Let’s talk about cycles and rhythms of life, shall we? If you are fortunate to have enough stability in your life, then life will begin to develop cycles and rhythms. For example, it’s August. Summer classes are over, but the fall semester hasn’t started yet.

For a number of years now, I’ve read something by Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) and posted about it on this date, August 22, in honor of his birth. The fact that the high temperatures for the last couple of days have been in the 70s (in Texas in August!!), making me think of fall and October and Bradbury.

This year, I’ve not read any particular story. Instead I’m rereading I Sing the Body Electric, the collection, not the short story that gives the collection its title.  So far I’ve read the first four stories: “The Kilimanjaro Device”, “The Terrible Conflagration up at the Place”, “Tomorrow’s Child”, and “The Women”. The title story shows up about halfway through.

I’ll dip into the book and read one or two a day until I’ve finished. It’s been interesting  so far. I know I read this book in high school, ninth grade if memory serves. We won’t say how long ago ninth grade was. Actually memory isn’t serving, because so far I don’t remember any of the stories. That seems to becoming a common occurrence these days. My TBR pile is getting taller simply because my memory is getting shorter.

I remember I didn’t enjoy this collection as much as I had The Martian Chronicles, The October Country, or The Illustrated Man. Probably because those were collections of stories first published in the pulps. The original edition of I Sing the Body Electric was published in 1969, and most of the stories are from later in Bradbury’s career, when he been selling more literary stories to the slicks. This isn’t my favorite period from Bradbury’s career, I have to say.

The edition I’ve reading was first published in 1998. In addition to the original contents, it contains the first eleven stories from Long After Midnight. I haven’t read most of these stories in decades. It’s going to be an interesting exercise to see what I think of them now. I don’t recall much about them from when I was a teenager. I’m sure I’ll pick up on things I missed the first time I read them.

So far, I’ve enjoyed the stories. I think I’ll enjoy them more if I don’t try to read through the book in as short a time as possible.