Thanks For the Stories Ray Bradbury

I have to say that I was so freaking sad to hear about Ray Bradbury's passing yesterday. It truly did ruin my day. It put me into a funk that I could not shake for anything and when I come home I basically just passed out and went immediately to bed. Ray Bradbury was not just another author. Not that it's easy when any author dies. When Ray Bradbury passed, it felt like he closed a door. Like a world of stories that was opened that was filled with imagination that no one else had been closed.

Like many others, I first discovered Ray Bradbury by reading Fahrenheit 451. I was forced to read it in High School. I hated required reading in high school. Most of what I read in high school were books that I loathed, mainly because I was forced to read them. But then came Fahrenheit 451. I couldn't put this book down. It spoke to me. It had quotes in it that were amazingly beautiful and heartbreaking and scenes that I'll remember forever. It hit a chord with me.

Then five years ago, I decided to read Something Wicked This Way Comes for the first time and um, wow. That book took me to places I had never been with a book and I haven't gone there since I don't think. It's the only book I've read as an adult that brought me back to my childhood days because it gave me that same excitement, mystery, horror, fear and suspense that some books can ONLY do when you're a certain age. It brought me back to an innocence that I was sure I had lost. But Bradbury had rekindled that for me. There are many books that gave me that same feeling as a child that I've reread as an adult that just haven't felt the same, but no books that have given me that same feeling again now as an adult. That's the gift that Bradbury had. The gift of imagination, the gift of fantasy.

And then there's The Halloween Tree. I bought the book for the cover honestly, because I think it's just an amazing cover, but what's inside is even better. I read it in one sitting on Halloween night a few years ago and once again had my imagination captured. It brought me back to my childhood halloweens, while at the same time educating me on Halloween itself and how different cultures celebrate it.

I've mentioned Bradbury and Childhood a lot in this post, but let me assure you he never wrote for children alone. He wrote for everyone. But I think the gift he had was that he was able to kindle that same FEELING of awe and wonder and mystery that I think all of us readers search for and chase after...looking for that first experience with a book all over again. He delivered that. And in such a magnificent way.

Thanks for the stories Mr. Bradbury. You will be so very very missed.

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And here are some Friday Fill Ins

1. I knew it was love when...He walked into the apartment and didn't leave and has put a smile on my face every day since!
2. My heart can be broken but you always assure that it won't be any time soon.
3. A dog is something I want SO BAD and my boss was really cruel today and sent me videos of adorable german shepherd puppies that were 8 weeks old and $700 T_T Don't think I haven't thought of ways to get $700.
4. My how you have read so many more books than me this year! Really...no matter who you are, you have....
5. Can you see the gifts that you've been given in every day life? The little small ones that you sometimes forget about? Enjoy them :).
6. And the answer to 2+2 is 4?.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to dinner with my mom, my sister and her boyfriend after me and Matt do some grocery shopping, tomorrow my plans include sleeping as much as I can and then working all night and Sunday, I want to spend the day with Matt and maybe go walk a trail at the state park after he gets off of work :) If he's not too tired!!!