Anna Begins Posted April 9, 2016 Author Share Posted April 9, 2016 I came across an omnibus of PKD'S work, it includes 21 stories (his stories are short) spanning his career. I am very excited about it, it includes Minority Report, which I have been dying to read for awhile now. Phillip K Dick on his work, from Foreword: "What helps for me- if help comes at all- is to find the mustard seed of the funny at the core of horrible and futile." Review: Minority Report by Phillip K Dick (40 pages) A Rubix Cube. That's what a Phillip K Dick book is like. He solves it, explains it well (but the explanation is usually a puzzle) and shocks readers in the speed in which he can end a story, and have it be so complex you might not even fully understand as his fingers move the colors of the Rubix. Minority Report, was one that went over my head. I understood it, I just don't think I got the underlying message, but the story was interesting, as I love Dick's themes. This was the hardest to understand of his 7 works I have now read. In Minority Report's dystopia, police arrest criminals before the crime. "The existence of a majority logically implies a corresponding minority." Being that Minority Report was turned into a blockbuster movie with Tom Cruise, I feel I must warn not to judge Dick by the movies (Total Recall with Arnold Schwarzenegger for example). They have all been released after PKD passed away in 1982. Also, keep in mind, his stories rarely exceed 250 pages, so making a 2.5- 3 hour movie from such novel puts me off. Have a hard time recommending Minority Report, but if you like PKD and know his work, you might want to give it a go. At 40 pages, what's to lose? I still recommended Dick, but his other novels would be a better starting point (like Total Recall, which is around 30 pages). Oh- btw, the actual title of Total Recall is We Can Remember it For You wholesale. I love his titles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted April 10, 2016 Share Posted April 10, 2016 The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin (148 pages) Ha ha ha I loved this story and can't wait to read more of Ira Levin's material! I read The Stepford Wives a few years ago and loved it. I've also read A Kiss Before Dying by him, and that was pretty good too. Not read Rosemary's Baby yet...I haven't seen the movie either, but I've heard loads about it. Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said by Phillip K Dick (259 pages) I have this on my TBR pile, but I've been put off a bit because I find him to be very hit and miss. Some stories are very hard to follow as well, and I end up getting frustrated with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted April 10, 2016 Share Posted April 10, 2016 Interesting review about Minority Report, I wonder if I'll be able to understand it well when I read it. I have a short story collection that contains this story (well, you were there when I bought it, so you know ), I'll read it some day . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted April 10, 2016 Author Share Posted April 10, 2016 I read The Stepford Wives a few years ago and loved it. I've also read A Kiss Before Dying by him, and that was pretty good too. Not read Rosemary's Baby yet...I haven't seen the movie either, but I've heard loads about it. I have this on my TBR pile, but I've been put off a bit because I find him to be very hit and miss. Some stories are very hard to follow as well, and I end up getting frustrated with it. Oh- Rosemary's Baby was so fun! I think A Kiss...might be my next. I don't think PKD is for everyone, and Flow My Tears is definitely a challenge. I have a thing where it's ok if I don't exactly know what is happening at the time, as long as there is a good reveal (Fight Club comes to mind). Speaking of Chuck Palahniuk, I think he has really ripped off PKD, I though Palahniuk was more original than that. Anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted April 10, 2016 Author Share Posted April 10, 2016 Interesting review about Minority Report, I wonder if I'll be able to understand it well when I read it. I have a short story collection that contains this story (well, you were there when I bought it, so you know ), I'll read it some day . Yes! I remember because you bought some PKD and I was jealous I couldn't have anymore weight in my luggage . Still wish I had bought that beautiful edition of Dracula. Minority Report is worse than Flow My Tears, understanding wise. Still, it's short, but has quite a few characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted April 11, 2016 Share Posted April 11, 2016 Yes! I remember because you bought some PKD and I was jealous I couldn't have anymore weight in my luggage . Still wish I had bought that beautiful edition of Dracula. Minority Report is worse than Flow My Tears, understanding wise. Still, it's short, but has quite a few characters. That makes sense . That's good to know . