I remember the salt smoke from a beach fire
And shadows under the pines-
Solid, clean… fixed-
Seagulls perched at the tip of land,
White upon green…
And a wind comes through the pines
To sway the shadows;
The seagulls spread their wings,
Lift
And fill the sky with screeches.
And I hear the wind
Blowing across the beach,
And the surf,
And I see that our fire
Has scorched the seaweed.
It may just not be for me, but I am thinking I’ll eventually give the other books a try. For what it’s worth, I read it end to other and as an adult. It just didn’t vibe for me, I didn’t like the character, I didn’t love the cultures that were being presented, even if some aspects of the technology were interesting. I can see how it became foundational to a certain genre of science fiction, but I never found the spark in it to make me care.
I heard the books after Dune itself are better. A less moody character, a less shallow character, and cultures that aren’t so much seeming like outsider’s shallow takes on Arabic and nomadic cultures. I mostly mean the viewpoint character Paul, other characters in the book were more interesting to me.
The one I read was the original by Herbert, and it’s the only Herbert or Dune book I read.