We'll Always Have Paris

Ray Bradbury

One of America's literature legacies has been writing for more than 60 years. Ray Bradbury's short stories have been flowing from him all my life - I was reading his stories by the time I was in junior high school (now it's middle school). I really think I was still in elementary school when a teacher assigned Dandelion Wine for us to read. Because of his prolificness there are still lots of stories of his than can be published even if he never writes another word.

We'll Always Have Paris is a collection of some of his short stories dating back throughout his career. There is a classic science fiction type story, "Fly Away Home" about the first group of men to land on Mars. There are different stories to make the reader the think such as "We'll Always Have Paris" - a rather disquieting story. Some of them are fun, such as "A Literary Encounter" - you have to feel sorry for the wife until she figures out how to manage her husband, or "Un-pillow Talk". We don't always know what we have until we lose it, as people learn in “Massinello Pietro”.

My favorite of the group is "When the Bough Breaks". A couple wake up at 3 AM to the strange, far off crying of a baby that makes them question their own decisions.

Many of these stories are dated in their details, such as "Ma Perkins Comes to Stay". Yet the essence of the stories is timeless. Whether it's the remembrance of a perfect childhood day, a dead man trying to return to his wife, or retired golfers trying to avoid their wives, these tales have something that rings within our consciousness.

These are not Bradbury's best stories. Yet they strike a chord and pull the reader in, each for a short time. Many themes are touched on, including homosexuality, murder, love, families, and the supernatural. None are graphic and are handled in Bradbury's inimitable style - leaving the reader wondering what happens next.

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Now and Forever by Ray Bradbury
Vintage Bradbury by Ray Bradbury