Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

I ran across this pic today. That is what I like about being well read: I read all those books with just two exceptions:


Of the 12 titles I have read 7. 3 are as far as I known movie-only:
1) The Matrix.
2) Brazil seems to be reminiscent of George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_...
3) Gattaca.

Soylent Green seems to mostly known as movie, but based on
Make Room! Make Room!

And Logan's Run is based on Logan's Run.

How many have you read?

how is Lord Of The Flies an overlap of 1984 and F451?!

sorry JBF but I can't look at your Blue Flower icon without thinking of one of my fave dystopia books/movies, PKD's A Scanner Darkly

I think the diagram was meant as a joke.

> A Scanner Darkly

Yes, missing. Both here and our shelf.

I think the diagram is great!! ;-)

I'd be totally up for reading A Scanner Darkly as a Classics Monthly read if someone wants to nominate it I'll second.

Yes, so would I. The battle for February is going to be fierce with the new rules. It will be hard to win with an "old" classic.

I'm looking at this graphic and the question that occurs to me is " who is the 'you'" ? Is it a reader or is it another dystopian book that doesn't have a hook that allows it to stand out against some (obviously not all) of the great dystopian books/movies?

It made more sense when I looked at the "you" as a flash in the pan dystpian tale.

I tried to google it. It has been around for a while. This version is from 10 Dec 2019:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsint...

I have the four corners, plus Animal Farm, so just five. I saw the Soylent Green film which, I'm sorry, always makes me laugh. I didn't know about the book--thanks! Wasn't there a Lord of the Flies movie too? I think I saw that. I'm not real excited about reading the others.

I have loved some not on here, like The Stand and Oryx and Crake and The Memory Police.

What came to my mind about the "you" was: you are here, in the middle of overlapping dystopias! I predict there will be another wave of dystopian writing in the near future ...

Squire wrote: "I'm looking at this graphic and the question that occurs to me is " who is the 'you'" ? Is it a reader or is it another dystopian book that doesn't have a hook that allows it to stand out against s..."

I feel very much like "I am here" - right in the middle of dystopia, and not just the fictional ones.

I can absolute understand why you say so, yet my own feeling is a bit different:

It is more like the old 1980’is cartoons, where you see someone run over a cliff edge and hang in the air still not falling and only when they look down and realise that they have nothing under their feet do they start falling.

That is my felling: We are right there in the air. Not yet falling.

I don't feel like we're in a dystopia as much as a dysfunctional-opia. It's more like a family reunion where everyone is trying to one-up everyone else and not willing to talk to each other to solve problems.

We live in a very supercalifuckyouliciouskissmyassadocious time.

Kathleen wrote: "I have the four corners, plus Animal Farm, so just five. I saw the Soylent Green film which, I'm sorry, always makes me laugh. I didn't know about the book--thanks! Wasn't there a Lord of the Flies..."

The book that inspired Soylvent Green (Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison) was much better than I expected it to be. I don't know if I'd consider it classic material or not, but it was an interesting read . . . and much better than the movie, for me anyway.

And I agree, The Memory Police was great!!

J_BlueFlower wrote: "I can absolute understand why you say so, yet my own feeling is a bit different:

It is more like the old 1980’is cartoons, where you see someone run over a cliff edge and hang in the air still not..."

Love this J_BlueFlower!

I've read seven as well.

When I google Gattica, it says it isn't based on a book, which is a shame. I'd be interested to read that one, if it existed.

The other that I haven't read yet but wouldn't mind reading is A Clockwork Orange.

I'm not sure I have much interest in reading book versions of The Matrix, The Logan's Run, or Brazil, if they exist. Though, I could be convinced if someone has read and recommends them.

The only ones I haven't read are A Clockwork Orange and Soylent Green. I own A Clockwork Orange and have started it a few times but been put off by the dialect. (I've seen the film a few times).
I actually just read Logan's Run this past year and plan on watching the film.

Interesting little diagram, J_Blueflower!

I have read 9/12. Only missing the three listed as "movies only."

"Logan's Run" wasn't my favorite, but "Make Room! Make Room!" (Soylent Green) and "A Clockwork Orange" have really stayed with me. I liked "Brave New World" a little better than "1984," I think.

They all have a lot to say! And I agree that they are "must reads." They are "dystopian" classics, but have majorly important concepts that we can think about today!

Greg wrote: "I've read seven as well.

When I google Gattica, it says it isn't based on a book, which is a shame. I'd be interested to read that one, if it existed.

The other that I haven't read yet but would..."

Oh, Greg! You must read A Clockwork Orange. It is gruesome, but it an important read. I think you will appreciate it!

These titles could be specified as fictional (English-language) dystopian classics.

A more interesting set of Venn diagrams would be the intersection of non-fiction dystopian works. As insightful as Philip K. Dick, Brave New World, and 1984, none of them possess the immediacy of The Gulag Archipelago or Hope Against Hope.

Pillsonista wrote: "These titles could be specified as fictional (English-language) dystopian classics.

A more interesting set of Venn diagrams would be the intersection of non-fiction dystopian works. As insightful ..."

Hope Against Hope by Nadezhda Mandelstam

"The story of the poet Osip Mandelstam, who suffered continuous persecution under Stalin, but whose wife constantly supported both him and his writings until he died in 1938.... Osip, who was first arrested in 1934 and died in Stalin's Great Purge of 1937-38. Hope Against Hope is a vital eyewitness account of Stalin's Soviet Union and one of the greatest testaments to the value of literature and imaginative freedom ever written. ...."

Wow! Never heard about it. What a find!
Seems to be available on Openlibrary:
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL25830...

Link to Osip Mandelstam profile.

J_BlueFlower wrote: "It is more like the old 1980’is cartoons, where you see someone run over a cliff edge and hang in the air still not falling and only when they look down and realise that they have nothing under their feet do they start falling.

That is my felling: We are right there in the air. Not yet falling"

Oh I love this image! The Roadrunner cartoon character, always running, always fast, too fast - that's us. So it's "Don't look down!" for us , instead of "Don't look up!"

Terris wrote: "Oh, Greg! You must read A Clockwork Orange. It is gruesome, but it an important read. I think you will appreciate it!."

That definitely moves it up my list Terris because I often find myself liking books that you have liked! Thanks for the recommendation!

Greg wrote: "Terris wrote: "Oh, Greg! You must read A Clockwork Orange. It is gruesome, but it an important read. I think you will appreciate it!."

That definitely moves it up my list Terris because I often fi..."

I'm excited to know what you think! I'll be watching for your review :)