Fahrenheit 451: What book would you be?

At the end of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, there is a community of people who have each committed a book to memory so that the literature would live on. The other day Chad and I were talking about what book we would become if we were to choose one to commit to memory. This post is inspired by our conversation!

Chad: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.

He had no hesitation in this choice! He said that he’d love to commit the entire series to memory, but if he had to choose one, this would be it.

Lars, age 7: The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman

We read this book a lot. The kids both know it almost by heart. It’s such a fun, creepy, magical book! You can probably tell how well loved it is by the photo. When I asked Lars which book he would be, he thought for a second and then started the first line of the book “Lucy walked around the house….” and proceeded to tell us the story on our car ride home.

Jette, age 5: The Story of Little Babaji by Helen Bannerman

This is her favorite book. If I miss a single word or don’t use enough expression (“I won’t eat you THIS time…”) she will always be sure to let me know. She also always stops to tell me what ghee is when the word comes up in the book. Even though she is just learning to read, she could easily “read” this book to us!

And my choice: The Stranger by Albert Camus

I had a hard time choosing. There are about 3 books that I consider my favorites, and this is one of them. I love the way that Camus writes and have been fascinated with this story since I was a teenager. I do own another copy of the book but the only one I could find right away to take a photo is this beat up French copy, L’Etranger.

If you haven’t yet read these books, the Thorson family has officially recommended each of them!

So please do tell us: What book would YOU be?