2018 50 Book Challenge



Steve B. said:

102. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Phillip Dick 1968

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Chronicles the day of a police bounty hunter in San Francisco in the years after the war (yes- THAT war). Androids are illegal, and the hunter's job is to kill them. He gets 8 in one day- Clit Eastwood with a laser.

Also some insight between the human and android psyche.

Liked it.

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Absolutely classic book, and whilst the film (Blade Runner) was good - particularly in regard to the visual atmosphere - the book was unsurprisingly much better at delving into the psyche of Rick Deckard and other people and also got quite metaphysical at times.



Steve B. said:

102. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Phillip Dick 1968

[COLOR=FF00AA]LIST[/COLOR]

Chronicles the day of a police bounty hunter in San Francisco in the years after the war (yes- THAT war). Androids are illegal, and the hunter's job is to kill them. He gets 8 in one day- Clit Eastwood with a laser.

Also some insight between the human and android psyche.

Liked it.

Click to expand...

Androids have a psyche?

1. The Undivided pt 1
2. The Undivided pt 2
3. No Country for Old Men
4. The Difference Engine
5. Wake in Fright
6. The River of Doubt
7. The Pearl
8. Crytonomicon
9. Shot in the Dark
10. Malcolm X - Biography
11. Final Empire
12. The Quiet American.
13. Habibi
14. The Invisible Man
15. Tender is the Night
16. Guardians of the West
17. King of the Murgos
18. Demon lord of Khandar
19. Sorcress of Darshiva
20. Seeress of Kell
21. Once We Were Warriors
22. Winter of our Discontent
23. Othello
24. A Scanner Darkly
25. The Well of Ascension
26. Hero of Ages
27. Alloy of Law
28. Marrow
29. The Prince
30. Leviathan Wakes
31. The Meaning of Sarkozy
32. The Death of Ivan Illych
33. The Devil
34. Lucifer's Hammer
35. The Yiddish Policeman's Union
36. Rainbows End
37. Palimpsest
38. Red Shirts
39. Caliban's War
40. The Ocean at the End of the Lane
41. The Communist Hypothesis
42. While Mortals Sleep
43. Spin
44. Werewolves in their Youth
45. Heart of Darkness
46. A Model World
47. Throne of the Crescent Moon
48. Darkness at Noon
49. Abaddon's Gate
50. Into the WIld
51. Ready Player One
52. 1Q84

Haruki Murakami's novel follows the characters of Aomomame and Tengo as they become involved in a parallel world, a religious cult, magic and some dangerous activities. I found the prose quite enjoyable, but the intimidating length unwarranted - the first 'book' was interesting and intense, but the second really became lethargic and anticlimactic. The third was saved by the introduction of a third/fourth main character, but was left someone unresolved.

Not a bad book by any stretch, and Murakami is clearly a competant writer, but the narrative itself fell flat for me, although the quality of the prose continued to buoy the book up.



California Dreamer said:

Androids have a psyche?

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In "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" (or DADOES) they do, as androids in Dick's book are different from what most people think of when they picture androids.

In DADOES, they are essentially organic simulacra of humans, that function in the same way as humans but which have been deliberately created to serve humans on worlds other than earth. They differ from humans mainly in their empathic response to stimuli (such as an animal being hurt) and thus are essentially sociopathic.

LonerMatt said:

...The third was saved by the introduction of a third/fourth main character, but was left somewhat unresolved.

Not a bad book by any stretch, and Murakami is clearly a competant writer, but the narrative itself fell flat for me, although the quality of the prose continued to  buoy the book up.

Click to expand...

For better or for worse, leaving various things unresolved at the end of his stories is basically a trademark of Murakami's writing.

Sometimes it's nice, as in Norwegian Wood, as it leaves you imagining what the main characters went on to do, but in other books, such as Sputnik Satellite, it can be quite frustrating as it leaves you feeling unfulfilled, as though the story finished too early, leaving too many issues unresolved, too many questions left unanswered.

I'm surprised about all the DADOES discussion. In scifi the book doesn't hold a candle to the real classics- Stranger in a Strange Land, Foundation, I Robot, or even Dune. And CERTAINLY not 2001.

Not sure what the fuss is about.

Steve B. said:

I'm surprised about all the DADOES discussion. In scifi the book doesn't hold a candle to the real classics- Stranger in a Strange Land, Foundation, I Robot, or even Dune. And CERTAINLY not 2001.

Not sure what the fuss is about.

