75 Books...More or Less! discussion

Hey everyone! Elyse and I are planning to do a buddy read of Dune in preparation for the new movie coming in December. Feel free to join in if you want!

I think I'm going to pas son this one.

Shelby wrote: "Hey everyone! Elyse and I are planning to do a buddy read of Dune in preparation for the new movie coming in December. Feel free to join in if you want!"

I was surprised how much I enjoyed reading Dune. I thought the movie was a little whack at times. Let me know if you guys continue the series and get to Children of Dune (#3). I am planning on reading that one this year.

Carol wrote: "Shelby wrote: "Hey everyone! Elyse and I are planning to do a buddy read of Dune in preparation for the new movie coming in December. Feel free to join in if you want!"

I was surprised how much I ..."

I don’t have any set plans, but I’d like to get this one done by the end of July or a little earlier in case I want to read some of the sequels during the readathons around then.

I’ve been planning to read this one for a while. It’s probably the most famous space opera novel series I know of, and I want to get more into the genre.

I've owned this for so long. Though I've heard it doesn't hold up well to the wokeness of today (white savior of indigenous peoples), it's still a classic. Hopefully they will update the movie though.

Elyse wrote: "I've owned this for so long. Though I've heard it doesn't hold up well to the wokeness of today (white savior of indigenous peoples), it's still a classic. Hopefully they will update the movie though."

We can hope. This book is much older than I thought it was.

I was looking at some of the different editions, and I really like the ebook/pbk covers of the series. The new hardcover of the first book is gorgeous too.

Shelby wrote: "I was looking at some of the different editions, and I really like the ebook/pbk covers of the series. The new hardcover of the first book is gorgeous too."

I own the 1990 paperback edition. Boring cover. lol.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
There are some really cool ones though.

I'm hoping to join in, but I'm not sure I'll have time... although it could fit into the Wizarding World Tour... hmmmmm....

Stacie wrote: "I'm hoping to join in, but I'm not sure I'll have time... although it could fit into the Wizarding World Tour... hmmmmm...."

We're not reading till the summer so you could totally fit it in. ;)

When are you looking to start, Shelby? I can't believe how quickly summer has approached!

Elyse wrote: "When are you looking to start, Shelby? I can't believe how quickly summer has approached!"

I’m planning to pick it up once I’m finished with Winter, so either end of this month or start of next month!

Well, it will definitely fit in with SciFiJune so I'm game! I can fit it into my TBR since it will take me the whole month anyway. I might just split it up into 4 weeks/4 parts and see what I need to read each day, something like that. The MMP I have is small print.

Edit: For some reason I always had it in my head that it was huge but it's around 500 pages. lol

Elyse wrote: "Well, it will definitely fit in with SciFiJune so I'm game! I can fit it into my TBR since it will take me the whole month anyway. I might just split it up into 4 weeks/4 parts and see what I need ..."

Mine's almost 900!

Oh weird. Mine is 535 including the appendices. Real small print. It's the 1990 25th anniversary edition.

I'm ready to start reading tomorrow!

Elyse wrote: "I'm ready to start reading tomorrow!"

I'm planning to start either this evening or tomorrow as well! :)

I'm in! Hoping I can keep up. A lot of reading on my plate this month. Thanks for letting me know on IG. Is there any kind of schedule, or do we just check in here with our progress/thoughts?

Michelle wrote: "I'm in! Hoping I can keep up. A lot of reading on my plate this month. Thanks for letting me know on IG. Is there any kind of schedule, or do we just check in here with our progress/thoughts?"

It's very casual so just checking in whenever you feel like it. I started this morning but only managed a page or two before heading to work. I have a feeling I won't be reading in long chunks because the font is tiny!

Michelle wrote: "I'm in! Hoping I can keep up. A lot of reading on my plate this month. Thanks for letting me know on IG. Is there any kind of schedule, or do we just check in here with our progress/thoughts?"

Yes! Welcome!

I finished the first two chapters today, though they’re not numbered (at least in my edition) so I probably won’t know what number I’m on as I keep reading.

I'm just on page 14. It's certainly not grabbing me yet.

Elyse wrote: "I'm just on page 14. It's certainly not grabbing me yet."

After two chapters I’m at least interested to see what happens next.

I’m hoping to get to page 600 this month in my edition and then finish the rest at the start of July. Especially since the Magical Readathon is holding a weeklong Hogsmeade Readathon near the end of June, so I’m piling up short books to fit prompts because that’s all I’ll have time for.

I finished the first 22 chapters (about to start Book II: Muad'Dib). This will be my third time reading through, and I'm finding that I appreciate it less each time. 11 year old me loved the scope and strangeness of this story and world, but the older I get the less impressed I am with the execution of the writing. So much time is spent explaining how dangerous and convoluted the machinations of the Powers are, but when you get scenes specifically trying to illustrate those assertions in detail (i.e. the dinner party) they wind up feeling shallow and unbelievable to me. Like we either needed more time in the politics, or less. That said, we're about to get into what has always been my favorite part of Dune- the Fremen and Arrakis itself.

Stacie wrote: "I finished the first 22 chapters (about to start Book II: Muad'Dib). This will be my third time reading through, and I'm finding that I appreciate it less each time. 11 year old me loved the scope ..."

You’re so fast!

I've made it to page 29! lol. I'm juggling a lot of books and this is the one I least want to pick up. The font is definitely a problem. I can only read less than 20 pages in one go.

I’m behind on my reading goal for this one, but I’m hoping to catch up soon. I’m liking it so far. Because it gets compared to The Lord of the Rings so much I was somehow expecting to be just as densely written, but it’s not.

