melannen: Commander Valentine of Alpha Squad Seven, a red-haired female Nick Fury in space, smoking contemplatively (Default)
melannen ([personal profile] melannen) wrote2017-10-31 02:14 pm
Entry tags:

FMK#29: Political Satires and Dystopias

Han of Iceland is due back to the library in a week and I can't renew it anymore. :/ I'm just over 1/3 of the way through. Four chapters ago, Hans snuck up on Spaguidry and did something offscreen that involved a lot of screaming, but meanwhile we've had many pages of Ethel's dad failing to recognize that the person he is talking to is also the person he is talking about (not even any disguises required! he just wouldn't stop talking long enough to allow an introduction, and by the time he did, it was just awkward), some revolutionaries conspiring over a bonfire, and many many pages of Ordener mooning over the distant light in Ethel's window.

I have hopes for onscreen violence before much longer, though.

Last week's F winner was Sly Mongoose by Tobias Buckell, and K was Better to beg forgiveness.... In other good news, I went through the boxes of fmk-eligible books as part of my "clean everything" project, and thanks to ya'll, we have gone from six boxes + a small shelf + overflow to no more overflow! \o/ (And so far, all the fmk keepers have managed to fit into existing space on the keeper shelves.)

How FMK works, short version: I am trying to clear out my unreads. So there is a poll, in which you get to pick F, M, or K. F means I should spend a night of wild passion with the book ASAP, and then decide whether to keep it or not. M means I should continue to commit to a long-term relationship of sharing my bedroom with it. K means it should go away immediately. Anyone can vote, you don't have to actually know anything about the books.

I pick a winner on Friday night (although won't actually close the poll, people can still vote,) and report results/ post the new poll on the following Tuesday, and write a response to the F winner sometime in the next week.

Link to long version of explanation (on first poll)

This week's theme: It's Halloween, so let's do something proper scary: OUR INEVITABLE SLIDE INTO DYSTOPIA


Poll #19011 FMK #29: Political Satires and Dystopias
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 41


Utopia by St. Thomas More (1553)

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F
14 (56.0%)

M
7 (28.0%)

K
4 (16.0%)

Erewhon by Samuel Butler (1872)

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F
10 (52.6%)

M
6 (31.6%)

K
3 (15.8%)

Comrades, a story of social adventure in California by Thomas Dixon (1909)

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F
9 (60.0%)

M
1 (6.7%)

K
5 (33.3%)

We by Evgenii Zamyatin (1921)

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F
9 (50.0%)

M
8 (44.4%)

K
1 (5.6%)

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)

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F
20 (55.6%)

M
8 (22.2%)

K
8 (22.2%)

Zotz! by Walter Karig (1947)

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F
5 (45.5%)

M
2 (18.2%)

K
4 (36.4%)

Search the Sky by Pohl and Kornbluth (1954)

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F
10 (66.7%)

M
1 (6.7%)

K
4 (26.7%)

The Mouse that Roared by Leonard Wibberley (1955)

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F
18 (75.0%)

M
3 (12.5%)

K
3 (12.5%)

The Revolt of Gunner Asch by Helmut Kirst (1956)

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F
7 (50.0%)

M
1 (7.1%)

K
6 (42.9%)

The Short Reign of Pippin IV by John Steinbeck (1957)

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F
8 (53.3%)

M
1 (6.7%)

K
6 (40.0%)

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (1962)

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F
14 (50.0%)

M
5 (17.9%)

K
9 (32.1%)

Dr. Strangelove: Or, How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb by Peter George (1964)

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F
22 (84.6%)

M
2 (7.7%)

K
2 (7.7%)

Alph by Charles Maine (1973)

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F
0 (0.0%)

M
1 (8.3%)

K
11 (91.7%)

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (2010)

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F
11 (42.3%)

M
1 (3.8%)

K
14 (53.8%)


thawrecka: (Default)

[personal profile] thawrecka 2017-10-31 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
I enjoyed the hell out of Brave New World when I read it in high school, but that was at least 17 years ago, probably closer to 20, so who knows if it stands up to cynical adult tastes.
espresso_addict: Espresso cup with steam on white background with text 'Coffee' (coffee (white))

[personal profile] espresso_addict 2017-11-01 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
BNW is one of those books that shaped the way I look at the world, but it might also be one of those books that has been sucked dry by other lit stealing all its good ideas.
jesse_the_k: harbor seal's head captioned "seal of approval" (Approval)

Thank you for this insight

[personal profile] jesse_the_k 2017-11-01 09:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh! "other lit stealing all its ideas" is why some classics seem so flat!
beatrice_otter: WWII soldier holding a mug with the caption "How about a nice cup of RESEARCH?" (Research)

Re: Thank you for this insight

[personal profile] beatrice_otter 2017-11-02 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
I've always called it the Casablanca effect, because I know a lot of people who think Casablanca is unwatchable because it is just one long string of cliches. (Dude. THIS IS WHERE THEY COME FROM.)
brownbetty: (Default)

[personal profile] brownbetty 2017-11-01 05:15 pm (UTC)(link)
I voted for BNW because it's honestly quite slight and you can knock it out in an evening, and then you'll be like "oooh, I get a whole bunch of references now"
ambyr: a dark-winged man standing in a doorway over water; his reflection has white wings (watercolor by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law) (Default)

[personal profile] ambyr 2017-10-31 07:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Coincidentally, I pulled a very fancy copy of Utopia out of a little free library yesterday. Now I want to know if it's worth reading.
the_rck: (Default)

[personal profile] the_rck 2017-10-31 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Utopia is not a novel in any sense at all. I found it tedious when I read it in college. It is an interesting historical artifact in terms of what people in the 16th century thought might make an ideal society.
the_rck: (Default)

[personal profile] the_rck 2017-10-31 07:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Alph was pretty thoroughly terrible. I can't recommend it at all. I read all of it in high school because I was out of SF/fantasy that the library had that actually looked good. As I recall, there were no likeable characters, and the world building was not... Um. Even as a teen, I didn't think that a society consisting entirely of women would necessarily work that way.

