Dune Read-A-Long

[SailorScoutMandy | 782]

Have you been wanting to read Dune but looking for the motivation to do so?

Join us for a Dune Read-A-Long from July 3rd, 2021 to October 1st, 2021!

Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the “spice” melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for...

When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.

 

Is this your first read of Dune or have you read it before? What was your favorite or least favorite things about this book. Did you like the Dune movie from 1984 or are you excited for the new version coming out this year?

Let's read!

Remember to use spoiler tags in your post

[Hammerfestus | 3,856]

I love this book.  

[PII | 1,886]

That's funny, I'd been thinking as of a few weeks ago that I ought to watch the 84' film for the 2nd time in a great many moons, but hadn't gotten around to securing a copy yet.  Didn't realize a new version was up and coming until just now.  Seems like a pretty good time to give the source a read...

[SailorScoutMandy | 782]

1 hour ago, PII said:

That's funny, I'd been thinking as of a few weeks ago that I ought to watch the 84' film for the 2nd time in a great many moons, but hadn't gotten around to securing a copy yet.  Didn't realize a new version was up and coming until just now.  Seems like a pretty good time to give the source a read...

I think the new film was supposed to come out last year or something, but covid. 

[G-type | 2,482]

I read this book 20 years ago and remember really liking it... I'd love to read it again, but having 2 big books at once is kind of daunting... 

[SailorScoutMandy | 782]

1 hour ago, G-type said:

I read this book 20 years ago and remember really liking it... I'd love to read it again, but having 2 big books at once is kind of daunting... 

That's why I tried to spread dune out for a few months. I plan on starting it once I finish this months book (which I'm well on my way because it's so good!!!). 

[PII | 1,886]

I picked up Dune yesterday at a bookstore, making a choice between two copies that had the same cover except one was about twice as thick as the other so I grabbed that one.  It has four appendixes, a map, cartographic notes, a glossary of terms and an afterword by the author's son.  I suspect it may also be an uncut version relative to some others, as the post-story-extras aren't sufficient to have produced all of that extra thickness.  I'm Glad in particular to have the glossary...  Also, I haven't seen a single copy on Ebay that has the same cover and there're about as many different covers as there are stars in the universe..

So I'm about an eighth of the way through and it feels like an interstellar "Lord Of The Rings" crossed with "The Prince" and "The Art Of War."  It's repeatedly brought to mind various Sci-fi that came after it eg. "Star Wars", (obviously); and "Tank Girl" (less obvious) to name just a couple.

If I were to guess, I'd say that Mr. Herbert was the product of a military intelligence family well-enmeshed in the black arts.  It reads like a 'how to better manipulate your underlings manual.'

And since we're coming off of "Neuromancer":

There was some critical praise of that book that used the term "super-specificity" to refer to Gibson's style - everything really dense/specific, from which a deep insight could be gleaned.  Dune seems to be sort of opposite of that to a degree.  It has a strong tendency toward broad excess of historical/political information that is largely, practically speaking, superfluous (I think..., so far) except to paint a very poetic picture, which it does really well.  It has a very light, fantastical and expansive dream-like quality.  Initially I thought that all of this rigid historical / political detail might get to be a bit too much but fortunately the story progresses at a consistent pace (at least so far, in my opinion) and stays interesting, in large part from focusing heavily on the content of its characters and how they interact, as well as by continually advancing the mythology.  I really love how the characters are having all these private thoughts during their conversations that are always expressed in italics.

It's really engrossing and I'm enjoying it more than expected.

Best line so far:

"It became apparent to the Fremen that Kynes was not a madman totally, just mad enough to be holy."

Appendix I: The Ecology Of Dune   p. 801

 

[SailorScoutMandy | 782]

3 hours ago, PII said:

I picked up Dune yesterday at a bookstore, making a choice between two copies that had the same cover except one was about twice as thick as the other so I grabbed that one.  It has four appendixes, a map, cartographic notes, a glossary of terms and an afterword by the author's son.  I suspect it may also be an uncut version relative to some others, as the post-story-extras aren't sufficient to have produced all of that extra thickness.  I'm Glad in particular to have the glossary...  Also, I haven't seen a single copy on Ebay that has the same cover and there're about as many different covers as there are stars in the universe..

So I'm about an eighth of the way through and it feels like an interstellar "Lord Of The Rings" crossed with "The Prince" and "The Art Of War."  It's repeatedly brought to mind various Sci-fi that came after it eg. "Star Wars", (obviously); and "Tank Girl" (less obvious) to name just a couple.

If I were to guess, I'd say that Mr. Herbert was the product of a military intelligence family well-enmeshed in the black arts.  It reads like a 'how to better manipulate your underlings manual.'

And since we're coming off of "Neuromancer":

There was some critical praise of that book that used the term "super-specificity" to refer to Gibson's style - everything really dense/specific, from which a deep insight could be gleaned.  Dune seems to be sort of opposite of that to a degree.  It has a strong tendency toward broad excess of historical/political information that is largely, practically speaking, superfluous (I think..., so far) except to paint a very poetic picture, which it does really well.  It has a very light, fantastical and expansive dream-like quality.  Initially I thought that all of this rigid historical / political detail might get to be a bit too much but fortunately the story progresses at a consistent pace (at least so far, in my opinion) and stays interesting, in large part from focusing heavily on the content of its characters and how they interact, as well as by continually advancing the mythology.  I really love how the characters are having all these private thoughts during their conversations that are always expressed in italics.

