Philip K. Dick suggestions
lackofendorphin asked for suggestions of a PKD novel to read as introduction to PKD. I was going to respond to his comment in my other post, but after taking 15 minutes to type it up, though maybe I would make a separate post in case anyone else was interested in reading it.
For starters I think anyone attempting to read Philip K. Dick should know what they are getting themselves into before they read him so they have reasonable expections. Otherwise it would be kind of like lackofendorphin recommending someone a H.P. Lovecraft novel without first letting the person what to expect.
PKD novels tend to be depressing, sometimes dark, and often humourous in a dark way. Characters are always spouting something sarcastic or inappropriate when you least expect it. His novels can be messy and flawed, but brilliant and insightful at the same time. A lot of his novels were written in the 1960 and early 1970s, much of his "futuristic" settings come off dated and most stories are set in the far flung future of 1992 or 1999. Having said that his novels also contain all kinds of technological and social inventions that were surprsingly close to what has come to transpire (in a round about way). There is always a "dark haired girl" in his novels, someone is always suffering from some form of mental illness/ hyper-mental state, decay is a BIG theme, as is warped precptions of reality. Every Dick novel basically asks the question "What is Real?"
Okay having said that, my favourite three Dick Novels are in no particular order...
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" aka the source of Blade Runner was my introduction to Philip K. Dick. And is a very good read since 75% of what is in the book does not make it into the film. It was very eye opening after having seen the movie to read the book and realize how much more detail was in that universe. Some very central themes like the fake animals and the religious theme of Mercerism are missing from the movie but in the book. Also the relationship between Deckard and his wife is missing from the movie and makes for a very interesting dynamic in the book.
Here's an overview in Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Androids_Dream_of_Electric_Sheep%3F
Another favourites is UBIK (see ICON), which is also dark but humourous at moments. It's about a competing organizations of psioincs trying to nullify each others powers. When one group is ambushed on the moon - they rush back to earth to put their leader in half-life (cyrogenic deep freeze where they can still access the mind of the deceased). They all begin to experience weird froms of regression around them leading them to try to understand what's happening to them. One of my favourite parts of this novel is a brief exchange early on between Joe Chip, the protagonist, and his sentient door to his condo or "conapt" which won't open because he can't afford to pay it. Joe tries to bargain with it and promises to pay the door back if it will just open.
Here's a plot synopsis here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubik
My third recommendation would be "Eye in The Sky", which - guess what - is dark and humourous at the same time.
A group of people touring a particle accelartor are injured in a freak accident. When they come to they begin to experience a warped sense of reality. After a while they begin to realize various dominate personalities in the group are influencing the reality which they are experiencing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_in_the_Sky_%28novel%29
A great exchange in the book comes when one of the batty characters starts making things disappear from her reality that don't agree with her moral view. She bans trivial things and goes so far as to put pants on sheep or some livestock standing in a field. One of the other characters goads in her to banishing random things and he eventually says that the IRISH should be banned since one of the other chracters is of Irish descent. What ensues is a verbal argument for and against the IRISH as the Irish character tries to convince the nutcase that he should continue to exist.
I read the passage outloud at a book club a few years ago and its even funnier outloud.
I could recommend others, but those ones always stick out in my mind. His short stories are good too and have been collected in 5 or so volumes which may or may not be avaialable still. They are harder to digest since they are published chronologically and have hit and miss stories in each volume. If you do decide to read any of the short story collections, you'll be sure to find something that appeals to your tastes. Most of the movies that have been made out of PKD works are based on ideas in his short stories and are virtually unrecognizable from the source material.
Let me know what you end up reading. I think I need to re-read a few PKD stories this year.
For starters I think anyone attempting to read Philip K. Dick should know what they are getting themselves into before they read him so they have reasonable expections. Otherwise it would be kind of like lackofendorphin recommending someone a H.P. Lovecraft novel without first letting the person what to expect.
PKD novels tend to be depressing, sometimes dark, and often humourous in a dark way. Characters are always spouting something sarcastic or inappropriate when you least expect it. His novels can be messy and flawed, but brilliant and insightful at the same time. A lot of his novels were written in the 1960 and early 1970s, much of his "futuristic" settings come off dated and most stories are set in the far flung future of 1992 or 1999. Having said that his novels also contain all kinds of technological and social inventions that were surprsingly close to what has come to transpire (in a round about way). There is always a "dark haired girl" in his novels, someone is always suffering from some form of mental illness/ hyper-mental state, decay is a BIG theme, as is warped precptions of reality. Every Dick novel basically asks the question "What is Real?"
Okay having said that, my favourite three Dick Novels are in no particular order...
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" aka the source of Blade Runner was my introduction to Philip K. Dick. And is a very good read since 75% of what is in the book does not make it into the film. It was very eye opening after having seen the movie to read the book and realize how much more detail was in that universe. Some very central themes like the fake animals and the religious theme of Mercerism are missing from the movie but in the book. Also the relationship between Deckard and his wife is missing from the movie and makes for a very interesting dynamic in the book.
Here's an overview in Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Androids_Dream_of_Electric_Sheep%3F
Another favourites is UBIK (see ICON), which is also dark but humourous at moments. It's about a competing organizations of psioincs trying to nullify each others powers. When one group is ambushed on the moon - they rush back to earth to put their leader in half-life (cyrogenic deep freeze where they can still access the mind of the deceased). They all begin to experience weird froms of regression around them leading them to try to understand what's happening to them. One of my favourite parts of this novel is a brief exchange early on between Joe Chip, the protagonist, and his sentient door to his condo or "conapt" which won't open because he can't afford to pay it. Joe tries to bargain with it and promises to pay the door back if it will just open.
Here's a plot synopsis here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubik
My third recommendation would be "Eye in The Sky", which - guess what - is dark and humourous at the same time.
A group of people touring a particle accelartor are injured in a freak accident. When they come to they begin to experience a warped sense of reality. After a while they begin to realize various dominate personalities in the group are influencing the reality which they are experiencing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_in_the_Sky_%28novel%29
A great exchange in the book comes when one of the batty characters starts making things disappear from her reality that don't agree with her moral view. She bans trivial things and goes so far as to put pants on sheep or some livestock standing in a field. One of the other characters goads in her to banishing random things and he eventually says that the IRISH should be banned since one of the other chracters is of Irish descent. What ensues is a verbal argument for and against the IRISH as the Irish character tries to convince the nutcase that he should continue to exist.
I read the passage outloud at a book club a few years ago and its even funnier outloud.
I could recommend others, but those ones always stick out in my mind. His short stories are good too and have been collected in 5 or so volumes which may or may not be avaialable still. They are harder to digest since they are published chronologically and have hit and miss stories in each volume. If you do decide to read any of the short story collections, you'll be sure to find something that appeals to your tastes. Most of the movies that have been made out of PKD works are based on ideas in his short stories and are virtually unrecognizable from the source material.
Let me know what you end up reading. I think I need to re-read a few PKD stories this year.