William’s Comments (group member since Jun 03, 2012)

William’s comments from the Not Quite A Topless Robot Book Club group.

Number of the Beast does age well. I've read it recently and it does hold up. Yes Time Enough for love is a Lazarus Long. It the second novel featuring him and his family. Number of the Beast ends up with the cast working together with the Long Family. It was more of clone the whole body and transfer consciousness from one to the other type thing that increased their natural longevity.

What makes "grokking a wrongness" in gay men even worse Laura is that in I Will Fear No Evil, Time Enough for Love, Number of the Beast, and various other works of his, he not only changes position, but advocates that everyone should do it. One extreme or the other. That is one of the many many things about Stranger on this read that just made it unbearable. The total and complete flip flop.

Nope. But what made the twist of the knife even worse was I picked up Glory Road by the same author and the female protagonist in that story is 100 times more complex and strong then then the lead woman in Stranger.

I voted for this book because growing up it was one of the books that really spoke to me. Personal responsibility in all action and choices. The need to drink of something fully to Grok it. (Such a wonderful concept.) I really loved the theme of the novel that we are all God and God is all of us. These concepts helped develop me as an individual and a member of society. Even when Mike was founding his religion he stuck to the message that you are in charge of your life and you can be more if you choose to. Loved that. I will always love this book for that reason. BUT. Upon rereading it this time, I've come to understand something about myself. I've changed. The things I liked about the book I still do. The rest of the book was CRAP. (I hate saying that. I am a huge huge Heinlein fan.) From the objectification of women to the unrealistic stereotypes half his cast portrayed just infuriated me. Jubal Harshaw the saving grace of this book. I could make allowance for his treatment of women in this as the times. But that would be unfair to the other books of the era that were portraying strong independent females in SCIFI. Mike is supposed to be the every man, the one we identify with. He was the most uninspired passive aggressive jerk I've ever seen. Jill being written as a nurse makes sense for the time but the way Hienlien brought her into the story "was a competent nurse with her hobby of men" just turned me off to the character. That should not have been her defining characteristic. Ben was a closer fit to the everyman that we identify with but even his change by the end of the book was unbelievable. I couldn't finish it. The main premise I still love. But the changes in me as a reader no longer allows me to enjoy the story.

Well my vote goes for Stranger in a Strange land by Robert A. Heinlien. Love that book and really want to discuss it.

I felt that this was Bradbury's worse work. The characters felt one dimensional and had a very serious lack of growth. The story and plot felt rushed and incomplete. Will seemed like a whiny little boy, while Jim felt out of place in the story. The Menace of the carnival felt trivial and the "villains" of the story felt like cardboard cuts outs. In a way it did take me back to childhood. Back to the 9th grade grinding my way through the English reader just to get the grade needed. While I love the Martian chronicles and his other works, Something Wicked this Way Comes was unpleasant and boring at best, down right insulting at worst.

I think that Adam having Them really influenced him in ways that not even the other characters realized. Yes he was their general, their total boss (in ways only ten year old boys can be) but at the same time his concern and care for them changed him from EVIL incarnate, to something a bit more human. More able to empathize with the world around him.

William Brown,
2) Flipping through "geek pages" that kept referencing Topless Robot. Been going back and making a nuisance of myself since.
3)Scifi fantasy. Fairy tales.(Which I consider another form of fantasy.) Modern Gothica. Classics.
4)Some Pern novels and Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon.
5)Game of Thrones come to mind for the read/discuss.

Jello All, I'm William Brown and I'm a geek. Ooo wait wrong meeting. Same name on TR, Facebook, and TR Irregulars. Have a passion for the written word.