The amount of times I have picked up Dune, read the first few pages, and then abandoned it, is more than I would like to admit. Each time I found it too hard to read and I never got invested in the book. So when I found it on audio I was excited and immediately started listening. Usually I like every book I read, but Dune was a different story. I despised it.
A few weeks ago I saw my dad reading Dune and I thought I should give it another shot. So, I started listening to it again. I finished it and still hated it. I was driving with my dad and complaining about how boring Dune was and that nothing happened in it.
He looked at me and said, "You didn't like when Paul met the girl?"
"There's no girl in the book," I replied.
My dad looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Yes there is! The girl named Chani!
He then rattled off a whole bunch of different pronunciations of her name to see if the reader of the audiobook had pronounced it weird. Nope, I had never heard of a Chani or any other girl in Dune.
That is when I realized there must have been some mistake. I quickly looked at the audiobook I had listened to. There it was. "Dune: Part 1". I had only ever listened to Part 1 of the book (The podcast broke the book down into two parts, and nothing really happens in Part 1.) There still was another 15-hour-long "Part 2". No wonder I hated it!
A couple of days later I finished the second part of Dune, and now, after finally finishing the book (for real this time), I will now take it off my black list of books. So if you ever read it (which you should) make sure you read both parts!! :)
...and now for another instalment of my some-what-frequent blog series Good Reads...
And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie
This book is number one on my favourites list. Think of your ideal murder mystery book and this will meet and exceed your expectations!!! I only blog my absolute favourite books of the month and this one deserves a whole blog post for itself! I started this book in the afternoon and finished it by the next morning!
I was hoping Agatha Christie was still alive so I could beg her to write another one just like it, but no, she died a long time ago:( I have listened to a few of the Hercule Poirot series and I didn't enjoy them much, so I was skeptical when I started this one. It was very different from Hercule Poirot and VERRRRRRRY MUCH BETTER!
In the book, ten strangers are invited to Soldier Island. Each person is invited for a different reason. They all arrive together ready for a weekend of fun and catching up with the host, but when they arrive there is no host. That night somebody gets murdered. Then it happens again and again and again. Slowly each person is being killed and they know it is somebody among them doing the killing. Each person killed dies according to this poem...
Ten little Soldier boys went out to dine;
One choked his little self and then there were nine.
Nine little Soldier boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself and then there were eight.
Eight little Soldier boys traveling in Devon;
One said he’d stay there and then there were seven...
...One little Soldier boy left all alone;
He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.
If you want to find out the ending, you better go get the book right now.
Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein
This is my Dad's favourite book and I can see why he loves it!! This book actually was a mandatory read if you were joining the U.S. Military.
Si-Fi isn't really my forte, but I had just finished Dune and was on a Si-Fi roll when I picked this one up. It tells the story of an 18-year-old boy who enrols in the army with his best friend. He is placed in the infantry, the exact place he didn't want to be. From there he is trained and goes to space to fight bugs (which I imagine as the monsters from A Quiet Place except a little less dangerous). Sounds lame, but it is better than my synopsis :)
Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I had to put this series in because I have read them 3-4 times and they never get old! My favourite genre is detective mystery, so when my mom told me to listen to them I did and nearly died from delight. If you haven't already read these...you kind of need to...
Honourable Mentions: Dune - Frank Herbert, Mansfield Park - Jane Austen, To Kill a Mocking Bird - Harper Lee
Happy Friday!
ZL
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