Nearly finished reading Dune. I first read this about 17 years ago and thought it was enjoyable but that was it. I'm certainly enjoying it a lot more second time round. Most likely because I'm getting more the subtleties of the novel as opposed it being just a simple hero story. Supposedly the new film is going to be split into two but I've not the foggiest as to where that split is going to be.

Has anyone read any of the sequels? Sounds like in just better off leaving it at this book.

I've been reading his letters recently - he's quite a c**t, but a very funny c**t.

The Loved One and Scoop are great in their acerbic wit as well.

A colleague read the entire series (5 or 6 volumes, right?), and said that it gets progressively worse indeed.

yes but the thing is so awesome it carries enough steam for a few books

i read the whole lot some ages ago (the paleozoic) and it was up and down, but nevertheless enjoyable. some of it i have completely forgotten, some i haven’t and it’s amazing.

i’d say go on till you can’t go on. there’s enough material in those volumes to make everyone’s head spin. how much or how long depends on the person.

i’d say go to at least book 3. but i loved book 5 (heretics).

eta: some in-betweens you might have to skim through to get to the good parts

Finished off Red Dwarf earlier. Still, as always, chipping away at IT.


Not sure what to start next.

Started a new Charli Jane Anders book last night and I think I might continue it. I loved All The Birds in the Sky, like, a lot.

Settled on the fitting "Goodbye 20th Century" Sonic Youth book as well as "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" of which I know what movies it bred.

I read Goodbye 20th almost as soon as it came out. I thought I heard rumblings that there were inaccuracies of some sort in the book, which wouldn’t surprise me, but... I dunno.

Been a while now.

I enjoyed it but didn’t think it was particularly well-crafted writing-wise. Fun to read about SY though.

Also, Do Androids Dream if Electric Sheep? is quite different form Blade Runner and has, like, almost no connection it BR 2049 whatsoever, just in case that’s what you’re expecting. :)

Given how little I've seen either movie, there's nothing to wreck there.

picked this up at a Library sale for 50cents, film of this was fantastic, book is interesting in that it has many of the same characters, yet slightly different plot lines and the soon to be film makers 1st person POV

Oh.


Well, watch ‘em. They are both great movies

I just bought these, now I should perhaps also start reading them:

Paul McGee - How Not To Worry: The Remarkable Truth of How a Small Change Can Help You Stress Less and Enjoy Life More
Mark Manson - The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

And also
Do Androids Dream if Electric Sheep?
apologies for being a copycat :D
I second the recommendation to watch the movie, the original. I don't think I saw the remake yet. But I obviously haven't read the book yet either

and a cookbook called the Stubible, no sorry I mean stewbible

very good and slightly sickening—such great emptiness

a fast read too, always a plus—maybe took a couple of hours?

great understated prose, not flowery, but lets you move forward, forward, forward in a stream. that the narrative is so vague and ambiguous and contradictory is a huge plus—this isn’t bothered with a lot of facts or descriptions but rather with the point of view about them. not so much made of opinions as of... responses, maybe?

this is the first bolaño i manage cover to cover, i swear. i started a book of short stories once and dropped it halfway. this one was very straightforward.

Try Nazi Literature in America, then Savage Detective, then 2666

i have 2666 and it’s gonna be my 2nd attempt at his novels now. i tried literatura nazi some years ago but i didn’t make progress with it. i think it was en inglés, and that bothered me? but who could recall now, and it doesn’t matter. anyway, yeah. original text ftw.

i sorta wanna reread novelita lumpen instead, and make notes abut the way he narrates.

Jules Joanne Gleeson - Gender Abolition in the 21st Century

More than a little tempted to print this out at home to scare my parents.

that looks interesting and i downloaded the pdf—thanks for posting, as this is far away from my experience and thus rarely in my radar, but a good subject

anyway, holy shit, this stuff:



great not-little book. it’s fat, and heavy, and quite spectacular

There's a ton of cool zines and shit on archive.org, my challenge is trying to sort through all the chaff to find stuff I want to read.

Apparently: 42,493! As part of over 22 million texts, they're doing a fucking great job.

not yet reading but bought, 20 Euros for nearly 1200 pages. Couldn't resist. Seen so many of the movies and series, that it's about time I read the original stories









Did anyone read Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell? I bought it as a Christmas present for someone in my family (or actually it's for the Dutch equivalent Sinterklaas which is at the start of December, you know the guy from Spain with the white beard and the black Petes). Had to select a present under 10 Euros, this was a bargain for 8 ;)
I hope he likes it, he wanted to have a suspenseful book

^^did not read cloud atlas but saw the wachowski's film version of it and i was actually very pleasantly surprised, i liked it tons.

suspenseful books!

I have some anthology book of his complete works, provided by Barnes N Noble, and it's looking like a beast as well. Not sure when I'll get it started.

the Holmes stories are fun

ended up swapping 2666 for monsieur pain



which is his 2nd novel originally titled “la senda de los elefantes” (the path of the elephants) and was written before most else (also: short! a bonus)

i’ll get to 2666 in due time...

—

but whoa whoa

“la senda de los elefantes” is the spanish title for the movie ELEPHANT WALK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umpBQzf9m6o

lmao @ those old movie trailers that tell you the whole thing upfront :D

Arthur Machen, The Great God Pan

I have enjoyed several Machen books. Cool old weird stuff https://rxttbooks.blogspot.com/searc...rthur%20Machen

Still chipping away slowly at "Goodbye 20th Century". Just entered my favorite time for the band...the Steve Shelley era

And finished "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep"

how didja likeet

I gave it a 4 of 5 on the Goodreads. Easier to follow than Neuromancer which I appreciated.

neuromancer is 5/5 :D

so where’s yr review. can you link?

No typed up review/thoughts, just a rating value.

well...? ;)

You should check out “The Difference Engine” by William Gibson & Bruce Sterling.

Read several years ago while on this very forum and broadcast my thoughts if you can find them, but it’s a foray into “steampunk”-type stuff for Gibson with Sterling adding some interesting hard-fi elements of his own.

It’s super readable and easy to follow, and presents a nice, fast-clip narrative yarn that uses its cyberpunk elements sparingly and to great effect.

dammit i wanna read neuromancer all over again, but like it was before we had the internet as we know it, and there were no cell phones

Finished the 12th Planet by Zecharia Sitchin, quite interesting and out there. https://rxttbooks.blogspot.com/2019/...e-left-us.html

A Rainbow Thread

The LGBTQ in Jewish history, going way back in BCE. (not so) surprisingly nuanced. Afterall judaism is basically about endlessly questioning everything, so there were some pretty open minded times and ideas. Includes fun things like rabbi's suggesting and debating Avraham's wife Sarai was trans. :)