ya sea porque no les atañe directamente o simplemente porque no se han enterado de ello.
Finalmente y en mi opinión el mejor relato es "Algunos viven como Lázaro", en el cual vemos a un hombre atribulado que nunca encuentra el valor para rebelarse contra los deseos de su madre. Terminamos viendo que la "hierba mala nunca muere" y que en verdad "algunos viven como Lázaro, en una tumba de vida y salen curiosamente tarde a penumbrosos hospitales, a aposentos mortuorios". Y como menciona un poema dentro del relato: "Mejor los cielos glaciales del Norte que nacer muerto, ciego, convertido en un fantasma. ¡Si Río se ha perdido, ama la Costa Artica!".
Se trata de relatos sencillos, diría que incluso aleccionadores. Sin duda vale la pena leerlos y sobretodo reflexionarlos.
Todos los relatos en este libro tienen un trasfondo filosófico, o una moraleja y sin duda todos merecen la pena, aunque desde mi punto de vista unos pocos brillan sobre los demás, por lo tanto me centraré en los que para mi son los mejores:
En "El tambor de Shiloh", el General alienta al joven del tambor a realizar su labor con magnificencia y podemos observar como hasta en los trabajos mas sencillos existe la oportunidad de sentirnos orgullosos, ya que cada pieza es necesaria para la constitución del todo y que se requiere el trabajo bien desempeñado de las partes para alcanzar la sinergia que traerá el éxito en la misión y el orgullo personal, es pues, un cuento que nos enseña que "no hay trabajo pequeño".
El relato de los hongos es bastante dinámico y nos encontramos con que el peligro puede venir de fuentes insospechadas y que van metiéndose en nosotros de la manera más simple sin que nos demos cuenta hasta el momento en que el cambio es demasiado grande para pasar desapercibido y no se puede dar marcha atrás.
En "Casi el fin del mundo", podemos dar un vistazo a un mundo sin televisión ni radio debido al daño causado por las manchas solares en nuestra tecnología. En un mundo cerca volverse loco debido a la "falta" de actividad recreacional, alguien comienza a pintar su casa y los demás encuentran que esas actividades de renovación son su nueva ocupación, ocurriendo lo mismo en otras ciudades. Entiendo de lo anterior el efecto narcotizante de la televisión y la radio (en aquellos tiempos) y tal vez ahora podríamos mencionar los videojuegos, las redes sociales y demás que son solamente un sustituto de actividades que podrían hacer de nosotros personas más felices y de nuestro mundo un lugar del que pudiéramos disfrutar más.
Luego de una breve introducción, "El día de los muertos" narra los tres acontecimientos (el niño atropellado, el Cristo que se desprende de la cruz y el toro que muere en el ruedo) como una sinfonía, como algo que ocurre en cámara lenta pero de manera simultánea y nos da un breve entendimiento de que lo que para alguien es muy importante, para los demás carece de sentido ya sea porque no les atañe directamente o simplemente porque no se han enterado de ello.
Finalmente y en mi opinión el mejor relato es "Algunos viven como Lázaro", en el cual vemos a un hombre atribulado que nunca encuentra el valor para rebelarse contra los deseos de su madre. Terminamos viendo que la "hierba mala nunca muere" y que en verdad "algunos viven como Lázaro, en una tumba de vida y salen curiosamente tarde a penumbrosos hospitales, a aposentos mortuorios". Y como menciona un poema dentro del relato: "Mejor los cielos glaciales del Norte que nacer muerto, ciego, convertido en un fantasma. ¡Si Río se ha perdido, ama la Costa Artica!".
Se trata de relatos sencillos, diría que incluso aleccionadores. Sin duda vale la pena leerlos y sobretodo reflexionarlos.
April 25, 2020
4.5 rounded up to 5 - Reviewed for Books and livres
A sheer reading pleasure that reminds me of my teenage years, when Bradbury was one of my favourite writers - he still is. I may have read this back then - I remember the title of The illustrated woman because I'd read The illustrated man.
Of course, since it's a collection of stories, all are not equally good, but Bradbury's humour, his imagination, his writing really appealed to me.
How can everyday situations suddenly turn weird ? Priests arguing about the papal encyclical on space traveling, souls live on Mars - in wells, how to manipulate irate film directors, people disappearing from the Earth just because you wish them to, how a boy can lead a battle with a drum, how to take over the world when you can't move, how does the world survive when TV and radio suddenly disappear (by perfuming dogs and permanenting their hairs and painting everything), why does the summer end when it's just begun, are you living a legend, what happens during the Day of the dead, how to keep your husband when you're an illustrated woman, people that live forever and prevent those around them from living, how to deal with mirages and philosophy, can a soul inhabit a puppet, how do we look on beggars (this one was at the same time easy to smile at and terribly poignant), how an old woman fights death (Twilight zone anyone ?), how a situation can be reversed through the years, how to be a monogamous polygamist, how to make money for your family after your death, what will the future look like and how will we look at memories, who are the anthem sprinters and what do they do ?
You'll have all the answers reading this book.
