I thought 1984 was supposed to be a classic….

frankly I'm unimpressed but now feel obliged to watch the last 30mins….

The book is a classic – not so sure about the film. Try Brazil instead.

What he said ^^^^

Try actually reading it. Between the lines and stuff.
The girl he falls in love with is Davina Macall……

If you enjoyed that , you should try ' Catch 22'.

Oh , on fillum .Yea .
Do Androids dream of electric blade runners is pretty good .
But not Starship Troopers .There's too much in the book to make in the film .You just couldnt do it . But thats Heinlein , eh ?

I'm looking forward to being dissappointed at 'The time travellers co-habitee', starring Chopper .

Glory road . Now that'd be a fillum

"wanted . Hero .
Apply in Person …."

Hang on . This is not the nerdy book / fillum forum I oft frequent…

Is 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' worth a read?

Try Brazil instead.

Good till about 2/3 of the way through, but they didn't seem to have worked out how to finish it.

Brazil

Da da da da da dum….

Is 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' worth a read?

Yes, but A Scanner Darkly is better.

Another vote for Brazil here. Underrated.

It's not underrated. Brazil is an awesome film and no two ways about it.

As for 1984, the book is amazing, but the film just does not do it justice. The same thing happened with so many good books… Farenheit 451 being a good example. Starship Troopers (as mentioned before) being probably the best example ever.

Strangely, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas made a relatively decent transition from book to screen, but that may be because of the director and the actors.

Starship Troopers is ace – Denise Richards innit 🙂

I think 1984 has a great ending. Easily Gilliam's best film.

fear and loathing was a great adaptation.
+1 for 'a scanner darkly' too. excellent film done in an interesting way.

Another to read is "Brave new world" by Huxley.

If you enjoyed that , you should try ' Catch 22'.

If you enjoyed Catch 22 don't read 'Something Happened' by same author (Heller). Unmitigated dross.

Haven't seen 1984 the film, but the book was awesome. Although I did feel crushed by the depressing inevitability of it all afterwards.

The book is superb (1984). It is wonderfully bleak, and i like to revisit it at least once a year. What is really horrifying is how many parallels between the world forecast in the book and how we live now.

Sleep well?

I thought the film of 1984 was very good, it's a well loved book of mine and I immediately felt comfortable with the portrayal of the characters in the film. How good the film is if you haven't read the book I don't know, I watched it as a visual accompaniment to a book I love, rather than as a feature in it's own right.

Is 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' worth a read?

Yes, but A Scanner Darkly is better. [/quote]
Any PKD book is worth reading, but A Scanner Darkly is one of the better ones. Also worth checking out Time Out of Joint, which is slightly less 'cool' but a great example of Dick's work.

mastiles

if you enjoyed Catch 22 don't read 'Something Happened' by same author (Heller). Unmitigated dross.

and approx 700 pages too long

I'd put 1984 and Animal Farm in the same shelf. They are both very overrated – liebfraumilch fiction which most people only read because they do them at school.

if you enjoyed Catch 22 don't read 'Something Happened' by same author (Heller). Unmitigated dross.
and approx 700 pages too long

Same reason here for picking it up … and same reasons for never bothering to finish it.

I'd put 1984 and Animal Farm in the same shelf. They are both very overrated

Given the enormous cultural impact both of these novels have had in the recent past, and continue to exert, that is one of less impressive comments I've ever read on this forum

Glad it wasn't just me. I kept reading it expecting 'something' to 'happen'.

I won't spoil the ending for anyone wanting to read it…

I haven't seen the film, but I thought the book was a bit rubbish – it was just a vehicle to contain the text of the "secret book" or whatever it was called. He should have just published it on its own as a political essay rather than making up a pretty rubbish story to go around it. But of course then he wouldn't have sold millions of copies to people who wanted it on their bookshelf where other people would see it… </cynic>

But of course then he wouldn't have sold millions of copies to people who wanted it on their bookshelf where other people would see it…

1984 is hardly going to be a talking point on a book shelf is it?
You'd need to be looking at something a bit more special wouldn't you?
Maybe Alain Robbe-Grillet's In the Labyrinth might, but Orwell? Come on.

