Ooof. Everyone in our socialist sci-fi book club picked different books and I have to be the tie breaker tomorrow. Mastodonians, which would you choose:
• Pocket Full of Stars Like Grains of Sand - Samuel Delaney
• The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin
• Clay's Ark - Octavia Butler
(Anything else suggested doesn't count-- we have to pick between these 3.)
@susannah That's what I'm leaning toward because it's the perfect intersection of the two things, and it is our first book.
@SuzanEraslan If it's the first book, definitely go with Dispossessed.I feel like if you're going to read Clay's Ark, you've kinda gotta read the whole Patternist series
@SuzanEraslan Anything but Ursula K. Le Guin wins my vote. :)
@SuzanEraslan Sorry, anything *by* Ursula K. Le Guin wins my vote. :) She writes my favorite stories.
@dmoonfire Same. The only reason I'm leaning away from it is because it's the only one I've already read.
@SuzanEraslan Getting out of comfort zones is always a good goal. Expanding your world has more benefits than drawbacks.
@SuzanEraslan I would always pick Octavia Butler. Her work is seriously under appreciated.
@SuzanEraslan i love Delany, but the other two would be better First Books. do come back to it, though!
@r4v5 @SuzanEraslan Strongly second this approach.
Delany's _Stars in My Pocket like Grains of Sand_ is great & would be excellent to talk about in a club. To begin with, you could discuss why the second planned book in the series will most likely never be written. It would also be good to pair _Stars_ with his _Times Square Red, Times Square Blue_.
But I'd start with one of the others. Partly bc they're slightly shorter, partly bc hey, why start with the guy when you've got those options!
@SuzanEraslan wow I want to join this club! I've never read Clay's Ark but the Dispossessed is amazing. I must have read it 20 times and it always gives back something new. For Delaney I feel like you just have to go straight to Dhalgren
@Eve Yeah, about half of us aren't big sci-fi heads, and I feel like Dhalgren will blow people's brains to smithereens... I LOVE that book, but it's a lot.
@SuzanEraslan it is, it's heavy in more than one sense. If I was in NY I'd be on it but I'm quite far from there (Tokyo) so, no. I'd be interested to hear about the online book club disaster though lol
@Eve Also-- if you're in New York, you can totally join! Otherwise, I'm encouraging people to found their own locally for discussion, but we can all choose books together. I was in an online book club once and it... didn't work out so well.
@SuzanEraslan I've not read any of the three, but going by the authors I'd choose Leguin first, Butler second, then Delaney.
@SuzanEraslan I've read the Dispossessed and I like it, but the other books look so neeeeeaaat.
@SuzanEraslan +1 for The Dispossessed
@SuzanEraslan These all seem like great choices; which is the least already-read among the group?
(I lean toward The Dispossessed over Clay's Ark because As @susannah noted, Clay's Ark is last in a series. I haven't read Pocket Full of Stars, but it looks like fun, too. Good luck choosing.)
@SuzanEraslan @susannah So it turns out the Le Guin is the most already-read. :grin:
Honestly, it's been a while since I read it, but I think Clay's Ark can stand alone.
@SuzanEraslan @emdeesee Yeah, it can stand on its own. But it's hard to imagine it without the layers it gets from Wild Seed and Mind of My Mind. Butler's layers will tear your mind.
@SuzanEraslan It is interesting to compare The Dispossessed and Delany's Triton, so even if you pick Le Guin you can work Delany in. http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/interviews/delany52interview.htm
@larrybob Oh, we'll get to Delany-- you can't have a socialist/queer/anarchist/anti-capitalist book club and NOT do Delany. But this is an excellent idea.
@SuzanEraslan i have only read the Le Guin book and I'll say: It's very good, but not as enjoyable as her Earth Sea books.
@OliverUv It's not an Earth Sea novel, though-- it's part of the Hainish Cycle.
@SuzanEraslan LeGuin
@SuzanEraslan I haven't read any of those, but Ursula Le Guin for the win
@SuzanEraslan THE DISPOSSESSED, but Clay's Ark is good too