Dick newbie

On Mon, 05 Jul 2004 03:46:57 GMT, "pulse mod"
<mpj900NOSPAM DeleteThis @optonline.net> annonced:

>What about The Man in the High Castle, and The Simulacra? Those two were
>very good too. With the former the winner of the Hugo Award I'd have thought
>that it, at least, would be on your list.

Well, considering that I began my post with, "[w]ell, here are the
books I've read... " it would have given you a clue as to why the
books you mention were not on my list. Tell me, how can I reccommend a
book I haven't read?
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"Resinor Weed" <R RemoveThis @W.com> wrote in message
news:au6qe012gdn8c6q32md2f7f4sm7ohckor5@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 05 Jul 2004 03:46:57 GMT, "pulse mod"
> <mpj900NOSPAM RemoveThis @optonline.net> annonced:
>
> >What about The Man in the High Castle, and The Simulacra?
Those two were
> >very good too. With the former the winner of the Hugo
Award I'd have thought
> >that it, at least, would be on your list.
>
> Well, considering that I began my post with, "[w]ell, here
are the
> books I've read... " it would have given you a clue as to
why the
> books you mention were not on my list. Tell me, how can I
reccommend a
> book I haven't read?
>
'The Divine Invasion'. Very odd, strangely rewarding.
 >> Stay informed about: Dick newbie 

I have been methodically plowing through all of them for a couple
years now. Probably up to 25 or 30 by now.

My faves include:

Ubik
A Maze of Death
A Scanner Darkly
Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Now Wait for Last Year
Time Out of Joint

VALIS and Radio Free Albemuth (practically the same book) are a little
too bizarre and IMO show PKD REALLY falling apart mentally.

We Can Build You starts out OK but winds up a somewhat pointless tale
of infatuation and mental illness.

Given that many of the themes overlap from book to book I actually
have a hard time remembering what some of them (the titles) are.
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Dave Ryman wrote:
> midicad2001.DeleteThis@yahoo.com (Gary) wrote in
> news:a3b3fcd7.0407172141.6340ec9e@posting.google.com:
>
>> I have been methodically plowing through all of them for a couple
>> years now. Probably up to 25 or 30 by now.
>>
>> My faves include:
>>
>> Ubik
>> A Maze of Death
>> A Scanner Darkly
>> Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
>> Now Wait for Last Year
>> Time Out of Joint
>>
>> VALIS and Radio Free Albemuth (practically the same book) are a
>> little too bizarre and IMO show PKD REALLY falling apart mentally.
>>
>> We Can Build You starts out OK but winds up a somewhat pointless tale
>> of infatuation and mental illness.
>>
>> Given that many of the themes overlap from book to book I actually
>> have a hard time remembering what some of them (the titles) are.
>>
>
> That's a brave thing to say - there are many PKD fans out there who
> believe VALIS to be his finest work. I myself tried to read it years
> ago, got a few chapters in, and gave up - tried again and failed
> again.
>
> Last week, we were at the in-laws-to-be, and found a copy of the VALIS
> trilogy on the bookshelf. Ok - tried it a third time. I still really
> can't get into it, even though I've read RFA. My Fiance gave it a go,
> too - she reckoned it was rubbish, made up of the pretentious and
> derranged ramblings of a mind that had fallen apart.
>
> So, is it great or is it rubbish? I still don't know. I cannot decide
> if my difficulty in reading it is because my brain needs to move up a
> cog, or because it's not the great work reckoned by so many. I guess
> I will give it another go at a later date.



Sorry to hear that both of you could not appreciate VALIS. Maybe the problem
is the first half of the book. It seems a complete mess and makes no sense -
Until you read the second half when it all links together. It is also
probably the closest we will get to the real PKD.

[IMO]
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Dave Ryman <dave_rymanNOSPAM RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<Xns952A9E2617A31daverymanhotmailcom RemoveThis @130.133.1.4>...
> midicad2001 RemoveThis @yahoo.com (Gary) wrote in
> news:a3b3fcd7.0407172141.6340ec9e@posting.google.com:
>
[...]
> >
> > VALIS and Radio Free Albemuth (practically the same book) are a little
> > too bizarre and IMO show PKD REALLY falling apart mentally.
> >
>
> That's a brave thing to say - there are many PKD fans out there who
> believe VALIS to be his finest work. I myself tried to read it years ago,
> got a few chapters in, and gave up - tried again and failed again.
>

It certainly might be his finest work, hey I'm just giving you my
first impression of it. I am not reading them in any particular order
- it might be more telling to read them in chronological order. I
guess I just thought VALIS was a bit more intense, paranoid, and
lacking some of the humor of the other ones I like. Not to say it was
terrible. In fact if it really WAS an insight into what PKD himself
experienced then I say "poor guy" he certainly seemed tormented. It
did leave a pretty strong impression.
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Dave Ryman wrote:

>
> I WILL try again!


Good man. "You know it makes sense." )

It is a masterpiece and well worth the effort.
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>So, is it great or is it rubbish? I still don't know. I cannot decide if
>my difficulty in reading it is because my brain needs to move up a cog,
>or because it's not the great work reckoned by so many. I guess I will
>give it another go at a later date.

I recently took Philosophy for a semester at Uni and to me VALIS reads
like one long Philosophy essay. VALIS is a vanity project imho and if
anyone but PKD had written it, at the time he had written it, I doubt
it would have ever surfaced from the publishers slush-pile.
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"Gary" <midicad2001.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:a3b3fcd7.0407182005.3e224c1e@posting.google.com...
> Dave Ryman <dave_rymanNOSPAM.TakeThisOut@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:<Xns952A9E2617A31daverymanhotmailcom.TakeThisOut@130.133.1.4>...
> > midicad2001.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com (Gary) wrote in
> > news:a3b3fcd7.0407172141.6340ec9e@posting.google.com:
> >
> [...]
> > >
> > > VALIS and Radio Free Albemuth (practically the same book) are a little
> > > too bizarre and IMO show PKD REALLY falling apart mentally.
> > >
> >
> > That's a brave thing to say - there are many PKD fans out there who
> > believe VALIS to be his finest work. I myself tried to read it years
ago,
> > got a few chapters in, and gave up - tried again and failed again.
> >
>
> It certainly might be his finest work, hey I'm just giving you my
> first impression of it. I am not reading them in any particular order
> - it might be more telling to read them in chronological order. I
> guess I just thought VALIS was a bit more intense, paranoid, and
> lacking some of the humor of the other ones I like. Not to say it was
> terrible. In fact if it really WAS an insight into what PKD himself
> experienced then I say "poor guy" he certainly seemed tormented. It
> did leave a pretty strong impression.

Take consolation that a lot of longtime Dickheads who have read
Valis and RFA many times *still* don't know exactly what
to think. It's a state of mind that Woody Allen described:
"I know a lot about Art, but I don't know what I like."

-- Bill Cleere
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