classicLSFBC

pick

Apparently my complaint about the #ClassicLSFBC books is always going to be the lack of imagination regarding race, sex, and gender roles. Here it‘s mired in the 1950s; Bradbury can‘t even imagine that Martian society might be set up differently. Some stories (Night Meeting) are beautiful, while others (Way in the Middle of the Air) are deeply disturbing. Bradbury‘s writing style is interesting — it‘s suggestive of constant movement. #audiowalk

Ruthiella Yup. I think that will be a common occurrence. It‘s also something I probably would not have even noticed if I‘d read them when I was younger and also less aware of. 24h

KathyWheeler @Ruthiella I don‘t think I would‘ve noticed when I was younger either. 23h

RamsFan1963 @Ruthiella @KathyWheeler I think it's actually an advantage to the books chosen for #ClassicLSFBC. They are very much books of their time, but it allows us to see how society has grown and matured, it makes us uncomfortable because those ideas of race, gender, or sexual orientation no longer hold true for the majority of people. I think there would be something wrong with the person who isn't disturbed by these outdated beliefs. 21h

KathyWheeler @RamsFan1963 I think it‘s interesting because I honestly don‘t think I would‘ve noticed so much if I‘d read these books when I was younger. So it‘s been eye-opening to see how my attitudes along with those of society have changed. 15h

19 likes4 comments

KathyWheeler

The Martian Chronicles | Ray Bradbury

This book is very different from what I thought it would be; it‘s more a series of interconnected stories than a novel. I‘m enjoying it so far. #ClassicLSFBC #audiowalk

20 likes

KathyWheeler

The Shadow Sister: The Seven Sisters | Lucinda Riley

pick

While I did end up liking this — I liked Star and was pushing for her to get a life separate from her sister — the ending felt a little anticlimactic. I had a picture in my head of Jamie Gertz, who played Star in The Lost Boys. I also started The Martian Chronicles for #ClassicLSFBC for my new #audiowalk book.

24 likes

rwmg

The Martian Chronicles | Ray Bradbury

pick

#ClassicLSFBC
@RamsFans1963

A series of vignettes from the short-lived human exploration and colonisation of Mars and its effects on the Martians.

rwmg I'm not sure how up-to-date the author's knowledge of Mars was even for when it was written (1951) and at this distance the way the colonists reproduced the popular image of small-town USA seems unlikely, despite the hand-waving explanation of why this might be so. Having said that, the book was very enjoyable, especially the native Martians' reaction to the first expeditions, with very poetic writing. 5d

32 likes1 stack add1 comment

AnishaInkspill

The Martian Chronicles | Ray Bradbury

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl #ClassicLSFBC @RamsFan1963

I am really looking forward to this one, I've been wanting to read it for ages

16 likes

Bookwomble

The Silver Locusts | Ray Bradbury

pick

#ClassicLSFBC @Ruthiella @RamsFan1963

Stories, mainly melancholy, about US white colonialism in the guise of interplanetary settlement.

Written in the shadow of WWII and the atomic bombings of Japan, Bradbury gives a pessimistic view of the human capacity for self-destruction, genocide, ignorance & bigotry couched in beautifully lyrical prose that captures the sadness of decay and decline, grief for the passing and the passed, & a scintilla ⬇️

Bookwomble ... of hope for the survival of something decent in the infinite unfolding of time.
Despite this being a 5⭐ for me, there are flaws that time has exposed: a white male, US-centric perspective, some cultural and racial stereotypes, and in one story, a (untypically) mean-spirited, sexist, fatphobic attitude which at the time written passed for humour ("The Silent Towns"). There's a slew of racial slurs in "Way in the Middle of the Air", but in ⬇️ 7d

Bookwomble ... the mouth of a racist small-town business owner and Ray's sympathies are definitely with the Black people escaping racist oppression for the new New World.
My UK edition contains one of the more darkly humorous stories, "Usher II", not in "The Martian Chronicles" collection. It's widely anthologised and worth seeking out. It lampoons the moral panic and ideological censorship of the McCarthy era, and spears Trumpian oppression just as ⬇️ 7d

Bookwomble ... effectively, with a dash of Edgar Allan Poe.
Tonally, Nico's lament, "You Forget to Answer" captures something of the overarching spirit of the stories for me:
https://youtu.be/8Orn_ztTGQM?si=zpveF1m24VJL-jwI 7d

Ruthiella Looking forward to this one! 7d

37 likes1 stack add4 comments

rwmg

The Martian Chronicles | Ray Bradbury

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

#ClassicLSFBC
@RamsFan1963

Bookwomble Snap! 😊 7d

31 likes1 comment

Bookwomble

Usher II | Ray Bradbury

pick

#ClassicLSFBC
Usher II is one of Bradbury's invectives against censorship, written in 1949, obliquely referencing McCarthyism, and directly referencing book bans and book burnings, even if set in his own future.
It's hard not to see MC William Stendhal as other than an authorial avatar, driven mad by the destruction of his 50,000 book library at the hands of investigators of the Moral Climate crusade, he plots his revenge upon the repressive ⬇️

Bookwomble ... agents who have followed him to Mars by recreating Poe's terrible dooms, which they'd know to avoid had they ever read any of the books they burned. I smiled through this one with a grisly bibliophilic homicidal glee! 💀
How sad Ray would be to see the contemporary relevance of his 75 year-old wish-fulfillment fantasy.
#ReadBannedBooks #UniteAgainstBookBans 1w

AnishaInkspill this looks interesting and will look into it, I'm really enjoying reading MartianC 4d

44 likes2 comments

Bookwomble

Usher II | Ray Bradbury

"How could I expect you to know Mr. Poe? He died a long while ago, before Lincoln. All of his books were burned in the Great Fire...He and Lovecraft and Hawthorne and Ambrose Bierce and all the tales of terror and fantasy and horror and, for that matter, tales of the future were burned. Heartlessly. They passed a law. Oh, it started very small. In 1950 and '60 it was a grain of sand. They began by controlling books of cartoons and then ⬇️

Bookwomble ... detective books and, of course, films, one way or another, one group or another, political bias, religious prejudice, union pressures; there was always a minority afraid of something, and a great majority afraid of the dark, afraid of the future, afraid of the past, afraid of the present, afraid of themselves and shadows of themselves."
- Ray Bradbury, "Usher II", a Martian Chronicle ?
#ClassicLSFBC #ReadBannedBooks 1w

41 likes1 comment

Welcome to Litsy!

Trending Hashtags

Trending Books