Sci-Fi Group Book Club discussion

This is the discussion thread for the first book of the month, or group read, for November. Please remember to use the spoiler tags where necessary. The other group read topic for this month (Ancillary Sword) can be found here.

Been a while since I read this. I know I found it disturbing. Of course, the writing was good so may be time for a re-read.

Mel wrote: "Been a while since I read this. I know I found it disturbing. Of course, the writing was good so may be time for a re-read."

I find it hard to justify re-reads of books unless I read them a long time ago. Do you think a re-read of this book would be less disturbing this time round?

Probably not less disturbing...I don't re-read many authors but I will make an exception for Bradbury. Besides, it's quite a short book.

I'll be reading a different Bradbury book for another group read - Something Wicked This Way Comes. Have you read this one as well, Mel?

I wait for 10 to 20 years before a re-read. Usually I feel a bit differently reading it the second time. I am looking forward to re-reading the Gormenghast trilogy because it was one of my favourites at high school and it has now been more than 20 years. I always especially liked the original illustrations and felt that it was a big influence on Joseph Heller.

Damon wrote: "I wait for 10 to 20 years before a re-read. Usually I feel a bit differently reading it the second time. I am looking forward to re-reading the Gormenghast trilogy because it was one of my favourit..."

I have yet to read the Gormenghast books but I've always loved that name!

Damon wrote: "I wait for 10 to 20 years before a re-read. Usually I feel a bit differently reading it the second time. I am looking forward to re-reading the Gormenghast trilogy because it was one of my favourit..."

It has been a very long time since I read Gormenghast that I think I've forgotten most of it. I remember enjoying the first and second books a lot, but the third, Titus Alone , was disappointing - I wonder if I would feel the same about it now. A group-read nomination for the Christmas period I wonder?

Greg wrote: "I'll be reading a different Bradbury book for another group read - Something Wicked This Way Comes. Have you read this one as well, Mel?"

I have Greg. It's really beautifully written..and sad, disturbing and poignant.....I can't remember how it ends though. I have a terrible memory but that one left a definite impression on me.

Damon wrote: "I wait for 10 to 20 years before a re-read. Usually I feel a bit differently reading it the second time. I am looking forward to re-reading the Gormenghast trilogy because it was one of my favourit..."

I loved Gormenghast! Book 1 was mind blowing, book 2 was good, book 3, I agree was a bit if a let down but I still read it. Weird with fantastic writing......obviously, I can't remember the plot particulars. Catch 22 is one of the few books I re-read every 5 years or so. I read it first as a teenager and it made me laugh out loud. Brilliant black humour.

I am excited to read this! I hope this novel has aged well unlike Neuromancer. =)

Marvin wrote: "I am excited to read this! I hope this novel has aged well unlike Neuromancer. =)"

Re: Neuromancer, do you mean things like smuggling 3 MB of RAM - as opposed to 3 TB - and its '80s fascination with shurikens? :P

It is been a solid four years since I last read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. While it is not a long read, slightly more than 200 pages in the e-book version I last read, it is still one of the most truly incredible views of the world that shaken to its foundations with the ban on reading books for pleasure, the obfuscation of firefighters from being a community resource in case of disaster to being a future group of firestarters using the printed page as the kindling in an effort to ban the written word permanently, and a final even greater conflagration associated with a nuclear exchange that made the world a broken, radioactive, depopulated dystopia.

In my 2014 Goodreads review for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club, these were the words that came to mind in my first re-read of this work in nearly 30 years. When I originally wrote ...

The short version...

"Fahrenheit 451" is considered by many to be a sci-fi classic, and it richly deserves all of its accolades. Mr. Bradbury's premise is that in a near future Earth the ownership of books by individuals is strictly against the law. Firefighters' traditional roles of first response to fires are changed to obfuscate of enforcement of the law against book ownership. The very title speaks to an accepted temperature at which printed books catch fire.

The story centers on a firefighter and his wife. The wife is enamored by video broadcasts, while our protagonist -- Guy Montag -- is required to set fires in order to burn the outlawed printed texts. His world changes when one of his calls results in a woman's self-immolation rather than watching her books burn. This event spurs Montag into a psychological tailspin as he starts collecting books, reads them, quotes them to house guests, and more. He is confronted by his supervisor and ordered to burn his own books from his own property. The resulting firestorm consumes his books as ordered, his wife by accident, and his boss on purpose. Montag subsequently becomes a fugitive from justice, but he eludes capture.

The "happy" ending is not so happy as a global crisis brings a nuclear dystopia home to roost for Montag and others living outsides the city proper. We are left to wonder what will become of the group as they begin a quest to set things back like they were before book burning was an acceptable practice, a lawful action, that at once was one of the bulwarks of the Fascist regime in World War II Nazi Germany.

I highly recommend this book. Caveats for graphic descriptions of violence and the dystopian ending. It is not gratuitous, but there are some spots where some may find Mr. Bradbury's excellent style to be a bit too realistic.. Otherwise. very few issues warranting additional caveats.

I believe that I would now also add... The thermonuclear dystopia that ends Fahrenheit 451 is certainly overkilling for the well and true burning of a book which requires the merest fraction of the temperature that is generated in the initial burst of a thermonuclear device. The resulting dystopia is also a very high degree of overkill since the entire civilization is turned into glowing ions, not merely the maligned printed pages. Bradbury's visionary genius that speaks to us now from the future described in Fahrenheit 451 reminding us that we are never too far away from something that can change our ideas, visions, lives, and even our existence forever, totally out of control even if the temperature never goes about 451 degrees Fahrenheit.

Classics of this caliber never grow old or out of style, but they definitely bring thoughts to the brow and musings to the soul. Has been, still is, and will be one of the truly iconic reads of Science Fiction by one who truly earned the title of Grand Master by the SFWA (Science Fiction Writers Association).

Richard wrote: "It is been a solid four years since I last read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. While it is not a long read, slightly more than 200 pages in the e-book version I last re..."

Nice review, Richard! :)