Dan wrote:

Not read Farenheit 451. Heard it was a classic. It's academically studied. But reviews tend to actually slate it. From what I can tell it's not at all on par with 1984 or Brave New World.

I haven't read Fahrenheit 451 in years, but I loved it as a teenager, and think if anything it's underrated.  People are forever harping on about the relative prescience of 1984 and Brave New World, but 451 is every bit their equal in that respect, albeit with a slightly different take.  The central themes - mankind choosing to censor itself primarily because no-one wants to be challenged or offended, the loss of human communication to various forms of entertainment - remains pretty relevant 65 years after it was written.

I can understand people hating it though.  Bradbury's style isn't for everyone, and he's quite prone to lengthy patches of exposition.  Equally you can make the case that the book is as much diatribe as novel, an intellectual railing against the incomprehensible and terrifying distractions embraced by the rest of the modern world.  The fevered scribblings of a grumpy old man.  Except...  My favourite bit of the entire book is a lengthy lecture by the protagonist's boss, which absolutely lives up to all of those criticisms and yet it's absolutely great, a near perfect representation of how to rationalise evil.  So there.

Besides, it's really short, you can finish it off in an evening - so there's no excuse for not reading it. 

Anyway.  Telly.  Handmaid's Tale is an incredible book, and I'm intrigued/ terrified to see the TV version.  

Irony is Rand was on welfare and Medicaid.

I agree Tin, Fahrenheit 451 is fantastic. Read it loads as a teenager also. Love the 60's movie too.

Atlas is the reader, right?

I really liked Fahrenheit 451 when I read it recently. Yes it's fiction not literature, but I enjoyed the writing style & clarity of vision. Up there with 1984 & BMW IMO.

Not read Handmaiden's Tale but will seek it out. Only Atwood on my shelves is The Blind Assassin, which is unread.

Anyone read We?

Indeed. I usually watch this phase of BGT and then none of the live shows.

MattyJ wrote:

Indeed. I usually watch this phase of BGT and then none of the live shows.

That's part of the trouble with the format. Some of the talent is rather one dimensional so it's great on the audition but they can't really do anything else when they've got to do something fresh for the live shows

It's no worse than the other Netflix Marvel stuff. I don't know why everyone was so down on it.

Got savaged on t'interwebz.

WorKid wrote:

What's this TV shit. Isn't this the book thread?

Bringing it back on topic, Kindle version of Fahrenheit 451 is meant to be poor, much like Dune - think dodgy OCR. Otherwise would have got it by now.

Would like to read it, sounds good.

Seem's there's a lot more TV (and film) adaptations recently. It's always been done, but there are quite a few big examples recently. Anyone read American Gods? Will likely watch it before reading it.

The Daddy wrote:

I listened to the audio book of American Gods last summer, was good. It was a full cast reading, worked really well. Dunno how it'll hold up on TV though, I think the book might be too fresh in my mind.

They've apparently added a lot for the TV version.  Some stuff Gaiman wanted to put in but couldn't due to length, some just made up to make it work on TV.  Supposedly the entire finale to series one is a scene that doesn't exist in the book.  (Though that could be the usual promotional hyperbole).  

I'm looking forward to it, as I suspect it'll be quite a visual feast if nothing else.

Has he leaked the whole thing now then? I know he leaked the first episode as proof. Apparently he has more shows as well.

Netflix should just put it up if it is ready.

Liveinadive wrote:

Has he leaked the whole thing now then? I know he leaked the first episode as proof. Apparently he has more shows as well. Netflix should just put it up if it is ready.

Yup, all are out.

Yeah the titles of the releases are as they were when hacked, seems they were finishing the last little touches of work on them as there are timecodes and watermarks, so technically a workprint.

Titled such as ORANGEep5006 LOCKED v2 for SOUND 1013-H264_SD_16x9.mov

Who's so desperate to see Orange is the New Black anyway? If it was Game of Thrones or something maybe.