It wasn't until recently that I re-found a story that I remember vividly from my childhood, All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury. You can find it here. I don't want to give you a synopsis because the story is so short and I don't want to give anything away. This story has stuck with me for the last 20 years and I have thought of it often and never knew where to look for it. I googled it a couple of weeks ago and found it again and it started in me a thirst to read more Ray Bradbury. As an avid reader I was astonished that I hadn't read more of his work. I then turned to his Zen in the Art of Writing'which was fantastic. Finally I picked up Fahrenheit 451.
Now it's a no-brainer that every librarian needs to read this book, but I didn't even know this book was about book burning. When I read the summary I was totally on board, but after I got started I was really disappointed. Yes it's a dystopian future without books, but it just didn't give me enough to be totally convinced. I think it might have been more controversial in 1951 when it was published, but I was not the least bit moved or astonished. This was groundbreaking stuff then, but now, not so much.
Even though I didn't love it, I am going to go ahead and read Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Dandelion Wine. That's the way I look at literature.... there are somethings you just need to be familiar with in order to have a rounded education. Ray Bradbury is a great storyteller and his imagination cannot be beaten. Fahrenheit 451 did not push any of my buttons, but that single short story from my 9th grade English class has been burned into my mind forever as one of the scariest stories I've ever read. So I will keep reading Bradbury until I find another one that speaks to me.
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