Apparently I read this as a paperback 4 years ago. It was new to me listening to it as an audiobook today. I guess that says something. It was fun, ifApparently I read this as a paperback 4 years ago. It was new to me listening to it as an audiobook today. I guess that says something. It was fun, if not memorable. Way to much tough guy stuff & convenience in the plot. Everyone knows Stang (aka The Shooter) retired police captain, & all around tough guy. The romance was over done, but not as bad as the Tiger Mann series.
Most memorable was the afterword by Collins who finished the book. I really want to watch "The Girl Hunters" (1963) in which Spillane plays Mike Hammer & "Ring of Fear" (1954) in which the real Jack Stang, the hero of this novel, acts with Spillane. According to Collins, Spillane wanted Stang to play Mike Hammer, but Spillane's own performance in this movie put that idea to rest.
This was read by Richard Ferrone. He's a better narrator than Stacey Keach, but I still like Keach for the Mike Hammer novels since he played him on TV.
Merged review:
I wasn't terribly impressed, but it was one of the last books Spillane worked on. He wrote the first 8 chapters & Max Allan Collins's finished it up. This probably accounts for the slightly disjointed feel of the story.
Merged review:
Apparently I read this as a paperback 4 years ago. It was new to me listening to it as an audiobook today. I guess that says something. It was fun, if not memorable. Way to much tough guy stuff & convenience in the plot. Everyone knows Stang (aka The Shooter) retired police captain, & all around tough guy. The romance was over done, but not as bad as the Tiger Mann series.
Most memorable was the afterword by Collins who finished the book. I really want to watch "The Girl Hunters" (1963) in which Spillane plays Mike Hammer & "Ring of Fear" (1954) in which the real Jack Stang, the hero of this novel, acts with Spillane. According to Collins, Spillane wanted Stang to play Mike Hammer, but Spillane's own performance in this movie put that idea to rest.
This was read by Richard Ferrone. He's a better narrator than Stacey Keach, but I still like Keach for the Mike Hammer novels since he played him on TV....more
Not my normal read. The small cast of characters is set in the modern isles of Scotland. It's about a few people interacting, especially two very tougNot my normal read. The small cast of characters is set in the modern isles of Scotland. It's about a few people interacting, especially two very tough men, both pretty worn by life. It's a relationship story that would never be my first pick for reading - HOWEVER - I really liked it.
The story itself didn't grab me, at first. I'm not into how other guys think or pissing contests between them, but this story went far beyond that. There was a lot of mystery in the characters. We never fully know the story of any of the small cast & the mystery helps underscore the main strength of the book & that is the description.
I HATE long descriptions, as a general rule. West writes descriptions like a bard. They're interesting & give such a depth to the most mundane objects & actions that they could become an end to themselves. They don't, thankfully. No, they just underscore a story that became more & more interesting until on a beautiful day, I was stuck reading the last of this novel. (Curse you, Janny! I had too many other things to do!) I couldn't put it down. I had to find out how it ended.
There is a bump at the beginning of the novel. He says something about the girls being 'as buxom as a clover fed heifer'. I've never heard that phrase, but a heifer is a virgin cow, so it just doesn't work for me. I thought if I read many such gaffs, I'd have to put the book down. I never did, though. Instead, he reeled me.
This is the wrong edition. I had these on CD & we listened to them in the car a couple of times during long trips. Even though we remembered most of tThis is the wrong edition. I had these on CD & we listened to them in the car a couple of times during long trips. Even though we remembered most of these from the books, they were still great....more
Normally, I find this kind of classic hard to read. This less so than most & there was a good deal of humor to it. It's obviously a classic & has beenNormally, I find this kind of classic hard to read. This less so than most & there was a good deal of humor to it. It's obviously a classic & has been made into a bunch of movies, most worth watching....more
I read this years ago & it was pretty good. Listening to it as an audio book read by Mark Nelson was a treat. Nelson is as good as most of the commercI read this years ago & it was pretty good. Listening to it as an audio book read by Mark Nelson was a treat. Nelson is as good as most of the commercial readers out there & by far the best Librivox narrator I've ever listened to. He's read a lot of books in this genre, too. It's worth searching for his books. They're free on Librivox.org https://librivox.org/reader/251?prima... as are some of Hamilton's books on Gutenberg. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho...
Hamilton is a latter day ERB in my mind. His novels are short, interesting, & move quickly. In this one, a midwest town of the Cold War era is blown out of time by a super atomic bomb. 1950's values in a world very reminiscent of ERB's Barsoom have to adapt. There's a fairly common galactic setting & a young man torn between what was & what is. Fairly simple thematically, predictable in plot, it was still a lot of fun. A blast from the past & it might really be appropriate today when so many others are facing future shock, a term Toeffler didn't come up with for 15 years after this book was written, I believe....more
Review from Aug2012 when I listened to the audio version (d/l from local library) excellently read by Christopher Hurt:
From Wikipedia:"Bradbury has Review from Aug2012 when I listened to the audio version (d/l from local library) excellently read by Christopher Hurt:
From Wikipedia:"Bradbury has stated that the novel is not about censorship, but a story about how television destroys interest in reading literature, which leads to a perception of knowledge as being composed of factoids, partial information devoid of context." That's scarily familiar, isn't it?
