A Medicine for Melancholy and Other Stories [Paperback]

Ray Bradbury (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1998

Ray Bradbury is a painter who uses words rather than brushes--for he created lasting visual images that, once observed, are impossible to forget. Sinister mushrooms growing in a dank cellar. A family's first glimpse at Martians. A wonderful white vanilla ice-cream summer suit that changes everyone who wears it. A great artist drawing in the sand on the beach. A clunky contraption made out of household implements to help some kids play a game called Invasion. The most marvelous Christmas display a little boy ever saw. All those images and many more are inside this book, a new trade edition of thirty-one of Bradbury's most arresting tales--timeless short fiction that ranges from the farthest reaches of space to the innermost stirrings of the heart. Ray Bradbury is known worldwide as one of the century's great men of imagination. Here are thirty-one reasons why.Ray Bradbury is a painter who uses words rather than brushes--for he created lasting visual images that, once observed, are impossible to forget. Sinister mushrooms growing in a dank cellar. A familys first glimpse at Martians. A wonderful white vanilla ice-cream summer suit that changes everyone who wears it. A great artist drawing in the sand on the beach. A clunky contraption made out of household implements to help some kids play a game called Invasion. The most marvelous Christmas display a little boy ever saw. All those images and many more are inside this book, a new trade edition of thirty-one of Bradburys most arresting tales--timeless short fiction that ranges from the farthest reaches of space to the innermost stirrings of the heart. Ray Bradbury is known worldwide as one of the centurys great men of imagination. Here are thirty-one reasons why.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ray Bradbury is the author of dozens of books and hundreds of stories. Among his best-known works are Fahrenheit 451, Dandelion Wine, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. An Emmy Award winner for his teleplay The Halloween Tree and an Academy Award nominee, Mr. Bradbury was also honored by the National Book Foundation with a medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Winner of a National Medal of Arts and a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation and named a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, France’s highest cultural award, he lives in Los Angeles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 307 pages
• Publisher: Avon (February 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380730863
• ISBN-13: 978-0380730865
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #565,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing, April 14, 2001

By 

Lauren (PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Medicine for Melancholy and Other Stories (Paperback)

Wow- this book is a creative, intelligent, easy-to-understand treasure! Each story is about 5-25 pages, some are shorter than others. They are not all alike, so you are guaranteed to like at least a few, but it is hard to believe that someone might not like most of them. ray bradbury writes very well and i am sure you will enjoy this book. try it!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Collection by a Master Short-Story Writer, May 17, 2002

By 

Brian C. Taylor "smug feldspar magnate" (Tallahassee, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Medicine for Melancholy and Other Stories (Paperback)

Ray Bradbury is one of the most distinctive and talented writers that the sci-fi pulps of the 40's and 50's spawned. He's got a really unique voice, and his stories, usually very short and very readable, are certainly a example of sci-fi at its finest. Some really great stories in this collection. However, I guess it's kind of silly to call this a sci-fi collection. There's horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and a lot of plain old good short story in this collection. If you like to read short stories, I highly recommend any of his collections, because they seem consistently good to me.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must for Bradbury fans, September 27, 2008

By 

Backroads "Scatter-brained book fan" (Cache Valley, Utah) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Medicine for Melancholy and Other Stories (Paperback)

I always tend to think of Ray Bradbury as one of the science fiction masters. And that is not to say that this collection has zero science fiction, for it does. But there are several stories where Bradbury takes his skill past the sci-fi and fully into the heartfelt world he so often covers in his other books. The stories range from romance to the rainy worlds of Venus and every place inbetween as Bradbury demonstrates some stunning and always powerful imagination.