Humiliation, Round Three: The Nominations
Posted 7 August 2008 in Reading by Catriona
And the nominations are in for round three of Humiliation.
I have never read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.
Nick has never read Neuromancer by William Gibson.
Tim has never read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.
Leigh has never read Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.
Wendy has never read The Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
John has never read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
Matt has never read Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein.
Let me know which ones you’ve read in the comments thread below.
I’ll calculate the final scores once we’ve all voted.
Previously: Curses and Blessings
Next: When You're Just Not Geeky Enough
Share your thoughts [24]
1
Catriona wrote at Aug 7, 08:42 am
Sadly, the only one of these that I have read is Romeo and Juliet.
(I’ve been struggling with whether I’ve read Fahrenheit 451 and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?—I certainly own both of them, but I’m fairly certain that in both cases it’s only a matter of having seen the movies and then made a vague attempt to read the first few pages.)
2
Wendy wrote at Aug 7, 08:49 am
I’ve read Neuromancer, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Fahrenheit 451…
3
Tim wrote at Aug 7, 08:59 am
I have read Snow Crash, Neuromancer, Romeo and Juliet, The Lord of the Flies and Fahrenheit 451.
4
Nick Caldwell wrote at Aug 7, 09:02 am
I’ve read Snow Crash, Starship Troopers, and Lord of the Flies.
5
Leigh wrote at Aug 7, 09:32 am
“Sadly, the only one of these that I have read is Romeo and Juliet.
(I’ve been struggling with whether I’ve read Fahrenheit 451 and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?—I certainly own both of them, but I’m fairly certain that in both cases it’s only a matter of having seen the movies and then made a vague attempt to read the first few pages.)”
Change Romeo and Juilet to Lord of the flies and i would have posted the exact same post, i keep picking them up and putting them down.
So to clarify i have read Lord of the flies thats it
6
Matthew Smith wrote at Aug 8, 01:09 am
I have read:
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Awesome and funny. The super-villain and end plot is a bit over the top though.
Neuromancer by William Gibson. This one is strong all the way through because it’s scope stays on the main characters in terms of plot resolution.
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. A story about the first emos. They deserved to die.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I read this in high school but from what I remember it touches on similar things to 1984 but with more action and a few twists like the use of media as a pacifier and famously, the repurposing of “firemen” for destroying books. It also has robotic dogs which may have influenced Charles Stross’ Iron Sunrise and many other authors.
7
John wrote at Aug 8, 01:57 am
I’ve read:
Snowcrash
Neuromancer
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The Lord of the Flies
8
Tim wrote at Aug 8, 07:24 am
Does that make it a three-way tie?
9
Catriona wrote at Aug 8, 07:25 am
And it seems that round three is a stalemate! Perhaps we’re all reading too many of the same books?
Me, Nick, and Wendy: 4 points each.
Leigh and John: 3 points each.
Tim: 2 points.
Matt: 1 point.
Apparently, people aren’t that into reading Heinlein, any more. Or is it just Starship Troopers?
10
Catriona wrote at Aug 8, 07:27 am
Whoops, Tim: you were in moderation while I was adding the points up.
Yep, three-way tie it is, this time. A very close-run game, too.
11
Tim wrote at Aug 8, 07:41 am
Starship Troopers is one of Heinlein’s short ones, and famous, so I’m guessing it’s him.
12
Leigh wrote at Aug 8, 08:14 am
Oh my lord, congrats all :) i have to say that it was so not worth the humiliation seeing i didnt win, right I’m gonna chuck and tantrum and say im not going to play anymore :)
13
Catriona wrote at Aug 8, 08:22 am
You can’t chuck a tantrum—you weren’t even that humiliated! No one else had read it, either. Well, hardly anyone.
14
Wendy wrote at Aug 8, 09:25 am
I feel so very humiliated (and just a little bit proud of myself – that seems wrong though!?)
15
Matthew Smith wrote at Aug 8, 11:14 am
Good game and congrats to the winners. I knew Heinlein was a risk but didn’t really know where to go with the sci-fi theme. Do you think I would have done better with Tim Winton? I’m feeling pretty smug I gotta tell you.
16
Catriona wrote at Aug 8, 11:22 am
I can’t speak for the others, but I personally have never read a Tim Winton novel. I’m actually a little surprised you didn’t come higher up the order with Heinlein. I knew Nick had read it, but I would have thought a few others had, as well.
17
Wendy wrote at Aug 9, 12:57 am
I’d definitely recommend Cloudstreet (winton)…Dirt Music…not so much…The riders was okay as well…haven’t bothered with the latest one though
18
Catriona wrote at Aug 9, 01:36 am
Cloudstreet was his first one, wasn’t it? Or his first big one? I seem to remember hearing good things about that.
19
Wendy wrote at Aug 9, 01:55 am
yes I guess cloudstreet is the big one..
first was an open swimmer (won the vogel – information courtesy of wikipedia!)- haven’t read that one
20
heretic wrote at Aug 30, 07:00 am
I know the scores were tallied ages ago. I just had to say two things.
1) To my own surprise, I’ve read all of them. Although a couple were required reading at high school, which generally feels a bit like cheating. But I’ve still read them nonetheless.
2) Nick hasn’t read Neuromancer? WTF?! Hit him for me. Preferably with a copy of Neuromancer.
21
Catriona wrote at Aug 30, 08:48 am
I was amazed, too! Although I’m not sure we even own a copy of Neuromancer. I could hit him with Snow Crash. Would that be good enough?
22
heretic wrote at Aug 30, 12:05 pm
It’ll have to do in the meantime. Just let him know he has to turn in his cyberpunk badge if he doesn’t rectify the situation :)
23
Matthew Smith wrote at Sep 1, 02:36 am
You can hit him with my copy but it’s not hard cover sorry. However, you guys have my copies of River of Gods and Pattern Recognition which combined should make a good thud. (sorry Nick, you can come over and belt me up with all your D&D rule-books and boxes of seminal games if you survive)
24
Catriona wrote at Sep 1, 05:49 am
True—but I’d prefer not to hit him with someone else’s books. Never fear—I have some meaty tomes of my own, including one volume of a nineteenth-century journal that is 1200 pages long.
(I’m not hitting him with that, though: it’s fragile.)