Fiona McGier, EroticRomance Author

My favorite book of all time? F-451!

10/17/2020

I really had to give some thought to this topic: What is your favorite book of all time? What genre?

I got an English degree, so I have a houseful of books, along with a packed Kindle, and a library card. I love to read and write romance. But my favorite genre of all time--alas, one that my muse refuses to give me any stories in--is science fiction! And my favorite sci-fi book is one I've taught a few times: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Why? It's so damn prescient--like he was a time traveler who wrote this book, trying to warn us.
Do people read anymore?
I have a bumper sticker on my truck that's a Bradbury quote: You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them. I've read research that says roughly 25-30% of adults haven't read an entire book during the past year. What do they do with their time? Watch some electronic device? Binge-watch forgettable shows?
Why read the book when there's a movie?
I've explained to students who complain about having to read a book when there's a movie version, that the movie is a passive form of entertainment--you can sit and drool on yourself while the images wash over you--and your brain goes in search of a snack, since there's no need for it to be engaged at all. A book is an intensely involving experience--you have to read and process the words, you have to imagine the scenes in your head, you hear the voices--and sometimes what you read, even if it's fiction, stays in your head while you think about it for a long time. It leads your brain along new pathways of thought. That's what I love about books! "Oh, but that's too much work!" the students whine. Yes, reading is work, but so is thinking--reading and thinking go hand-in-hand.
TV as the ultimate drug--no need for real life!
In Fahrenheit 451, written in 1953, Bradbury does what all good sci-fi writers do--he looks around at what is, then extrapolates into the future. He imagined not just bigger TV's, but entire walls of images and sounds that continuously stimulate the brain. Guy Montag's wife complains because they only have 3 walls of screen--she wants to do the 4th wall also, to immerse herself in the world of her friends which is what the characters on the screen are called. Parts are written into the speaking roles, and the characters will turn to the camera and speak directly to whom-ever has paid for them to use their name--so viewers can interact with the characters by saying their assigned lines. With the amount of time spent on screens these days, and the size of today's flat screen TV's, how far off is that? And when they broadcast chasing Montag at the end of the book, it was like the O.J. Simpson chase being breathlessly telecast.
No silence anywhere...
When on the subway or the bus, Montag notices advertising is constantly blared at the riders, who can't even finish a thought due to the noise. If you never have peace and quiet, along with the leisure time to just sit and think--your brain gets lazy and stops doing cognitive functions.
Why people stopped reading--I say they got mentally lazy!
Montag's boss, Beatty, reminds him that people stopped reading books long before the fire department changed its focus. Houses were built with fire-proofing on them, so firefighters became unnecessary--until their focus was changed. But in the only part of the book that I disagree with, Beatty also explains how Bradbury felt at the time--that there were too many disparate groups of people taking offense at various things written in books--women were upset when there were no female characters--or writers. As were people of every color, as well as every religious persuasion. Books had to be dumbed-down, so as not to offend anyone. They became so bland and boring that no one wanted to read them anymore. In this, Bradbury is showing his white male privilege--but I forgive him because he was a product of his time. And I remember a Black English department chair telling me that he didn't enjoy teaching this book because he was "tired of teaching books written by old, dead white guys," when Bradbury was still alive. Diversity benefits us all.
Less reading=shorter attention spans, leading to even less reading...
With attention spans getting shorter by the second, if you've read this far you're my kind of reader! Website builders say that the average viewer will only read the sub-titles of an article on a blog--then after about 30 seconds, they'll find something to click on and leave your thoughtful words behind. It took generations for the human brain to become capable of reading, let alone writing something like War and Peace. But in just part of a generation, we're losing the ability to concentrate for that long on anything. I fear for our species, if Bradbury is right. But he predicted that this has happened before, and will continue to happen, until humanity finally realizes that thinking and striving to improve, is what we were born to do. Without a goal and the drive and ability to reach it, we will devolve back to rejoin our simian brothers in the trees.
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If you're up for more reading (LOL) which books do other authors value?

Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-26c
Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com
Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Rhobin L Courtright http://www.rhobincourtright.com

anne stenhouse link

10/17/2020 08:18:33 am

Congratulations, Fiona on choosing one book. I wasn't so disciplined. I, too, lament the lack of time some people spend reading. On the other hand, some of us have increased our reading hugely during lockdown. anne

Fiona McGIer link

10/17/2020 01:13:30 pm

LOL Anne! Yes, being stuck at home all the time is very conducive to catching up on one's reading--presuming you like to read. If not, there is a plethora of stuff to watch on all of the various TV-like platforms, and some of it is even new, like shows produced by Netflix, A.Prime, etc. But husband and I have been watching TV only while we eat dinner. Then we turn off the "boob tube" and read. I've cleaned a lot of books that I've won or downloaded over the years, off my kindle by reading them once. If I never want to read them again, I delete them--then I clear them off my downloads file in my laptop as well. Very few books are worth re-reading, but once I had chosen this one, I reread it again, so it would be fresh in my mind as I wrote about it. And it's still a good story--Bradbury at the top of his game!

