Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.

Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television 'family'. But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people did not live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television.

When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.

Sent to the Classic Sweeps Winner. Congrats!

A neat parcel arrived in Delphi, containing Fahrenheit 451, BC stickers, an other book and two beautiful bookmarks -one featuring a couple of koalas, one featuring a song sparrow.
The envelope was slightly torn but I don't think anything was missing?

Thank you very much book-a-neer, you made my day!

This is a very important book, poignant and caustic (pun intended). Its themes are timely and profetic, like the estragment of people from one another, the lack of critical thinking or thinking at all, the focus of individuals and society on superficial, silly things, the manipulation and censorship of the masses from governments, the deciding for us without us and many more... The central idea of this novel is a very clever one and I don't think there is anyone who read this book and regretted reading it. It offers lots of food for thought.

That said, the world building is a bit simplistic and naive, while the plot feels somehow fragmental. Ray Bradbury had written 4-5 short stories loosely touching on the theme of the book, Latter he wrote a 25000 words' long story called The Fireman. At some point he found someone to publish his story, but he required to develop it into a novela, adding 25000 words more. The author re-worked on this story, adding some passages, like the speaches of Beatty and some exempts of other literature books, finishing it in 9 days, and thus Fahrenheit 451 was born...

20/10 for the central premisse, the messages and the ideas, but 6/10 on the execution, format and literary value.

This book felt homesick, so it's now on its way back to Australia, at least for a little while. And then... who knows?

Good Luck little book and Don't forget to write your news from time to time!

Received yesterday. Thanks!

Hope to read this after I've finished Plays, by Oscar Wilde

Lent to a friend. I'm now reading Life of Pi, by Yann Martel

Back to me again.

Right now I'm reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce

Lent to a friend.

Back to me again.

Finished this one. On the one hand, it's an almost cartoony book, with all the characters one-dimensional except for Guy Montag, the protagonist. On the other hand, it's a fantastic book, if you read it as a 'fable' or 'fairy tale' and don't worry too much about nuance. So much of it is very prescient for today's world. The Nazi and Communist book-burnings would have been fresh in the public imagination when this was written. The censorship of the McCarthy era nearly prevented it from being published. Today, we don't hear much about book burnings, but I think we are alot closer to Bradbury's superficial society now, and yes we have our modern equivalent of book-burnings Here’s just one example. but it's surely happening quietly everywhere. So, friends, keep collecting and treasuring the classics, especially. I've passed this on to a friend.

I am now reading The Gospel in Dostoyevsky.

Back to me again.

I'm now reading The Full Cupboard of Life, by Alexander McCall Smith

Left on a bench on Otho Street. Happy travels!

I'm now reading Another Life is Possible, by Clare Stober.