I’m glad I’m finally reading this.

I've been crawling through it. Page 40-ish? My husband started reading it, same copy lol, and he made it to where I am last night. He seems a bit more interested in it than I am. I think I just need to spend more time with it in one sitting.

I'm still behind. Had some stresses the last few days so I'm in a weird headspace right now, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to still reach page 600 by the end of the month.

How's everyone doing? I managed to crack 100 pages. I'm still not digging it. But I plan on finishing it by June 30. Or DNFing it.

Elyse wrote: "How's everyone doing? I managed to crack 100 pages. I'm still not digging it. But I plan on finishing it by June 30. Or DNFing it."

I’ve been in an odd place the last few weeks, but once my readathon’s done I plan to get to work on it some more. I’ll probably be reading most of it in July, but that’s okay.

I will not be finishing by June 30. I did manage to read a bit this weekend but I just want to read Station Eleven instead! So I'm going to! lol

Elyse wrote: "I will not be finishing by June 30. I did manage to read a bit this weekend but I just want to read Station Eleven instead! So I'm going to! lol"

I just started. lol I haven't had time to read much because of packing and I was trying to finish The Book of Strange New Things (excellent!). I'm still planning on continuing though. :)

I'm going to figure out how much I have left and set a pages to read per day so keep a pace going. Otherwise I'll never finish it. lol.

I want to reach page 500 by the end of the week so I’m gonna be focusing on this for a while. I’m still hoping to read the second book during the Reading Rush so I need to get this done.

At this point, I don't know that I will continue with the series. I'm just not interested in it. And it's nothing like the science fiction I read. Even though it's touted as the foundation of all science fiction. Blech. lol

Ok I'm shooting for 55 pages a day and I will be done in 7 days. Let's do this! lol. Off to read my 55 pages... (view spoiler)[First encounter with the sandworm and the Duke rescuing the people working at the spice mine. The Duke seems to be an enigma, I haven't quite figured him out... (hide spoiler)]

A car in front of me yesterday morning had "ARRAKIS" license plate. I LOLed!

Elyse wrote: "Ok I'm shooting for 55 pages a day and I will be done in 7 days. Let's do this! lol. Off to read my 55 pages... [spoilers removed]

A car in front of me yesterday morning had "ARRAKIS" license plat..."

I read a hundred pages today and I hope to do another hundred tomorrow and then finish it off at 500 Saturday. Then if I can do another two hundred on Sunday during the readathon I have only a little left to read the rest of the week.

I made it into part two today. I'm still really liking it. It's frustrating that we can't be more precise with where we are because there's nothing to mark the chapters, but I really liked the lead-up into part two.

I don't know if I like it enough to have a license plate but I do like it. It's probably the easiest long book for me to read in a very long time. I hope it picks up for you, Elyse.

After reading my 55 pages last night, it is a book you need to sit with and really delve into. It's not a read in bits and pieces kind of book! I made it to Part 2 as well. That's where I stopped last night.

It is unfortunate that there are no chapter numbers. And there are so many editions that it's impossible to specify page number!

I made it to Part 3 last night, 2 pages shy of my 55 pages but a good stopping point. It's finally picking up but it's definitely not my favorite book! lol. I'll be glad when it's done.

I've lapsed in my 55 pages a day due the busy workweek. So I'm shooting for finishing this weekend instead of Thursday, give me time to binge it. Or 26 pages a day to finish by Sunday. Whichever works out. lol

Made it to part 3. Planning to finish it by Monday.

I have just under 100 pages left! It's still not really enthralling me but it at least has gotten a little more interesting and the pacing has picked up. Thank goodness for that! The original movie was on HBO last week so I recorded it and once my husband finishes reading it, we're going to watch it. We've never seen it.

Elyse wrote: "I have just under 100 pages left! It's still not really enthralling me but it at least has gotten a little more interesting and the pacing has picked up. Thank goodness for that! The original movie..."

Godspeed, Elyse and Husband. I haven’t seen it either but I’ve heard a lot. Apparently it’s one of the all-time worst adaptations. 🥶

When I’m done I heard of some interesting podcasts I want to track down that analyze it at length.

Shelby wrote: "Godspeed, Elyse and Husband. I haven’t seen it either but I’ve heard a lot. Apparently it’s one of the all-time worst adaptations. 🥶

When I’m done I heard of some interesting podcasts I want to track down that analyze it at length..."

😂😂 Yeah, my expectations are pretty low. But Sting is in it! lol. I've read a couple of Tor.com articles on the book and the whole "white savior" thing and on adapting the new movie to be more diverse.

Shelby wrote: "Apparently it’s one of the all-time worst adaptations. "

This is only said by people who have never seen movie adaptations of Stephen King books! ;)

Honestly, though... the Lynch version is not great, but it isn't quite as bad as most people make it out to be. The biggest problem is that you can not render a dense brick of a book into a 2 hr movie without it turning out to be so shallow that it's almost unrecognizable. The second biggest problem is that when the writers figured this out, they stopped trying about 2/3 of the way through and went with a wrap-up that assumed no one had ever, or was ever going to, read the book.

Something came up yesterday so I didn’t have time to read. Hoping to finish Monday now.

Stacie wrote: "Shelby wrote: "Apparently it’s one of the all-time worst adaptations. "

This is only said by people who have never seen movie adaptations of Stephen King books! ;)

Honestly, though... the Lynch v..."

I dunno, man. I’ve seen what they did to the Baron. 🥶 None of the King adaptations I’ve seen came close to that.

I finished this morning. 3 stars. Maybe someday I'll continue the series, I've heard some of the other books are better than Dune. But definitely not on my radar anytime soon.