Posted on 02/02/2015 3:27:28 PM PST by Perdogg
I apologize for the vanity, but I know that FR is a community of avid readers. Last year, I read "The Hobbit", "The Lord of The Rings" and "The Silmarillion".
I read that Arthur C Clarke referred to "Dune" as 'The Lord of the Rings' of Science Fiction.
What are Freepers opinion of Dune (the book not the movie) and should I continue with the sequels? I saw the film 30 years ago, I remember receiving a sheet with a primmer at the movie theatre after buying a ticket.
also, is there a Gothic horror equivalent to "Dune" of "Lord of the Rings"?
You will be hooked......
a brilliant work by a brillant, conservative mind. enjoy.
btw, i quote him often vis-a-vis the GOP and their fecklessness.
“Fear is the mind killer.”
my translation: any decision driven by fear of human consequence is doomed to ultimate failure.
To me, it was an illustration to a point that I’ve been making for a long time. We have a single point of reference for speculation about spacefaring extraterrestrial life. That tells us...exactly nothing, except that spacefaring civilizations are possible.
I’m told that there is a sequel story that puts us in our place, after we start capitalizing on FTL and our warmaking capabilities.
I love Turtledove’s work. Guns of the South is also a fun read, which I re-read from time to time. I also read his alternate history versions of both world wars (the WW2 version being essentially wargaming moderns vs. WW2). Haven’t read any of it in a while- too much bad in my life to concentrate on it right now. :-)
I loved the first book — obsessively. The 2nd . . . OK. I haven’t read the rest, although by judging from other Freeper comments, I should give the 3rd book a try.
As far as later books . . . I don’t trust any fiction written by anyone after 1980. Political correctness started creeping in.
Do yourself a favor, well., two favors:
1) When you’re done with the novel, read the original version of it which was only published a few years ago. You can find it in a paperback volume called, The Road to Dune. The stories are different and the differences are fascinating. The original version of the story is only about 200 pages long if I recall correctly.
2) Watch the mini-series from about 15 years ago:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueYYVRTWmjY (2 hours and 47 minutes)
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph3WlNFBIQY (1 hour and 57 minutes)
Ha, ha, clearcase, that’s quite amusing. I never notice stuff like that in books, but my daughter, who doesn’t even like to read would probably have picked up on that right away. (I guess you’ve earned your screen name.)
I have to say I loved reading Dune for the first time, it was like a completely different experience of reading, and I even think I had read some sci fi before that.
Hubby loved another Herbert book “The White Plague” which concerns a man whose wife and child die as collateral damage in an IRA attack. He crafts a virus that only kills women and unleashes it in Ireland. I read this after hubby gave it to me for Christmas but I didn’t think it was so great. Rather redundant and it just didn’t grab me, although I did finish it. But, I will say that in one character Herbert gives a great portrayal of a cranky Irish dame (like me!), that was praiseworthy.
I read the first three books probably twenty years or more ago. I would also advise on reading the appendix first. If not you will be constantly flipping back and forth to understand what the author is referring too.
Another book I would recommend is Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. It also has a science fiction time travel element to it.
If you can look back fondly on reading The Silmarillion, then I would suggest the Gormenghast series by Mervyn Peake.
If you are reading the foundation trilogy, there is a fourth book addon that is good. However his fifth addon was not worth half the price.
“Another book I would recommend is Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. It also has a science fiction time travel element to it.”
Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time.
Not sure I have it exactly right, but that is one of the great opening lines.
I read it back in the 70’s. All I can remember is that when the movie came out it was a disappointment compared to the book.
I’ve read them all. Damned good series!
Totally agree. His robot series ties in nicely with the Foundation series as well.
I read all of them. The first ones were pretty good. Then she veered off into the whole earth Mother/Goddess thing and just ruined the series. The last one went in the trashcan. She really went overboard with the whole ‘women are better than men’, and ‘the male patriarchy is horrifying’ meme.
ROFLOL!!!
“To sum up - Dune stands alone VERY well. You aren’t missing much if you stop there. You might also check out the Foundation trilogy by Asimov. “
Excellent advice on both counts.
I tried to read that...oh good Lord....gave up. Donated the books to the Goodwill.
I would have to say the original Dracula or Frankenstein for the horror genres, though it’s not the same massive multi-novel or series. They are the two classics that really started things for that genre.
Vonnegut may be a hard leftie, but he dealt with a lot in WW2.
He was captured by the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge, and interned in Dresden. He was there for the massive Allied bombing raid. After the bombing, he and his fellow prisoners were taken out to help retrieve the bodies of the dead. The Germans that he dealt with made it clear that they associated him as an American with the destruction that had befallen them.
He was interned with his fellows in a slaughterhouse, thus Schlachthof-fünf, or Slaughterhouse Five. The shelter that he was in had some element of design (I’ve forgotten what it was) that allowed he and the other prisoners to survive when lots of German civilians roasted or asphyxiated in theirs.
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