Read for April

[Sam]

March will soon be upon us, so it's time to start thinking of our read for April. Jason has suggested Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke. I've read it before, and it is excellent, so I'd be up for it. Does anyone else have thoughts?

[Renée]

How about Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed? I'm reading her book The Left Hand of Darkness right now and it so freaking good, I'd love to dive into another one.

[Frank]

I really would suggest The Player of Games as an introduction to Ian M Banks' culture novels. I have read that one, but we could read The State of the Art, Inversion, Look to Windward, Matter, SUrface Detail, or The Hydrogen Sonata which I have not yet read.

[Sam]

Thanks for the suggestions! I notice that neither of these are the first in their series. Do you think that the preceding books are necessary to understand the story?

[Frank]

Each of the books are good stand alone reads. The only cohesion between novels is the vision of a futuristic society. Each book inspects that society in different situations and from different perspectives.

[Renée]

The Left Hand of Darkness was fourth in the series and it's fine on its own. I suspect The Dispossessed would be as well.

[Sam]

Ok, how about this:


April: Rendezvous with Rama
May: The Dispossessed
June: The Player of Games

I'm thinking that we should do one book for July and August, since people get busy in the summer and may not have as much time to read. We could even stretch Player of Games to cover the whole summer.