Bradbury will always always always be a favorite author of mine, and this collection was no exception. I definitely had some favorites, and a few I was more indifferent toward. Favorites included: That Old Dog Lying in the Dust, Someone in the Rain, Madame Et Monsieur Shill, The Highest Branch on the Tree, and Mr. Pale.

This collection of short stories is amazing. The title short story in part shaped who I am today. It is about letting others (family, friends, people you meet, etc.) change you. It is about holding onto yourself but also allow who you are to change. I LOVED that story.

Driving Blind features 21 stories, some of which were inspired by events in Bradbury's life. Most of the stories take place in the 1940's and 50's in small-town America. I was expecting an anthology along the lines of Steven Spielberg's TV series Amazing Stories, but the tales in this book are far less fantastic. Driving Blind is more of a celebration of a simpler time, when television was in its infancy and people connected with each other on a more meaningful level. As Bradbury illustrates, our interactions with other people shape us, and can be either positive or negative experiences.

I feel this book could have benefited from more focus and less stories. Most of the stories only last a handful of pages before you're on to the next one, and I can't recall most of them off the top of my head. The ones that stand out best are the few that indulge in fantasy and sci-fi, like the man who is surprised to find he's been dead for several years and has inexplicably returned from the cemetery. One of the best of this collection is the titular story, "Driving Blind," about a man wearing a dark hood who is in search of an identity to call his own.

Driving Blind is strange, yet strange in the sense that most of these stories could actually happen (and according to Bradbury, some of them did). It's also well-written, but don't come into it expecting a lot of science fiction or fantasy, and don't hold out hope that the stories will make a lot of sense. Many of them end suddenly and lack resolution, but that's OK with me.

Not my favorite, but there's a lot of good short stories here. Worth your time.

Not my favorite Bradbury book, obviously. It's an odd read, since it's not Bradbury's usual flat-out fantasy/sci-fi, but also has a lot of his familiar themes and images. I think I just prefer him writing in the fantasy vein full-out. I think to me it almost felt like there was an odd juxtaposition of trying to be "modern" in terms of more realistic subject matter, but winding up still seeming old-fashioned because the characters are. So rather than the characters seeming like they live in Bradbury's own magical world (where Greentown is) they just seem surprisingly dated. Which is perhaps unfair since there's nothing wrong with being born in the early 20th century! It just made for an odd tone for me.

The Skinny: A smattering of good stories amongst mostly B and C rated ones. Does not hold a candle to classic Bradbury but reasonably enjoyable to read nonetheless.

The Good: His writings in this are still wonderfully written enough to create images in your mind. There are some solid stories but none that really dazzle. A fairly quick read if you do a story a day.

The Bad: There is obviously a reason that these are not mainstream, it feels a bit like a compilation of oddities and loose ends put together at the tail end of a career. Some stories are quite strange and are just overall weaker than his main wheelhouse of speculative fiction.

"Fee Fie Fo Fum" = 5 stars. The clever, slightly horrific, wonderfully dark science fiction I expect from Ray Bradbury and the reason I enjoy his writing.

The rest of the book = 2 stars. Well-written, but nostalgic, not-plot-driven stories that didn't hit home with me.

Basically, it didn't live up to Fahrenheit 451 or The Martian Chronicles for me.

Great to read a Bradbury again! Not the best I've read, but still a fun collection of stories.

Like most of Ray's short story collections, this one feels like I'm sitting around a campfire while a very prolific, spontaneous spinner of yarns hogs your attention, imagination and lifelong appreciation. A bonus: on the last few pages, Ray explains the inspirations, or sometimes the mundane reasons, on how some of these stories came to be. A book mooched from Jade of Japan.

Driving Blind, That bird that comes out of the clock, Highest branch & Grand Theft were my favorites

This book was a big letdown for me, because my expectations were so high from the other Ray Bradbury short stories I've read (and I've read a lot of them). While reading this, I kept thinking "since when did Ray Bradbury forget how to write an ending"? Some of the stories captured my interest, like there was a germ of a good idea there, but then didn't take it anywhere. And some of them were just downright boring and pointless.

My favorite stories are probably "The Mirror", "Mr. Pale", and "That Bird That Comes Out of the Clock" (this last one because it made me laugh a few times). Next to those, my favorites were: "House Divided", "Driving Blind", "That Old Dog Lying in the Dust", "The Highest Branch on the Tree", and "Virgin Resusitas", but even those aren't all that good compared to his earlier work.

Some deep cut short stories in here, not Bradbury's best but ok after you've read the popular ones.