Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Hate at first sight #Adaptation

Dune by Frank Herbert

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This might be the first review I’ve ever written for a DNF (I got about 20% through). My fantasy book club chose Dune because of the adaptation that was originally coming out later this year (even though it’s actually sci fi). (I’m going to skip the blurb because at this point, I think everyone knows vaguely what it’s about. If not, I’m sure there are many more lovingly written reviews here that can blurb it for you.) I have possibly never hated a book so […]

Dune – A Father’s Perspective

Dune by Frank Hebert

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Dune is one of the fundamental texts of speculative fiction and I have probably read it a half dozen times over the years. Why re-read it now? I saw the trailer for the movie coming out later this year (and if you haven’t seen it, find it online, it is fantastic) and realized I had not read it since my kids were very little. I thought I might have a different perspective now that my youngest is a teenager and that was certainly true. When […]

In the week before their departure to Arrakis, when all the final scurrying about had reached a nearly unbearable frenzy, an old crone came to visit the mother of the boy, Paul.

Dune by Frank Herbert

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So this is my third reading of this book. The cover I put in this post is from my first 1990 copy of it, and it’s how I think of it. I’ve seen the movie a handful of times, and the miniseries twice, and I honestly feel both are terrible (David Lynch’s movie has a lot of good in it), and I think it all comes down to what feels impossible to convey in a film version without some real trying. I think the new […]

Filling a glaring gap in my literary resume…

Dune by Frank Herbert

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I really enjoy science fiction, and while I don’t stick to that genre exclusively, I have read enough that I felt considerable shame for never having read Dune.  There are classics that everyone just has to experience. So on a recent vacation, I brought it along to rectify this situation. Dune is set on the planet Arrakis, a desert land that hosts only one valuable resource, called ‘the spice’. Its drug-like qualities are invaluable across the galaxy, and is worth killing for. Our protagonist is […]

A Most Impressively God-Awful Read

Dune by Frank Herbert

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I’m really torn as to whether Dune is truly terrible because it did not age well, or because it’s just bad. I don’t even see how it was as revolutionary as it’s reputed. This may be the worst thing I’ve read in a very long time, and it’s so bad, it’s actually kind of impressive. Most of the novel is characters standing around thinking “deep” thoughts or sometimes voicing said thoughts. Many have virtually no context and seem meant to be ever so meaningful and […]

Needs more sandworms

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Did you know Frank Herbert wrote non-science fiction stuff? I had never read anything of his except Dune, so when I found this at the library book sale, I was intrigued. Unfortunately, it reads like a less-interesting and not-quite-as-cohesive Alistair MacLean. There’s some kind of war on, against the Eastern Powers. It seems to maybe be in the future (keeping it sci-fi adjacent?). However, none of what’s going on in the outside world is really addressed. Ninety percent of the story takes place in a […]



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