Puss Reboots: Blog: October 2008: Dandelion Wine

Recent posts

Reviews:
City Colors by Zoran Milich
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
Dazzle Joins the Screenwriter's Guild by Scott Bradfield
December 22, 2012 by Sophie M. White
For the Love of Books by Ronald B. Shwartz
The Free Fall of Walter Cummings by Tom Bodett
Genuine Men by Nancy Bruno
~~Going Back~~ in ~~Time~~ by Laurel Winter
Hold Me Tight by Dr. Sue Johnson
Horns and Toes and In Between by Sandra Boynton
The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club
A Jolly Good Fellow by Stephen V. Masse
Lion's Pride by Debbie Jordan
Killing Time by Caleb Carr
The Mark of Zorro by Johston McCulley
Mouse's Halloween by Alan Baker
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates by Stephen King
Past Perfect Present Tense by Richard Peck
Pharmakon by Dirk Wittenborn
Private Eye by Terry Bisson
Pug Hill by Allison Pace
Queen for a Day by Albert E. Cowdrey
Red Orc's Rage by Philip José Farmer
Sea Glass by Laurence Yep
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Sheep on a Ship by Nancy E. Shaw
Sheep Take a Hike by Nancy E. Shaw
Sleepless Years by Steven Utley
Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman
The Visionaries by Robert Reed
Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster
Whoever by Carol Emshwiller

Previous month

Rating System

5 stars: Completely enjoyable or compelling
4 stars: Good but flawed
3 stars: Average
2 stars: OK
1 star: Did not finish

Reading Challenges

Canadian Book Challenge: 2019-2020

Download a full scale version (PDF)

Privacy policy

This blog does not collect personal data. It doesn't set cookies. Email addresses are used to respond to comments or "contact us" messages and then deleted.

Dandelion Wine: 10/19/08

"Dandelion wine will make you remember
The first days of spring in the middle of December" ("Dandelion Wine" by Tommy Makem w/ Liam Clancy). I start this review with the first two lines of the chorus because it sums up the Ray Bradbury novel so perfectly.

I was about twelve when I first learned the song and read the book so the two are forever linked in my memory of being ten. Bradbury's novel is like so many of his books semi-autobiographical It is an account of the summer of 1928 as experienced in a small Illinois town by twelve year old Douglas Spaulding.

Douglas fears the passage of time. He feels it more deeply than his friends. Tom revels in it, keeping a list of everything he does: how many times he does things or eats things and the firsts of every season.

Meanwhile, the adults of Green Town are trying to recreate their youth through Happiness Machines, Green Machines (an electric car), Time Machines and just hoarding the collected kipple of a life lived.

Time is fickle. It goes by too quickly and is impossible to capture. Time maybe permanent but everyone only has a limited amount of it.

If you like Dandelion Wine, you will also like Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Halloween Tree and The Illustrated Man.

Learn how to make Dandelion Wine.

Comments (6)

Comment #1: Monday, October, 20, 2008 at 13:11:05

Jeane

Dandelion Wine was one my first Bradbury reads and a favorite in high school. I think I read it three or four times back then.

Comment #2: Wednesday, Octboer 22, 2008 at 14:42:50

Pussreboots

It's been so long... I can't remember if I read Dandelion Wine or Farenheit 451 first. The former was for fun and the latter was for 8th grade English.

Comment #3: Tuesday, October, 21, 2008 at 01:22:04

Steph

That theme seems to be a recurring one in the books I've been reading these days. And I keep seeing it pop-up here and there on other blogs.
Very eerie
this sounds like a really interesting read
thanks for the review :)

Comment #4: Wednesday, Octboer 22, 2008 at 14:45:40

Pussreboots

It has for me as well.

Comment #5: Saturday, October, 25, 2008 at 11:05:50

Lenore

Thanks for introducing me to Dandelion Wine. I'm going to have to get it!

Comment #6: Tuesday, Octboer 25, 2008 at 11:40:05

Pussreboots

Your local library probably has a copy. Enjoy the book.