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted April 17, 2016 Author Share Posted April 17, 2016 The Selected Stories of Phillip K Dick (498 pages) I thought I'd review these as a group, as I read them, so there will be multiple posts on this book. Beyond Lies the Wub (5 pages) "You spoke of dinning on me. The taste, I am told, is good." . In 5 pages, PKD is stunning. This very short story is about a crew on its way to outer space and discover one of the men has purchased an alien. A story of morality and humanity. Rating: 5/5 Rood (5 pages) A pack of talking dogs terrorize a dog outside the pack, in order to take over the neighborhood. Rating: 2/5 Paycheck (40 pages) Earl Rethrick wakes up with no memory of the two years he worked as an electrician, he is told. Finding the company is wanted by the secret police, Earl decides to find out what's up with this company. Stopped reading this one at (30 pages). Rating: 1/5 Second Variety (85 pages) Oh ya. PKD is at his best in Second Variety. Hendricks is an American Major in the futuristic war between the U.S. and Russia. Not as normal as it sounds. Hendricks sets off to see the damage the robots designed to fight the Russians. Then he meets a young boy carrying a teddy bear. 5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted April 18, 2016 Share Posted April 18, 2016 Great reviews! It seems the stories are hit and miss (that's usually the case with short stories collections in general, isn't it?). I'm glad you really liked two of them (shame about the other two). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted April 18, 2016 Share Posted April 18, 2016 Great reviews! I'm not sure how I feel about PKD after The Man in the High Castle, but I will give him another go some time. I loved The Stepford Wives - just avoid the Nicole Kidman film which is an utter disaster and changes the book round entirely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted April 18, 2016 Author Share Posted April 18, 2016 Great reviews! It seems the stories are hit and miss (that's usually the case with short stories collections in general, isn't it?). I'm glad you really liked two of them (shame about the other two). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted April 18, 2016 Author Share Posted April 18, 2016 Great reviews! I'm not sure how I feel about PKD after The Man in the High Castle, but I will give him another go some time. I loved The Stepford Wives - just avoid the Nicole Kidman film which is an utter disaster and changes the book round entirely. Oh that movie was awful! I'm glad I turned it off at 15 minutes in! Try A Scanner Darkly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 A Scanner Darkly was nice . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 Thanks ladies, I'll try and get hold of that one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted April 23, 2016 Author Share Posted April 23, 2016 The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury (275 pages) The story of The Illustrated Man is well known. One day, a man walking on the road stops for some beens and coffee. He meets another man looking for work. Upon inspection, the man discovers the other man's secret- he is covered neck to foot in beautiful, 3 dimensional, multi colored tattoos. They tell the future and come alive as The Illustrated Man sleep... "18 illustrations, 18 tales. I counted them one by one." More than just 18 short stories, The Illustrated Man is a set of morality plays, whether they take place in space or Venus, Mars or Earth, whether in war or peace. Read so many times by myself, starting around age 10, this book is always amazing and I always find much more in it than it's 275 pages. Here are some of my favorites: The Velt- The first story in the collection is my favorite tattoo story, I even tried to come up with a representative tattoo. This story, so swift, breathless and complete would be ruined by describing it's plot. Evil children are involved though, and that's always creepy (and a reoccurring theme in the book). Kaleidoscope- Astronaut Hollis and his crew contemplated death and life as they fall to a fiery death after a meteor strike to their rocket. The Other Foot- It was some decades ago when black people were shipped off Earth to a dusty and desolate Mars. Then one day-get the rope!- a spaceship carrying a white man lands. The Long Rain- This is one of my favorite short stories ever. A platoon from Earth crash on an alien inhabited Venus. Caught in the planet's never ending rain, their only hope is a Sun dome. "He had a face that had once been brown and now the rain had washed it pale, and the rain had washed the color of his eyes, and as was his hair." It's as if Bradbury had actually been on Venus, the colors, descriptions and madness faced by the men due to the constant rain. The Exiles- What happens to banned authors after their books are burned? The go to a Mars hell. Astronauts from Earth come to discover the planet to face Shakespeare's witches and Poe's army. Oh- and the head astronaut has a library on board. Highly recommended, all 18 stories 5/5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 Great review! I'm happy you liked your re-read of The Illustrated Man ! I own the book, but I thought it was just a short story collection. I didn't know about the man with tattoos, it sounds very clever. I plan to read it some day . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 Sounds interesting. I have heard of The Illustrated Man but had no idea that it was a collection of short stories. Nice review! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted June 1, 2016 Author Share Posted June 1, 2016 (edited) I updated my TBR in post #7. My monthly summary of May is just a few short stories by Phillip K Dick and Tennessee Williams. Disappointing. Edit: I read 211 pages in May Edited June 2, 2016 by Anna Begins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted June 2, 2016 Author Share Posted June 2, 2016 (edited) Compared to nearly 2,100 pages in April lol Edited June 6, 2016 by Anna Begins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted June 2, 2016 Share Posted June 2, 2016 Well they can't all be winning months! Here's hoping June will be awesome for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted June 2, 2016 Share Posted June 2, 2016 I'm sorry you didn't have a good reading month in May . I hope you'll be able to read more in a while . Nice list on post #7 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted June 2, 2016 Author Share Posted June 2, 2016 Well they can't all be winning months! Here's hoping June will be awesome for you You win some, you lose some I'm sorry you didn't have a good reading month in May . I hope you'll be able to read more in a while .Nice list on post #7 . Thanks for checking it out! I worked on it all day! Yes, here's to reading more in the months to come (maybe some audio books too!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted June 6, 2016 Author Share Posted June 6, 2016 (edited) More reviews from Selected Stories of Philip K Dick I'm now at 42%, 202 pages of 473... here are 5 more reviews of his short stories, around 10- 35 pages. I feel like I should say that so far, no drug use is mentioned... just PKD weirdness and altered realities. Imposter "Perhaps at some other time, when there is no war, men might not act this way, hurting an individual to his death because they were afraid." Whew! Lots of tention in this one, as Spence Olham is suspected of being an alien robot spy. 5/5 The King of Elves Shadrach Jones is the owner of a nearly abandoned gas station. One night, closing up during a downpour, he is astounded to find a small group of beings with arrows and a leader of some kind on a pedestal. They claim to be elves, in need of shelter. When their leader dies that night, Shadrach is nominated as King of the Elves, who are in an ancient battle with evil trolls. 5/5 Adjustment Team I honestly don't know what this story is about, but it includes the interaction between humans and talking dogs. It had a sense of foreboding, but I couldn't get into it. 0/5 Foster, You're Dead Mike Foster desperately wants his cash strapped father to buy a bomb shelter for the upcoming war. Relenting, the bookshop owner gives in, but once funds for the payments run out- the bunker must be returned. 4/5 Upon the Dull Earth Silvia isn't a witch, she just conjures blood drinking angels. And then one day, she cuts her finger. Classic Dick. 5/5 Edited June 7, 2016 by Anna Begins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 I'm glad you enjoyed most of the stories so far . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted June 7, 2016 Author Share Posted June 7, 2016 They've been more good than bad Still might read Minority Report again... undecided as of yet. I'm at it now. If I skip it, the omnibus might feel incomplete . I 're read my review of it from March (I think it was March) and wasn't too impressed...which is strange, it has all the makings of a good PKD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted June 8, 2016 Author Share Posted June 8, 2016 (edited) The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison (288 pages) Wow. I quite don't know what to say. I usually don't use words to describe books like "thriller", "compelling", etc. But this book is... extremely disturbing. The Gardner has a beautiful greenhouse, filled with trees, flowers, a waterfall, a pond and, most importantly, butterflies... all girls kidnapped at the age of 16. This harrowing novel is difficult and twisted (it is NOT YA). Told by "Irene" or "Maya", the story is her account to an FBI agent of the horrors that faced the girls- a painful butterfly tattoo spanning their backs, rape at the hands of The Gardner, and beaten and tortured by his sadistic son... until the magic age of 21. Relentless in it's telling, The Butterfly Garden is one I... won't forget, but wish I could. "In terror she spoke, letting sink her wings til they trailed in the dust- in agony sobbed, letting sink her plumes til they trailed in the dust- til they sorrowfully trailed in the dust." Edited June 8, 2016 by Anna Begins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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