Review: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (audiobook)

Back in the day before internet lists, I was very fortunate to have a friend who was in the know about philosophical books. He would key me in every time he read something interesting and of course, I would check these books out. I read a lot of dystopia as a teen. I know I read this a very long time ago. I was overdue for a re-read/listen of this classic book by Bradbury. This is slightly different from his other science fiction books.

The book starts by introducing the main character of Guy Montag. Montag is a fireman, but not in the way we think. You see in his world firemen don't stop fires they start them. They don't put out house fires they light them if they are filled with books. One day Guy walks home from his job to run into his new neighbor.  Montag's awkward interaction's with this teen neighbor show us the reader how people in his world do not talk to each other. He has to learn how to talk to a person and how to share ideas and concepts because this society does not interact with each other. They don't talk and speculate and ponder things. The main character, Montag later tries to have a conversation with his spouse and sees that she is so absorbed into her screens that she doesn't really talk but just replies with automatic responses. Their house is filled with the constant chatter of programs and music playing in the background. Programs that lack substance and no real meaning found in them. Even the music they listen to is just jingles...no real thoughts in song.

In this world, books have been removed because the concept or ideas in some may have offended someone. History has been re-written and no one must question things because if they do "they would be sad". Screens are often found in multiples, as rooms are oversaturated with electronic stimulation. This reminded me of how they were similar to smartphones and how people often ignore loved ones because they can't miss that status update. Everyone in this world has no opinion and they all think the same....even look the same in some instances. There is a fear of free thought, and ideas. People refrain from talking about politics and know nothing of other nations. They base voting a candidate based on shallow ideals such as looks and manners.

I could go on and on telling you about this world, and I hope you don't overlook some of the warnings found in this book. I would not recommend just plowing through this, as you should take the time to think about the scenes and try to understand what the author is trying to convey. I will admit that after the Fireman History speech that I had to rewind and listen to it again and then ponder over what I had heard.

I heard from a review that they thought this book was the ravings from an old man or was this rather wisdom from an elder....one who saw with the development of technology how far we would stray from being social free thinking people into something less than ideal and sheepish. In this day of fake news, and reality TV stars turned President the ideas in this book still resonate. I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.com and recommend this for almost anyone.

International shoppers click here - http://www.bookdepository.com/?a_aid=geekpron
UK and Canada click here - Fahrenheit 451

 

Review: The Weatherman Vol. 1

This was recommended to me by an app I use to read digital comics, and I'm glad I decided to check it out. Weatherman is set sometime in the not too distant future where mankind has colonized the galaxy...well at least our region of it. Most humans live on Mars and Venus. The story reminded me very much of a PKD( Philip K. Dick) story much like "We Can Remember it For You Wholesale" (Total Recall/film adaptation) with the art style being similar to Tank Girl. This story takes place in a world where a terrorist organization has decimated the Earth and basically wiped out the entire population of that world. The people of this future are left to pick up the pieces and mourn the loss of loved ones from Earth.

In comes Nathan Bright a mild-mannered doofy Weatherman. Out of nowhere, he's accused of being the mastermind to have destroyed the Earth under another name, and someone who looks totally different from him. Is it mistaken identity? Or is he really Ian Black from the terrorist organization that destroyed the Earth and all of its inhabitants? Things go from mundane to topsy turvy for the weatherman and things are not what they had seemed. Can an ordinary weatherman be something much more than he appears, and can he help save the Colonies from the terrorists?

I found this very enjoyable. I loved the art style which held on to that futuristic kinda look with bright neon colors. The story was fast paced, and not boring at any time. This had me locked in and ready for more. Can't wait for the next volume in the series. So if you're a fan of Dick's strange science fiction worlds, and the zaniness of Tank Girl than I highly recommend checking this new series from Image comics out. I rated this 4 out of 5 stars on Goodread.com. 

Review: Cujo by Stephen King (Audiobook)

It's been a very long time since I had last read this book. I was very young and was just plowing through the classic King books. Now that I'm an adult I wanted to re-read some of these classic King books to see if I feel the same about them as I did back then.

This was the longest audiobook I have listened to ever. It topped in at over 14 hours. Now I'll admit I took at least a week to listen to it, and even back up some parts to relisten to some scenes. The version I listened to was narrated by Lorna Raver who is an actress. I think she did a pretty good job of narrating and did a pretty good New England accent.

For those who do not know this book is about a saint bernard that becomes infected with rabies, and murders a few people in the small Maine town of Castle Rock (that almost all of King's stories take place). The meat of the story takes place near the end which I call the siege as it's the stand down between the main character of Donna Trenton, and her 4 yr old son, Tad. A few people have criticized King for the length of this book and felt that it would have been better off as a short story or a novella. I kinda have to agree somewhat.

