1% Well-Read Challenge: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Title: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Author: Philip K. Dick
Genre: Science Fiction
Published: 1968
Pages: 210
Rating: 8 / 10

I know I said I was going to read Life of Pi next, but I'm still waiting on my copy from the BookCrossing bookray I joined. In the meantime, I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the book that was the inspiration for the movie Bladerunner (which I've never seen, but will probably rent sometime in the near future). Here's the story:

The year is 2021 (in my copy; in older editions the setting is 1992). A world war (referred to only as "World War Terminus") has left Earth completely destroyed. The fallout from the radiation has caused genetic mutations in some of the humans who are left behind; these people are referred to as "specials" or "chickenheads"*. Animals are endangered (or extinct); owning and caring for a pet is now considered a civic duty and a point of pride. Artificial animals have been engineered for people who can't afford the real thing, but don't want to be looked down on by their neighbors. Androids have also been created, and are given to humans who choose to live off-world to use as slaves. "Andys" are not allowed on Earth, because they are considered dangerous. Our protagonist, Rick Deckard, is a bounty hunter whose job is to locate rogue andys and "retire" (read: kill/destroy) them. The best way to tell an andy from a human is empathy - androids are unable to feel for anyone but themselves.

Empathy, [Deckard] once had decided, must be limited to herbivores or anyhow carnivores who could depart from a meat diet. Because, ultimately, the empathic gift blurred the boundaries between hunter and victim, between the successful and the defeated. As in the fusion with Mercer [a religious figure, similar to Sisyphus], everyone ascended together or, when the cycle had come to an end, fell together into the trough of the tomb world. Oddly, it resembled a sort of biological insurance, but double-edged. As long as some creature experienced joy, then the condition for all other creatures included a fragment of joy. However, if any living creature suffered, then for all the rest the shadow could not be entirely cast off. A herd animal such as man would acquire a higher survival factor through this; an owl or a cobra would be destroyed.

Evidently the humanoid robot constituted a solitary predator.

There's a bunch of other stuff going on, too, but the great thing about PKD is that he didn't explain everything as it happened; a lot of stuff I had to guess at or figure out later. It made the book very engrossing.

The characters were great, too. My favorite was John R. Isidore, one of the aforementioned specials. I felt so bad so him; everyone he met ridiculed him and looked down on him for being "stupid." When the narrative was from his point of view, he lamented the fact that he was slowly losing his cognitive faculties. He KNEW he was getting dumber, but there was nothing he could do about it. He also tried hard to please the people around him, even if they didn't appreciate it. I don't why I liked him so much more than Deckard, but I did. I didn't feel sympathy for Deckard - at one point, I was even convinced he was actually an android himself. I was a little disappointed in him, actually, because it seemed like he had this big, life-changing epiphany that was going to completely change him and make him a better person. And then it didn't happen. Or rather, he changed his mind about changing his mind. Oh, well.

At any rate, this was an excellent sci-fi novel. This was my first PKD book, but I'm looking forward to reading more.

Up next: Less Than Zero, by Bret Easton Ellis

* A term that gave me some pause the first time I saw it in the book; that's not how I normally hear it used. I'm not going to link to the definition at Urban Dictionary, but you can look it up yourself if you're curious. Just don't do it at work, or around small children. One of the perks of living in Atlanta is that I got to learn all sorts of interesting slang.

Life Books Challenge

Click here to go to the main page
Rules:

Part I: Choose Your Life Books
What are the books that, in some aspect, define you? Think about who you are in terms of spirituality, love, economics, values, worldview--the list could go on and on. These might be nonfiction, self-help, fiction, picture books, children's books, etc. Give us your life in books. To see SmallWorld's example, click here. After you've picked your life books, write a post and leave the link on Mr. Linky. Be sure to copy and paste the button above on your blog somewhere!

Part II: Discover Something New
Check out the blogs of other participants and find at least two titles to add to your TBR list. Let us know what books you are adding by linking a second time to Mr. Linky with (Something New) by your name.

