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The only bookstore over here with a decent English language section only has two shelves of SF / fantasy, and only stocks works already acknowledged to be 'classics'. so, in a fit of boredom, I decided to fill a very egregious gap in my education as a specualtive fiction writer...
*ashamed*
I am only now halfway through reading Dune by Frank Herbert.
*runs and hides head in brown papaer baggie*
And now I wonder why I waited so very long. My brother has been a fan for years. I'm halfway through and I find myself lingering over the prose sucking up the information like a vampire. Even rereading (I tend to speed read so this says something).
I will confess to having seen the 2 poor for-screen-adaptations of it the 1983 fiasco and the SF channel one. Maybe they turned me off for all these years, but...
The novel is very well-constructed. More emorable for its world-constuction than any sort of miraculous prose writing style. the language is simple and direct.
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Be warned! To an extent, the sequels, original or later, didn't really live up to the first book---plenty of good stuff, but if you liked the first you might not care much for the rest.
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I'm with you: I saw the two Dune television/film adaptations and was completly turned off. When I FINALLY read Dune, I couldn't believe what I was missing. I'm glad I'm not the only one!
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Haven't "re-read" it in twenty years, maybe longer. I wonder if it holds up. (Even now, in my mind, I can pick up on things I missed.)
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I read it not too long after it first came out, and loved it, loved it, loved it.
I reread it when the movie made it to television (some time a while after it was in the theaters--they didn't come out so quickly back then), and was amazed at all the things I'd forgotten that I had incorporated into my life. And it stood up very well after around 20 years.
And I am certain that if I could fit in another reading, it would be just as great as it was the other two times.
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I loved the first book, hated the second, and gave up with the third... Haven't touched the ones written by his son.
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Dune is definitely a favorite and rightfully worthy of its Hugo and Nebula Awards. However, I believe the Frank Herbert authored books that follow are inappropriately maligned.
Dune is messianic. As such, the next three [Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, and God Emperor of Dune] are worth reading as they illuminate the conflict between being messiah and man, and even man and god, and the cost of self-sacrifice -- onself for one's fellows, in this case, the survival of humanity. Would you sacrifice your humanity to save humanity?
I also enjoyed, but to a lesser degree, Herbert's last two Dune novels, Heretics of Dune & Chapterhouse: Dune as they continue the discourse on power, control, human genetic manipulation, religion, etc. And I got a kick out of the idea that over 10,000 years in the future, when Dune takes place, there are still Jews dedicating themselves to God and Torah.
I have found the prequels and other second generation Dune novels, by son Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson, to be generally a great disappointment in comparison-- though I enjoyed their original House trilogy, an immediate prequel to Dune. I've read, or listened on CD, to their other Dune books since House, with the exception of their last two [Paul of Dune and The Winds of Dune]that return to the time of the events of the original four books. The majority of reviewers seem to consider these a disappointment. As a completest, I may read them someday, in paperback, perhaps.
I would recommend reading the first four Dune novels by Frank Herbert, then stopping. For me, they form the most satisfying arc.
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I agree wholeheartedly, History. Dune, the first one, was by far the best. Of the Frank Herbert novels, Children of Dune was my least favorite.
Then There is a vast chasm of difference between the quality of writing between Frank Herbert's novels and the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson novels. Although, I did like the storyline of The Butlerian Jihad and its two sequels.
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I read the first "Dune" ages ago. It was captivated even though all of it wasn't my favorite type of story if that makes sense.
But as to not reading "classics". I've done that. Isaac Asimov is my favorite writer, loved his robert stories and some of his short story serieses-wish I could find them together in one place- but I haven't touched his Foundations series. And even though I can't think of it right now, there's another "classic" I haven't read.
Changing the subject and 'cuse me for saying it this way but what the heck is the plural of series? Is there one? Is it the same spelling? I think I've seen it but neither of my spell checkers know it.
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I don't think there is a plural of "series," at least not in English. One series, two series, many series. It's etymology is Latin series to join, then Greek seira, a cord, then Sanskrit sarat, a thread...if that's any help...
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I read Dune in the last eighteen months and was surprised at how many parallels can be drawn between it and the current situation in the middle east (hint: spice<=>oil). When I read it in high school I was completely unaware of the larger world outside my local community and it never had quite the same impact.
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quote: I don't think there is a plural of "series," at least not in English. One series, two series, many series. It's etymology is Latin series to join, then Greek seira, a cord, then Sanskrit sarat, a thread...if that's any help...
Thought I had seen one used but maybe it was used by someone who didn't know either.
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I first read the original Dune when I was 10. For some reason it was in my grade 5 classroom library. Now that I think of it I wonder if my teacher stuck it on the shelf for me to find... I was completely fascinated by the world Herbert had built. At that age I couldn't imagine how he could have imagined it--it felt like he was describing a place he had been. When I re-read it in my twenties I still loved it, but I wondered, did I get even half of what was going on the first time I read it?
[This message has been edited by Ethereon (edited October 27, 2010).]
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