Can we just talk about story after the title "Long After Midnight"? I can't stop thinking about it, very ahead of its time. Though it could be triggering for some people.

I really liked this series of short stories. Going into it I was expecting just some classic Scifi but left with so much more. There are a few surprisingly complex, introspective stories I was not expecting and loved.

4.5 stars

Got it done by midnight! This is a group of short stories written in true "Bradbury" style. Always love his stuff!

I’m not a big short story fan to start with, but these stories left me feeling very underwhelmed. I’ve owned the book for 40 years and finally got around to reading it. (Old enough it didn’t have a bar code for me to scan into Goodreads) I think it’s the only Bradbury book I had left to read. I love his books, but I couldn’t get interested in very many of these stories. Some with literary themes I just didn’t get. I don’t remember enough about Hemmingway to really understand the story about the parrot, for example.

Yes.
Stumbled on this collection of shorts by accident.
Happy to say, I have officially found my favourite author ever in Bradbury. He the man! No time to write more. Read it for yourself.
Now off to buy and read every other thing he has written.
Bye.

“ A few men were like animals in the universe, not questioning, drinking at pools and breeding and raising their young and not doubting for a moment that life was anything but good. That was Craig. There were a handful like him. Happy animals on a great reservation, in the hand of God, with a religion and a faith that grew like a set of special nerves in them. The unneurotic men in the midst of the billionfold neurotics. They would only want death, later, in a natural manner. Not now. Later. ”
[The Blue Bottle]

“ The sargeant shrugged and looked at his hands. 'To live in peace. To learn that during the night, somehow, the guns of the world had rusted, the bacteria had turned sterile in the bomb casings, the tanks had sunk like prehistoric monsters into roads suddenly made tar pits. That’s what I’d like.‘ ”
[A Piece of Wood]

“ Well, who do you thank for sunsets? And don’t drag the Lord in the bar, now! Any remarks to Him are too quiet. I mean someone to grab and slap their back and say thanks for the fine early light this morn, boyo, or much obliged for the look of them damn wee flowers by the road this day, and the grass laying about in the wind. Those are gifts, too, who’ll deny it? ”
[Getting Through Sunday Somehow]

“ God gives us dreadful gifts. The most dreadful of all is memory. ”
[The Wish]

“ The better part of wisdom, they say, is what’s left unsaid. ”
[The Better Part of Wisdom]

“ He had never liked October. Ever since he first lay in the autumn leaves before his grandmother’s house many years ago and heard the wind and saw the empty trees. It had made him cry, without a reason. And a little of that sadness returned each year to him. It always went away with spring. ”
[The October Game]

Yet another wonderful collection of thought provoking stories by my favorite author. I can't get enough of this guy.

Highlights for Me:

"Punishment Without Crime"
"The Blue Bottle"
"The Burning Man"
"A Piece of Wood"
"An Utterly Perfect Murder"

Check this collection out for some great Bradbury storytelling in genres other than science fiction (although there's science fiction here too, of course).

A diverse collection of short stories by the master Ray Bradbury, this book showcases the humanity behind his writing. Some stories are fantasies where other could happen to any one of us. The book has a wide range of stories so that there’s at least one that we can all relate to and enjoy.

Ray Bradbury has long been one of my favorite authors, and I've found myself eagerly devouring whatever short-story collections of his I can find. Due to this, I'm starting to hit a point where I'm ending up re-reading stories that have appeared in previous collections, though this is by no means a bad thing. "Long After Midnight" contains some of Bradbury's darker stories, and while I didn't enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed some of his previous work, it's still a fine collection with a wide variety of tales, ranging from the mundane to the fantastic.

There are many stories to be told in this collection, and many characters to get to know. There are two astronauts searching Mars for a fabled blue bottle, a boy and his aunt who pick up a strange and dangerous hitchhiker, another boy who seems capable of performing miracles, a man who decides to vent his anger at his wife by murdering her robotic double, a parrot who knows the plot to Ernest Hemingway's final unpublished novel, and many more. Whether set in one of Bradbury's more familiar locales (Green Town, Mars, Dublin, Mexico) or elsewhere, each of these stories takes us to a world both familiar and shockingly new, and both entertains and unsettles us along the way.

I'm in love with Bradbury's writing style. Yes, some people have described it as "purple" or "flowery," but I'm a sucker for that kind of writing (provided it's not overdone), and Bradbury is one of the best at giing us writing that's lovely without overdoing it. He makes us look at the foibles of life and civilization in a new way, and even if his stories don't always end happily, they're usually quite unforgettable.

That said, none of the stories in this collection stood out enough to wow me and become an instant favorite. None of his classics or stronger stories are featured here, and sadly a couple of them are outright problematic. The title story's ending will probably feel downright cringeworthy were it published today, and there's one story about a boy in love with his teacher that I found more creepy than sweet. Perhaps that's me being too nitpicky, but I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling this way...

"Long After Midnight" is not one of Bradbury's stronger collections, but it's still a good read, and even a weaker Bradbury collection is still pretty strong. If you want an outright superb collection I would suggest The Golden Apples of the Sun or I Sing the Body Electric! & Other Stories, though if you're a Bradbury lover this one is still well worth your time.

Bradbury is easily amongst my favourite authors in terms of narrative vibe. This is a beautiful collection, with a mix of stories focused on either anxiety and apprehension, or on reflective nostalgia.

The title story, as well as “Punishment Without Crime” and “The Miracles of Jamie” stood out to me for their character perspective and how they reinterpreted the world around them to cope with their lives. “The October Game” was easily the most unsettling, and the closest this book came to Bradbury level horror.

"There was something in his voice which made her feel she was. woman on a train going away and he was standing in the station saying, "Don't go." And her appalled voice silently cried, "But you're the one a train! I'm not going anywhere!"

Not as strong as The Martian Chronicles, but still worth a read. It's interesting to classify these stories as "Hauntings and Celebrations," and that is certainly my favorite lens with which to read them. They are very classical in structure; Bradbury often had an idea or metaphor that he would build around, that was simple but impactful in nature. My favorite stories from the collection are: "The Blue Bottle," "The Utterly Perfect Murder," "Getting through Sunday Somehow," "Drink Entire: Against the Madness of Crowds," "Interval in Sunlight," "The Better Part of Wisdom," and "The October Game." For a book that was written in the 70's, with some of the stories written much earlier, I was surprised at some of the themes and suggestions of these stories. "The October Game," for instance, is a very straightforward scary story, that still portrays a complex and layered relationship between a husband and wife. "Interval in Sunlight" does a very surprising job of showing a victim of abuse struggling with a codependent relationship, and her own fears. "The Better Part of Wisdom" was, in my opinion, very clearly about homoerotic love. Perhaps I don't know enough about Bradbury, but I was surprised and engaged by this, and it was one of my favorite stories in the collection. I might come back to one or two of these again.

A shorter predecessor to both "The Fireman" and "Fahrenheit 451" gives a good idea of where Bradbury is going. It lacks the conversational depth that Clarisse had with Montag in the full book and does get to its point rather quickly. I will eventually read "The Fireman", however it bears too strong of a resemblance to "Long After Midnight" for me to start immediately.