Welcome to Litsy!

Page 41: “If, in reading this, you cannot see that Fat is writing about himself, then you understand nothing”. Well, Dick threw down the challenge & won. I‘m sure it‘s a worthy philosophical/theological exploration but I‘m just not intellectual enough to understand, sadly. Also, drugs, semi-glamorised as profound/cosmic or situated ambiguously as either the cause of, or escape from, a “madness” that‘s a stylised affectation, doesn‘t entertain me

@The_Book_Ninja I thought I'd stop hogging @vivastory 's bandwidth and move over to a VALIS specific post 😊
Don't let me put you off reading this book, but it is hardcore Dick-Head fare!
You might ease in with one of his slightly earlier novels, such as:
• Ubik
• A Scanner Darkly
• Flow My Tears the Policeman Said
If they float your boat, then VALIS might do, too.
With apologies for my presumption in dictating to you what you should read!

Forced myself to get out of the house today.

Returning to Philip K. Dick. I'm really enjoying reading about this period of his life from his perspective. Such an odd experience he had. I'm glad he was able to eventually recover from it.

I like how he created himself and his personia both in the book. Reminds me of Vonnegut and Trout.

Fruts, cheerios, and Philip K. Dick.

I've been wondering if PKD fans are referred to as Dickheads. If not theyre not, then why?🤔

“It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.“

Remembering Philip K. Dick on his birthday.

This is very painful for me to admit but have to be truthful: I love Philip K. Dick, he is one of my favorite authors but this book was too much for me. As much as I tried, I couldn't get it all. There are tons of great ideas that I liked but I found out lots of it went over my head and I just couldn't focus. I felt it is better to stop reading half way through than to just skim and finish it without doing it justice. Still a pick, even if DNF!

Doing a buddy read of the tagged book and it is WEIRD. Being Philip K. Dick I expected weird but this is even stranger than I could have prepared for. It‘ll definitely lead to some interesting book chats. #huey #catsoflitsy

Dick stack

“This is a mournful discovery.
1) Those who agree with you are insane
2) Those who do not agree with you are in power.”

Valis

Author: Philip K. Dick
Year: 1981
"It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane."

(Picture from article of an Android Philip K Dick in 2005)
An article about top 10 genre-twisting novels makes me wonder if this is what the #booked2019 category for #genrebusting has in mind? Because I‘ve been wondering what it means!
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/13/top-10-genre-twisting-novels-alan-...

finally finished VALIS! 💖 it took me longer than i thought- lotssss of information to process... and unfortunately it takes longer to intake & process information via reading versus just receiving it from a pink beam. 😏 but i loved every second of it! 😍 also, the sign of a good book = lots of post-it flags. 😂 now onto the divine invasion... can‘t wait! 👽💕 #myPKDjourney

finally started reading this beauty! 😍 boy, oh boy, was it worth the wait. i‘m in love already! 👽💕✨ #philipkdick #myPKDjourney

happy 90th birthday, philip k. dick! 👽💕 thank you for all you‘ve brought to the world & to my life. 🖤 #myPKDjourney

alright, dickheads! here‘s what i have waiting in the wings. which one should i read next?! 👽💕 *i‘m planning on saving the valis trilogy until the very end of my #PKD journey, but i‘m open to suggestion. 🙂 #myPKDjourney

Sometimes the appropriate response to reality is to go insane.

@Bookwomble here is my Philip K. Dick t-shirt I mentioned. I also have an Ubik t-shirt.

“Just tell me why; why the fucking why?" To which the universe would hollowly respond, "My ways cannot be known, oh man." Which is to say, "My ways do not make sense, nor do the ways of those who dwell in me.”

Dizzyingly layered; demands to be re-read, but not until my head has stopped swimming. Whether you buy in to PKD's religious/philosophical position or not, there's certainly lots to think about and, if you make it through to the end, it will stay with you for a long time. As is usual with PKD, there's much here about the nature and perception of reality and what it is to be human. There's a big chunk of auto-biography and painful honesty. 👇🏻👇🏻

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

"It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane."

Can‘t help it... apparently I must always have a sci-fi book in my “currently reading” stack... 💁🏻‍♀️😍

#BooksWithBohemianYogini #GuiltyPleasure

It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.

Salvador Salvandus

The best, and possibly oddest, character name I can think of is Horselover Fat from Philip K. Dick's VALIS. Horselover Fat is Dick's schizoid alter-ego. Philip in Greek means "horse lover," Dick is German for "fat." I love this character and his beautifully delusional escapades.

"I am not a character in the novel; I am the novel." - PKD

#bestcharactername #booktober

It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.

Welp. 😂 This certainly beats cramming organic chemistry (both seem to take long rambling detours! Madness~)

Philip K. Dick, of all people, recognising and sneering at the pay-gap.

"If mockery were the only antidote to his malady, he was palpably better off as he stood."

It's been a while since I read a PKD novel. I forgot about the nonsense words.

This is my favorite book by PKD. One of the last novels published before his death from a stroke in 1982. The best, most sincere depiction of mental illness I have seen in any novel. Whereas his earlier books are warped, paranoid fantasies, "VALIS" is a mystical quest for spiritual awakening, acceptance, and transcendence. It is a philosophical work that questions the nature of reality and what we might call God. I love this book. #recommendsday

I got so many PKD stacks all scattered around. Them and Conan and Lem and Lansdale and King and rare little Pynchon paperbacks: I could build a fort, and live in it. Also? That's pretty much what I've been doing, my whole life. It's a good fort.