The Bradbury Chronicles

One of the first real short stories I remember reading was Ray Bradbury’s “The Man” when I was in fifth grade. I’ve loved Bradbury’s work ever since. Unfortunately, Bradbury has spent the last 15 years or so putting out bad fiction and unintended self-parodies. Sam Weller’s biography of Bradbury, The Bradbury Chronicles, does little, if nothing, to take the tarnish off Bradbury’s reputation so that we may look at the gold again. Read this book for a grand review of the man’s life and Weller’s amusing justifications for his hero’s warts, but don’t look for any real criticism of the icon.

Dawn

Whoever said that everything in a diversions column is supposed to be easy? Those of us who waken before first light already know the pleasures of daybreak — the lovely freshness to the air, the bird calls, the silence, the feeling of a hot mug of coffee in your hands. In spite of these enticements, several friends of mine have recently astounded me by claiming that years roll by without once being tempted to rouse themselves with the morning star (I am, I must add, easily astounded). Let me add a note of caution. If you haven’t wakened with a rising sun in a while, you may suffer the usual afflictions of the late-to-rise crew — shaking, groaning, shuffling, an inability to keep your balance, a propensity for bumping into heavy furniture, and a distinct lack of good-will toward your fellow human beings (including, if you took the advice on rising from this column, most especially me).

Spoon River Anthology

Edgar Lee Masters gave us this satiric look at the Midwest and at America. In these poems the dead speak their truths from the graveyard about the lives they led and often misspent. Now this anthology is available on four compact discs. What sets it above most recorded poetry is that Masters used such simple language in his poetry that we can audibly understand his work much easier than the work of Shakespeare, Keats, and many other poets. Patrick Fraley and a cast of about 50 other people do a magnificent job in these dramatic monologues.

Mowing the lawn

Don’t.

— Jeff Minick