Six SF Books for the non-SF Reader
After yesterday's post, I was thinking about how to spread a little bit of goodwill for science fiction. Maybe we could have some sort of Read Out Of Your Genre Day (I'll go grab a historical romance). But, before I start petitioning for new holidays, I'll put a list of SF six books every non-SF reader should try to pick up (not including 1984, Brave New World, or Fahrenheit 451, because everyone's read those already). So, in no particular order...
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin - The story of a diplomat on an icy world where the inhabitants are of both sexes. LeGuin's exploration of gender roles is especially intriguing.
Lilith's Brood - Octavia Butler - Keeping on the exploration of gender roles, Butler's trilogy follows the relations of a group of humans with an alien species that mates with them. Also an interesting look at human sexuality.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick - If you've seen the movie Blade Runner, you know the plot, but the movie fails to use Dick's take on spirituality. A good 'what does it mean to be human' type of read.
Neuromancer - William Gibson - This book brought cyberpunk and computer hacking into the mainstream (if it wasn't there already). The story of a young hacker named Case makes for an interesting near-future dystopia.
The Dispossessed - Ursula K. LeGuin - This book is to society and politics what The Left Hand of Darkness is to gender roles. LeGuin's novel tells the story of a brilliant scientist's life in an anarchic utopian society and his travel back to the society his people broke away from.
We - Yevgeny Zamyatin - The book that inspired Orwell to pen 1984, Zamyatin's dystopia had him expelled from both czarist Russia and the newly formed Soviet Union after the Bolshevik takeover.
Edit - 4:21 PM: I was thinking this post over a bit today and decided I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Nicola Griffith's Slow River. This might be a more palatable book to the non-SF reader because its prose is as accomplished as most books coming out of the "literary" tradition these days. Additionally, the themes it deals with (child abuse, homosexuality and self-realization) are not explicitly societal and cultural (as in the above examples) but have more to do with the book's protagonist, as one might expect to find in a character-driven work.
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin - The story of a diplomat on an icy world where the inhabitants are of both sexes. LeGuin's exploration of gender roles is especially intriguing.
Lilith's Brood - Octavia Butler - Keeping on the exploration of gender roles, Butler's trilogy follows the relations of a group of humans with an alien species that mates with them. Also an interesting look at human sexuality.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick - If you've seen the movie Blade Runner, you know the plot, but the movie fails to use Dick's take on spirituality. A good 'what does it mean to be human' type of read.
Neuromancer - William Gibson - This book brought cyberpunk and computer hacking into the mainstream (if it wasn't there already). The story of a young hacker named Case makes for an interesting near-future dystopia.
The Dispossessed - Ursula K. LeGuin - This book is to society and politics what The Left Hand of Darkness is to gender roles. LeGuin's novel tells the story of a brilliant scientist's life in an anarchic utopian society and his travel back to the society his people broke away from.
We - Yevgeny Zamyatin - The book that inspired Orwell to pen 1984, Zamyatin's dystopia had him expelled from both czarist Russia and the newly formed Soviet Union after the Bolshevik takeover.
Edit - 4:21 PM: I was thinking this post over a bit today and decided I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Nicola Griffith's Slow River. This might be a more palatable book to the non-SF reader because its prose is as accomplished as most books coming out of the "literary" tradition these days. Additionally, the themes it deals with (child abuse, homosexuality and self-realization) are not explicitly societal and cultural (as in the above examples) but have more to do with the book's protagonist, as one might expect to find in a character-driven work.
2 Comments:
Blade Runner is a great movie, in my opinion.
Every frame in that movie, from its opening sequence is mesmerizing and although it is a fairy tale, with two alternate endings, it is a bleak perspective on attempts to produce androids for dirty jobs. In this case, one of them was the killer, who shows the greatest human quality - mercy.
Nice Blog. Enjoyed reading your take on various SF novels.
I'm so going to have to add these to my reading list. I've read a lot of sci-fi but never LeGuin. Can you believe it?
I can, however, second Philip K. Dick.
Post a Comment
<< Home