Blog FeedCan I Get a Ride?
Lately I have been rather drawn to books. While I always have something that I am reading in some form or another, it is never a main goal of each day. But the last 2 weeks I have been devouring books mercilessly. It started with Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. Then I went on vacation and thought that would be the death of it, but I found myself diving right back when I got home with The Odyssey. I re-read a few titles around my room but needed something new. Now I have been grabbing books I have always heard great things about but never read myself.
I first picked up 1984 which most people’s response was “You haven’t read that yet?” Which I guess is expected since it is on a lot of school’s ‘to read’ list; I guess I just missed out. I enjoyed it, not as much as I thought I would though. Highly influential books tend to loose a certain punch after a time. Not just because the times change but because in order to be influential books, they have to influence things. A lot of 1984’s themes and concepts have been used across a broad spectrum of modern media. Movies, games and other books all reflect some of its message at times.
The downside to this is when you finally experience the ‘original’ you kind of already know what to expect. In a way the original has already become cliche. Oh well it was still well-written and a good read. I love the term ‘doublethink’.
Tonight on my way to work (I am a bartender on various nights of the week) I stopped at a bookstore because I knew tonight would be dreadfully slow. I grabbed “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams since I heard it was esspecially hilarious. Which of course, it is.
I also found out there is a movie in the works for the book. The book itself is practically its own script so I hope they don’t stray too far from the source material.
So what I am just about to dive into tonight is “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. I have no idea what to expect from this book, I don’t even know why I purchased it, I just like the look of it. The back of the book simply reads “The astounding story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world–and did.” Surely sounds interesting.
28th July | Reply
The base for the movie’s script is the script that DNA was working on before his death, so don’t expect the movie to suck.
And don’t forget to read Days of War, Nights of Love, Neuromancer, Cryptonomicon, On the Road, A Clockwork Orange, and some Philip K. Dick stuff.
28th July | Reply
Thanks for the recommendations, I will probably check them all out sometime in the near future. Days of War, Nights of Love seems particularly interesting.
28th July | Reply
Books are the intellectualy man’s bread and butter.
Fucked if I know why I read them then…
28th July | Reply
I was planning on reading that book for school, but they changed the syllabus somewhat so I ended up reading Fahrenheit 451, and watching Gattaca. I didn’t like either very much, and from everything I’ve heard, 1984 is still the book to read. I hope it hasn’t been spoiled from everything else I’ve seen which shares some of the same themes.
That happened to me with Austin Powers, in a way. I only saw the 3 movies for the first time about a week ago. I know they would have been quite a bit funnier if they’d not been quoted to death by everyone, everywhere, over the past however many years.
28th July | Reply
Don’t forget to watch Equilibrium after you read 1984. It’s Fahrenheit 451 plus 1984, with a little Matrix to spice things up.
29th July | Reply
Indeed Equilibrium is 1984 + badass.