Anyone read War and Peace? I nearly bought it last year and had it on my Christmas list. But two newborns later and I wouldn't even attempt to start it – I haven't even managed to complete CoD Modern Warfare 2 yet and I bought it on launch day.

I've not read the book of starship troopers – but I was always led to believe that the film is effectively a parody of the book

ie The book is a right wing fantasy (and not satirical), Starship Troopers (the film) is a very funny satire of the source novel, and present day US foreign policy (as Robocop was a satire of US policing methods and the tide turning to privatisation of law enforcement)

Be interested to hear from people who have read the book if I have got that wrong

I'd put 1984 and Animal Farm in the same shelf. They are both very overrated

Given the enormous cultural impact both of these novels have had in the recent past, and continue to exert, that is one of less impressive comments I've ever read on this forum

it's like the "Beatles are overrated" debate all over again

phiiiiil – Member
I haven't seen the film, but I thought the book was a bit rubbish – it was just a vehicle to contain the text of the "secret book" or whatever it was called. He should have just published it on its own as a political essay rather than making up a pretty rubbish story to go around it. But of course then he wouldn't have sold millions of copies to people who wanted it on their bookshelf where other people would see it… </cynic>

the whole pointy is that he wanted people to read his book. Would a political essay be getting read in schools today?

People seem to be looking at the story as if it just came out – if you can't see the significance of the story/ when it was written, and how its become more and more relevant each year then I'm amazed

I understand Starship Troopers was Heinlein's "call to arms" to Americans not to become soft towards communism, the novel is militaristic, and even Fascistic, but I don't think Heinlein was necessarily those things himself. His later novels explore all sorts of political situations.

I won't spoil the ending for anyone wanting to read it…

The actual ending of the novel, or the fictional essay written in the future that was included in the original publication, and often missed out of reproductions, and gives the whole book a different tone?

I thought Starship Troopers was just a remake of Zulu with bugs.

They even had the mentalist 'we're all doomed' general at the outpost which was a direct rip-off of the padre scene in the former.

I think Zulu was based on, well, what happened.

The actual ending of the novel, or the fictional essay written in the future that was included in the original publication, and often missed out of reproductions, and gives the whole book a different tone?

That would explain things. Still, the pages leading up to it weren't exactly engaging anyway.

oi! starship troopers is a brilliant film, its just very different from the book, instead of focusing on the fascist nature of the military society and the effect it has on individual soldiers veerhoven comes at it form a different angle emphasing the propaganda and indoctrination of the recruits and throwing in lots of over the top action, whereas in the book rico manages to miss most of the fighting

and as for zulu, the rourkes drift thing was blown massively out of proportion by the british government dropping VCs left right and centre to cover up the fact that the first zululand invasion force was decimated despite having modern rifles and artillery versus natives with spears

the entire invasion had to be restaged, massively reinforced the british were able to properly subjugate the inferior natives and the empire was able to claim natal as a british province.
Funnily enough it was the Prime Minister (disraeli) who had the rourkes drift thing sexed up to make sure he looked good in the next election, hmmmmmm

So, bassspine it is suggested that 1984 is a less valid text because of it's popularity and the fact that many people will first have encountered it in education.
It is chosen in schools because it stimulates political thought and there is a lot to get your young teeth into. No point in choosing crap for kids to study.

Does everyone read the book world equivalent of a niche bike as well just for the sake of it? Perhaps these books have special paragraph structures that allow more efficient reading with less frequent page turning and less eye strain over long sustained reading periods.

Anyway everyone is different, tastes differ.. opinions being like sphincters etc etc…

If you like Starship Troopers then give Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War" a read…

i just finished forever war quite enjoyable, also check out slaughterhouse 5 for scifi ish anti-war books

I always cheer for the Zulu folks, not the cockneys shooting at them.

AA Gill makes a good point; who are the good guys? The ones with rifles and walls to hide behind, or the ones armed with sharp sticks and a leather coffee table?