For March's book, we are choosing a science fiction novel! Please
vote in the poll by February 11th.
Here are the contenders, in no particular order (all summaries have been
pulled from Amazon & Google Books). Please respond to the poll at the end. Thank you!
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
In
The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury, America’s preeminent
storyteller, imagines a place of hope, dreams, and metaphor— of crystal
pillars and fossil seas—where a fine dust settles on the great empty
cities of a vanished, devastated civilization. Earthmen conquer Mars and
then are conquered by it, lulled by dangerous lies of comfort and
familiarity, and enchanted by the lingering glamour of an ancient,
mysterious native race. In this classic work of fiction, Bradbury
exposes our ambitions, weaknesses, and ignorance in a strange and
breathtaking world where man does not belong.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Join Douglas Adams's hapless hero Arthur Dent as he travels the galaxy
with his intrepid pal Ford Prefect, getting into horrible messes and
generally wreaking hilarious havoc. Dent is grabbed from Earth moments
before a cosmic construction team obliterates the planet to build a
freeway. You'll never read funnier science fiction; Adams is a master of
intelligent satire, barbed wit, and comedic dialogue.
The Hitchhiker's Guide is rich in comedic detail and thought-provoking situations and stands up to multiple reads.
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, serving in the household
of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife. She may go out once a
day to markets whose signs are now pictures because women are not
allowed to read. She must pray that the Commander makes her pregnant,
for in a time of declining birthrates her value lies in her fertility,
and failure means exile to the dangerously polluted Colonies. Offred can
remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a
job, before she lost even her own name. Now she navigates the intimate
secrets of those who control her every move, risking her life in
breaking the rules.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
All children should believe they are special. But the students of
Hailsham, an elite school in the English countryside, are so special
that visitors shun them, and only by rumor and the occasional fleeting
remark by a teacher do they discover their unconventional origins and
strange destiny. Kazuo Ishiguro's sixth novel,
Never Let Me Go,
is a masterpiece of indirection. Like the students of Hailsham, readers
are "told but not told" what is going on and should be allowed to
discover the secrets of Hailsham and the truth about these children on
their own. Offsetting the bizarreness of these revelations is the
placid, measured voice of the narrator, Kathy H., a 31-year-old Hailsham
alumna who, at the close of the 1990s, is consciously ending one phase
of her life and beginning another. She is in a reflective mood, and
recounts not only her childhood memories, but her quest in adulthood to
find out more about Hailsham and the idealistic women who ran it.
Although often poignant, Kathy's matter-of-fact narration blunts the
sharper emotional effects you might expect in a novel that deals with
illness, self-sacrifice, and the severe restriction of personal
freedoms.
Ender's Game by Orson Scott CardIn order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's
next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as
soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his
kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he
loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine
were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the
cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for
rigorous military training.
Is Ender the general
the Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic
experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred
years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for
almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as
he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the
abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.
Please vote for your favorite no later than February 11th. Here is the poll: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8FC63XK Thank you!
