December 2019 pick: suggestions?
I've received the wonderful honour of picking the December book. I have a couple of suggestions, but I thought I'd ask if anyone has opinions on them.
I've suggested Brave New World, a classic of SF. describing a dystopia of soft social control and the erosion of individuality. There could be interesting parallels to draw with current events.
Another novel(-ella) that came across my radar is This is How You Lose the Time War, a romance between two soldiers on opposite sides of a time war. I don't know much about it, other than there were lots of people talking about it and liking it.
For something a bit more pulpy, there's Jade City (and another review), a cross between a 1930s gangster pulp and a wuxia romp, where the wire-fu is powered by "magical" jade and the setting is a newly-independent island, akin to Taiwan or Hong Kong. I got about half-way through it before being ambushed by other books.
Any comments or suggestions? Anything people are keen to read, or desperate to avoid?
Comments
My vote is This Is How You Lose A Time War.
Happy happy.
That narrows things down!
> That narrows things down!
That's me - always helpful and specific.
“Ask not the elves for advice, because they will tell you both 'yes' and 'no'.”
So you are an elf!
and presumably finish what you're saying sometime next year
Thanks all for the clear and unambiguous advice. Most helpful.
Let's do
Brave New World
In an update on my own reading, I got about three quarters of the way through Jade City before putting it down in disgust. The author isn't flinching from the "gangster" aspect of the story. The viewpoint characters are all happy to murder, torture, and extort, and with no justification other than they're better a violence than the general populace. The whole setting is controlled by the criminal cartels, who see the rest of society as purely something where they can take what they need, simply because they can.
On the other hand, How to Lose a Time War is turning out to be a beautiful, beautiful book. It's an incredibly touching love story, without being sickly or cliched. I'm loving it.
But it means I need to catch up on The Farthest Shore for the discussion soon!
I suppose not too late to change your December pick, assuming someone hasn't rushed out and bought Brave New World already.
I'm happy to stay with Brave New World: I hope there will be plenty for us to discuss. We can always do Time War another time.
Oh, and to clarify my comment above: Jade City is a good and well-written book. It's just the (accurate) portrayal of gangsters that I don't get on with.
@NeilNjae Would you mind posting an introductory thread in the 'Nominations' category that I can pin in the announcements section?