Book Foo

[newnumber6]

Finished: Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon
Started: The Visitors by Clifford D. Simak

Venus Plus X wasn't bad I suppose, but nothing in it really sung to me either. For the most part it was one of those typical 'modern man taken into a utopian society so he can learn how they do things', which are more or less an excuse for the author to get some thoughts on society out there than to actually tell a story. There is more of a story in this than some of those tales (for example, Looking Backward), but overall it was only just okay. The story was intercut with vignettes that were happening in the 'modern age' that had only tangential relevance to the story at hand and so annoyed me. They were thematically related but never actually intertwineed with the plot that I could tell.

The Visitors, so far, is a fairly typical 'what would happen if aliens landed' story, showing the public and government reaction. In this case, the aliens have (so far anyway) not communicated in any way and seem to just be going about their business on Earth, eating trees. They killed a person who shot at them (which was like a dream a while ago, but probably I dreamed it because I read the back of the book where it was mentioned).

Comments

[occamsnailfile.livejournal.com]

Have you ever read Slaughterhouse Five? I don't think I quite finished it- left it in my computer drawer in Texas. It has elements of both The Visitors and Venus Plus X (though I've never read either of those- try The Dreaming Kind for something vaguely mythosy IMO from Sturgeon; also Some of Your Blood) in that utopian aliens visit Earth... but from there it's just bizarre. Of course, it's Vonnegut and some folks would say that's what to expect, but it doesn't piss me off the way most experimental prose does. William Burroughs fans on line three. ;)

Books

[newnumber6.livejournal.com]

Haven't read Slaughterhouse 5... the only Vonnegut I've read is Cat's Cradle and a few short stories. I have seen most of the movie, and yeah, well, bizarre is one word for what I saw there. ;). Not sure I'd be too into it, but maybe if I spot it in a used bookstore or something.
As to Sturgeon, by Dreaming Kind do you mean The Dreaming Jewels? That I've read, and it was one of his more entertaining books actually, just forgot to mention it.

Re: Books

[occamsnailfile.livejournal.com]

I also read most of Hocus Pocus by Vonnegut when I was like, eight. It's much easier to understand though so close to not-science-fiction-science-fiction that I didn't realize that parts of it were made up.

*ahem* Anyway, yeah, The Dreaming Jewels sounds like the same thing- my father had a collection that called them "The Dreaming Kind" possibly to avoid a seriously spoiler-y title. ;)