Reading anything?

[AndyC]

Slade's "Ripper" is turning out to be a great read. Besides a pretty disturbing pair of serial killers, the investigation covers Satanism in the late 19th/early 20th century, Jack the Ripper, radical feminism, owls, Tarot cards, taxidermy and detective novels. I've got about a quarter of the book left, and it's turned into an homage to "And Then There Were None." Lots of fun.

I've started finding more time to read again, which is good, because I've also built up a backlog of books I want to read. Next up is Brian Horeck's "Frozen Beneath," followed by another Slade Book, "Evil Eye," after which I might skip ahead temporarily and read the new Slade Book, "Red Snow." Murder and mayhem at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Can't wait to read it.

[3mnkids]

Has anyone read "The death of Bunny Munro"? I received a very nice hardcover, limited edition copy yesterday but its so nice I dont really want to open it.     I may buy a copy to read if its good. anyone?

[BoyScoutKevin]

Fowl and Montag.

Montag is, of course, Guy Montag from Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" and adapted into graphic format by Tim Hamilton, which is how I read it.

I must admit, the only book I have read by Bradbury is his "Something Wicked this Way Comes." Thus, I know "Fahrenheit 451," not from the book, but by the 1966 film version w/ Oskar Werner, Julie Christie, and Cyril Cusack, which I saw only once than over thirty years ago, but has stuck with me ever since.

Unlike a Chandler, whose strength lies in his poetic images, Bradbury's images are rather prosaic. Thus, the film may be one of those rare films that is actually better than the book, as I can remember the film taking Bradbury's images and expanding on them and even improving on them.

I also remember Montag being more likable in the film than he is in the book. Which is not a surprise. As a film requires more people to be a success than a book. The rough edges of a book's character are often toned down to make him or her more liable for the film.

And unlike a Verne or Wells, Bradbury was not good at predicting the future. I will credit him with predicting the flat screen TV mounted on the wall, or its '50's equivalent. But he failed to see the mandatory use of seat belts in cars. Even though the seatbelt was invented in 1949. He failed to see the demise of the billboard. And he failed to see that firemen might get a raise between the some forty years between when the book was written, and when it takes place. And the one thing he predicted, the hound which can find one person in the midst of a whole city. It never came to be.

No, like Orwell, Bradbury's strength is in his ideas. Indeed, there are a number of parallels between this book and Orwell's "1984."

Both books were written about the same time.
"1984" 1949.
"451" 1953.

Both books take place about the same time.
"1984" 1984
"451" Less than a decade later.

Both books deal with the subject of censorship.

In both books, the hero is a member of a government organization, who backslides, when he begins to question almost everything he knows.

Book books deal with the subject of "What is the truth?" The truth is what we tell you, even though it may be a lie.

In both books, the characters deal with almost constant warfare.

Both books deal with the corruption of children.

In both books, the ending is rather bleak. Though, "Fahrenheit 451" has a somewhat happier ending than "1984."

The book was made into one film in 1966, and it is scheduled for another film version in 2012. Just shoot me now.

As for the title "Fahrenheit 451," I heard it is the temperature at which a book will burn.

Next time: Weiss' and Hickman's "Bones of the Dragon."

[AndyC]

One other thing Bradbury got right: The live broadcast of the manhunt and the use of television to get everyone looking for Montag. I think of COPS, America's Most Wanted, and even the OJ chase. Bradbury had TV entertaining people with sensationalized real-life drama long before anyone knew what a reality show was. He was also spot on about people popping in their earbuds and tuning out the world around them. And he gave a very accurate description of the kind of political correctness that did not yet exist in 1953. And then there were the wars going on overseas, that the populace were somewhat aware of, but not overly concerned about. Family members being isolated from one another, taking drugs to manage the stress they feel but don't know how to communicate, and basically suffering sensory overstimulation at the same time they're suffering a lack of emotional stimulation from human interaction. Overall, I think the book is one of the most prophetic SF stories I know.

The robot dog, as a whole, was not a great prediction, but he was right about police using robots in some situations, and about portable chemical detection equipment that can do some of the work only dogs could do in the past. There's just no real device that comes anywhere close to the dog in the book.

But you're right. Bradbury wasn't aiming to predict the future. He was commenting on the society that existed when he wrote it. Television was rapidly catching on, and he was seeing the effects of mass media and easy entertainment in your home on people who are generally prone to following the crowd and doing what's easiest. Something that requires effort, imagination and individual thought, like a good book, was threatened by the easy, homogenized pap on the boob tube that any idiot could just sit and stare at. That's been the concern with TV from the beginning, and I think it's justified. And of course, the Cold War, the bomb, McCarthyism, etc. were looming over everything. Bradbury did a pretty good job of carrying it to a possible extreme.