Part III: Read the Books
When you've read the new books, write a review and leave a link to your post in the comments here.

I'm still thinking about my Life Books, but this sounded like an interesting challenge and I wanted to get a post up.
UPDATE: My Life Books are here.

A Midsummer Night's Challenge

A friend of mine gave me a copy of A Midsummer Night's Dream a few years ago (way back in high school, actually) but it was so long ago that I didn't actually remember the majority of the play. Part of my problem was that I watched a lot of cartoons after school:



So I was really looking forward to re-reading it. Here's the story, for those of you who are unfamiliar:

Lysander and Demetrius are in love with Hermia. Hermia is in love with Lysander. Helena is in love with Demetrius. Hermia's father tells her she has to marry Demetrius, so she and Lysander decide to run off and elope. Meanwhile, Theseus and Hippolyta are getting married, and a group of actors has decided to perform a play for entertainment at the wedding. Both groups (the actors and the lovers) end up in the forest, where Oberon (the King of the Fairies) is hanging out with Puck. Oberon decides to play a trick on Titania (the Queen of the Fairies), and has Puck put a spell on her so that she falls in love with the first person thing she lays eyes on. Then Puck turns Bottom, one of the actors, into an ass (the donkey kind, not the jerk kind) and he turns out to be the person thing that Titania falls in love with. Oberon also tells Puck to do this to Demetrius* so that he will return Helena's love and leave Hermia alone, but Puck gets mixed up and Lysander ends up falling in love with Helena. And then Demetrius does, too, but Helena thinks it's a prank and gets upset. Of course, everything ends up getting fixed at the end - the couples are restored, and everyone goes to the wedding and watches the play, which turns out to be really bad.

It's not a bad play; it's pretty short, and easy to follow - I read it in an afternoon. It's just not as good as some of Shakespeare's other comedies (like Much Ado About Nothing). The fifth act seems superfluous to me. I understand that the marriage acts as a frame for the play (it opens with Theseus and Hippolyta discussing their upcoming wedding) so it makes sense to close with it, and the bad acting is funny, but it just seemed so different from the rest of the play that it was a bit jarring. I did like the characters, though (even Demetrius, I guess), and it is an amusing play. Titania's "Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful" is an excellent example of damning with faint praise.

The other book that I read for this challenge was Terry Pratchett's Lords and Ladies, which was hilarious. I have quotes!

There were other elves seated in a semicircle, except that "seated" was a barely satisfactory word. They lounged; elves could make themselves at home on a wire. And here there was more lace and velvet and fewer feathers, although it was hard to know if it meant that these were aristocrats - elves seemed to wear whatever they felt like wearing, confident of looking absolutely stunning.*

* The Monks of Cool, whose tiny and exclusive monastery is hidden in a really cool and laid-back valley in the lower Ramtops, have a passing-out test for a novice. He is taken into a room full of all types of clothing and asked: Yo,** my son, which of these is the most stylish to wear? And the correct answer is: Hey, whatever I select.

** Cool, but necessarily up to date.

Pratchett novels are always lousy with humorous footnotes. I like this one because I picture the Monks of Cool as extras in a Grease! production. I posted my other favorite quote (no footnotes in that one, sadly) for a mini-challenge during the 24 hour read-a-thon this weekend.

So, how does Lords and Ladies compare to A Midsummer Night's Dream? Well, it's not as easy to follow, for one thing. This was mostly because I've only read a few Discworld novels, so I'm not as familiar with all of the characters, settings, and relationships. The elves in the book are EVIL, rather than just mischievous, but a lot of other things are the same: the wedding, the lovers, the bad acting... Overall, it was very funny and I think reading A Midsummer Night's Dream beforehand added to my understanding and enjoyment of it.

Both of these books are registered on BookCrossing; if anyone wants one (or both) comment and I'll send it to you.

