wednesday reading
May. 7th, 2014 04:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
boxofdelightsWiscon is coming! What books do you anticipate talking about there?
I read some books. I reread Redemption in Indigo for book group. It doesn't really stand up to rereading, but I was looking for ideas for foods to serve. It was my turn to host, so I picked the book and provided the food, but Jo let me host it at her house because my house is kind of broken. I keep coming to the realization that I shouldn't foist speculative fiction on this group, but time passes, and I forget, and someone else picks something that has magic or weird science in it, and my turn comes around again, and I think, Redemption in Indigo! It's got food, and family, and it's from a different culture, and it's short! Everyone will like it! And then book group starts with someone saying, "I hope you can explain this book to us because I didn't get it." And I realize again that I cannot pick speculative fiction that people who don't read speculative fiction will like.
They liked the food though! Peanut dip and hummus with veggies and rice crackers to start. Then chickpea salad, red lentil curry and rice, and futari. Ginger cookies and chocolate for dessert. Everything was gluten-free except the ginger cookies.
I'm in the middle of The Circle, which is saying interesting things about pressure to give up all privacy. It's hard for me to believe how little pushback there is against the idea of total surveillance even at the beginning of the book: when one of the founders explains that he worries about his mom, so he has installed cameras inside her house without her knowledge, and then displays the feed from those cameras to everyone who works for him, his audience doesn't respond with anything stronger than titters. But now, 3/5 of the way through, I do believe in Mae's (our viewpoint character's) acceptance of the camera. I said to myself "She loved Big Brother" even before Bailey put
But I have to pause The Circle to read Jack Glass, for SF bookfroup tomorrow, and then The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, for the next Tawanda bookgroup.
I read some books. I reread Redemption in Indigo for book group. It doesn't really stand up to rereading, but I was looking for ideas for foods to serve. It was my turn to host, so I picked the book and provided the food, but Jo let me host it at her house because my house is kind of broken. I keep coming to the realization that I shouldn't foist speculative fiction on this group, but time passes, and I forget, and someone else picks something that has magic or weird science in it, and my turn comes around again, and I think, Redemption in Indigo! It's got food, and family, and it's from a different culture, and it's short! Everyone will like it! And then book group starts with someone saying, "I hope you can explain this book to us because I didn't get it." And I realize again that I cannot pick speculative fiction that people who don't read speculative fiction will like.
They liked the food though! Peanut dip and hummus with veggies and rice crackers to start. Then chickpea salad, red lentil curry and rice, and futari. Ginger cookies and chocolate for dessert. Everything was gluten-free except the ginger cookies.
I'm in the middle of The Circle, which is saying interesting things about pressure to give up all privacy. It's hard for me to believe how little pushback there is against the idea of total surveillance even at the beginning of the book: when one of the founders explains that he worries about his mom, so he has installed cameras inside her house without her knowledge, and then displays the feed from those cameras to everyone who works for him, his audience doesn't respond with anything stronger than titters. But now, 3/5 of the way through, I do believe in Mae's (our viewpoint character's) acceptance of the camera. I said to myself "She loved Big Brother" even before Bailey put
SECRETS ARE LIESup on the screen.
SHARING IS CARING
PRIVACY IS THEFT
But I have to pause The Circle to read Jack Glass, for SF bookfroup tomorrow, and then The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, for the next Tawanda bookgroup.
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Date: 2014-05-08 05:12 am (UTC)I read Redemption in Indigo only once, but I did enjoy reading it. My old-farts SF book group plans to discuss Lord's second book (Best of all possible worlds) next month. I may try to reread it; it's been a while since I read it.
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Date: 2014-05-08 05:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-09 06:10 pm (UTC)such a juicy post, I keep forgetting to complete all the thoughts
Date: 2014-05-08 05:17 am (UTC)Haven't read Jack Glass. Sounds interesting (and didn't it win some awards?) but some people found major flaws. Maybe I'll get to it someday.
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Date: 2014-05-08 07:41 am (UTC)This is hard, yes. I picked this one book for my book club (Lolly Willowes), and after we read it, one person said, totally confused, "Is this a book about someone who's mentally ill?" Er, no, I do not read it that way.
OTOH, I have had success with giving The Left Hand of Darkness to people who don't read SF.