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What the actual **** Steve? DADOES is ONE of the classics - it's a forerunner to so much SF including the entire cyberpunk movement. Foundation is a snooze, but DADOES is easily the equal of SIASL, Dune (which has awful, truly awful sequels) and IR.

This is not up for, like, discussion.

Journeyman said:

For better or for worse, leaving various things unresolved at the end of his stories is basically a trademark of Murakami's writing.

Sometimes it's nice, as in Norwegian Wood, as it leaves you imagining what the main characters went on to do, but in other books, such as Sputnik Satellite, it can be quite frustrating as it leaves you feeling unfulfilled, as though the story finished too early, leaving too many issues unresolved, too many questions left unanswered.

Click to expand...

While a lack of resolution in a shorter text is fine, it seems kind of, I don't know, churlish in a novel of 1000 pages.

1. The Undivided pt 1
2. The Undivided pt 2
3. No Country for Old Men
4. The Difference Engine
5. Wake in Fright
6. The River of Doubt
7. The Pearl
8. Crytonomicon
9. Shot in the Dark
10. Malcolm X - Biography
11. Final Empire
12. The Quiet American.
13. Habibi
14. The Invisible Man
15. Tender is the Night
16. Guardians of the West
17. King of the Murgos
18. Demon lord of Khandar
19. Sorcress of Darshiva
20. Seeress of Kell
21. Once We Were Warriors
22. Winter of our Discontent
23. Othello
24. A Scanner Darkly
25. The Well of Ascension
26. Hero of Ages
27. Alloy of Law
28. Marrow
29. The Prince
30. Leviathan Wakes
31. The Meaning of Sarkozy
32. The Death of Ivan Illych
33. The Devil
34. Lucifer's Hammer
35. The Yiddish Policeman's Union
36. Rainbows End
37. Palimpsest
38. Red Shirts
39. Caliban's War
40. The Ocean at the End of the Lane
41. The Communist Hypothesis
42. While Mortals Sleep
43. Spin
44. Werewolves in their Youth
45. Heart of Darkness
46. A Model World
47. Throne of the Crescent Moon
48. Darkness at Noon
49. Abaddon's Gate
50. Into the WIld
51. Ready Player One
52. 1Q84
53. Red Pony

53. Red Pony

A collection of 4 episodes set in a ranch near Salinas. One of Steinbeck's first novels/novellas the stories demonstrate classic Steinbeck qualities - futility, disaster, futility and inability. Completely fine reading, but hardly his best.



LonerMatt said:

What the actual **** Steve? DADOES is ONE of the classics - it's a forerunner to so much SF including the entire cyberpunk movement. Foundation is a snooze, but DADOES is easily the equal of SIASL, Dune (which has awful, truly awful sequels) and IR.

This is not up for, like, discussion.

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I think it's a generational thing.

I love SF although very little is on The List.

Quit bitching and post some books I'd like.

Clockwise counting 78/50: Kazuo Ishiguro - When We Were Orphans (2000)

An English boy in Shanghai loses both his parents under mysterious circumstances. He is sent back to England to be raised by a rich aunt. As an adult he becomes a celebrated detective in London and he decides to return to Shanghai to find his parents, convinced they that are many years later still held by kidnappers. This is the late 1930s and the local Shanghai government is under attack by both the Japanese and the communist revolutionaries.

The detective, as a grown man, still views the world through a child's eyes. The detection work in war-time Shanghai is presented in a dreamlike way. The whole story is implausible albeit well written in Iziguro's trade-mark 19th century narrating style. 

Maybe not Ishiguro's best but nevertheless an enjoyable read.

Clockwise counting 79/50: Stella Rimington - Secret Asset (2006)

The 2nd book in the series about Liz Carlyle, a pretty and smart agent in the world of counter-espionage. Rimington, as the former head of MI5, should be able to write more complex and more insightful novels about a world she knows so intimately. Instead, these books are low-octane Bond / Bourne imitations. In this one MI5 is flushing out a mole, originally planted by IRA, and trying to prevent some radicalised English Pakistanis from committing an act of terror. Acceptable as low grade entertainment but not much more.



Steve B. said:

I think it's a generational thing.

I love SF although very little is on The List.

Quit bitching and post some books I'd like.

Click to expand...

The Windup Girl written by Paolo Bacigalupi. A brilliant and captivating read. Especially for those who know Bangkok.

TWG is fantastic.

Science Fiction?

How many pages?

It's a great book. Yes, scifi. And it's not long. Maybe 300ish or so.