"They had enjoyed thirty years of nonviolence together, in their case meaning nonwork. "I feel a harvest coming on," Will would say, and they'd clear out of town before the wheat ripened. Or, "those apples are ready to fall !" So they'd stand back about three hundred miles so as not to get hit on the head."
A sheer reading pleasure that reminds me of my teenage years, when Bradbury was one of my favourite writers - he still is. I may have read this back then - I remember the title of The illustrated woman because I'd read The illustrated man.
Of course, since it's a collection of stories, all are not equally good, but Bradbury's humour, his imagination, his writing really appealed to me.
How can everyday situations suddenly turn weird ? Priests arguing about the papal encyclical on space traveling, souls live on Mars - in wells, how to manipulate irate film directors, people disappearing from the Earth just because you wish them to, how a boy can lead a battle with a drum, how to take over the world when you can't move, how does the world survive when TV and radio suddenly disappear (by perfuming dogs and permanenting their hairs and painting everything), why does the summer end when it's just begun, are you living a legend, what happens during the Day of the dead, how to keep your husband when you're an illustrated woman, people that live forever and prevent those around them from living, how to deal with mirages and philosophy, can a soul inhabit a puppet, how do we look on beggars (this one was at the same time easy to smile at and terribly poignant), how an old woman fights death (Twilight zone anyone ?), how a situation can be reversed through the years, how to be a monogamous polygamist, how to make money for your family after your death, what will the future look like and how will we look at memories, who are the anthem sprinters and what do they do ?
You'll have all the answers reading this book.
"They had enjoyed thirty years of nonviolence together, in their case meaning nonwork. "I feel a harvest coming on," Will would say, and they'd clear out of town before the wheat ripened. Or, "those apples are ready to fall !" So they'd stand back about three hundred miles so as not to get hit on the head."
April 26, 2020
Un recueil de nouvelles de Ray Bradbury d'une grande diversité de genres, à la façon de L'homme illustré : science-fiction humoristique, réalisme magique à la mexicaine, fantasy, littérature de guerre, weird fiction...
LISTE DES NOUVELLES :
1 - Les Machines à bonheur (The Machineries of Joy)
2 - Celui qui attend (The One who Waits)
3 - Tyrannosaurus Rex (Tyrannosaurus Rex / The Prehistoric Producer)
4 - Vacance (The Vacation)
5 - Le Petit tambour de Shiloh (The Drummer Boy of Shiloh)
6 - Jeunes Amis, faites pousser des champignons dans votre cave… (Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar! / Come Into My Cellar)
7 - Presque la fin du monde (Almost the End of the World)
8 - On s'en va peut-être (Perhaps We Are Going Away)
9 - Retour de la mer (And the Sailor, Home from the Sea / The Forever Voyage)
10 - El dia de muerte (El Dia de Muerte)
11 - La Dame tatouée illustrée (The Illustrated Woman)
12 - Certains vivent comme Lazare (Some Live Like Lazarus / Very Late in the Evening)
13 - Un miracle d'architecture (A Miracle of Rare Device)
14 - Ainsi mourut Riabouchinska (And So Died Riabouchinska)
15 - Le Mendiant d'O'Connell Bridge (The Beggar on O'Connell Bridge / The Beggar on the Dublin Bridge)
16 - La Mort et la jeune femme (Death and the Maiden)
17 - Un vol de corbeaux (A Flight of Ravens)
18 - Le Meilleur des mondes possibles (The Best of All Possible Worlds)
19 - L'Oeuvre de Juan Diaz (The Life Work of Juan Diaz)
20 - L'Abîme de Chicago (To the Chicago Abyss)
21 - Les Sprinters à l'Antienne (The Anthem Sprinters / The Queen's Own Evaders)
LISTE DES NOUVELLES :
1 - Les Machines à bonheur (The Machineries of Joy)
2 - Celui qui attend (The One who Waits)
3 - Tyrannosaurus Rex (Tyrannosaurus Rex / The Prehistoric Producer)
4 - Vacance (The Vacation)
5 - Le Petit tambour de Shiloh (The Drummer Boy of Shiloh)
6 - Jeunes Amis, faites pousser des champignons dans votre cave… (Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar! / Come Into My Cellar)
7 - Presque la fin du monde (Almost the End of the World)
8 - On s'en va peut-être (Perhaps We Are Going Away)
9 - Retour de la mer (And the Sailor, Home from the Sea / The Forever Voyage)
10 - El dia de muerte (El Dia de Muerte)
11 - La Dame tatouée illustrée (The Illustrated Woman)
12 - Certains vivent comme Lazare (Some Live Like Lazarus / Very Late in the Evening)
13 - Un miracle d'architecture (A Miracle of Rare Device)
14 - Ainsi mourut Riabouchinska (And So Died Riabouchinska)
15 - Le Mendiant d'O'Connell Bridge (The Beggar on O'Connell Bridge / The Beggar on the Dublin Bridge)
16 - La Mort et la jeune femme (Death and the Maiden)
17 - Un vol de corbeaux (A Flight of Ravens)
18 - Le Meilleur des mondes possibles (The Best of All Possible Worlds)
19 - L'Oeuvre de Juan Diaz (The Life Work of Juan Diaz)
20 - L'Abîme de Chicago (To the Chicago Abyss)
21 - Les Sprinters à l'Antienne (The Anthem Sprinters / The Queen's Own Evaders)
June 20, 2015
A few summers ago, I enacted the Bradbury Challenge - read one Bradbury short story every day. After reading over 200 short stories, I was worried I'd read most of the good ones. However, every summer since, I've picked the Challenge back up, and what can you say about a man who wrote nearly 600 short stories...
