Themed Read – February 2017 – The Movies

[Esther]

The idea of the themed read is that instead of all reading the same book we all chose a book according to a theme.
Up until the beginning of the month we post which book we have chosen and why.
Once the month has started we can chat – using spoiler tags were necessary – about the book we are reading.

This month's theme is books that have been turned into movies

[Esther]

My choice is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Blade Runner is one of my favourite films and a sequel is scheduled to come out at the end of 2017.

[Lorelei]

I'm happy to read 'Androids' again. I need to find a copy of the audiobook - I'm assuming there is one. Any recommendations?

[Esther]

Lorelei wrote: "I'm happy to read 'Androids' again. I need to find a copy of the audiobook - I'm assuming there is one. Any recommendations?"

I don't really do audio books but I think audible has the standard version.

[Simcha]

I think I'm going to go with Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro. I've been meaning to read it for a while and this seems like a good opportunity.

[Esther]

Simcha wrote: "I think I'm going to go with Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro. I've been meaning to read it for a while and this seems like a good opportunity."

I mistakenly gave that to my Mum while she was in hospital! It creeped her out a bit but she enjoyed it.
I wasn't so sure but I would still like to see the film.

[Efrat]

Snow Crash will start shooting this year!
Alternaly, I can talk about The Girl with All the Gifts, which I read a few month ago

[Esther]

Efrat wrote: "Snow Crash will start shooting this year!
Alternaly, I can talk about The Girl with All the Gifts, which I read a few month ago"

Tell us about both! You are not limited to only one

[Esther]

I have started Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and it has little in common with the film Blade Runner but it is really good.
I am finding PK Dick's writing style very easy to read and it is much less dated than other classic scifi I have tried.
He is deals with the tricky subject of the character's emotional reaction to androids without resorting to long tracts of inner dialogue. He lets the reader figure out the hypocrisy of Mercerism and the veneration of animals while androids and 'specials' are treated as disposable undesirables.

[Esther]

Well Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was a pretty quick read and very enjoyable. I was just so surprised at how modern the writing seemed.
Also I kept forgetting that although it is a post-apocalyptic dystopia there is no authoritarian government so I was quite surprised when Buster Friendly (view spoiler)[ was allowed to announce his scoop about Mercerism being fake (hide spoiler)]
And to be honest I didn't really understand what was going on with Mercerism. It seemed that (view spoiler)[ Buster's scoop was genuine and that the images created by the empathy box were fake, with Mercer played by and actor and all photographed on a sound stage. But there was no doubt it had a real effect on people not just the creation of a connection through empathy but the box seemed to be some kind of VR systems so that people truly felt they were experiencing Mercer's climb. And what about the injuries they sustained? Was that all psychosomatic? (hide spoiler)]
I felt the story was complete but would have liked to read more in this world just to get a further insight into Mercerism and also to see how the humans progressed in their relationship with the ever evolving androids.

[Esther]

Efrat wrote: "Snow Crash will start shooting this year!
Alternaly, I can talk about The Girl with All the Gifts, which I read a few month ago"

Efrat how are your movie reads progressing? Are you enjoying them?

And what is everyone else reading from the movies?

[Efrat]

The Girl with All the Gifts was an unusual zombi book. I nornaly dont like horror, but this was a SF high class zombi book. No voodoo invoved! The parasite in the brain thing is actualy real, not for human thank god, but for ants https://www.scientificamerican.com/ar.... I remmember that I once read that the depth of cesspit is so that a behavior-affecting paracite wount crall out and infect people. Anyway, the book is facineting most of the time, with good charecter and relationships, for zombies espatialy. The movie https://youtu.be/eTUUoQ3FRLE looks very scary, I dont know if I have the nerves to see it.

[Esther]

Efrat wrote: "The Girl with All the Gifts was an unusual zombi book. I nornaly dont like horror, but this was a SF high class zombi book. No voodoo invoved! The parasite in the brain thing is act..."
That is interesting about the fungus, and kinda of scary in a too-close-for-comfort way.
The movie I will probably watch on the TV at midday when there is DH and lots of sofa cushions to hide behind!!
The girl with all the gifts was very popular with book clubs a little while ago. I am surprised so many mainstream readers were interested in a story about zombies.

[Efrat]

Whats march' theam?

[Esther]

Efrat wrote: "Whats march' theam?"

Actually I was hoping some one would offer to choose so we get some varied ideas.
Do you have a suggestion Efrat?

[Efrat]

In honor to the discovery of the 7 planents, I sugest we'll talk about books discovering or setteling new worlds

[Shomeret]

Excellent idea, Efrat

[Esther]

Agreed - I will set up a thread

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