Man. It's been close to 25 years since I read that book, and it's stuck with me that well. I'd say that's a pretty good sign of a good book.

[Time_Signature]

Holger Steen Sørensen: Word-classes in Modern English with Special Reference to Proper Names with an Introductory Theory of Grammar, Meaning and Reference from 1958.

[Fausto]

The Traitor to the Crown series by CC Finlay. I started with the second book, A Spell for the Revolution, by accident. At the moment I'm in the middle of the first, The Patriot Witch. The plot centers around a male witch, a member of the local militia, who discovers that an evil cult of witches is using the british government as a means of controlling the world. He and a group of like-minded American witches have to use their powers to ensure the Colonists win. The supernatural plot acts as a pretext for a "tour of the war" so to speak. The main character, Proctor Brown, finds himself convieniently interacting with real life heroes, including George Washington and Thomas Paine, and takes part in many of the major battles and incidents.

[Cthulhu]

Has anyone read "The death of Bunny Munro"? I received a very nice hardcover, limited edition copy yesterday but its so nice I dont really want to open it.     I may buy a copy to read if its good. anyone?

Nick Cave wrote that, right?

Anyway, no, I haven't read it.

[Trevor]

Been reading my bank statements..... 

[Joe the Destroyer]

Finished reading Cell and started Offspring by Jack Ketchum. 



I read and loved the previous book, Off Season, and am hoping to enjoy this one as much.  I was sad to find that there is already a straight-to-video movie for Offspring, and the Off Season movie isn't even out yet (and it looks like it may have fallen to the wayside, since there's no longer an IMDb page for it). 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1262413/

In any case, I've heard the movie blows.   

[indianasmith]

I just finished ALL ON FIRE: WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON AND THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.
An incredible work about one of the true heroes of the 19th century.  He never compromised his commitment to equality; he simply stood his ground until, gradually, the country came to agee with him.

[Time_Signature]

Niels Danielsen: An Essay on Nomos and Human Language

Oh, and to those who think I should read more comics, I am also reading Cerebus the Aardvark by Dave Sim:



;-)

[JaseSF]

The History of the Science Fiction Magazine Vol. 1: 1926-1935 edited by Michael Ashley. Just finished the first short story by G. Peyton Wertenbaker entitled "The Coming of the Ice", a terrific little sci-fi story about the end of man.

[AndyC]

Finished Ripper (another great read), and moved on to Frozen Beneath. Got a couple of chapters into that before the lifeless writing and the stilted dialogue made me put it down and grab the next Slade thriller, Evil Eye. I suppose a lot of self-published books are probably self published for a reason, even if they have a cool cardboard standee in the supermarket. Seriously, the first two chapters took place at NORAD and Area 51, and it still managed to be dull. I was left wondering how somebody could write that many words without describing anything.

Evil Eye shows a lot of promise. One of the things I like about Michael Slade is he doesn't waste any time getting the ball rolling. Chapter One, and we're already flashing back to the Anglo-Zulu War, because something that happened at the Battle of Rorke's Drift will connect to the present-day crimes. Then whoosh, to present-day (the 90s) Vancouver, where a bats**t-insane skinhead stomps a couple of sheriff's deputies to death while they're taking him for a psych evaluation. Meanwhile, an unknown party is skulking around outside a formal RCMP dinner, hearing voices that tell him to kill mounties. And around the same time, yet another of the recurring characters has a close relative murdered (seems to happen to somebody about every second book). All this is in the first couple of chapters, and all very vividly described, in spite of being so densely layered into the story. I can't wait to read how everything fits together.

I'm thinking I should give Frozen Beneath another chance, but I've got two more Slade books waiting on the table, and a copy of Koko that should be arriving soon.

[Joe the Destroyer]

Ordered some more books from AbeBooks. 

[Jim H]

I just finished 1812, an Eric Flint alternate history novel.  Pretty interesting point of change - Sam Houston, in a battle, takes a minor wound instead of a serious one.  So, he doesn't sit out much of the rest of the War of 1812.  This snow balls into him changing history, and leads in a variety of ways to the Cherokee moving voluntarily early to Arkansas and basically forming their own country.

Looks like the sequel will have this new country fighting the US of A. 

Well written novel, good characters, and actually quite informative about real history (much of the book follows the real stuff).