I've read too much old SF to expect it to predict the future, but Bradbury did a better job than most. - It has biometrics. Montag comes home & sticks his hand in the glove on his door & it recognizes him. Wow. - Ear shells that constantly blast entertainment into his wife's head. iPod anyone? - TV screens that cover the walls & inane programs that are more important than real life since they also allow user input. We're just seeing that today. - Montag's run is eerily familiar to King's "The Running Man" & 'reality' TV. - Short wars that no one understands a thing about. - A presidential race decided on which candidate looked & sounded better.
Written in 1953 - really? Was he such a visionary or are such problems perennial? I think both.
I love Captain Beatty's explanation of how the society came to be. Everyone wants to be happy & they don't have time for real thought, so... ...If the Government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it. Peace, Montag. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely `brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change. Don't give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy....
On the way home I was listening to this & one of the characters says that one of the best things about books is that you can shut them when you need to think, unlike the TV & advertising of the book's world. I got home & read some of Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L'Amour. The epigraph to one of the chapters I read was "A book is a friend that will do what no friend does - be silent when we wish to think." - Will Durant, the author of Story of Civilization Kind of neat getting the same sentiment from two such different sources within an hour of each other.
The Afterword was perhaps the best part this time around. Bradbury explains that fire isn't the only way that books get burned, every minority is a fireman when they remove words or content that offends them & he'll have none of it. This edition of "Fahrenheit 451" is supposed to be the original, complete & uncut. He said that he had been shocked to find that previous editions had been edited down until 75 sections had been missing. He received letters in the same week complaining that he was prejudiced for/against the same group in this book.
He points to an anthology that contains 400 short stories by famous authors. How did they all fit into one volume? Because they were edited until every author's writing resembled the others. They were stripped of anything that made them unique. Very scary.
There have been many remakes of this story. Beatty & his ability to quote is explained in one such contained in the afterword. What had been an unexplained weakness became chilling. Beatty really is the devil incarnate.
Anyway, fantastic read(listen) yet again. I highly recommend this version & media. Hurt does a great job picking up the rhythms of Bradbury's writing & about tore my heart out a couple of times. Almost like poetry.
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Review from 2007 when I joined GR & about the paperback edition of this book: I don't usually review classics for obvious reasons, but I flipped through this again the other day & it's still one of the most chilling books I've ever read.
Conform & remember meaningless trivia to be happy. Don't bother with the thorny problems or think for yourself! Immerse yourself in the fantasy world of TV that covers entire walls, so you can be a part of the virtual, mindless world. The shows remind me strongly of the current 'reality TV' craze.
Originally published in 1953, it strikes as close to home today as it did when I first read it over 35 years ago, perhaps more so as TV's have gotten bigger, interaction with the shows is more commonplace & the virtual worlds of social networking sites have become as important to some people as their physical world. (No? What about the teenager who committed suicide because of MySpace harassment?)
The idea of running around with flame throwers to burn books (451 degrees F. is the heat at which a book combusts, according to the story) is a little weird, but shredders weren't around then (first manufactured in 1959) & it's a cool twist to have firemen who burn things. It also makes the point of the government's violent opposition to uncontrolled information - another current theme.
That's why this is a classic. It contains ideas that are still quite pertinent today, perhaps more so than when it was written....more
Not my normal kind of reading, but it was very good. Kind of sappy, without being so - if hat makes any sense. The story is a younger man visiting witNot my normal kind of reading, but it was very good. Kind of sappy, without being so - if hat makes any sense. The story is a younger man visiting with a dying older man, Morrie. Morrie's love of life transcends any stoicism in the face of death. ...more
Morris wrote way too much about himself in here. Ruined the book for me. I don't think I ever finished it - or if I did, it was completely forgettableMorris wrote way too much about himself in here. Ruined the book for me. I don't think I ever finished it - or if I did, it was completely forgettable. Yuck....more
I've tried reading this a dozen times over the years & had trouble with it. I finally did get through it & am very glad I did. Very interesting man, bI've tried reading this a dozen times over the years & had trouble with it. I finally did get through it & am very glad I did. Very interesting man, but not my style of writing....more
I thought of this book earlier this week while reading Born Under Mars by John Brunner. He splits humanity among the stars into 2 groups; the haughty I thought of this book earlier this week while reading Born Under Mars by John Brunner. He splits humanity among the stars into 2 groups; the haughty Centaurs & the easy-going Bears. The main character thinks the following:
I added another to the list of distinctions one could make between Centaur and Bear culture: Centaurs were shame-oriented and didn't basically care what they did provided they could do it without others finding out and their social standing being undermined, whereas Bears constituted a guilt-culture and carried their own moral standards around in their consciences.
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