tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post8588137979628152529..comments2024-03-26T23:45:35.573-04:00Comments on Typings: I Am Alive and You Are Dead: A Journey Into the Mind of Philip K. Dickreesehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818057262934008241noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-89912454502447338682021-11-05T15:41:06.274-04:002021-11-05T15:41:06.274-04:00A Scanner Darkley was a pretty great movie--not re...A Scanner Darkley was a pretty great movie--not really sure why it did so poorly. Maybe the rotoscoping thing put people off.<br /><br />His female characters are generally pretty poor. Kind of goes with the genre at the time I think, but still. <br /><br />After finishing the biography I've reread Timothy Archer & Man in the High Castle. Timothy Archer has Angel Archer as the narrator--she's better than a lot of his females, but she is a bit just Dick himself in drag.<br /><br />I hadn't read High Castle since the 70s myself. I'd forgotten how good that one is. It avoids his general sloppiness and Juliana Fink is easily 3 cuts above his usual female character.<br /><br />reesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15818057262934008241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-16244224655734934662021-11-05T14:21:07.597-04:002021-11-05T14:21:07.597-04:00I read many of the novels as a college student in ...I read many of the novels as a college student in the Seventies. The consensus among us reading snobs at the time: Dick was a great idea guy, but was weak on characterization – the protagonist is almost always a sad sack, the females devil or angel. Dick wrote too much, too fast, and probably under a lot of pressure from various sources. Watch the animated version of A Scanner Darkly from 2006, with Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson and Winona Ryder. I saw it in a nearly empty theater - I can’t believe such a wonderful movie with such an amazing cast lost money. Maybe stuff about the surveillance state cut too close to the knuckle.<br />Majorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-67862892245738527812021-10-28T22:07:47.546-04:002021-10-28T22:07:47.546-04:00Oh, I how hate to learn I've added to somebody...Oh, I how hate to learn I've added to somebody TBR list... ;-)reesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15818057262934008241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-70105158261830475312021-10-28T17:17:11.742-04:002021-10-28T17:17:11.742-04:00Suddenly looking for PKD …read Androids/Sheep but ...Suddenly looking for PKD …read Androids/Sheep but now curious about others … thanks for the motivation….RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-46424110862139699962021-10-28T16:11:39.129-04:002021-10-28T16:11:39.129-04:00He's pretty good!He's pretty good!reesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15818057262934008241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-47228955979539556012021-10-28T07:09:57.706-04:002021-10-28T07:09:57.706-04:00I've only read Do Androids Dream of Electric S...I've only read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep and a collection of his short stories, but these were enough to convince me that Dick is a master. I'd love to read more.Deb Nance at Readerbuzzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12128529491888701996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-12092492240303423672021-10-27T21:42:45.422-04:002021-10-27T21:42:45.422-04:00It's so nice to be able to go into a bookstore...It's so nice to be able to go into a bookstore again!<br /><br />Some of Dick's problems may have been of his own making...you can't take that many bennies and not expect something bad to happen... ;-) But he's still a pretty interesting writer.<br /><br />Douglas Adams is pretty fun! Quite different from Dick, and despite the destruction of the planet Earth in the first few pages, much lighter!reesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15818057262934008241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-49866423438258379672021-10-27T21:24:28.236-04:002021-10-27T21:24:28.236-04:00What a tragic life! We were at a bookshop yesterda...What a tragic life! We were at a bookshop yesterday - first time in about a year, and they had a whole shelf of what looked like new editions of his books, as well lots of 25th anniversary copies of Douglas Adam's Hitchhikers set. I haven't read either authors but my daughter bought herself a copy of Adam's collected works.Carolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06820925595506920754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-42208010263693278832021-10-27T01:12:02.699-04:002021-10-27T01:12:02.699-04:00The best ones by Dick really are pretty good.
