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Jon-Michael

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Jon-Michael is currently reading

Fahrenheit 451

by Ray Bradbury

bookshelves: currently-reading, q4-2009

Reading for the 2nd time

read in April 2009

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Jon-Michael said: " When I decided to read this novel, I walked into the library, picked up the book, and checked it out. And it was legal for me to do that, even encouraged. Read posters practically cover the walls. Though the New York Times remarks that it “bears many When I decided to read this novel, I walked into the library, picked up the book, and checked it out. And it was legal for me to do that, even encouraged. Read posters practically cover the walls. Though the New York Times remarks that it “bears many resemblances to our own [world:],” the fictional one created by Bradbury is a far cry from the literary-infused culture in which we live and think.

In Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag, the protagonist of the novel, is a fireman. But not the fireman in the modern sense of the word—he doesn’t put out fires. He starts them. Indeed, the novel begins with these chilling—err, burning—words: “It was a pleasure to burn…to see things eaten...blackened and changed.” Set in a futuristic, anti-intellectual America, Guy begins the novel as a fireman dedicated to his job. When a call came in, when someone ratted out their neighbor for having books, Guy and his comrades fired up the truck, drove to the criminals house, sprayed the kerosene, and let the books—and the house in which they were found—go up in “sparkling whirls.” And for Guy, that was all in a day’s work. He didn’t question; he was content.

That was until he met Clarisse McClellan on his way home from work. Her questions—why, why, why—were odd. For Guy, it had always been how, but that was enough to spark the flames of thinking and liberation. After stealing a book, Guy undergoes a change, a change that causes him to question. Will he float along the gentle river that is the status quo, or will he ask the tough question—why? Will he turn his book-burning past into a constructive future? Or will books continue as contraband?

I have yet to finish the novel. It is separated into three parts; I have read the first two. While the future created by Bradbury is hard to comprehend, it raises questions as to censorship in our own world. It was only last year that we heard of Alaska’s governor removing certain books from a public library. Though minor in comparison, it is important to note.

After reading it, I feel a greater appreciation for literature and for the freedom of choosing what I read. Perhaps it can serve as a reminder to the free-thinking people of the world: advocate against censorship; promote tolerance. ...more "

Apr 13, 2009 05:34PM · see review

Jon-Michael rated a book it was amazing

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

by Mitch Albom (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading, q3-2009

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Jon-Michael said: " Mitch Albom made his way to the national stage several years ago with his bestselling novel Tuesdays with Morrie, a moving story about a dying professor with ALS and the relationships he develops with his students. In 2006, Albom published For One Mo Mitch Albom made his way to the national stage several years ago with his bestselling novel Tuesdays with Morrie, a moving story about a dying professor with ALS and the relationships he develops with his students. In 2006, Albom published For One More Day in which a son spends one more day with his mother following his attempted suicide. Between these two novels, Albom gave us The Five People You Meet in Heaven, where death is all about life lessons.

The story follows a simple old man named Eddie who, on his 83rd birthday, dies in a freak accident while trying to save a young child. During his time in heaven, Eddie meets five people who drastically affected his life on earth. Each person, from a freak show performer, to his wartime captain, to his wife, reveals to Eddie wisdom beyond the mortal man’s understanding, and through each person’s visit with Eddie, he comes to a deeper understanding of the significance, and connectedness, of life.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a very short, easy read, but its message—of the relationships that knit together humankind, of man’s meaningful existence, of the perpetuation of each man and woman’s life—will remain with you for eternity. Eddie worked as a maintenance man at Ruby Pier where he repaired rides. Not until his final stage in heaven did he finally realizes how important his job was—he had saved countless lives by repairing the rides.

This book is a must for the downtrodden; for once, he might see that he, like Eddie, played an important role down on earth. The Five People You Meet in Heaven is an essential read for the lonely; as Eddie comes to see, we are not individuals, but part of a fabric that ties the world together. “The human spirit knows, deep down, that all lives intersect.” And, this book is a comfort for all who will face death, and we most assuredly will at some point. As Albom so eloquently puts it, “Death doesn’t just take someone. One withers, another grows. Birth and death are part of a whole.”

While I said that the book was a short, easy read, I implied that one could navigate through it in a short amount of time. That is not so. Albom employs your thought capacity so deeply—it is impossible to read through it without stopping to ponder what you just read—that it takes quite a bit longer than would be expected of a 200-page novel. That is partly because the book is so full of quotes—you should see how many sticky notes emerge from the top and sides of my copy—that you could spend hours writing down his philosophical truths. All kidding aside, Albom has given us an encyclopedia about life—divine insight—by telling us about death.

While I have my own imagination of heaven and what will happen when I die, I would not be disappointed to experience what Eddie did—to step back and see the bigger picture, one that surely exists, and meet those whose lives I impacted and meet those who impacted my life. As Billy Pilgrim shows us in Slaughterhouse Five and Eddie assures us in this very novel, we gain hope in the fact that for every beginning there is an end, and for every end there is a beginning. ...more "

Mar 08, 2009 09:16PM · see review