I'm just going to say it: if you don't like this book, you don't like books. Yes, dear reader, I am a snob.
I'm also highly partial; Bradbury and Wells were my favorite writers prior to my discovery of Poe.
I don't know how many times I've read Fahrenheit 451. Over 100, I think. The first time was on a school bus when I was 8 or 9. My family lived in the country, and the ride to school was long enough to read it. I hated school. The Jiménez quote that opens the book I more than took to heart; I made it my slogan. Day after day, I would ride the bus to the school that taught me nothing and read Fahrenheit 451, determined to commit it to memory. It probably shaped me more than any other text. I wrote the other way. I will always write the other way. I've paid the price for writing the other way. It's better than being Millie talking to the walls.