So fantastic! I could read it again right now.

I was lucky to find a first edition of this one. Although sometimes Bradbury seems a little tame and dreamy, some of these stories have a very contemporary bite.

The title story, "Long After Midnight", would do well to be re-published in the New Yorker today.

I also really liked "Interval in Sunlight", which I have not seen anywhere else and which was first published here. It's painfully modern and more in the field of human nature's ability to terrorize the self. I'd love to see if it could be adapted to short film.

Some of the stories, particularly the SF ones, feel a little outdated and even heavy-handed as they make their points, but the more subtle ones more than compensate.

This is heavy reading, but appropriate for young adults.

A great collection of some of his short stories.

With some excellent short stories in this collection, Bradbury’s prose leaps off the page. There’s a distinct poetry to his descriptions and imagery that makes the story sing, but unlike most literary fiction, doesn’t bore you in the details or ever get monotonous. An easy recommendation from me.

If you are a Ray Bradbury fan, you probably discovered him in early adolesence through "The Martian Chronicles" or "The Illustrated Man". Both are wonderful anthologies to fire the imagination at any age but particularly early in life. "Long After Midnight" is no less wonderous but is very much an anthology for adulthood. The themes are more pertinent to those who have coped with the travails of life away from the protective nest of early life - home, the playground, and carefree summer days. Many of the stories are insightful or poignant with beautiful imagery: "She was the fine peaches of summer in the snow of winter, and she was the cool milk for cereal on a hot early-June morning" from "A Love Story". This is a lovely anthology - often heart-warming and best savoured slowly - highly recommended.

I didn't really care for this stories, which pains me to say as I love Ray Bradbury and everything else he has done. But these just did not strike me at all.

Will add reviews for each story as I make my way through, not necessarily in order:

*** DRINK ENTIRE: AGAINST THE MADNESS OF CROWDS

One of the stranger shorts I've read by Bradbury. His poetic language has gone so mad in this one it's barely controlled, in danger of going off the rails. It doesn't, but not by much. There is a moral to this story of a witch and a broken middle-aged soul in NYC, I am sure, but it is late and the message eludes me. Carpe Diem, perhaps? Enjoyable, but not essential.

***** THE OCTOBER GAME

Somehow this story has evaded me up until now. If you've never read it before, by all means stop reading this review and go track it down immediately. It's short, cruel and wonderful. Bradbury at his darkest. How I wish he would've spent a little more time writing while in this frme of mind. One of the best closing lines in a short story, ever, period.

**** LONG AFTER MIDNIGHT

Short, but beautifully written and effective tale of melancholy and the lifelong battle we all fight against it...I think. It may have had a topical subtext for the times in which it w written as well, but that aspect seems diminished with age, if it ever existed at all.

Boring. Stories all ended weird

Excellent writing. More hopelessness than I like.

Didn't like them all but a lot were really moving, made me think, won't be forgotten.

Bradbury's stories are always interesting even if they're not particularly memorable. There are several in this collection that are, however. I really liked "The Blue Bottle", "The Utterly Perfect Murder", "Interval in Sunlight", "A Story of Love", "Forever and the Earth", and "Have I Got a Chocolate Bar for You!" They are varying levels of sweet and absorbing. But the two stand-outs are "Punishment without Crime", and especially "The October Game", which is absolutely chilling! I wouldn't recommend this as a starting point for Bradbury, but if you like a mixture of science fiction, horror and simple reflectiveness about the peculiar things in life, it's a good collection.

A special note for "The Parrot Who Met Papa"- A very funny, brilliant short story and my favorite in this collection.
Tbh the other short stories went a bit over my head.