"It was the perfect way to be creative; that's what the library does."

Ray Bradbury passed away today, at age 91. In a 2006 letter republished at Letters of Note, Bradbury reflects on the creation of The Fireman, the novella which later became Fahrenheit 451.

I moved into the typing room along with a bunch of students and my bag of dimes, which totaled $9.80, which I spent and created the 25,000 word version of "The Fireman" in nine days. How could I have written so many words so quickly? It was because of the library. All of my friends, all of my loved ones, were on the shelves above and shouted, yelled and shrieked at me to be creative.

If I get too bogged down with Dostoevsky and Gogol during this year's Summer of Classics, I might abandon either or both, and read Fahrenheit 451 instead. Julie still thinks I'm a fool for not having read it yet.