November 17, 2011
My favourite stories in this collection and the reason i rate it highly are:
"The One Who Waits"
"The Vacation"
"The Drummer Boy of Shiloh"
"Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar!"
"And So Died Riabouchinska"
"The Beggar on O'Connell Bridge "
There was many different types of stories in this collection. I enjoyed not knowing which kind of stories you are gonna read next. "The One Who Waits" was from the POV of a weird alien waiting for humans to prey on in Mars type of story. My fav of the SF/horror stories.
"The Beggar on O'Connell Bridge" was a little wonderful story about a tourist couple in Dublin and how they try to deal with beggars who they feel acts different roles to get sympathy and their money. The beggar in the title is different. One of several mundane,general fiction type stories in the collection. This was one was easily the best. A timeless topic to say the least.
Interesting enough the only very weak story is the title story.
"The One Who Waits"
"The Vacation"
"The Drummer Boy of Shiloh"
"Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar!"
"And So Died Riabouchinska"
"The Beggar on O'Connell Bridge "
There was many different types of stories in this collection. I enjoyed not knowing which kind of stories you are gonna read next. "The One Who Waits" was from the POV of a weird alien waiting for humans to prey on in Mars type of story. My fav of the SF/horror stories.
"The Beggar on O'Connell Bridge" was a little wonderful story about a tourist couple in Dublin and how they try to deal with beggars who they feel acts different roles to get sympathy and their money. The beggar in the title is different. One of several mundane,general fiction type stories in the collection. This was one was easily the best. A timeless topic to say the least.
Interesting enough the only very weak story is the title story.
Read
January 21, 2021Not bad! Maybe not the BEST mix of stories, some I skimmed through. I feel like some he wrote just to write something. Which is fine, but this is not the book to start with if you’re looking for your first Ray Bradbury book.
“The old man made the sign which said they must go on the great hunt. This, said his hands like mouths, was a day for the rabbit young and the featherless old. Let no warrior come with them. The hare and the dying vulture must track together. For only the very young saw life ahead and only the very old saw life behind; the others between were so busy with life they saw nothing.”
-pg. 72
“I live in the well. I live like smoke in the well. Like vapor in a stone throat. I don’t move. I don’t do anything but wait. Overhead I see the cold stars of night and morning, and I see the sun. And sometimes I sing old songs of this world when it was young. How can I tell you what I am when I don’t know? I cannot. I am simply waiting. I am mist and moonlight and memory. I am sad and I am old. Sometimes I fall like rain into the well. Spiderwebs are startled into forming where my rain falls fast, on the water surface. I wait in cool silence and there will be a day when I no longer wait.”
-pg. 24
“The old man made the sign which said they must go on the great hunt. This, said his hands like mouths, was a day for the rabbit young and the featherless old. Let no warrior come with them. The hare and the dying vulture must track together. For only the very young saw life ahead and only the very old saw life behind; the others between were so busy with life they saw nothing.”
-pg. 72
“I live in the well. I live like smoke in the well. Like vapor in a stone throat. I don’t move. I don’t do anything but wait. Overhead I see the cold stars of night and morning, and I see the sun. And sometimes I sing old songs of this world when it was young. How can I tell you what I am when I don’t know? I cannot. I am simply waiting. I am mist and moonlight and memory. I am sad and I am old. Sometimes I fall like rain into the well. Spiderwebs are startled into forming where my rain falls fast, on the water surface. I wait in cool silence and there will be a day when I no longer wait.”
-pg. 24
June 15, 2015
Though not Ray Bradbury’s most famous collection, and not containing his most famous stories, “The Machineries of Joy” is nonetheless a masterclass in short story writing; a virtuoso demonstration finding the haunting and beautiful and disturbing and sublime just underneath the surface of the mundane world.
These twenty one stories are varied in tone and genre and setting, but taken together are a concise exhibition of Bradbury’s ability to find reverie in every pocket and crevice of human experience.
Though the author bounds gleefully through several narrative traditions, there are little families of stories that are connected by their settings or genres.
* The SCI FI stories – The One Who Waits would fit comfortably in the pages of “The Martian Chronicles” and Boy! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar! is the sort of creepy suburban horror Bradbury perfected in “The Illustrated Man”.
* The DIA DE MUERTE stories – El Dia de Muerte and The Lifework of Juan Diaz explore the human fascination with death though the very specific lens of the Mexican Dia de los Muertos holiday.
* The DUBLIN stories – Bradbury perfectly captures the heartbreakingly dark Irish sense of humor with The Beggar on O’Connell Bridge and The Anthem Sprinters, which, in the true Irish literary tradition find laugh-out-loud humor in moments of sadness and poignancy. The Anthem Sprinters was my personal favorite in this collection.