* Make him fall in love, not turn him into an ass - although you could argue that he already is one. :)

July Book Blowout Challenge

Click here for the main page.
Rules:
*Only books read between July 1 and July 31 count towards the challenge
*You can include re-reads - as long as they are read within the month of July
*Books you abandon will only count as half a book
*If you read to your children you can include all books which have more than 100 pages
*You can include up to two graphic novels
*You can include up to two audio books - (if you have a visual impairment that prevents you from reading then you can use just audio books for the challenge)
*Books you read for other challenges are eligible - use this as an opportunity to catch up!
*If you start a book before July 1 and then finish it during the month of July then you can count it as half a book

This is my stack of "currently reading"/"to-be-read" books:



I probably won't finish all of them in July, but I have a few YA lying around (including my recently rediscovered BSC book collection), so I'm going to say that my goal for this challenge is to read 10 books.

UPDATE (7/02) - So far, I have read:
Just Ella, by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The Baby-sitter's Club Super Special #1: Baby-sitters on Board!, by Ann M. Martin
The Baby-sitter's Club #53: Kristy for President, by Ann M. Martin
UPDATE (7/11):
The Baby-sitter's Club #55: Jessi's Gold Medal, by Ann M. Martin
The Baby-sitter's Club Super Special #5: California Girls!, by Ann M. Martin
The Baby-sitter's Club Super Special #6: New York, New York!, by Ann M. Martin
Y: The Last Man #10: Whys and Wherefores, by Brian K. Vaughn
UPDATE (7/18):
The Baby-Sitters Club Mystery #6: The Mystery at Claudia's House, Ann M. Martin
The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #2: Baby-sitters' Summer Vacation, Ann M. Martin
The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #3: Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation, Ann M. Martin
The Yiddish Policemen's Union, by Michael Chabon
UPDATE (7 / 20):
The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #4: Baby-sitters' Island Adventure, Ann M. Martin
The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #7: Snowbound, Ann M. Martin
The Jane Austen Book Club, Karen Joy Fowler
UPDATE (7 / 25):
The Baby-Sitters Club Mystery #1: Stacey and the Missing RIng, Ann M. Martin
Chloe Does Yale, Natalie Krinsky
Four Things My Geeky-Jock-of-a-Best Friend Must Do in Europe, Jane Harrington
The Killing Joke, Alan Moore
UPDATE (7 / 28):
The Princess Diaries Volume II: Princess in the Spotlight, Meg Cabot
The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
Ever, Gail Carson Levine
Little Brother, Cory Doctorow
UPDATE (7 / 31)
Less Than Zero, by Brett Easton Ellis

I'm currently reading:
Stitch 'N Bitch, by Debbie Stoller

This is just to say

From flagpole, an Athens weekly paper:

Park Hall Poesy: An Errant Red Hand Truck Achieves Immortality Through Poetry, Sort Of

When Mike Hendrick, the longtime, soon-to-retire (again) Assistant Head of the UGA English department needed Park Hall’s red hand truck, he couldn’t find it. Naturally, he put out an alert on the Park Hall listserv. Probably, his use of the word “errant” triggered the response, started by Lisa Reeves’ reply, which led to a flood of poetic knockoffs. Flagpole could not resist reprinting this corpus of mock homage to a variety of well known poets and to the now immortal red hand truck. Can you name all the poems spoofed here?

Here's my favorite:

This Is Just to Say

I have pinched
the hand truck
that I happened to run across in
a convenient location

and which
you were probably
saving
for your own future toils

Forgive me
it was so “dependable”
so red
and so obviously up for grabs

—Carl Rapp

Related: Mistakes Were Made, a This American Life episode in which regular contributors (including Sarah Vowell, whom I adore) created their own spoofs of William Carlos Williams. Good stuff.

The Sunday Salon - 29 June 2008

Last week, Jill at The Magic Lasso posted about the EW list of new classics. I didn't realize how many of these I'd actually read myself! Here's the list, with books that I've read in red and books on my to-be-read list in blue:

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars' Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984) - I've read a few of her short stories, and they're wonderful!
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996) - How have I not read this before?!
47. World's Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators' Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

Still a long way to go, though...

