Having read Fahrenheit 451 via audiobook during exercise and bus rides, I definitely need to sit down and read the end again. It was a perfect audiobook for a while, because the plot is slow and contemplative for a long time. But the last 30-45 minutes went by in such a blur, I found myself rewinding a lot until I finally decided I need to grab the book off the shelf and read the end - perhaps the whole thing again.

I enjoyed the slow, contemplative pace of most of the book not only because it lent itself to audio, but also because it was appropriate to stop every 45 minutes or so and think about it for a few days. I usually enjoy very long books for that same reason.

I also savored the fact that I did most of my "reading" at the medical center walking park, which is adjacent to a firehouse. I wonder if the firemen there have read it? Does it offend their sense of self? I have a friend who's quite the philosophical fireman, perhaps I'll pose this question to him.

In the mean time, I'm a bit confused about the ending: who led the bomb attack against the city? I understand the phoenix reference, but who gave the orders, who flew the planes? When the group of men discussed the war that would begin and end in an instant, I didn't think it was literal. Dream and reality seemed very mixed near the end, but that was not a dreamed bombing. I guess I know what I'm reading on my lunch break today - move over Eve Dallas, Guy Montag and I have a few things to clear up.

I did not at all get the impression that the message was about censorship in the least, which is what I thought before I started reading it. It's definitely rather about the degradation and homogenization of society by mass media. I hope that when we do the Big Read on it next year that we run with that theme. I think it's something that many families want to hear, and it's something that really promotes the library.