It's really engrossing and I'm enjoying it more than expected.

Best line so far:

"It became apparent to the Fremen that Kynes was not a madman totally, just mad enough to be holy."

Appendix I: The Ecology Of Dune   p. 801

 

I tried to read this with a thrifted copy but it had such small font it killed my eyes. Ended up with this bad boy instead

 

 

[PII | 1,886]

On 7/15/2021 at 6:54 AM, SailorScoutMandy said:

I tried to read this with a thrifted copy but it had such small font it killed my eyes. Ended up with this bad boy instead

lol, that one sure is pretty!  Interesting decision to engrave a choice phrase on the cover rather than the title. The copy I picked up is really bland on the surface, but the Text is nice and big at least.. 

 

Edited July 8, 2022 by PII

[SailorScoutMandy | 782]

25 minutes ago, PII said:

lol, that one sure is pretty!  Interesting decision to engrave a choice phrase on the cover rather than the title. The copy I picked up is really bland on the surface, but the Text is nice and big at least.. 

A lot of hardcovers I own have quotes instead of titles engraved to cover under the book jacket. 

 

That version looks more like the one I tried to read first go. 

[fox | 1,667]

Finished reading Dune back in May (spread out over several months) and loved it.  It's big but I found it a pretty easy and engaging read.  Excited to hear what others think of it.
 

good backround music for reading

Edited July 15, 2021 by fox

[SailorScoutMandy | 782]

17 minutes ago, fox said:

Finished reading Dune back in May (spread out over several months) and loved it.  It's big but I found it a pretty easy and engaging read.  Excited to hear what others think of it.
 

good backround music for reading

I love what YouTube can give. They have all these aesthetic music videos, amazing. 

I'll check this out once I crack open that beast of a book. 

 

I traded a video game for that book too fox haha. 

[PII | 1,886]

This just popped up.

 

Looks intriguing.  A few things I noticed: Paul looks to be getting portrayed as initially a pus-pus-weakling.  Also, en-spiced eyes are not entirely blued, just the retinas.  And Sand Dunes on Arrakis look like tits/ass/vag/pecks and mid-sections when viewed floating from above in a "Thopter", lol.  Also, the Sandworms have a very cool and reasonable-looking update ie. I think I see now how something could burrow so quickly through the sand.

 

[PII | 1,886]

My New Favorite Quote So Far:

Muad'Dib could indeed see the Future, but you must understand the limits of this power.  Think of sight.  You have eyes, yet cannot see without light.  If you are on the floor of a valley, you cannot see beyond your valley.  Just so, Muad'Dib could not always choose to look across the mysterious terrain.  He tells us that a single obscure decision of prophecy, perhaps the choice of one word over another, could change the entire aspect of the future. He tells us "The vision of time is broad, but when you pass through it, time becomes a narrow door."  And always, he fought the temptation to choose a clear, safe course, warning "That path leads ever down into stagnation."

[PII | 1,886]

Well, I finished all 883 pages tonight and I dare say it looks like I'll be adding the 5 sequels to my already-too-long-reading list, starting with Dune Messiah.  I'd also stamp it worthy of at least one reread at some future point.

I watched the movie trailer again just now and I'm hearing all kinds of dialogue that never took place and a lot of it sounds generic and totally out of character.  There are hundreds if not thousands of brilliant lines in this book and so far they're giving us stuff like: "Smile Gurney."  And "Let's fight like demons."  This being the case along with other reasons, it's hard to imagine Hollywood not royally screwing this story, but we'll see.  If I have it right this movie is supposed to be the first half of the book.  Personally, I think it would be better to tell the whole story and make it a 4 to 5 hour film, but it seems like no one does that anymore....

Fascinating read.  Strongly recommended.

[Hammerfestus | 3,856]

7 hours ago, PII said:

Well, I finished all 883 pages tonight and I dare say it looks like I'll be adding the 5 sequels to my already-too-long-reading list, starting with Dune Messiah.  I'd also stamp it worthy of at least one reread at some future point.

I watched the movie trailer again just now and I'm hearing all kinds of dialogue that never took place and a lot of it sounds generic and totally out of character.  There are hundreds if not thousands of brilliant lines in this book and so far they're giving us stuff like: "Smile Gurney."  And "Let's fight like demons."  This being the case along with other reasons, it's hard to imagine Hollywood not royally screwing this story, but we'll see.  If I have it right this movie is supposed to be the first half of the book.  Personally, I think it would be better to tell the whole story and make it a 4 to 5 hour film, but it seems like no one does that anymore....

Fascinating read.  Strongly recommended.

I thought the next few books were also really enjoyable.  I loved the way things were written.  Made it to I believe book 5 before 

Spoiler

Space jews was just a bit too absurd for me.

 

Spoiler

Edited September 17, 2021 by Hammerfestus

[PII | 1,886]

@Hammerfestus I can only imagine that there is some sort of reasoning involved, but at a glance it certainly does come off as something at least kindred to non sequitur.  Spiritual considerations in Dune are a tremendous mish-mash of ideas from every corner of religious observance.... ...so yeah, seems odd.