Bradbury Readalong

Not an active member of this group, but I'm dropping by to invite any or all to join a Ray Bradbury Readalong scheduled to begin in September.

We will be reading The October Country, a few stories at a time, winding up at or near Halloween. (How's that for appropriate?)

Details can be found in Post 12 of the "Bradbury Readalong" thread in the 75 Books Challenge for 2024 thread ... or by following this linky.

We'd love to have your input!

Can you please come back and remind us when it gets closer to the actual date? I don't want to commit to anything that I can't actually participate in.

>2 clamairy: Just saw your post! The readalong starts "officially" on Sunday, and the discussion thread is at this link. We'd love to have you aboard.

>3 LyndaInOregon: Oh, I'm going to be late to the party then. Although I might just pause the audiobook I started two days ago and dive into the Bradbury audio instead.

My book arrived in time and I started.

>5 Karlstar: Good. I listened to the first short story yesterday. I remembered the meat of the story, but none of the incidentals. I guess it's been around 50 years since I read it, so that's not too bad.

GENERAL QUESTION re "The Dwarf"

Is this your first reading of this story? If not, do you remember what you thought of it the first time, and how that compares to your impression of the re-read?

>6 clamairy: Remembering "the meat of the story" after 50 years isn't too shabby! I remembered the switching of the mirrors, but thought there was a more definite resolution to the theft of the pistol.

>7 LyndaInOregon: I do believe this is my first reading of these stories, definitely so for 'The Dwarf'.

>8 LyndaInOregon: Yes, so did I. Like you I remembered the mirrors being switched but not the cruel reason why.

>9 Karlstar: It was my first time as well! It is certainly a memorable opener; the story has been rattling around in my head all week long.

>11 jillmwo: I agree, it was definitely memorable.

>10 clamairy: This is the only Bradbury short story that I can think of with a character (Ralph Banghart) who exhibits this nasty kind of petty cruelty. There are characters who do bad things -- including murder -- but Ralph is just a grown-up (?) bully who seems to enjoy causing other people pain. There's a subtext there in the way he treats Aimee. And it makes me wonder about the ending, when Ralph sees himself distorted and deformed -- whether that was meant to say somehow another mirror had gotten switched, or whether the outside mirror was now reflecting the inner reality of those who stood before it.

>13 LyndaInOregon: On your last point there, I think this is definitely a metaphor illustrating the point Bradbury's making with this piece. In many ways, the mirrors are reflecting reality — the dwarf who has such a large, rich internal world and such intelligence and skill, and Ralph, who is an ugly, twisted up, sad little man.

>13 LyndaInOregon: This is such a gut-punch of a short story. Aimee (and the reader) are made to realize that mirrors can reflect both an internal as well as an external truth. How are we seeing and how are we seen? Mr. Big wants to be seen for who he is and he desperately needs to see himself (for his own mental well-being) as being like everyone else. Ralph purposely wants to keep Mr. Big "down", he prefers to see himself as having some form of innate superiority to this other person. Aimee is caught in the middle of this unnecessary tension. We are left hoping that she catches up to Mr. Big because she has read his published work and indeed "sees" him. (But even at the story's end, we aren't sure that she will.) Frankly, it's an unsettling read.

New week, new recommended story -- "The Next in Line". This is the longest story in the collection, so it's this week's only featured read.

How do you feel about lifting the "spoiler" recommendation for further comments on "The Dwarf" at this time?

Just posting the link to the main discussion here for people who are searching for it:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/363023

I hope it isn't too gauche of me to recommend, but would others be amenable to perhaps confining the discussion to the actual readalong thread in the 75 Books group? I am of the opinion that the conversation would be richer if all those participating were able to discuss together, instead of having parallel discussion in separate places. Please share your own thoughts about this.

>18 GraceCollection: I agree, but since I'm not an active member of the group, I was keeping mum about it.

>18 GraceCollection: That was why I posted the link in #17.