To Ignite Interest in Books, L.A. Is Urged to Read ‘Fahrenheit 451’

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn launched a citywide reading initiative Thursday, urging all residents to read a copy of Ray Bradbury’s science fiction classic “Fahrenheit 451” and participate in neighborhood book groups being organized during April.

The “One Book, One City L.A.” initiative, modeled after similar programs in Seattle and Chicago, is designed to encourage literacy and promote civic pride. Los Angeles’ inaugural program features the mayor’s favorite book.

Bradbury wrote “Fahrenheit 451” in nine days in 1953, using pay-by-the-hour typewriters at the UCLA Library. Set in a future world in which the written word is forbidden and firemen burn books, the novel is about censorship and rebellion.

“At its core, ‘Fahrenheit 451’ celebrates freedom of speech, freedom of thought, the value of imagination and the power of the individual,” Hahn said at a news conference Thursday morning at the downtown Central Library. “Those are values that we stand for and that epitomize the city of Los Angeles.”

Bradbury, 81, never went to college; he educated himself in Los Angeles’ libraries. As a teenager, he walked from his home at Pico Boulevard and Western Avenue to the downtown library, where he would spend hours poring over literature. The author said he feels honored that “Fahrenheit 451” is going to be featured in libraries across the city.

“This book has been such a close part of my life,” Bradbury said. Libraries throughout the city have stocked up on copies of “Fahrenheit 451” and will host 10 discussions about the novel in April. Barnes & Noble Bookstores and the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf will also host book groups.

In addition, 500 copies of the text were donated to Los Angeles school district high schools by Ballantine Books, and Supt. Roy Romer is encouraging all ninth- and 10th-graders to read the book.

Hahn and Bradbury will host a meeting April 8 with a group of students at the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood to discuss the themes of free speech and social justice in “Fahrenheit 451.”

Later in the month, the city library will sponsor a reading of banned and burned books, and the New Beverly Cinema will show the 1966 movie “Fahrenheit 451.” The program will conclude with a reading by Bradbury at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at UCLA on April 27.

More information about the program, including a study guide, schedule of events and chapters of “Fahrenheit 451” by e-mail, can be found at www.lapl.org/F451.

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Excerpt From Chapter 1: It Was a Pleasure to Burn

“Do you ever ‘read’ any of the books you burn?”

He laughed. “That’s against the law!”

“Oh. Of course.”

“It’s fine work. Monday burn Millay, Wednesday Whitman, Friday Faulkner, burn ‘em to ashes, then burn the ashes. That’s our official slogan.”

They walked still farther, and the girl said, “Is it true that long ago firemen put fires ‘out’ instead of going to start them?”

Copyright 1953 by Ray Bradbury