Similarities to Watchmen

Now, I know that we're actually comparing HSWT with TSNOTD and TMIAB, but Have Spacesuit wraps up with a potential doomsday scenario, and that made me think of Watchmen. I love that even in a YA book, Heinlein gets in the creepiness of "Their planet shall be rotated." A whole planet instantly separated from its sun - now that's scary.

Another similarity lay in the undeniable baseness and evil possible in humanity, and the need for some greater force (Ozymandius, the war crimes tribunal) to deal with the possible fallout of human choices. I love how clear my images of Iunio were, standing in the middle of some vast amphitheater, surrounded by aliens, in full Roman legionairre costume, and shouting "Witchcraft and making horns when the translation pipes in. So wonderful. I think that's something that was missing for me in Watchmen - the silliness and wonderfulness of people, even as they're awful.

Anyway . . . I need to NaNoWriMo. What are others wrap up thoughts in Heinlein?

More Heinlein Love

Where oh where is Peter? PEEEEETTTTEEERR!!!! I don't feel like we can move onto to discussing TSNOTD until we all get to weigh in a few times on HSWT, so . . . Peter come in, this is Junebug. This is Junebug, over. Do you copy? Alpha, Bravo, Charlie . . .

Ok. Here are some more quotes I loved:

Chapter 8: "Of course I'm right!" she retorted. "I'm always right."
"Goodness me! The handy-dandy pocket encyclopedia."
She blushed. "I can't help being a genius."
Which left her wide opena nd I was about the rub her nose in it-when I saw how unahppy she looked.
I remembered hearing Dad say: "Some people insist that 'mediocre' is better than 'best.' They delight in clipping wings because they can't fly. The despise brains because they have none."

As someone who was dubbed a 'wallking talking dictionary' in elementary school and regularly annoyed professors by asking questions they couldn't answer, as well as pretty much constantly self-editing what I reference, I liked this bit.

Chapter 9 "Not even in yourself, because that's what you are - wavicles." Hahahaha - ahh, the particle/wave paradox. So great.

Further on in 9, the descriptions of the viewer and the library sounds just like technology we have now - internet anyone? Wikipedia?

And towards the ends, regarding the Vegans, "I guess their worst vice was that they didn't have any. This can be tiresome."

And then, of course, I loved the end. Quoting Shakespeare, a crazed Roman legionary, a threat to ourselves, the nervous tic, a professor who looked like "an excited Iunio" - fantastic. And, I want a happy thing.

I Love Me Some Heinlein

Well, I am currently in Chapter 7, although I have read this before so I do know what's coming. Where is everyone else? I want to know what I can and can't write about! For now, I will settle for listing some choice and beloved quotes. I have a hardcover library version at the moment, so I will have to reference chapters and not pages - I'll be picking up a new paperback copy soon. Did you both get the tradepaper edition pictured on the blog?

And now:

From Chapter 2, "[Mr. Charton] said quietly, 'Kip, a reverence for life does not require a man to respect Nature's obvious mistakes.' " Assignment: make your top ten list of people who qualify as "Nature's obvious mistakes." Do it. It's cathartic. I am starting to formulate mine in my head now . . .

Second line, Chapter 4, "It made no noise but a whoosh and there weren't any flaming jets-it seemed to move by clean living and righteous thoughts." I think Peter and I may not be able to fully respond to this question, as I know that I occasionally purposefully revel in unclean living and decidedly not righteous thinking. Jennie, report back on abilities to fly. Check in with Paul too. ;-)

Later in Chapter 4, "Elephants aren't human but they are very nice people." Isn't this a paraphrase of a famous quote? Or did Heinlein coin it?

End of Chapter 4, "He's the synthesist. Everybody else specializes. Daddy knows everything and puts the pieces together." Hey! This is the exact description of what I'd like to be! Cool!

Toward the front of Chapter 5, "Sleep. 'Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care.' " I'm pretty sure this exact quote shows up in TSNOTD. Terence, maybe? We shall see. It's originally from Macbeth, which they quote later too.

In the beginning of Chapter 6, Heinlein refers to Eliza crossing the ice. This is the same poor Eliza from the play in the King and I! Yay literacy!

Fun fun fun! I do love Heinlein.

Labels

Jennie, Have you been going through and labeling stuff for me? Because I just realized I never do that. You are the best secretary EVER.

I requested my copy of HSWT from the Boulder library system, because the bookstores were taking too long and I don't know what I did with my old copy, except that it is probably somewhere at my parents' house. I should have it in the next day or two and will blast through!

Now, what do I label this post . . .

Have Spacesuit, Will Diagram

Right, so I've read Heinlein before, and enjoyed him. Which is not to say that I'm not enjoying this book. I'm only four or so chapters in, just barely starting. And commendations to him for really putting the science into science fiction.

That said...

I don't care how a spacesuit works. Or is refurbished.

I really don't.

A Triple Play!

Alright, we can keep discussing Watchmen (no hurry), but I figured I'd post about where we're headed next so that we can all work on acquiring the books (yes, I said books, with an 's'!) and start reading!

The idea for this triple selection came when I was lamenting to Lisa almost two months ago that I didn't know what I should choose when my turn came. It is very hard for me to come up with a book that Lisa hasn't read. In fact, she has been my go-to girl for book recs for many years. So, we started discussing things. I had a couple ideas, but they weren't getting me very excited. I still may use one or both of those ideas in the future. They just weren't the right books for us to read next. Then came the epiphany. Ok, ok, it was mostly (basically all) Lisa's idea...but I'm still using it for my turn!

So, without further ado, here are our next three selections:

1. Have Spacesuit, Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein

This is the one we'll read first. I've never read it, and it's been a long time for Lisa. It should be a quick and fun read. It's a juvenile science fiction novel written in 1958. I honestly don't know much about it, other than the connection it has with these other two books.










2. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

This book is what inspired the whole idea. Even though both Lisa and I have read it (numerous times), we agree that reading it together with these other two will be intriguing, not to mention tons of fun. Also, you have to read it, Peter. :) Funny and clever, this is one of my favorite books of all time. There should be some interesting parallels between this book and Have Spacesuit, Will Travel.






3. Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome

The obvious conclusion to our little trilogy. :) Again, I've never read it, but I've been wanting to read it ever since I first read To Say Nothing of the Dog. This is the book that neatly ties all three together. It's mentioned in Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, and (as you can see) it inspired the title of To Say Nothing of the Dog (plus the main character refers to it constantly throughout the book). It's an English comedy that was written in 1889. Should be jolly good fun! :)





So, there you have it! I definitely wanted to have something on the more lighthearted side of things to follow the darkness of Watchmen. ;) I think we'll have a good time making comparisons between these three books and seeing how they relate. And it will be interesting to speculate on what made these two modern science fiction writers take note of Jerome K. Jerome and his little comedy.