Fahrenheit 451 - 2012 Book Quest

My internet connection has decided it is a woman, and is now acting accordingly. It is unstable, moody and pissing me off!
I have gone so far as to actually draw eyes and a mouth for the modem (no pictures because I am terrible at drawing and you do not need to see that!). My roommate was eyeing the modem suspiciously and kept insisting the eyes were following him.

On a totally unrelated note I finished Fahrenheit 451 and I was a bit confused until my aforementioned roommate explained the concept of science fiction to me. I have never read much science fiction, and for some reason I had got into my head that it was all about space and aliens. Turns out it is not. Who'd have thunk!

The book was good though a bit confusing at times. It did not appear to the Author that it might be nice to know who was talking once in a while. Apart from that I liked the Orwellian feel of the future society. And for someone like me, the whole concept of burning books seemed very frightening. What if they came here and took my books? Burned the all in front of me? Scary stuff!

I am now reading Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. So far it is very humorous especially when he explains the different catches. Like this one, Catch-22:

 There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he were sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to.

I had to read it twice because at first my reaction was "Wait, what?".

The lack of internet is proving very healthy for my reading, and I have already read a fourth of the book. So naturally I am starting to wonder what I should read next. So I have started a poll over here ---------------------------------------------------------->
What do you guys think? please help me decide by voting for your favorite, or tell me in the comments what I need to read next.

Till next time.

School Shootings and Book Burnings - 2012 Book Quest

I finished this one yesterday:

It was amazing. I cannot wait to see the movie, I hope it is just as good.

I liked the "twist" though, like most twists, I had figured it out early in the book. It still kept me wondering all the way till the end, which is what a twist should do, if  it cannot take you completely by surprise.

I wonder how they are going to pace the movie, because the book is completely in letter-form. Letters from Kevin's mom to his dad. And I hope they treat the school shooting right and don't glance over it. That would be tragic.

Next up is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (or 233 Celsius as I found one copy titled in the used bookstore).
It is set in the year 2000, but quite a different 2000 than the one we know. The main character is a firefighter, though they do not fight fires anymore, they light them.
Dun dun duuuun!

Nothing much else to report. Have a good one!

Whoops - 2012 Book Quest

I went to the second-hand bookstore. I love that place. It is just up the street from where I live and it is a mess of  books. Books stacked on the floor, on tables and on top of any free surface.
There is no alphabetical order, the only order is an unbreakable code of "This is the German author section, but with some Austrian and Belgian in the mix. Over here is the Spanish, Italian French, oh and on the bottom shelf is Eastern European. But if it is a detective novel it might be over there."

Needless to say, it is an amazing place!

I did manage to find some books while I was fighting my way through the Jungle of Used Books. So now I have read 2 and bought 9. I should feel bad, but I don't. I love books and most of the ones I bought are pretty short. I am confident I can make it up.

The books I bought were:

1. George Eliot: Middlemarch
2. Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451
3. Agatha Christie: Appointment with Death
4. Agatha Christie: Three Act Tragedy
5. Agatha Christie: Peril at the End House

Yes I have a love for Agatha Christie, it might not be big literature, but it is nice. I am currently reading a lot of books "you are supposed to have read", so Christie is like putting on a comfy blanket after all that scary, important, culture-describing, political literature.

Don't get me wrong, I like Charles Dickens, but give me a good murder mystery any day.

Anyway, my already cluttered "to-read" shelf is now even worse. I would lie if I said I did not like it.

The new books are the ones with arrows pointing at them. Obviously...