What do Scottish mythology and deliberate kerosene fires have in common?

Answer: I just finished two books, one on each subject!  As the title of my blog implies, I go a bit nuts in libraries, and when I finished the book on William Wallace, I looked through the library stacks for classic novels, and I kept snagging things off the shelves until I had a stack of five.  I finished Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and am currently working on F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night.

Myth of William Wallace by Susanne Wallner was very informative while being readable.  It was wonderfully short, but had a very good summary of Wallace's life.  Wallner also decided to look at how the myth of Wallace has changed over time and has influenced Scottish society.  I was very happy with the book up until the last chapter, when Wallner basically summarized Braveheart, so I skimmed a lot of that.  She did bring up a very interesting point, however, which changed my impressions of the movie.  Wallner calls into question the purpose of myth: she argues that it should not necessarily be focused on the historical facts, but on how the story affects the people who hear it.  The writer of Braveheart's screenplay has such profoundly deep feelings and attachments for the myth of Wallace, that it is incredibly endearing how he tried to celebrate this heroic figure.  The book made me more willing to forgive Braveheart it's lapses in historical accuracy.

I followed up Wallace with one of Bradbury's most famous books.  I didn't know until after finishing that this was one of his earlier novels, which explained why it did not seem as...advanced... as the short stories I've read of his (though perhaps this has more to do with the fact that the last Bradbury pieces I read were in high school).   The main idea of the novel is incredible, and there are passages of really good writing, but parts of it seemed too simplistic -- Bradbury seemed to need tell instead of show.  Not that it was bad -- it was just not as sophisticated as other things I've read.  I'm still very glad that I read it.

Plus, I have finally learned how to spell Fahrenheit!

My reading list:

-- Myth of William Wallace: a study of the national hero's impact on Scottish history, literature and politics ~ by Susanne Wallner

-- Fahrenheit 451 ~ by Ray Bradbury