* The VAUDVILLE stories – The Illustrated Woman, And So Riabouchinska Died and Tyrannosaurus Rex share tales from the lives of carny outsiders. Each story could have been a little episode occurring somewhere just outside the city limits of Green Town—footnote adventures addended to “Something Wicked This Way Comes”.
* The DYSTOPIA stories – Almost the End of the World, The Vacation, and To The Chicago Abyss each explore the lives of sad and hopeful men after variously ambiguous ends of the worlds.
* The MODERN MAN stories – Bradbury explores the vague neuroses brought on by the fast-paced, directionless 20th Century life with The Machineries of Joy, A Miracle of Rare Device, A Flight of Ravens, and The Best Of All Possible Worlds.
* The HISTORY stories – The Drummer Boy of Shiloh challenges a young boy’s perspective amidst the grotesque pointlessness of war. Perhaps We Are Going Away is a lament for the unwanted arrival of uninvited newcomers at a pivotal point in world history.
* The UNDEFINEABLE CLASSICS – Some of the best stories transcend genre and are simply pure, distilled Ray Bradbury. An author whose attention is caught by some citizen of his imagination. Side stories that could easily have been explored in the pages of “Dandelion Wine”. Death and the Maiden is a beautiful rumination on lost youth. Some Live Like Lazarus is a woman’s frustrated look back at a sad man’s life. And the Sailor, Home From the Sea is a heartbreaking story of a man paying pathetic homage to his lost love.
“The Machineries of Joy” is a beautiful and well-balanced collection of what made Ray Bradbury such a national treasure.
These twenty one stories are varied in tone and genre and setting, but taken together are a concise exhibition of Bradbury’s ability to find reverie in every pocket and crevice of human experience.
Though the author bounds gleefully through several narrative traditions, there are little families of stories that are connected by their settings or genres.
* The SCI FI stories – The One Who Waits would fit comfortably in the pages of “The Martian Chronicles” and Boy! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar! is the sort of creepy suburban horror Bradbury perfected in “The Illustrated Man”.
* The DIA DE MUERTE stories – El Dia de Muerte and The Lifework of Juan Diaz explore the human fascination with death though the very specific lens of the Mexican Dia de los Muertos holiday.
* The DUBLIN stories – Bradbury perfectly captures the heartbreakingly dark Irish sense of humor with The Beggar on O’Connell Bridge and The Anthem Sprinters, which, in the true Irish literary tradition find laugh-out-loud humor in moments of sadness and poignancy. The Anthem Sprinters was my personal favorite in this collection.
* The VAUDVILLE stories – The Illustrated Woman, And So Riabouchinska Died and Tyrannosaurus Rex share tales from the lives of carny outsiders. Each story could have been a little episode occurring somewhere just outside the city limits of Green Town—footnote adventures addended to “Something Wicked This Way Comes”.
* The DYSTOPIA stories – Almost the End of the World, The Vacation, and To The Chicago Abyss each explore the lives of sad and hopeful men after variously ambiguous ends of the worlds.
* The MODERN MAN stories – Bradbury explores the vague neuroses brought on by the fast-paced, directionless 20th Century life with The Machineries of Joy, A Miracle of Rare Device, A Flight of Ravens, and The Best Of All Possible Worlds.
* The HISTORY stories – The Drummer Boy of Shiloh challenges a young boy’s perspective amidst the grotesque pointlessness of war. Perhaps We Are Going Away is a lament for the unwanted arrival of uninvited newcomers at a pivotal point in world history.
* The UNDEFINEABLE CLASSICS – Some of the best stories transcend genre and are simply pure, distilled Ray Bradbury. An author whose attention is caught by some citizen of his imagination. Side stories that could easily have been explored in the pages of “Dandelion Wine”. Death and the Maiden is a beautiful rumination on lost youth. Some Live Like Lazarus is a woman’s frustrated look back at a sad man’s life. And the Sailor, Home From the Sea is a heartbreaking story of a man paying pathetic homage to his lost love.
“The Machineries of Joy” is a beautiful and well-balanced collection of what made Ray Bradbury such a national treasure.
February 19, 2012
I have yet to read anything by Ray Bradbury which I didn't like. Each time I pick up one of his works I walk away nourished. Ironically billed on the cover of my paperback edition as "the top science-fiction writer in the U.S. today," Bradbury is really a fantasy writer, and one with a unique voice. Generally more concerned with familiar and contemporary settings, Bradbury also flexes his language with the sensibilities of a poet, as in his evocation of age: "The sand fell through the glass beyond counting. The snows fell through the glass, too, applying and reapplying whiteness to whiteness..."
Among the gems included in this collection of 21 short stories are quite a number which deal with the topic of death, yet the tone is not so much somber as impassioned, a celebration of the irrational triumph of fleeting life over the certainty of eternal death. For Bradbury, death is not a reason to despair or withdraw into nihilism; it is an exhilarating force which stimulates the struggle to fulfill the potential of life, however brief.
