*** What are you reading at the moment?

[Hal Incandenza]

novels, short stories, comics etc - anything you are reading

share your thoughts

[Hal Incandenza]

Ursula K. Le Guin - 'The Word for World is Forest'

Le Guin, who died in 2018, is the critical darling of scifi in academia. more like : she's the only one discussed in academic circles. I have no idea why exactly. a lot of SF is great.

anyway, this short novel right here (100 pages), was written in 1972 and was a comment on the Vietnam war, just like that other scifi classic 'The Forever War' (1974) by Joe Haldeman

where in 'The Forever War' the humans and aliens at war with each other are more or less evenly matched, the human colonizers of an alien planet far outdo the local occupants, who are about a meter tall each and are non aggressive - at the start. the story is a reflection on how creatures change when they go against their own nature to protect their species, how the aggression changes them

in 'The Forever War' the parallels with the Vietnam war are how the war seemingly never ends and what the real cause of the conflict is (only revealed at the end of the novel)

in 'The Word for World is Forest' the parallel is how humans (Americans) supposedly outmatch aliens (Vietnamese) and how the gradual power shift changes both parties (mostly the aliens)

I haven't finished this book yet but it's a good read so far

some other novels by Le Guin I can recommend that I've actually read are 'The Left Hand of Darkness', 'The Lathe of Heaven' and 'The Dispossessed'. all four Le Guin novels have won several SF award. she's also famous for her Earth Sea novels, which can be read by children too, they were like the Harry Potter books of their time (seventies). haven't read those


btw I would recommend 'The Forever War' too, especially if you like action packed plots and time jumps


a cheap way of buying SF is the series 'SF Masterworks' by Gollancz. they're about $8 a book and their titles are ALL quality.

here's the list : https://www.worldswithoutend.com/lis...asterworks.asp

[Hal Incandenza]

I expected more from this Le Guin novel, I'll try and finish it since it's only 100 pages

[Hal Incandenza]

Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry. some good stuff in there. I am not familiar with her husband's poetry

[b-dolo]

Peter Straub, The Hellfire Club. OK book, some better editing would have made much better. One of those books with numerous storylines that should have focused on some of the more interesting aspects.

[Hal Incandenza]

^^gonna read the synopsis online, see if it appeals to me. I don't know the author.

those Barrettt Browning poems are accessible and relaxing, I'm enjoying them so far. I read a few sonnets a day, it makes me slow down for 20 minutes or so. It's been ages since I read any poetry

EDIT : Straub should be up my alley, I enjoy thrillers

[b-dolo]

The Hunger by Alma Katsu. A Supernatural reimaging of the donner party incident. This would proably translate to film quite well. The orginal history is an interesting read also.

[Hal Incandenza]

The Hunger by Alma Katsu. A Supernatural reimaging of the donner party incident. This would proably translate to film quite well. The orginal history is an interesting read also.

Sounds very intriguing. I read a lot of supernatural stuff. Incidentally I only first heard about the Donner party when making a post on cannibalism earlier this week

[b-dolo]

^^gonna read the synopsis online, see if it appeals to me. I don't know the author.

those Barrettt Browning poems are accessible and relaxing, I'm enjoying them so far. I read a few sonnets a day, it makes me slow down for 20 minutes or so. It's been ages since I read any poetry

EDIT : Straub should be up my alley, I enjoy thrillers

Straub is best known for his book Ghost Story. That is what lead me to Hellfire Club. Ghost Story is good but I read so long ago all I remember is that I liked and couldn't give you any info beyond that. Looks like it is in line for a re-read.