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Recent reading
Feb. 9th, 2015 03:21 pmThe Gold Coast by Kim Stanley Robinson
This is one of a trilogy of future Californias; this one is the dystopia (there's also the utopia and the post-apocalypse). The book was published in 1988 and thus still has the Soviet Union, so this is pretty much as modern as you can get and still have a Cold War. It doesn't feel that dated, though. 1984 it is not--this book is a dystopia only in the sense that the world we are living in already is (headed for) a dystopia. : / I liked it. It's full of people living their lives, and you can understand why they're all doing what they're doing, even the one designing weapons in the military-industrial complex (whose son is, of course, sabotaging weapons plants unbeknownst to him). I liked the little touches of alternate history showing how this future diverges from the one in Pacific Edge. Also, since this is KSR, he gets some nature porn in there even with the overcrowded earth.
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
For my book club at work; also, this is a Booker prize winner from 2008. Fuck, this book is depressing. It's well written and actually quite pulls you along as you read, but it's the story of someone clawing their way up in a brutal class society in India. The main character is not-so-sympathetic, but you can see what made him that way.
This is one of a trilogy of future Californias; this one is the dystopia (there's also the utopia and the post-apocalypse). The book was published in 1988 and thus still has the Soviet Union, so this is pretty much as modern as you can get and still have a Cold War. It doesn't feel that dated, though. 1984 it is not--this book is a dystopia only in the sense that the world we are living in already is (headed for) a dystopia. : / I liked it. It's full of people living their lives, and you can understand why they're all doing what they're doing, even the one designing weapons in the military-industrial complex (whose son is, of course, sabotaging weapons plants unbeknownst to him). I liked the little touches of alternate history showing how this future diverges from the one in Pacific Edge. Also, since this is KSR, he gets some nature porn in there even with the overcrowded earth.
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
For my book club at work; also, this is a Booker prize winner from 2008. Fuck, this book is depressing. It's well written and actually quite pulls you along as you read, but it's the story of someone clawing their way up in a brutal class society in India. The main character is not-so-sympathetic, but you can see what made him that way.
