Fantastic Tales of Ray Bradbury

I just purchased the audio book Fantastic Tales of Ray Bradbury. It's a wonderful collection of 14 of his most popular stories and, best of all, it's read by Ray Bradbury. He introduces each story by explaining how he got the idea and I like that a lot. My only complaint is that it does not include a table of contents.

While searching online for the table of contents I found some great sites devoted to Ray, including one with quotes. I love this quote:

"If you can't read and write you can't think. Your thoughts are dispersed if you don't know how to read and write. You've got to be able to look at your thoughts on paper and discover what a fool you were." ~ Ray Bradbury (Salon.com, August 29, 2001)

You said it, Ray!

Here are the web sites:

Ray Bradbury (official web site)
Fantastic Fiction (includes all his works in chronological order)
Ray Bradbury Online (a list of his audio books and some quotes)
Ray Bradbury Audio (contents of many of his audio books, including Fantastic Tales of Ray Bradbury)

I've loved Ray's books for a long time and have written about him several times. Here are the links if you are interested: Hooray for Ray!, 86 and Still Writing, and Farewell Summer.

For me most of his stories evoke "a world where miracles are just everyday occurrences and even the most ordinary things are pervaded by eerie glimmerings of the supernatural and the unknown" (to quote the blurb on Dandelion Wine).

I feel compelled to read Ray's books in the fall, not just the ones with obvious Halloween/autumn connections (like The October Country, The Halloween Tree, From the Dust Returned, and Something Wicked This Way Comes). I also want to read those with summer settings that evoke that sense of October and the supernatural (like Dandelion Wine).

There's nothing like curling up with a good Ray Bradbury book on a dark, cozy evening while listening to the rustle of fallen leaves in the crisp autumn air. My stack of books and I are ready for fall, even if the weather isn't cooperating.