Garfield Park Library Hot Topics Book Club

with local author, Susie Bright

Join our book club every second Tuesday to explore great reads and share engaging conversations with fellow book lovers.

A book club organized around discussing the “hot topic” titles in the news,  and book buzz— the controversies, the new classics or perhaps overexposed. 

The Hot Topics Book Discussion group meets on the second Tuesday of the month from 1 to 2pm.  All adults are welcome.

Conversation led by Susie Bright

Free. Spaces limited.
Include your email for more info: we’ll send you excerpts of the book, and
copies of its most talked-about reviews.

Garfield Park Branch Library, SCPL

705 Woodrow Avenue

Santa Cruz, CA 95060

The views and opinions expressed by presenters in Santa Cruz Public Libraries programs are their own and do not constitute an endorsement by Santa Cruz Public Libraries or its member jurisdictions. 

Los puntos de vista y opiniones expresadas por los presentadores de programas en las Bibliotecas Públicas de Santa Cruz son propias y no constituyen en un respaldo o reflejo de la postura de las Bibliotecas Públicas de Santa Cruz ni de sus jurisdicciones miembro.

The below information will be updated monthly to reflect the most current selection:

October 13, at 1:00pm.

We’ll be discussing “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury.

Below is a curated list of excerpts from the title, as well as author interviews, similar books in history, and opinion pieces.

Excerpts:
Kindle preview.
Internet Archive, full digital copy (it has some kids handwritten notes in it, which is fun)

And of course, there are many copies to borrow from your branch! 

The Original F-451 Reviews:

Galaxy, Feb 1951: “The Fireman,” the short story Bradbury later expanded into the novel. 
Chicago Sunday Tribune, Oct 25, 1953: August Derleth’s “Vivid Prophecy of Book Burning.” He called Bradbury’s novella a savage and shockingly prophetic view of one possible future.

New York Times, Nov 14, 1953: “Nothing but TV,” - THEY HATED IT. Haha. Accused Bradbury of a virulent hatred of radio, TV, movies, sports and cars. 
Galaxy, Feb 1954, page 108: Groff Conklin ranked it among the great works of imagination in the English.

Bradbury Interviews:

The 1996 Playboy interview (with Ken Kelley). One of Bradbury’s most important. It’s a nice loop back to the novel, which Playboy serialized in 1954. RB is blunt about Truffaut’s film adaptation. He says his aim was to “prevent” the future, not predict it.

Kindle link to Playboy interview
Free link to the same PB interview, scroll to middle of page
Jonathan Eller’s 3-volume biography: Becoming Ray Bradbury (2011), Ray Bradbury Unbound (2014) and Bradbury Beyond Apollo (2020). Scholar’s choice, built on Bradbury’s private papers and letters. 
Sam Weller, The Bradbury Chronicles. 2005. Weller was a journalist who spent hundreds of hours interviewing Bradbury, his editors, family and friends. It won the Society of Midland Authors’ award for best biography that year. 

The New Interpretors:

LA Weekly, 2007: “Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 Misinterpreted.” Bradbury said F-451 is about television killing interest in reading, not censorship. He insisted it wasn’t story about government censorship, or a response to McCarthy, even though decades of others say otherwise. Did Bradbury say the TV theory to avoid persecution or harrassment? 
Associated Press, Nov 2011, “’Fahrenheit 451’ finally out as an e-book. ”Things could have gone south for his legacy if he didn’t do it, but Bradbury, a longtime enemy of the e-book, finally allowed a digital edition. AP reported more than 10 million copies sold and 33 languages. 
This Book Is Banned, Jan 2026: the writer argues the progression of events in the novel parallels how today’s book bans has unfolded. It also covers the expurgated edition of the book itself, speaking of which:
The 1967 “Bal-Hi” school edition sneakily cut about 75 passages from the original Fahrenheit 451, and the censored version stayed in print until Bradbury noticed in 1979. 

Calendar:

July 14: Strangers, by Belle Burden

August 11: Yesteryear, by Caro Claire Burke

September 8: Regime Change, by Maggie Haberman

October 13: Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

November 1: The Third Reich of Dreams, by Charlotte Beradt, editor

December 8: “Le Cookbook Special” - Your Favorites This Year

For More Info, email: patrickr@santacruzpl.org

All of the above listed titles can be found in the library catalog; inquire at any circulation desk or your SCPL online request account.

*** Reminder: request “any medium” of the Title (audio, ebook, print) 
Also,  if you're signed up for other California libraries, check their catalog - for example, San Francisco PL or Watsonville PL.

The views and opinions expressed by presenters in Santa Cruz Public Libraries programs are their own and do not constitute an endorsement by Santa Cruz Public Libraries or its member jurisdictions. 

Los puntos de vista y opiniones expresadas por los presentadores de programas en las Bibliotecas Públicas de Santa Cruz son propias y no constituyen en un respaldo o reflejo de la postura de las Bibliotecas Públicas de Santa Cruz ni de sus jurisdicciones miembro.