Fahrenheit 451

Well, I finally read Ray Bradbury's classic Fahrenheit 451. I did it because it was sci-fi month at the GoodReads Tuesday BookTalk Read-Alongs group, and mercifully Michele chose this one as I have wanted to read it for awhile.

I am not a sci-fi fan, but as a lover of books, it was an interesting read. I didn't love it the way so many people do, but I can see why it is so popular.

The picture it paints of a numbed out, dumbed down society of people who are given bread and circuses so they won't protest or resist the authoritarian government is perennially relevant, especially these days.

I cheered as Guy Montag slowly embraced the fact that his conscience and reason where worth listening to and following, despite what his wife, his boss, and seemingly everyone else was insisting on. I found the first two thirds of the book a bit of a struggle to read--it was so oppressive and dystopian--but the final third, where Guy was able to escape the city and find the hobo town of book lovers who welcomed him into their group, I found worth slogging through the rest of the book to reach.

I've heard there's a new movie, but honestly, I just don't have the heart to see the book brought to life. Definitely glad I read this classic, but glad I can now check it off my to-read list!

This is the Back to the Classics book that I was most scared to read! Glad I'm able to check off that category as well. So, why did it scare me? I don't care for sci-fi, and I anticipated a gloomy read that would make the gloom seep into my mood...which it did.

R.I.P. Challenge Update

I signed up for the ever popular R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril Challenge this year and blithely set out to read four books.  I've got two of them under my belt, and I'm not sure if I will read the other two as horror is really not my favorite genre.

I read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, which I thought pretty good. It was a fresh idea, an interesting twist on time travel, had a good dose of WWII, which is a time frame I'm currently much interested in, likable characters, and a healthy amount of tension and danger.  I like school stories and this was definitely a school story; it was a bit reminiscent of Harry Potter in that you have a very ordinary boy as the hero who becomes extraordinary because he has the courage to do the right thing.  There's also a Hermione type of girl character as well as an evil one who is disguised as a friend of the hero.  I'm not sure I loved it enough to read more in the series or to watch the movie, but it was a fun book.

My second R.I.P. book was Ray Bradbury's classic Something Wicked This Way Comes. Published in 1962, it is very much a product of its time, reflecting the fears of rampant technology that characterized the Cold War.  Just as Miss Peregrine reminded me of Harry Potter books, Something Wicked reminded me of Frankenstein, especially towards the end with Mr. Electrico being revived.  I liked the idea of the carousel adding or subtracting years to one's life.

Both books dealt with the problems inherent in immortality--being stuck in a time loop in Miss Peregrine and being alive but not "living" and endlessly riding the carousel forward and backward in Something Wicked but not having anyone left to love or care about.

I'm glad I read both, but I have to say I felt a sense of relief when I finished.  Neither gave me a world that I particularly liked inhabiting.

I have to say that Something Wicked ended up being exhausting. Early in the book, I tweeted that I was surprised at how poetic it was, but my GoodReads summary when I finished it was a "hemorrhage of words--good story but an overwhelming metaphoric flood."

I like writing that is leaner, with the occasional poetic flight. Not sure whether this is typical of Bradbury or not, but I found it too much for my taste.