Sunday, July 29, 2012

#14: Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

I'm getting as much reading in as I can before school starts because we all know school is a freaking time sucker. Boo. So my goal is to be decently past halfway by the time school starts. Looks like I'm on track!

I've owned a copy of this one for over a year now. When I was taking a Literature class at my old University, we had a book review assignment in which we basically recommended one of our favorite books to the class. One of my classmates quite passionately recommended this one. I'd heard about it before of course, but the way he described the book was very intriguing. So last summer I got it on sale and intended to read it eventually.

It was excellent. My only regret is that I hadn't experienced the brilliance sooner! There were so many deep societal and personal themes interlaced beautifully. It was about the pursuit of happiness, legacy, tradition, simplicity, societal impact, passion, with a touch a love and friendship. And so much more. It was a quick read, but it was compelling to me in a way different from how most books are compelling to me.

I chose to make this book number 14 in memory of Ray Bradbury who recently passed away at 91 years old. Bravo, Mr. Bradbury. Great work! Glad I finally decided to pick it up and stick with it!

<Update: Today I read all the extras (the Afterword, Coda, and "Conversation with Ray Bradbury" that came with the 50th anniversary edition). Let me just add that I think I love this book even more after these extras brought to my attention all the sickening similarities between Bradbury's prediction of the future and our current society. Powerful stuff. It's more than just about books. Makes you think...>

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