This week, I finished reading: Lords and Ladies (for the A Midsummer Night's Challenge). Reviews coming soon!

I reviewed: Nothing yet. See above. :)

I'm currently reading: The Yiddish Policemen's Union (still, but I made some more progress this week) and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (for the 1% Well-Read Challenge - I'm hoping to have this one finished tomorrow, so it'll still count for June)

Still to-be-read: Rant and a big ol' stack o' books I picked up at the Friends of the Library sale

Happy reading!

24 Hour Read-A-Thon Post Survey

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? I had to work both Saturday and Sunday, so I didn't really get a chance to visit and cheer everyone. I guess the most stressful time for me was during my mini-challenge this morning; I was trying to keep track of who had submitted an entry, cheerlead, and get ready for work at the same time. That was an interesting two hours. :)

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? Anything by Neil Gaiman, Nick Hornby, or Jasper Fforde. The Twilight series. Graphic novels (Y: The Last Man, Watchmen, Persepolis) and YA (see bookshelves of doom for suggestions).

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nope! This was fun. I just wish I could've participated more.

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? Everyone was so nice and enthusiastic, and the updates and challenges were really well organized.

5. How many books did you read? Part of one.

6. What were the names of the books you read? Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

7. Which book did you enjoy most? The only one I was reading. :)

8. Which did you enjoy least? NA

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? I know my biggest problem was that I didn't get a chance to visit everyone. Next time, I'll break down the list and try to cheer in some sort of order, so that I know I hit everybody.

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I will DEFINITELY do this again! Next time, I want to be a reader, though. I'll do a mini-challenge again, too; that was fun!

24 Hour Read-A-Thon Hour 20 Mini-Challenge Winner

Our winner is: Sean! Congrats to him! :) Our authors were:

Jane Austen
J.K. Rowling
Helen Fielding
Jodi Picoult
Alice Walker
David Sedaris (a reader posted this photo on their blog earlier in the 'thon, but I couldn't remember who it was)
Franz Kafka
Chinua Achebe
Haruki Murakami
Brian K. Vaughn (my favorite comic book writer; everyone should read Y: The Last Man)
Flannery O'Connor
Henry Fielding
James Patterson
George Eliot
Truman Capote
Thomas Hardy (the freebie)
Nicholas Sparks
Rudyard Kipling
Sara Gruen
Neil Gaiman
Madeline L'Engle
P.G. Wodehouse
Salman Rushdie
Michael Chabon
Margaret Atwood
Pablo Neruda
Jon Scieszka
Philippa Gregory
Mark Twain
Laura Esquivel
J.R.R. Tolkien
George Orwell
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Isabel Allende
C.S. Lewis
Chuck Palahniuk
Dan Brown
Elizabeth Gilbert

Thanks for playing, and happy reading! You're almost done!

24 Hour Read-A-Thon Hour 20 Mini-Challenge Update

There's still about 15 minutes to participate in my hour 20 mini-challenge! Here are the entries I have so far:

Care
Nymeth
Debbie
Mee
Chris
Eva
Sean
Bybee

If your name isn't on the list, but you sent me an e-mail, comment and let me know. Thanks for playing! I'll be announcing the winner (and posting a list of the authors I used) sometime after 9 am EST.

24 Hour Read-A-Thon Hour 19 Mini-Challenge

Care posted a mini-challenge last hour; it's still up, so I'm going to take a crack at it. I haven't been reading for the read-a-thon, but I did finish Lords and Ladies last night and I had marked a few quotes that I wanted to share. This one isn't technically a run-on sentence, but it is sort of long. Mostly it amuses me:

Technically, a cat locked in a box may be alive or it may be dead. You never know until you look. In fact, the mere act of opening the box will determine the state of the cat, although in this case there were three determinate states the cat could be in: these being Alive, Dead, and Bloody Furious.