My copy of this paperback is 47 years old and cost me 50 cents. The cover has nearly fallen off, the spine threatens to crack in two or three places, and the pages are well-yellowed with age. Yet, the pleasure its 213 pages afforded me outweighed anything that an equal number of TV channels could hope to match.
Among the gems included in this collection of 21 short stories are quite a number which deal with the topic of death, yet the tone is not so much somber as impassioned, a celebration of the irrational triumph of fleeting life over the certainty of eternal death. For Bradbury, death is not a reason to despair or withdraw into nihilism; it is an exhilarating force which stimulates the struggle to fulfill the potential of life, however brief.
My copy of this paperback is 47 years old and cost me 50 cents. The cover has nearly fallen off, the spine threatens to crack in two or three places, and the pages are well-yellowed with age. Yet, the pleasure its 213 pages afforded me outweighed anything that an equal number of TV channels could hope to match.
May 15, 2013
I'm not a fan of this collection as a whole but there are a few standouts. All stories have the magical Ray Bradbury prose, but not many of them held my interest.
Almost the End of the World: A short story about how much we could accomplish if TV suddenly went away. "A perfumed dog with permanented hair", everything in the town had a fresh coat of paint. This book was published in 1964 but it has a timely topic - "Because of the sunspots, all the towns in all the Western world have had enough silence to last them ten years." The protagonists discuss their experience with TV - "What have we ever seen on TV?"
"Saw a woman wrestle a bear two falls out of three, one night."
"Who won?"
"Damned if I know." Pretty much sums it up.
Some Live Like Lazarus: A creepy love story about a son and his overbearing Mom.
So Died Riabouchinska: A man in love with a marionette - reminiscent of a Twilight Zone episode.
Death and the Maiden: Another story reminiscent of Twilight Zone - an old woman bars her door to "Death".
To the Chicago Abyss: A bleak tale of the future - similar to Farenheit 451.
Almost the End of the World: A short story about how much we could accomplish if TV suddenly went away. "A perfumed dog with permanented hair", everything in the town had a fresh coat of paint. This book was published in 1964 but it has a timely topic - "Because of the sunspots, all the towns in all the Western world have had enough silence to last them ten years." The protagonists discuss their experience with TV - "What have we ever seen on TV?"
"Saw a woman wrestle a bear two falls out of three, one night."
"Who won?"
"Damned if I know." Pretty much sums it up.
Some Live Like Lazarus: A creepy love story about a son and his overbearing Mom.
So Died Riabouchinska: A man in love with a marionette - reminiscent of a Twilight Zone episode.
Death and the Maiden: Another story reminiscent of Twilight Zone - an old woman bars her door to "Death".
To the Chicago Abyss: A bleak tale of the future - similar to Farenheit 451.
February 9, 2022
No son sus mejores relatos, y me ha resultado algo frustrante la falta total de hilo conductor o de coherencia temática entre ellos, muy variada y apenas rozando solo en algunos la ciéncia ficción que esperaba.
Aun así, Bradbury escribe de una forma que te permite sentir la brisa fresca en la primavera que te plantea, el Sol de sus paisajes te hace sudar y puedes oler el café del desayuno de sus personajes.
Aun así, Bradbury escribe de una forma que te permite sentir la brisa fresca en la primavera que te plantea, el Sol de sus paisajes te hace sudar y puedes oler el café del desayuno de sus personajes.
October 31, 2019
This collection of short fiction ranges over several genres rather than the fantasy/science fiction for which the author is known. These include macabre tales of life in Mexico in a rather death-orientated culture, a story in which an old woman is visited by Death in the guise of a lost young lover who offers her one day as an eighteen year old again, and a tale about a family who are the only ones left after the parents wished everyone else away.
The most effective in the book for me were 'The One Who Waits', a story set on Mars about a strange lifeform, 'Some Live Like Lazarus' in which a woman narrates how she feels about a man she has known from childhood, who had promised to marry her but allowed his domineering mother to come between them, and 'A Flight of Ravens' about the shocking transformation of old friends that a man visits in the hope of finding respite. On balance I would give it a 3 star rating.
The most effective in the book for me were 'The One Who Waits', a story set on Mars about a strange lifeform, 'Some Live Like Lazarus' in which a woman narrates how she feels about a man she has known from childhood, who had promised to marry her but allowed his domineering mother to come between them, and 'A Flight of Ravens' about the shocking transformation of old friends that a man visits in the hope of finding respite. On balance I would give it a 3 star rating.
July 20, 2022
I bought £15 of secondhand Ray Bradbury paperbacks in the Oxfam bookshop for the beautiful 1969 cover art. I turned out to own none of them, although I had read them all...or had I? This collection seemed new to me, although the Bradbury themes - strange suburbia, boys being boys, the Day of the Dead, the ordinary made special and beautiful - are all there.
When I write speculative fiction, I aim for a tiny percentage of Bradbury's magic. I fall short but at least I aim high.
When I write speculative fiction, I aim for a tiny percentage of Bradbury's magic. I fall short but at least I aim high.
