Ray Bradbury was one of my favorite authors when I was in High School. What novel(s) by him would you recommend now that I'm in my 30s?
I did have a fair bit of exposure to small midwestern town & country life as a kid, and a lot more second-hand via my parents, and I can't discern how much of my appreciation of the story is due to that. To someone with鈥攆or example鈥攐nly urban, coastal experience, would it hit anywhere near as hard as it does for me? Will the next group of people turning 30, who've never seen a house in the US with actual you-have-to-go-work-a-pump-by-hand-to-get-water well water, with a wood burning stove in the kitchen that sees daily use, et c., be able to relate to it as I do, which relation may itself be far weaker than people who grew up like that full-time? I'm not sure.
His short stories are great. There were two thick hardback volumes published, each collecting 100(!) stories, that'll give you plenty to chew on. Widely available used, pretty cheap. Unless you dove really deep on Bradbury in high school, odds are much of it will be new to you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stories_of_Ray_Bradbury
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradbury_Stories:_100_of_His_M...
No repeats between the two volumes. 200 total stories. Does include most or all of The Martian Chronicles, which I prefer to read on its own, personally, though these might be useful for filling in gaps since IIRC they contain a couple stories that weren't in every printing of The Martian Chronicles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ray_Bradbury_Theater
which is a unique SF show in that it is not based on characters and settings the way 饾槡饾樀饾槩饾槼 饾槢饾槼饾槮饾槵 or 饾槑饾樁饾槸饾槬饾槩饾槷 or even 饾槝饾樁饾槩饾槸饾樀饾樁饾槷 饾槗饾槮饾槩饾槺 are. They are free to tear down the world each time and take the imagination far and they did most of it when Bradbury was still alive.
Characters of all ages from young children to old men and women are represented. There is artistic input from the writer but also the director, actors, casting, music, etc. I can't think of another anthology SF series that is this successful.