the art of reading

The book I planned to read for February was Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451 (the first posts for this project can be found on my old blog here and here). Although I didn't quite manage to read it, I had it started and finished by the 2nd March, which surely shows how much I enjoyed it. (I'm chalking it down as a February read, after all I was cheated out of 2 days I would have had in any other month!)

Surprisingly for me, I do quite enjoy dystopian novels, of which this is one. I say surprisingly, because I would expect that kind of pretext to appeal to the worrier in me, causing me to contemplate the real-life likelihood of such a world becoming a reality. Instead, though, I revel in what is almost to me a dark satire.

I enjoyed Orwell's 1984 (which naturally draws comparisons with Farenheit 451) whilst in Australia, at a time when I was on a placement that involved quite a lot of daily travelling. There was something incredibly disorienting in looking up from the pages to alight from a bus in some unknown Sydney suburb. Whenever I think of that book I am immediately transported back to those commutes, and how they managed to be both mundane and exciting all at once.

In some ways I enjoyed Farenheit 451 more than 1984, the writing was more elaborate and descriptive, and I enjoyed the plot immensely. The edition of the book I had included a brilliant foreword by Bradbury about the process of developing the plot and then writing the book, and I think his description of himself growing up and his love for libraries made me like him from the outset!

Spurred on, I am now well along with my book for March, The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. The Husband bought this for me after I heard about it on the radio when it first came out, and so far it's proving a good read. It's surprising me how quickly I seem to have re-developed the habit of reading. I have been travelling to London and back a few times on the train in recent weeks. Yesterday, at the station, I went and bought two books to have something to read on my journey. Usually I would have played on my phone, or bought a magazine, and I honestly cannot remember the last time I bought myself a book, usually receiving them as presents and never getting round to reading them (The Art of Fielding and Farenheit 451 both perfect examples of books I was given over 18 months ago!). Suddenly it seems the most natural thing in the world to have a book on the go again, and I am very glad to have rediscovered reading, and grateful to Laura for being instrumental in me doing so.