October 28, 2010
I loved this collection of short stories. What can I say, Bradbury's writing just hits the right spot in my brain. I was hooked from the first paragraph of the first story. The style and use of language just press all my buttons. In saying that, there was one story, El Dia de Muerte that just completely failed to gel for me. I read a few pages but I just didn't care for or about it at all. It's difficult to describe but it's like not being able to focus on a magic eye picture. With Bradbury I can mostly 'see the picture' from the first sentence or two and get completely entranced, but that just didn't work for me.
The cover bills this as a collection of horror stories, but it's really not. Some have an aspect of horror, some are plain science fiction, some are fantasy, several are actually non-genre and some are just immensely sweet. The last story in particular, The Anthem Sprinters was one that I read just before going to bed and I was able to turn out the light with a smile on my face that didn't fade for several minutes. A wonderful way to end a brilliant collection.
The cover bills this as a collection of horror stories, but it's really not. Some have an aspect of horror, some are plain science fiction, some are fantasy, several are actually non-genre and some are just immensely sweet. The last story in particular, The Anthem Sprinters was one that I read just before going to bed and I was able to turn out the light with a smile on my face that didn't fade for several minutes. A wonderful way to end a brilliant collection.
March 22, 2012
Bradbury is an excellent writer - imaginative stories told through potent, imagery-laden prose. This book was no exception. He's most commonly referred to as a Sci-Fi writer, and while he has contributed marvelously to that genre, his talents exceed what I typically think of as "sci-fi writing." Some of the best writing in this collection occurs in the story about the maiden courted by death (not so much sci fi as fantasy/surrealism), the story called "The Lifework of Juan Diaz" (not remotely sci fi), and the story about the beggars in Dublin - also not sci-fi at all. I love Bradbury's flexibility and authenticity. I also appreciate reading short stories that give me beautiful language to enjoy and deep thoughts to entertain.
February 5, 2022
A good collection of stories.There was one superb story--Some Live Like Lazarus. And four excellent stories--Tyrannosaurus, And the Sailor, Death and the Maiden, A Flight of Ravens.
June 2, 2017
Encaré este libro buscando un poco de ciencia ficción y me terminé encontrando con mucho más que eso. Excelente como todo lo que leí de Bradbury a la fecha. Leerlo en una edición de Minotauro de 1972 fue un lindo condimento.
October 22, 2025
Normalmente busco ediciones del siglo pasado cuando se trata de mis autores preferidos, ya sea por las portadas llenas de imaginación, el olor al papel amarillento húmedo o también porque quiero tener en mis libreros libros de todos los colores posibles, ya sea porque en esta época los diseños se han vuelto algo homogeneos y del mismo tipo de plástico que reluce.
Fui en Abril a CDMX y por primera vez fui a la libreria Jorge Cuesta. En el interior se ve como las librerías que salen en las peliculas norteamericanas, con un monton de libros alrededor y un segundo piso con pinturas y otras cosas miscelaneas. No pensé que en la sección de Ciencia Ficción hallaría una coleccion de Bradbury y, además, un título que no reconocía de los más conocidos.
De los 22 cuentos, 8 son lo que se catalogaria en Bradbury como fábulas atrapadas en el Acto 1 (y que no acrecentan el conflicto) o igual prosas poéticas en vez de relatos, donde la trama es muy mínima y no hay nada que nos dé a conocer al personaje. Pero el resto de los cuentos tiene una intrepidez, habilidad, cohesión y textura que rara vez miraba en Crónicas o Doradas. Aquí solo hay un cuento ambientado en otro planeta, mientras los demás transcurren en el desierto, en ciudades o en los hogares de los personajes.
Bradbury es un autor de fantasía, de lo extraordinario o fantastique. Si tuviera que emparentarlo con autores del mundo que comparten tecnicas, diria que son Boris Vian y Juan Rulfo. Para ese momento la novela literaria encontraba su forma entre el simbolo, la metafora, el lirismo y lo cotidiano.
Y creo que con este libro, Ray logró salir de su zona de confort en muchos géneros, tramas y diálogo. Hay noir, dramedy, gótico, aventuras en el desierto y hasta una secuela espiritual de Fahrenheit 451.
Este fue publicado en 1964. Todavia faltan mas colecciones de Bradbury que leer. Al menos leyendo mucho mas de su carrera, sus influencias tienen sentido no directamente, pero si en su busqueda de la alusión, la belleza y la crueldad, la imaginación y sus apariciones en las personas.
Espero estes soñando con la alegria del universo
Fui en Abril a CDMX y por primera vez fui a la libreria Jorge Cuesta. En el interior se ve como las librerías que salen en las peliculas norteamericanas, con un monton de libros alrededor y un segundo piso con pinturas y otras cosas miscelaneas. No pensé que en la sección de Ciencia Ficción hallaría una coleccion de Bradbury y, además, un título que no reconocía de los más conocidos.
De los 22 cuentos, 8 son lo que se catalogaria en Bradbury como fábulas atrapadas en el Acto 1 (y que no acrecentan el conflicto) o igual prosas poéticas en vez de relatos, donde la trama es muy mínima y no hay nada que nos dé a conocer al personaje. Pero el resto de los cuentos tiene una intrepidez, habilidad, cohesión y textura que rara vez miraba en Crónicas o Doradas. Aquí solo hay un cuento ambientado en otro planeta, mientras los demás transcurren en el desierto, en ciudades o en los hogares de los personajes.
