Recent reading
Dec. 18th, 2015 02:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaLeft Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Re-re-reread. Or something. This was my choice for book-club-at-work, and it was interesting to hear people who weren't used to SF discuss it. One of them googled the word "kemmer" expecting it to be a real English word, and when he didn't find it, he failed to pick up from context what it meant throughout the first third of the book. *boggles* But I think I would've gotten more out of the discussion myself if I'd read it with fellow genre fans.
This time around I couldn't help but notice the things about gender which felt a bit dated. Ah well. What I appreciated most this time around was the politics (last time around it was the ice journey). I've heard someone say they think it's a simplistic Cold War story, but no. Sure, Orgoreyn is pretty clearly inspired by the Soviet Union, but Karhide is hardly the US. There are thoughts about nationalism and war and social organization here that are really interesting.
Maybe I should re-read good books more often.
Naomi Mitchison: A Profile of Her Life and Work by Lesley A. Hall
(Thanks,jesse_the_k!) This was interesting as context and background, and I picked out some more Mitchison titles that I'm going to search out.
The Fourth Pig by Naomi Mitchison
A collection of re-written fairy tales steeped in social democracy, from the first half of the 20th century. Is how I read it, anyway. : ) The prose is really lovely.
Re-re-reread. Or something. This was my choice for book-club-at-work, and it was interesting to hear people who weren't used to SF discuss it. One of them googled the word "kemmer" expecting it to be a real English word, and when he didn't find it, he failed to pick up from context what it meant throughout the first third of the book. *boggles* But I think I would've gotten more out of the discussion myself if I'd read it with fellow genre fans.
This time around I couldn't help but notice the things about gender which felt a bit dated. Ah well. What I appreciated most this time around was the politics (last time around it was the ice journey). I've heard someone say they think it's a simplistic Cold War story, but no. Sure, Orgoreyn is pretty clearly inspired by the Soviet Union, but Karhide is hardly the US. There are thoughts about nationalism and war and social organization here that are really interesting.
Maybe I should re-read good books more often.
Naomi Mitchison: A Profile of Her Life and Work by Lesley A. Hall
(Thanks,
jesse_the_k!) This was interesting as context and background, and I picked out some more Mitchison titles that I'm going to search out. The Fourth Pig by Naomi Mitchison
A collection of re-written fairy tales steeped in social democracy, from the first half of the 20th century. Is how I read it, anyway. : ) The prose is really lovely.
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Date: 2016-01-05 09:33 pm (UTC)