Electric Sheep

Day 176 of the "What are you reading, and why?" project, and yesterday, late in the day, a young man walked in the store and asked, "Do androids dream of electric sheep?"

"I don't know! Do they?" was my not-so-cool-I'm-someone-who-reads-Barbara-Pym response, but it was fun to say, and he actually enjoyed it.

Of course, what he was hoping for was the novel by Philip K. Dick, which we seldom have on hand for more than a day or two. Amazingly, the boss leaned over and pulled out the mass marketback from a stack at his feet, and the guy got it for $4, a real bargain, as this particular edition is $13-20 online now. It pays to walk into our store. (More about that, and military history, tomorrow.)

We also have an ex-library copy of Maze of Death ($100) and an edition of the Uncorrected Proofs of The Golden Man ($300) in the rare book room. Dick is a popular guy that everyone who loves science fiction tells me to read.

Because I live in the Land of Random Coincidii, my son had just checked Blade Runner (Director's Cut) out of the library and wanted to watch it that night. I hadn't seen it for a really long time, so it was all new to me except for Daryl Hannah's black eyes and acrobatics and Rutger Hauer's amazing beauty. What a complete world is created in that film. We had seen Inception the night before, with its phenomenal special effects on a high-density huge screen, and yet Blade Runner was just as rich, real, and intriguing, partly through atmosphere, and the consistency of rain and search lights.

Anyway, as the credits rolled, I said to the family, "This is based on a novel by Philip K. Dick," and just then the credit appeared, so I spoke the title, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? exactly when their eyes were reading it, and they were impressed by my esoteric knowledge. Otherwise, they think I am goofy.

The title itself comes from something else, also credited at the end of the movie, with thanks to William S. Burroughs and Alan E. Nourse (also hard to come by at Babbitt's). Wikipedia explains that Burroughs did a film treatment of Nourse's novel, The Bladerunner, called Blade Runner. I remember somebody trying to explain all that to me in the store one day, but I am grateful to find the details at Wikipedia now!

OK, time to count my bishops instead of my electric sheep. (It's sort of a Barbara Pym joke, Some Tame Gazelle.)

Whoa. But wait. The random coincidii just got freaky. There is a website called electric sheep about collective dreaming (theme of Inception). It might be time to stop blogging....

The English Major

Day 28 of the "What are you reading, and why?" project.

Dick (yes, really, Dick), who is one of the SOBs, reports that he took The English Major to bed last night. It's possible, from the descriptions/reviews I read at Amazon, that Jim Harrison writes "dick lit," but I'm hoping we'll drop that line of conversation pretty soon! Just couldn't resist it here.

Nor can I resist another mention of Philip K. Dick, thanks to Douglas Robillard's most recent comment (to previous blog entry) about the new Library of America editions of his work, and the fact that he wrote the book on which the movie Bladerunner was based. "Ohhhhh!" I said to myself, "that's right! I'd heard that."

In fact, one of our recent customers who was buying some Dick, in paperback, was telling me that most of the films based on his work have not been nearly as good as the books themselves. So I will get around to reading him someday.

And yes, Doug, I join your wife in recommending that you read the Sparrow and then its sequel, Children of God, by Mary Doria Russell. Powerful stuff that puts human history in context by looking at misunderstandings with devastating consequences on another planet! Our twin cities also read her book Thread of Grace, historical fiction, for our Tale for Two Cities program a couple years ago.

So...The English Major seems to be a middle-aged On the Road sort of thing, or exiting middle age, as the main character is 60. And a former English major.

Susan and aka Simone have pursued intended audience (and less incendiary labels, like "women's fiction" and "men's fiction" to help identify book by its intended audience, although the other categories also remain, primarily as marketing tools, as Julie notes) as a guide to reading experience, and The English Major may be intended for a male readership, and an exiting-middle-age male readership at that.

But I find I am willing to read just about anything to find out more about the various ways of being human. As my reading impulse is mostly that--not to be entertained, but to learn about being human, and how to handle it--I do find that I learn stuff from just about anything I read.

Of course, I have set books aside.... In some cases, I come back to them, as it was just not the right time to read that book. In some cases, I never come back to them.