Dystopian fiction is social commentary with a side of terror. It uses hyperbole to try and help us see that we are the frogs in the water that is starting to boil. It takes situations that some people are currently giving the side-eye, projects them into the future, and magnifies them x100. According to Rare Books Digest, the first dystopian novel was written in Russian but was banned and had it’s first release in the U.S. in 1924. What better way for such a form to make its debut than as a banned book? Aldous Huxley and George Orwell quickly Read More
Category: Science/Fiction/Fantasy
Coyote Ate the Stars
I loved this book! My last blog post was about books that don’t make you care about the characters. This was not problem with Coyote Ate the Stars. As a person recovering from obesity and food addiction, I was a little concerned that this book might be triggering for me, but I really wanted to read it. I regret nothing! I hate to say “breath of fresh air,” because it sounds so cliche, but after being up to my neck in non-fiction and the aforementioned I-don’t-care-about-these-characters books, Coyote was, in fact, refreshing. I mentioned in this post that I wanted Read More
Teach Us to Care and Not to Care
Sorry, T.S. Eliot fans… this is not a blog post about his poem Ash Wednesday, but for Lit class nostalgia’s sake, I will link to a copy of the poem here. This line from Eliot’s poem came to mind while I was having a discussion with my BFF, a fellow English major and participant in one of my book clubs, about books that don’t make you care about any of the characters. I was recently reading one book and listening to audio of another when I realized that I didn’t have the least bit of emotional connection to any of Read More
Adventure 2019!
Do you pick a word or theme for the year? I started this practice several years ago. It is part of an effort to be more intentional and create the life I want to have rather than just letting life happen to me. It started as a casual effort but became a more serious endeavor once I started using the Dragontree Apothecary Rituals for Living Dreambook and Planner (affiliate link.) I love the thought-provoking exercises in the Dreambook section and the practical application of breaking my goals into tasks and scheduling them in my planner. I always feel as though I Read More
A Discovery of Witches
Empty Nest Update I have been in a reading slump. You might remember that I spent most of the year preparing for an empty nest. I was really worried about what life held for me when I no longer had kids at home. When the time came, I took it pretty well. This was largely due to prepping and planning and important connections with people who made sure I had plans on my calendar. The kid, on the other hand, did not fare so well and will be moving home in December to consider Plan B. Disappointment happens. I went Read More
Judge a Book by Its Cover
Everybody does it. Given Context is my way to blog about the books I read and how they fit into the larger context of my life. Sometimes there is an uncanny connection with something in a book and something in my life. Other times it is not that straightforward. Today I want to talk about judging a book by its cover. This post is over a year in the making. Last year one of my book clubs decided to try judging a book by its cover. It was a great idea from our leader to pair a beautiful book with Read More
Artemis by Andy Weir – Written for the Big Screen?
When I read a book for Book Club, I like to save my final review and blog post until after the Book Club meeting. Sometimes discussing the book with other book lovers can drastically change my perspective. Occasionally, I feel a warm, gooey love for a book, and then my club-mates poke holes in my favorite parts and bring my final decision down a few notches. More often, a book doesn’t click with me and the discussion at Book Club helps me see the merits of a book I would have panned otherwise. Artemis falls somewhere in the middle. Perhaps Read More
Wool and My Own Story in Context
I liked this book. My book club was a bit up in the air on it. Some felt it dragged, but most enjoyed the story. It took me 2 months to read it, but I don’t feel like it was dragging… I had to put it down sometimes and go read something less depressing (like a retelling of Alice in Wonderland with sexual violence and cannibalism.) Don’t let that turn you away. This was my problem, not the book’s. It was a rough patch for me, and this book just took me deeper into that… in a literal sense. Given Read More
Good Omens: Is it too late to have the Apocalypse?
This may be my year of re-reading books. I decided to cut my reading goal in half this year, because I want to spend more time writing. I also find that what-to-read voice inside my head turning frequently to books I have already read. And there’s another thing… I have an utterly embarrassing love of anything written by Neil Gaiman. This is not the first of his book that I have read repeatedly. I probably shouldn’t be ashamed – he’s really, really good – but it’s probably the literary equivalent of saying that you love The Beatles. But Neil (I Read More
How Alien Ant Farm Helped Me Appreciate the Ready Player One Film Adaptation
Ready Player One is an amazing book. At this moment I have listened to the audiobook twice and have seen the movie three times. I have read some reviews, and I have talked to a couple of my friends. The response to the book has always been incredibly positive- except for the one person who didn’t finish it because there was too much cussing, and y’all can guess my response: “There was cussing?!” F-bombs aside, this book is everything glorious about the 1980’s. Imagine an entire virtual world that revolves around all the things I loved as a kid (and Read More