Go...The best ones by Dick really are pretty good. <br /><br />Gormenghast is weird, and also pretty great, but in a very different way. Dick is a much easier read! Dick, especially in the later ones, is very interested in consciousness and religious experience; he's difficult if he is because there's a fair amount of undigested philosophy and/or theology. Peake is difficult when he is because of his vocabulary. He's much more gothic.<br /><br />I'm sure I wouldn't want to read a biography like this all the time, but I did feel like this one worked.reesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15818057262934008241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-38035983046120490242021-10-26T01:23:45.374-04:002021-10-26T01:23:45.374-04:00I haven't read any Dick but I've wanted to...I haven't read any Dick but I've wanted to read his Android's book. But I have the Gormenghast trilogy that I want to read first. That's supposed to be weird as well.<br /><br />I love David McCullough because he's very clear where he gets his information so a biographer who doesn't let me know where his information is coming from doesn't get top stars from me. But this book sounds interesting nevertheless. I'll have to read some of Dick's books first though before reading this one!Cleohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13152128642971612433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-53758330173054882372021-10-25T18:59:25.794-04:002021-10-25T18:59:25.794-04:00I was wondering about that one. Have you read it? ...I was wondering about that one. Have you read it? It sounded in its approach like the Dick biography.reesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15818057262934008241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-43292011491939040792021-10-25T18:58:28.549-04:002021-10-25T18:58:28.549-04:00He is pretty strange, but I've definitely enjo...He is pretty strange, but I've definitely enjoyed a bunch of his.reesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15818057262934008241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-87940806674319102232021-10-25T16:26:35.527-04:002021-10-25T16:26:35.527-04:00I haven't read Carrere before, but I have read...I haven't read Carrere before, but I have read several short stories and a few books by Philip K. Dick, all of which I enjoyed, even though they're sometimes a little strange.Lark https://www.blogger.com/profile/13777891312147377769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-14355821592534009732021-10-25T14:38:16.968-04:002021-10-25T14:38:16.968-04:00One of his other books is a biography (of "bi...One of his other books is a biography (of "biography") of Eddie Limonov, a Soviet refusenik author who became a pro-Soviet Russian nationalist when the USSR collapsed.Roger Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11012987757094423896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-12406518437948329532021-10-25T13:11:47.106-04:002021-10-25T13:11:47.106-04:00I can't imagine that an author biography is so...I can't imagine that an author biography is somehow representative of Carrère's other works, but I am now curious.reesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15818057262934008241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-82107452362214497272021-10-25T11:47:40.344-04:002021-10-25T11:47:40.344-04:00I'm vaguely interested in both but have read l...I'm vaguely interested in both but have read little of either. Most of my interest in Carrere is via the NYT book review staff that seems to have passed around copies of his books enthusiastically for a couple of years now, one to the next. Buried In Printhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00808249065026802365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-60566511278646723062021-10-25T00:21:27.249-04:002021-10-25T00:21:27.249-04:00They tell you on the website (nobelprize.org) but ...They tell you on the website (nobelprize.org) but only give the nominations for fifty years older or more. reesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15818057262934008241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-55899764859741363872021-10-25T00:02:47.204-04:002021-10-25T00:02:47.204-04:00i wonder who gets nominated for the Nobel board......i wonder who gets nominated for the Nobel board...mudpuddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16647084124715892324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-9402129093760496132021-10-24T21:56:19.539-04:002021-10-24T21:56:19.539-04:00I am also trying to get my head around the idea of...I am also trying to get my head around the idea of Dick's biographer winning the prize when Dick saw himself--and basically everybody else, too--as a 'Crap Artist.' Too weird!reesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15818057262934008241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-74206501769744753882021-10-24T21:55:05.567-04:002021-10-24T21:55:05.567-04:00Ubik is pretty great, I think--other than the Deus...Ubik is pretty great, I think--other than the Deus Irae, that I read the other day, that's the one read most recently. But if you haven't read Valis or Scanner Darkly, I think you'd like them--they hold up pretty well. There was a movie version of A Scanner Darkly not so long ago & I reread it before renting the movie. <br />(Of course, just looking now, not so long ago is fifteen years. Ha!) <br /><br />Confessions of a Crap Artis--well, yes, not one of his best. Carrère mentions it: it was written while he was married to wife #3 who thought he should write more mainstream books, but it wasn't published until years later...<br /><br />There may be a few on the shelves around here...reesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15818057262934008241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-89390212336416802672021-10-24T21:23:16.209-04:002021-10-24T21:23:16.209-04:00It says something - I mist admit I'm not sure ...It says something - I mist admit I'm not sure what - about the relationship of Dick and Literachewer (SF and literature too) that his biographer is a candidate for the Nobel Prize, but Dick never was. Roger Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11012987757094423896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6694880585491590788.post-12912991000236642792021-10-24T20:24:10.591-04:002021-10-24T20:24:10.591-04:00P.K., yes... i haven't read the last four but...P.K., yes... i haven't read the last four but everything else, yeah.,, i loved Ubik for some reason i read it at least three times... i sent away for "Confessions of a Crap Artist" which wasn't all that great for a supposedly autobiographical pseudo-book... all in all he was a big influence at one time, altho it's been years since i indulged: different times, different books, i guess... i've still got 23 of his on a shelf altho some are duplicates... fine stuff, especially for younger persons...mudpuddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16647084124715892324noreply@blogger.com