Bradbury es un autor de fantasía, de lo extraordinario o fantastique. Si tuviera que emparentarlo con autores del mundo que comparten tecnicas, diria que son Boris Vian y Juan Rulfo. Para ese momento la novela literaria encontraba su forma entre el simbolo, la metafora, el lirismo y lo cotidiano.
Y creo que con este libro, Ray logró salir de su zona de confort en muchos géneros, tramas y diálogo. Hay noir, dramedy, gótico, aventuras en el desierto y hasta una secuela espiritual de Fahrenheit 451.
Este fue publicado en 1964. Todavia faltan mas colecciones de Bradbury que leer. Al menos leyendo mucho mas de su carrera, sus influencias tienen sentido no directamente, pero si en su busqueda de la alusión, la belleza y la crueldad, la imaginación y sus apariciones en las personas.
Espero estes soñando con la alegria del universo
October 4, 2025
Back to Ray Bradbury with this 1964 collection of short stories that, if nothing else, shows how eclectic he was. In fact, it’s interesting how often Bradbury is described as an SF writer when really he was so much more than that. It’s perhaps more accurate to say he was a writer of the fantastic and slightly weird (I mean, even his SF was never that scientific, but it was decidedly imaginative and almost never dull). There’s certainly very little SF here, and even when there is, it’s more speculative than anything else.
The title track features two priests wondering what man’s upcoming exploration of space means for their vocation. "Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar" hints at an alien invasion, but could also be a metaphor for drug addiction. “The Chicago Abyss” and “The Vacation” dip into post-apocalyptic dystopian territory. Yet other stories involve Mexican funerary customs, talking ventriloquist dummies, an homage to Ray Harryhausen and a competition to see who can exit an Irish movie house the fastest before the national anthem starts playing.
As always, some are better than others, but Bradbury’s writing style almost always captivates and mesmerises me – and he certainly does here. Sometimes it really is more about how you tell it.
The title track features two priests wondering what man’s upcoming exploration of space means for their vocation. "Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar" hints at an alien invasion, but could also be a metaphor for drug addiction. “The Chicago Abyss” and “The Vacation” dip into post-apocalyptic dystopian territory. Yet other stories involve Mexican funerary customs, talking ventriloquist dummies, an homage to Ray Harryhausen and a competition to see who can exit an Irish movie house the fastest before the national anthem starts playing.
As always, some are better than others, but Bradbury’s writing style almost always captivates and mesmerises me – and he certainly does here. Sometimes it really is more about how you tell it.
July 19, 2017
Not the best Ray Bradbury collection, but there were some interesting ones in there. I think only two of the stories are science fiction, the rest are a melange of topics. Some of the stories were bizarre, as in they didn't make a lot of sense and weren't particularly good, but a lot were amusing and sweet. I especially liked the story about the mirage in the desert and the story about beggars in Dublin.
This collection exemplifies why Bradbury didn't like to be referred to as a science-fiction writer; he's more of a fantasy writer. There's not much "science" in his stories, even the ones that take place in space or on other planets. My favorite of his books is "Dandelion Wine," which is realistic fiction.
If you are looking for a collection of short stories that shows an amazing breadth of imagination, check out this book.
This collection exemplifies why Bradbury didn't like to be referred to as a science-fiction writer; he's more of a fantasy writer. There's not much "science" in his stories, even the ones that take place in space or on other planets. My favorite of his books is "Dandelion Wine," which is realistic fiction.
If you are looking for a collection of short stories that shows an amazing breadth of imagination, check out this book.
July 2, 2021
I když mám Bradburyho tvorbu rád, v Ilustrované ženě bohužel převažovaly povídky, které mě za srdíčko moc nechytily, spíše častěji nechávaly chladným. Některé kousky mě dokonce i nudily. Kdybych měl ale vypíchnout trojici toho nej, co mě uhranulo svým nápadem a myšlenkou, doporučím "Čekám" (o životě nekonkrétní entity žijící ve studně na cizí planetě), "Hoši! Pěstuje obří houby doma ve sklepě" (aneb pěstovat hub nemusí být tak nevinná sranda, jak se může na první pohled zdát) a "Ilustrovaná žena" (žena vážící dvě stě jedno kilo a patnáct deka, která si nechává každý kousek svého těla zaplnit tetovacím umem svého manžela). I když se jedná o zcela odlišná témata, každý z textů má své osobité kouzlo, spojené umem Bradbury oslovit čtenáře citem pro detail, volbou hlediska nebo nedořečeností, která napíná mozkové závity k prasknutí.
June 1, 2022
This is a collection of short stories. Some are better than others but overall I thought it was ok. Most stories were published in the 40s, 50s and 60s so some of the stories are a bit dated but would have been revolutionary for it’s time.
February 16, 2018
Siempre es hermoso leer relatos de Ray Bradbury
April 25, 2022
Totalmente recomendable
October 8, 2022
Chef kisses. Beautiful stories, makes me cry.
