Youth Reads is working on that very thing, Ellen -- compiling a summer reading list. It should be out in about a week and a half!

is ending well for my children, but unfortunately on a sour note for our community. There are dueling lawsuits between our School District and a company contracted to upgrade school facilities:
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005142336

Time to compile a summer reading list for me and my children. I think I'll sprinkle Proverbs throughout the summer to continue to instill in them good work ethics that they might avoid the work practices that lead to combative lawsuits.

Heh - I finished several technical books this past two weeks, Kim, so my nonfiction stack is steadily shrinking. But - if the leopard changes his spots, can he still find employment as a leopard? ;-)

_The Illustrated Man_ is not available for Kindle *pout*. Nor is it at my local library *pout*. So, I just ordered a used copy via Ebay. I look forward to hearing your opinions about _Emma_, Lee! Jane Austen herself thought that not many people would like her eponymous heroine. However, for many, _Emma_ is a favorite novel and character.

The 2009 BBC version of Emma starring Romola Garai, who also played William Wilberforce's wife in Amazing Grace, is much better - in my opinion - than the version you've seen:
http://www.amazon.com/Emma-2009-Version-Romola-Garai/dp/B002XTBE6K/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1339097271&sr=1-2

After I've read The Illustrated Man and you've read Emma, then we could both open up some Dickens - I need to give him a second chance! *ducking swinging objects*

Lee, in order to shorten your stack of must read books, you must first decrease your reading of technical books & journals.

Jason, you have a choice if you wish to continue to fellowship here. You must drop everything and at once read either "The Martian Chronicles" or "Emma". Your pick.

Ellen, it is thrilling to see you here again. I hope the school year closed out successfully for all. And "Emma" is on my Android phone, jockeying for position in my reading list thanks to my negative reaction to Gwyneth Paltrow's portrayal (which may have been accurate, but I plan to read with an eye toward finding a reason to like the main character). Thanks to you I've now read several Austen works (and I'm forever indebted to you for your persistence), and I can rather confidently assert that while Austen was a master of prose, Bradbury was a master of poetry-as-prose. And here's an offer for you, Milady: I'll move "Emma" to the head of my reading list if you'll move "The Illustrated Man" to the head of yours. Please note, though, that there is a cost: if "Emma" moves up, all those Charles Dickens works must move down a notch. Wretched man that I am, I'll be disappointing someone. :(

Funny barely knew about him and never read him. But then I find the Space Opera style more congenial. Not the pulp space opera or even the space opera of Smith, but the golden age style of Anderson, Norton, and now CherryH. And of course of Roddenberry, Michael Guy-with-a-Polish-name, and Mark Miller.

I've been absent from this blog for a bit because I'm currently re-reading Jane Austen's _Emma_. Care to join me, Lee? ;) Much of this book is people within a community making guesses as to others' motivations. Do they guess correct or incorrect? There are hints to carefully kept secrets. Can you discover the secrets before they are disclosed?

As the language usage of authors has been mentioned here, Jane Austen's writing is also to be savored for her articulation.

I agree with Anthony that reading is MUCH more engaging than watching, because my imagination is so much more powerful than what my eyes can take in.

And I agree with Lee about the beauty and the power and the shapes and the magnificences of words. I think perhaps the most beautiful line in English is said by Horatio, when Hamlet dies:

Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

And oh!, how I wish those who read Scripture would read it with some heart and some passion. For instance, read Jer. 2:1-3:10 aloud, trying to convey the intensity of the Lord's feelings and responses. It's quite a breadth of emotion conveyed in that section! For preachers, it almost preaches itself.

And not only to read it, dear Anthony, but to read it *aloud* - to let the words roll off your tongue; to frown, shriek, whisper and laugh along with the characters:

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/302032/thoughts-ray-bradbury-orson-scott-card#

"Fahrenheit 451" just moved up several places in my stack of reading. I want to see if it mentions the benefits of memorizing a work by speaking it aloud. Not only does reading aloud give the lungs and vocal chords some exercise, it also, I think, engages neural pathways that would otherwise be dormant and slack-jawed (rather like someone perpetually glued to the TV - although today, many stories cannot be consumed in book form, including, say, "House"). I am always saddened to hear Scripture read aloud in churches in a mechanical, dispassionate, wooden manner - especially the Psalms - and I'm minded to do something about it. Max McLean does a wonderful job in enunciating clearly, but his lack of enthusiasm distresses me; many passages are meant to be screamed, or roared, and others should be laughed. I'm going to think about this, deeply.

One of my favorite quotes from Fahrenheit 451:

“It’s not books you need, it’s some of the things that once were in books. The same infinite detail and awareness could be projected through radios and televisors, but are not.”

I find this to be so incredibly true. I can watch a movie based on a book and see what is happening right in front of me. But when I actually sit down and open a book, I use my imagination. I picture in my mind what the characters and settings look like and how the story is playing out as I read, using my creativity, and that is something only books can seem to do. It's more fun that way.

I wish more people would sit down with a good book. It's great "brain exercise".

An example of Mr. Bradbury's prose can be found here:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/06/04/120604fa_fact_bradbury#ixzz1x1g6C1pp

In large measure, my inspiration to put words on paper came from sentences like "It floated up above the apple trees, over the beginning-to-sleep town, and across the night among the stars." The joy that I get from reading phrases of such high writing quality is yet another reason I'm drawn to this blog.

How sad, but at least he lived a full and successful life. Fahrenheit 451 is on my top list of favorite books. He will certainly be missed, I'm sure.

Ray Bradbury's way with words was absolutely magical. Just by reading this post, Gina, I have plots and passages springing to mind, from works I haven't read in three or four decades.

Bradbury also got in a lot of trouble, not long ago, by saying in crude and emotional detail that the Obama presidency would be a disaster for the USA. He was mostly dismissed as a senile, grumpy old coot, at the time. I wonder what those critics would say now.

If I can decrease my stack of books (including some Austen; still trying to keep my promise to Ellen), I'd like to add "The Martian Chronicles" and "The Illustrated Man" to the list. The two books you mention, G, are already in the stack.