Time You Enjoy Wasting Is Not Wasted Time

The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to restore reading to the center of American culture.

This year the Big Read book being read by Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I heard about this program through SUNY Fredonia and decided I would participate by reading and blogging about the book.

Since the book is separated into three parts I expect this series of posts to have four to five posts: this introduction, a post for each of the three parts, and possibly a conclusion.

I dug out my old copy of Fahrenheit 451 last night so I could start reading it. Out of curiosity I checked the date and that copy was produced in 1986. Which means when I read it for the first time I was around 11 years old. I know I read it again in high school, but then have not read it since. It is funny how I remember it being a long book, but looking at it now I figure I will read a part a night and be done by the end of the week, barring any life events such as the arrival of a baby that might delay my reading . I am trying to figure out why I remember it being a long book, since it is not. I read a lot as a child and a book that is less than 200 pages is not one I would normally consider long. So why does my memory tell me otherwise? I suppose it might be because of the social commentary in the book, which is more than I would have been used to as a youngster. Or perhaps it is because it is not broken up into chapters, simply three parts of about 60 pages each, and I do not like stopping a book mid-stream; I much prefer to stop at a chapter or section break, and since there are only three breaks in the book perhaps that is why I remember it as long. At any rate, as perplexing as that memory may be I only remember the basic story line so am looking forward to re-reading this book as an adult an perhaps catching more than I did the last time I read it.