Title: Freshman for President I enjoyed FRESHMAN FOR PRESIDENT a lot more than I thought I would. I honestly thought I was going to hate it because I just wasn’t that interested in the subject matter. Even though it’s not one of my favorite books, I think it’s well written, fun, original, and unique. I also liked that Ally didn’t sugar coat real-life issues.
Title: Dune This was actually the third time I’ve read DUNE. I first read it for my Science Fiction class in high school. It was one of a handful of books I read that were assigned to me. (I usually just didn’t read and watched the movie, if there was one, instead. Gasp!) I fell in love with the story that first time I read it.
Each time I reread this story, I fall in love with it all over again. I adore everything about it. I love Herbert’s writing, the characters, the setting, the complexity of the story, and the ethical / moral issues it explores.
During this reread, the relationships between the characters stood out more than they had the previous times. I think reading all the different stories with romance intertwined in them has affected how I view other stories. I found myself wanting Paul and Chani’s love story to be more prominent, even though I knew it wouldn’t be.
Despite the fact that the love story wasn’t as prominent as I wanted it to be, I loved the story just as much as I did the other two time. I’m glad I took the time to reread it again rather than just focusing on reading books I’ve never read. I also think it’s high time I read the other books in the series since I’ve never read them.
Update: As of 2026, I still haven’t read the rest of the series and I don’t plan to at this point. Over the years, DUNE has become my all-time favorite book. I don’t want to be disappointed by the sequels and I don’t want that disappointment to ruin my love for this story. Fortunately, it stands well enough alone that I don’t need to go on.
During my latest read back in 2021, I was more aware of how much Herbert relied on Islamic culture as his inspiration for the series. In past reads, I had wondered if some of the words were inspired by Arabic, but it wasn’t until I was watching the new movie that I started to do more research on Herbert’s inspiration. I didn’t realize the extent of Islamic cultural references he used until then. I’ve decided that I can still love the story while acknowledging the misappropriation for what it is, and do better by supporting Muslim authors and authentic Muslim stories.