... all in one book!
Ray Bradbury's book of short stories, The October Country, is packed full of... interesting content. Indeed, most of the stories in this compilation were originally published in the horror and fantasy magazine Weird Tales in the 1930s. And many of them are just that: weird.Bradbury is perhaps best known for his 1953 dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and his sci-fi short story collection The Martian Chronicles, but weird or no, his books and stories have enjoyed worldwide popularity. His work, which spans the genres of sci-fi, horror, fantasy, mystery, and realistic fiction, has been translated into 36 languages, and more than 8 million copies of his books have been sold.
Bradbury's work is commonly studied in schools and at universities, and in 2007 Bradbury received a special citation from the Pulitzer Prize Board for "his distinguished, prolific and deeply influential career as an unmatched author of science fiction and fantasy."
So, yeah. Ray Bradbury is a pretty big deal. If you need more convincing, you can check out his 2012 obituary in the New York Times, which gives an extensive overview of his writing career.
Potential Assignments
Please complete one of the following for our group on Friday.Option #1: Discussion Leader
Create discussion questions for at least one story in the book and lead a discussion of that story for the group. Don't freak out. When I say "lead a discussion," I just mean walk us through your questions. Ask the questions, ask follow-up questions if you like—just give us a few things to think about as we talk about the story you've chosen.
Tip for creating good discussion questions: Read your question. If it can be answered with a "yes" or a "no," reword it. The goal is to make the questions open-ended so that they require more than one word answers. Check out the examples of open-ended questions at Your Dictionary to get a feel for how to ask them.
Option #2: Common Themes
Think about the stories that are included in this compilation. Do any of them share common themes? Try to identify a few themes that run through more than one story and be prepared to explain how the theme shows up in each story that you highlight.
Option #3: The Parts Make the Whole
Take the theme exercise one step further. What is it that holds all of these stories together in one compilation (aside from the binding of the book, of course)? Bradbury was a prolific writer. By the time this set of short stories was published in 1955, he would have had many stories to choose from to create the collection. So why these? Wow us with your theory.
Option #4: Top Ten
Bradbury lived to the age of 91 and he did a great many things during his nine decades on this earth. Put together a Top Ten List including some of your favorite facts about Bradbury. Try to surprise us and tell us a few things we don't know.
Option #5: Something Clever of Your Own Design
Inspired to write a song or poem? Draw, paint, or sculpt? Make a costume, create a diorama, write an essay, do a dramatic interpretation of a particular scene? Bring it. You can always reflect on the novel in your own way and share it with the group.
That's it for now. Happy reading and responding.