June 16, 2025
Eher unter drei Sterne anzuordnen. Können eben nicht alle Kurzgeschichtensammlungen von Bradbury überragend sein :)
Einzig “The One who waits” hat mir wirklich gut gefallen aus diesem Buch!
Einzig “The One who waits” hat mir wirklich gut gefallen aus diesem Buch!
November 7, 2019
Entertaining (although somewhat uneven in quality) Bradbury collection of his magazine short stories with emphasis on fantasy and the poetic. Stand outs include “The One Who Waits,” “Almost the End of the World,” “And so died Riabouchinska,” and “To the Chicago Abyss.”
July 30, 2011
I read The Machineries of Joy by Ray Bradbury in mid-June. This is a delightful collection of stories originally published between 1947 and 1963. I must say I love Ray Bradbury’s short stories. I read a lot of Bradbury when I was in high school, pretty much everything of his I could get my hands on. I suspect I read this collection back then, but while some of the stories were very familiar (and in several of his collections), some I had absolutely no memory of.
Although generally classified as SF over a third of this collection, 8 of 21, are mainstream fiction: “The Illustrated Woman”, “Tyrannosaurus Rex” (1962), “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” (1960), “Some Live Like Lazarus” (1960), “The Beggar on the O’Connell Bridge” (1961), “A Flight of Ravens” (1952), “The Anthem Sprinters” (1963), and “The Machineries of Joy” (1962).
For some reason the story I remembered best, “The Illustrated Woman” (1961), I remembered as having read in Playboy, but I’m pretty sure I wasn’t reading Playboy when I was 6. Playboy Press reprinted it in a Short Story collection in 1971 (Last Train to Limbo), maybe I read it there. Anyway, other than concerning unusual tattoos this story is unrelated to Bradbury’s book The Illustrated Man. It’s the story of a woman who visits a psychiatrist concerned about losing her husband.
“Tyrannosaurus Rex” is a fun story about Terwilliger, a Hollywood special effects man specializing in dinosaur miniatures and Joe Clarence, the producer who doesn’t appreciate his work. The story also appears the collection Dinosaur Tales: A Sound of Thunder/The Fog Horn (1983) which I read not too long ago. Even having read it so recently I enjoyed it.
“Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar!” (1962), an often collected SF/Horror story, is another good read. It’s about school boys in the summer who answer ads in magazines. This story also appears in collection I read recently: A Medicine for Melancholy and Other Stories (1990). It’s also as creepy as hell.
The titular story is an interesting story about three priests in arguing over the ramifications of space travel on religion. Or perhaps it's about the differences between being Irish and being Italian. In the end, like most Bradbury stories, it’s about people.
Sometime after high school, I quit reading Bradbury and sold his books. I was reading more action fantasy series (Edgar Rice Burroughs, Michael Moorcock, Lin Carter) and Bradbury’s more gentle, thoughtful stories didn’t appeal as much to me. As it turns out I’m almost glad I sold all my copies of his books. If I still had the old ones they’d be a box somewhere. But now I have different, mostly newer editions and they’re out where I can see them and more importantly read and enjoy them all over again.
Although generally classified as SF over a third of this collection, 8 of 21, are mainstream fiction: “The Illustrated Woman”, “Tyrannosaurus Rex” (1962), “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” (1960), “Some Live Like Lazarus” (1960), “The Beggar on the O’Connell Bridge” (1961), “A Flight of Ravens” (1952), “The Anthem Sprinters” (1963), and “The Machineries of Joy” (1962).
For some reason the story I remembered best, “The Illustrated Woman” (1961), I remembered as having read in Playboy, but I’m pretty sure I wasn’t reading Playboy when I was 6. Playboy Press reprinted it in a Short Story collection in 1971 (Last Train to Limbo), maybe I read it there. Anyway, other than concerning unusual tattoos this story is unrelated to Bradbury’s book The Illustrated Man. It’s the story of a woman who visits a psychiatrist concerned about losing her husband.
“Tyrannosaurus Rex” is a fun story about Terwilliger, a Hollywood special effects man specializing in dinosaur miniatures and Joe Clarence, the producer who doesn’t appreciate his work. The story also appears the collection Dinosaur Tales: A Sound of Thunder/The Fog Horn (1983) which I read not too long ago. Even having read it so recently I enjoyed it.
“Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar!” (1962), an often collected SF/Horror story, is another good read. It’s about school boys in the summer who answer ads in magazines. This story also appears in collection I read recently: A Medicine for Melancholy and Other Stories (1990). It’s also as creepy as hell.
The titular story is an interesting story about three priests in arguing over the ramifications of space travel on religion. Or perhaps it's about the differences between being Irish and being Italian. In the end, like most Bradbury stories, it’s about people.
Sometime after high school, I quit reading Bradbury and sold his books. I was reading more action fantasy series (Edgar Rice Burroughs, Michael Moorcock, Lin Carter) and Bradbury’s more gentle, thoughtful stories didn’t appeal as much to me. As it turns out I’m almost glad I sold all my copies of his books. If I still had the old ones they’d be a box somewhere. But now I have different, mostly newer editions and they’re out where I can see them and more importantly read and enjoy them all over again.
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