More's Utopia was really tedious. I read that in college for a class. It's an interesting artifact, but it's no fun at all unless you're looking at it from that angle.

I'm not certain that Mockingjay will make any sense without the rest of the trilogy. I haven't read the series (my daughter has), but my understanding is that things are very tightly plotted.

I'm fond of The Mouse that Roared, but I don't know if it will have aged even remotely well. It's very absurd. The movie is fun.
the_rck: (Default)

[personal profile] the_rck 2017-11-03 10:14 am (UTC)(link)
I feel strongly enough that Alph is terrible that I'd suggest killing it even if it doesn't get the votes. Mainly keeping it would make sense if you want to compare it to other works with a similar premise.
the_rck: (Default)

[personal profile] the_rck 2017-11-03 03:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, also, if this were a fic, it would have a warning for suicide written from the POV of the person killing herself. I don't know if that's a thing that would figure into the decision for you.
alexseanchai: Katsuki Yuuri wearing a blue jacket and his glasses and holding a poodle, in front of the asexual pride flag with a rainbow heart inset. (Default)

[personal profile] alexseanchai 2017-10-31 07:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Re Mockingjay: F Hunger Games first. If you like it, go on to Catching Fire. Then Mockingjay.
rachelmanija: (Default)

[personal profile] rachelmanija 2017-10-31 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
I hated Mockingjay but stuff getting unrealistically fixed was not a problem with it. Exactly. You could make an argument otherwise but not without spoilers.
rachelmanija: (Default)

[personal profile] rachelmanija 2017-11-01 12:02 am (UTC)(link)
Let me put it this way: part of my issue with Mockingjay was the complete incoherence of how things were happening (partly due to Katniss mostly not knowing or caring about the wider picture, but still) so I literally don't know if whatever went down did so because of plot macguffins or not.
jesse_the_k: That text in red Futura Bold Condensed (be aware of invisibility)

[personal profile] jesse_the_k 2017-11-01 09:26 pm (UTC)(link)
First I'd heard of the Ben January mysteries. GoodReads thinks the first one is weak; would you suggest a different starting point?

(Anonymous) 2017-11-02 02:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks for these details and content notes. Free people of color before the Civil War -- a certain amount of horror is realistic. I get squicked by lovingly detailed explorations of physical and sexual violence, but it sounds like this series doesn't revel in it.
jesse_the_k: Lucy the ACD's butt & tail are all that's visible since her head is down a gopher hole (LUCY gopher hunter)

[personal profile] jesse_the_k 2017-11-02 02:39 pm (UTC)(link)
That was me, somehow I hadn't logged in.
birke: (Default)

[personal profile] birke 2017-11-02 03:00 am (UTC)(link)
IAWTC.
sheliak: Tik-Tok from the Oz books, reading a book. (reading: tik-tok)

[personal profile] sheliak 2017-10-31 11:15 pm (UTC)(link)
I adored The Mouse that Roared as a kid/teen, and quite liked most of the sequels. Particularly the space race one. It's been about a decade since I read any of them, though.

I've still got my copies; I should probably dig them out and see if they hold up.
sheliak: Handwoven tapestry of the planet Jupiter. (Default)

[personal profile] sheliak 2017-11-02 12:19 am (UTC)(link)
The Mouse on the Moon was definitely my favorite of the sequels! ... Possibly because it was the only one where I knew anything at all about the source material. But I do remember it fondly.
lannamichaels: Astronaut Dale Gardner holds up For Sale sign after EVA. (Default)

[personal profile] lannamichaels 2017-11-01 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
I loved Brave New World when I read in high school and reread it several times, and I hate the ending and all, but I think at least the beginning parts is pretty cool and very creepy.

I've never read the Strangelove book, but the movie's good, so it's probably fuckable? Since the rule of thumb is that the books are often better than movies.

Kill the hunger games, because I have opinions on a book series I've never read but that has spawned many crossovers and fusions and so I've unexpectedly had, like, body medical horror that I hadn't known was in the series through pop-culture-osmosis come at me in fic, and has led me to modifying my yuletide letter do not wants for the first time in years, and I hold a serious grudge. :P
rushthatspeaks: (Default)

[personal profile] rushthatspeaks 2017-11-01 05:12 am (UTC)(link)
The prose of A Clockwork Orange is just fucking magnificent. One of the best extrapolations of slang into a future setting ever made. The language is, however, basically the thing that's there-- it's a great thing, but it's all there is. Oh, and sexual violence, of course.

We may be the greatest dystopia ever written, and I wish later books had taken more notice of it. It has still never been published in the original Russian.
jesse_the_k: Large exclamation point inside shiny red ruffled circle (big bang)

[personal profile] jesse_the_k 2017-11-01 09:30 pm (UTC)(link)
+1 that you must read something by Anthony Burgess, because wow can he write. But everything he writes is the opposite of cheering. Clockwork Orange the book is parsecs ahead of the movie, so don't let any movie experience influence you. I have very fond memories of End of the World News: An Entertainment but it's been a couple decades.