June 2012 Themed Read - Classics: A Princess of Mars

[Jason]

Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars won our themed read for this month. This is awesome.

So, let's discuss.

[Jenny]

I have a few days before Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas comes out so I've downloaded it onto my Kindle to read until then.

[Maggie, space cruisin' for a bruisin']

lol Jenny-I pre-ordered Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas too, and am thinking it is gonna mess with my tbr in a big way.....

[Traci]

Ha ha ha. I have Redshirts coming too.

I actually enjoy Burroughs. His science fiction is the pre spaceflight fantasy type. Fun.

[Scott]

I actually just finished this last Friday. I really enjoyed it. It was much better than I thought it would be. I'm really interested to find out if the movie is anything like the book. It comes out on dvd tomorrow.

[Banner]

I read this a few months ago in anticipation of the movie. I really enjoyed it. I was amazed at how well it has stood the test of time. Sure it was a little dated in someplaces but overall I thought it had a universal appeal.

[Laz]

I loved these books, especially the first 4 books (Princess, Gods, Warlord, and Thuvia).

From my informal sampling, if you read and liked Princess before you saw the movie, you liked the movie as well. There are a couple of annoying plot changes, some that make sense, and others are silly/stupid. And Dejah was as beautiful as intended. Unfortunately, they probably won't make any sequels.

Anyone remember how Heinlein paid respect to ERB and Barsoom? Yes, this is a sci-fi snob question.

[Katy]

Laz wrote: "I loved these books, especially the first 4 books (Princess, Gods, Warlord, and Thuvia).

Anyone remember how Heinlein paid respect to ERB and Barsoom?..."

Are you referring to The Number of the Beast or Glory Road? Or perhaps both?

[Laz]

I was thinking of the Number of the Beast. It added a lot of resonance for me when I learned who Deety's namesake was. I hadn't noticed the reference in Glory Road, and was unaware of it until I checked Wiki.

[Jenny]

I finished this last week. I enjoyed it but missed the humor that was portrayed in the movie. Although a significant amount was changed in the movie, I was still surprised by how much was the same. I think I'll probably continue the series but not anytime soon. I'm glad I read it.

[Craig]

I agree with Jenny. The book takes itself more seriously than the movie did, but it was an enjoyable read. I was especially impressed by ERB's use of first person throughout the book, using eavesdropping to relay information from time to time.

There was not a lot of character development here, except John Carter. What does everyone think of him?

[mark, personal space invader]

pretty late to this, but just wanted to say that i started it over the weekend and my gosh, it is really enjoyable.

[Phil]

Edgar Rice Burroughs ruined my brain. I spent a lot of time alone with his books as a child, and seriously expected people to act like his characters when I hit puberty. I kept perpetrating acts of strength and courage and expecting women to fall all over me. They didn't.

[C. John]

Burroughs probably proved his point with this first novel of his, namely that he could write better material then what was being published in the pulp fiction magazines he was reading for I believe an advertising job. I recall that these books were referred to as science romance at one time (romance here meaning something other than what is produced by Harlequin and other such publishers). I read this years ago while in school after reading the second book in the series. Enjoyed it then and will probably read it again in the near future.

[mark, personal space invader]

do you mean Planetary Romance?

[C. John]

No the term that was used was "scientific romance". In fact Sam Moskowitz devoted one of his books to the scientific romances of the Munsey pulps (Under the Moons of Mars).