One of the things I remembered about this and why I enjoyed reading King's work was his way with words. Not many authors can eloquently swear or describe things in such a crude way as King, but yet skillfully. Especially describing a scene about the postman farting while delivering the mail...yeah that was pretty funny. He also has a way of setting up the scene and leaving you the reader hanging on for more. But I do think he branched off into too many side stories with this one. It would have been a much better novel if he had focused primarily on the dog. Instead, King decided to stray off and describe lengthy scenes regarding the marriage of the two main families in the book. And also about Vic Trenton's business being on the brink. In retrospect, I feel that these kinda tied up into the general idea that sometimes things happen that are out of our control much like a force of nature that we can only sit back and suffer through. But some of these scenes really want on a tangent. I later learned that the author was in the grips of alcoholism and didn't even remember writing this book. That kind of made sense after reading this.

I do think that this book made much more sense as an adult than when I was a teenager. I have more life experience and could relate a lot more to the relationship issues that the two couples were going through. I also got the main idea of the book that sometimes "shit happens" such as a good dog getting rabies and going on a killing spree. Sometimes life just isn't fair. I still decided to rate this book with a 3 out of 5-star rating on Goodreads.com. It could have been much shorter and got to the point instead of trailing off on tangents. But it still is one of those classic King stories I would recommend reading.

 

Review: Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin (Audiobook)

I'll admit that I saw the film from 1968 that was directed by Roman Polanski. I enjoyed it very much, but I didn't feel compelled to rush out and read the book it was based on right away.  Lately, I have been giving audiobooks a chance and have listened to a few in the last few weeks.

Rosemary's Baby came up as a recommendation from another audiobook that I had listened to, and I figured I would give it a listen as I had enjoyed the film adaptation. This was narrated by the main star of the film, Mia Farrow. I thought that this was very cool that she narrated the book. Those not familiar with the film or the book is about a young couple who choose to move into a ritzy/popular apartment building with a somewhat eery past. While there they meet some strange neighbors who Rosemary later thinks are witches.

The beginning is rather slow to start, and for anyone familiar with American Pyscho there is a similar feeling with the descriptions of the apartments in NYC. For some reason, the author felt it necessary to emphasize this part of the story which I found a bit tedious and kinda boring. But once the young couple settles on their new apartment the pacing of the story starts to pick up. Things get creepy slowly at first and then they really ramp up after the first interaction with the neighbors. For those who have seen the film only you may want to read/listen to this book because there were bonus scenes which were not included in the film version. Of course, these extra scenes lead up to a sequel which I didn't know existed until listening to this book. On a side note, there was also a film version of the sequel which is hard to find in DVD format, as it must have not been as good as the first film.

Being read by the star of the film helped me to enjoy this more, and let's be honest a good narrator makes an audiobook more enjoyable especially if they are an actor. I listened to The Haunting of Hill House and found the narrator of that to be atrocious. The audio was also souped up with music at times to emphasize thrilling scenes. I will not go into too much detail as I do not want to spoil the book for those who have yet to read/listen to it.
I really enjoyed this audiobook, and I am considering giving its sequel (Son of Rosemary) a listen in the near future. I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars on Goodread.com. I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of psychological thrillers, and books like the Exorcist. Of course also to those who have seen the film but have yet to read the book....get out and check this book out!

Review: A Different Flesh by Harry Turtledove (Audiobook)

I'm fortunate enough that I can listen to music or whatever at my job. I don't typically listen to audiobooks, but I have become bored with listening to music and I think I have listened to so many podcasts that I have exhausted the catalog. So being an avid reader I decided to give audio books another try.

Harry Turtledove is an author whose books are some that I wanted to check out. I love the idea that he writes alternative histories, and has based whole series on how world events could have happened differently. I won't go into the whole multiverse theory, which is also interesting. Where any number of events could have happened creating a completely different timeline of events.

I decided to listen to "A Different Flesh" by Harry Turtledove which was originally published in 1988. In this novel, the world is very much different from our own in that Homo Erectus did not die off and actually thrived in the New World. In the world of this novel, Homo Erectus crossed the land bridge instead of people from the tundras of Siberia. The sheer imagination of the author to create a world where Native Americans never happened spreads out into changes to everything such as first interactions with Colonials, and even the development of colonial government. But it's not just this species of cavemen that are unique to Turtledove's New World, but there are also other prehistoric creatures such as sabretooth tigers and wooly mammoths that wander the forests.

Turtledove proposes different scenarios as we the reader get to see this new world. He presents interactions between colonists and the native cavemen. These creatures are referred to as "sims" throughout the story. How each is radically different and yet curious and fearful of each other. Turtledove mentions the phrase "beetled brow" and their lack of chins in describing these peoples numerous times. The author doesn't linger too long into each period of America as it develops into the present day but gives us a short glimpse into key events of its development.

These short glances into this world were very interesting and I applaud the imagination of Turtledove to be able to create this world. But I don't think this was his only intention to just entertain the reader with a tale of cavemen interacting with humans in our modern world. I think the author's intention was to point out just how within history we as a society have mistreated those who are different from ourselves and even treated those whose cultures were different or technologically not as advanced as being sub-human.

I will point out that being an alternate history piece that there are some potential triggers for some individuals such as racist language, and graphic descriptions of some events which some may find disturbing. This book is not for everyone. I really enjoyed this and got something out of listening to it. I plan on checking out the rest of this author's works. I rated this 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.com. If you are a fan of historical fiction or science fiction you may too enjoy this book.