I might as well make this clear up front: I’m writing about Dune the book here, not the recent movie. I will say, however, that I really, really like the movie. That surprised me because I thought this story was one that filmmakers would never get right.
When I first read about the new movie, I automatically assumed it was going to be a train wreck. Then I saw the first trailer and suddenly became hopeful. Around that time I decided to reread the book. This was unusual for me. I love to read and have always believed that there are just too many books in the world to waste time reading one again. However, it had been over 30 years since I read it, and I loved it so much the first time that I thought I would break from tradition and give it an encore.
As my planning skills would have it, I didn’t get around to starting the book until after I’d seen the movie. After spending some quality time with the book the past two weekends I think my position on rereading may be softening.
Of course, the three-decade cushion between the two readings makes it almost like a new experience again. The movie didn’t cover all of the book, so it didn’t spoil anything.
One of the things that I had forgotten was that Frank Herbert wasn’t just a brilliant storyteller, but a brilliant writer as well. Both aren’t always true in the same writer. John Grisham is a perfect example. Wonderful storyteller but he writes like a lawyer.
Herbert’s work, as my good friend and colleague Stephen Green says, “is literature.” That isn’t unheard of in Sci-Fi, but it is rare.
Mr. Green is rereading all of the Herbert’s Dune series now. When he first mentioned on “Five O’Clock Somewhere” that he was going to do that I didn’t even consider that I might too. Now, as I am getting deeper into my second trip to Arrakis I think I may stick around for a while.
I really should finish Infinite Jest first though. I think I only have 3,000 pages left.
