Book: Fahrenheit 451
Author: Ray Bradbury
Like/Don't like: It was kind of eerie. In a good way.
When Ray Bradbury died in June I found myself feeling nostalgic. Which is weird because (shameful admission forthcoming) I have only read one of his books. And it was not this book. It was Something Wicked This Way Come and it was maybe 25 years ago. But he's one of those writers that I admire. The stuff he says about his life of writing is inspiring. Not just because he was a writer but because he was happy about it. Writers are notorious for complaining about how hard their lot is. He always struck me as being so cheery about it. So I felt a little sad that he was gone and decided that I needed to start working my way through his stuff.
When I tell people that I've never read this book they aways look a little bewildered. Because it's weird right, that I've never read this? I mean, it's a book about books. And it's a classic that nearly everyone read in high school. But I didn't. I read Moby Dick, which, I learned while reading the obituary on his website, Ray Bradbury wrote the screen adaptation for. Do you see how books are the circle of life?
In a way, I'm glad that I didn't read it until now, because it is eerily telling of the world we live in. I'm not too worried about us burning books, but Bradbury got it right about everyone walking around with ear buds embedded, and giant TVs taking up our living spaces, and war happening and people just kind of shrugging their shoulders about it. There is always some truth in dystopic literature but this was really spooky how close he came to describing us. To say that I enjoyed it would be strange, but it definitley struck a chord.
2 comments:
I'm putting it on my To Read list. I read Something Wicked This Way Comes in high school, too, but I've never read Moby Dick. So there you go.
ok i seriously LOVE ray bradbury. something wicked this way comes is in my top 3 of favorite books of all time. farenheit 451 is one of my "eh" ones by him, but you should definitely read Dandelion Wine. it is so so so delightful. kind of set up in format like Calpurnia Tate: no real story line, just vignettes. But i get completely lost in the language and the way bradbury writes. i love it.
Post a Comment