Skye Taylor link

10/17/2020 01:40:24 pm

Like you, I am appalled and saddened by the number of people who don't read in today's world, because there is so much to be learned in books that cannot be learned or experienced anywhere else. Not all of us can travel anywhere they'd like and none of us can visit another time or dimension. We can't all live like kings and most of us are not paupers. And while some of us are jacks of all trades, no one is a master of them all. As a poem I once had on a book plate says, "All the world is in a book." Read on!

Fiona McGier link

10/17/2020 02:21:13 pm

Yes, all of the knowledge of humanity is available on the internet, but most people use it for extreme porn, and to spew venom toward people and ideas they don't agree with--social media is mis-named, because so little of it is social--more like anti-social media.

And, "Those who do not learn from history, are doomed to repeat it." Without being too political, we're watching Nero playing his fiddle, while Rome burns around our ears, and we're supposed to not notice. Read, people, turn off your damn TVs and computers and read!

Victoria Chatham link

10/17/2020 03:53:03 pm

Remembering Fahrenheit 451 now is a bit chilling. Likewise several of the John Wyndham novels. I cannot imagine not being able to read or have access to books. TV is all well and good if used as a tool, to pick and choose the best programs available for either education or entertainment, but you can't curl up in bed with it. I refuse to have any electronics in my bedroom but always have a proper book. My loaded Kindle is mostly for when I travel. Good post, Fiona.

Fiona McGier link

10/17/2020 04:01:33 pm

I agree, Victoria, no need for electronics when you're trying to fall asleep. I'm a huge crosswords fan, so I have a book of them on the couch next to my bed, and that's what I do before I fall asleep.

I've always thought this book was chilling--maybe too close to real life to really be fiction, but still a good sci-fi read!

Bob Rich link

10/17/2020 04:50:39 pm

Oh Fiona, I SO agree with you! When I was teaching at university, I forced my students to take notes in their own words rather than write down (or worse, record) mine. It is putting it into your own words that leads to understanding.
Yes, watching a movie hands the creative part to someone else, and you're a passive recipient. Reading in contrast is creative. The reader is not only the audience, but uses stage directions from the author to create the reality and the people within it.
:)
Bob

Fiona McGier link

10/18/2020 03:18:31 pm

Hi Bob--yes, the assimilating of the information is done by your brain when you take notes. That's what you don't get if you just record the lecture.

And watching a show is always the director's view of the story, not the author's. I want to experience it the way the author did when he/she was writing the book. I don't want the second-hand experience of the director.

BTW, I traded books for reviews with a male author recently, and he's lived in LA for years, and sold a few screenplays. He sent me one story first as a screenplay--I was surprised that it was so short, and he told me that's the recommended # of pages for a 90-minute show. Then he sent me the novel version, and there were characters in there that weren't even in the screenplay! That's when I realized how little of the author's vision is actually in a televised version of the story. Give me the original, anytime!

Connie Vines link

10/17/2020 11:00:12 pm

I find non-readers often have an audible subscription and will listen to the 'must read' book everyone is talking about. If parents aren't readers, then don't encourage the child. Reading is not a passive hobby.

Fiona McGier link

10/18/2020 03:20:57 pm

Listening to a book is almost as good as reading it--unless you're driving, or doing something else at the same time--then the book isn't getting your full attention, as it would if you were reading it yourself. I have a fridge magnet that I gave to my son and his wife, who have my 2 grandsons--who are 3 and 1. It says: "A child who reads will be an adult who thinks." Considering that their kids have more books than toys, and the first thing they always want to do when they see us is have us read to them, I think my son has gotten the idea. LOL. Thanks for coming by.

Robin Courtright link

10/18/2020 02:24:09 pm

I loved Ray Bradbury's books. I tell my students that reading and writing engages more brain synapses than any other activity, thus builds better brains.

Fiona McGier link

10/18/2020 03:23:21 pm

Hi Robin--thanks for another great topic! I tell students that a brain that doesn't get regular exercise from reading is a flabby, out-of-shape brain, and that's just as unattractive as a flabby body! Of course, some of them say that they don't have time to read for pleasure, because they have to read so much for school. That's only partially true. I've gotten some great recommendations from other students who always carry a book with them to read, and THEY seem to find the time.

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