Utopian/Dystopian (July 2014) - What are you reading?

[Faye, The Dickens Junkie]

What glimpses into our possible futures will you be reading in July?

[Roseanne]

Allegiant

I have been putting it off for so long. Maybe the genre challenge will give me the push I need to finally read it.

[Kassandra]

Roseanne - give it a go! I won't say much more than I had mixed feelings about it. I'm glad I read it, but I expected something different.

I'm really interested to hear what you think of it!

[A]

Roseanne wrote: "Allegiant

I have been putting it off for so long. Maybe the genre challenge will give me the push I need to finally read it."

I loved that book!

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

I have a whole summer plan, that this genre doesn't easily fit. I'd go with something uniquely American, if Anyone has a suggestion. Otherwise I'm thinking about these...

Divergent Series by Veronica Roth
Divergent
Insurgent
Allegiant

1Q84 (finish)
The Knife of Never Letting Go
The Girl with All the Gifts

I'd also consider something Utopian, like, uh, Utopia if I can fit it in. Those are harder to come by.

[Roseanne]

Kassandra wrote: "Roseanne - give it a go! I won't say much more than I had mixed feelings about it. I'm glad I read it, but I expected something different.

I'm really interested to hear what you think of it!"

I have heard that from other people too. I was waiting for the book to come out and then I never got to read it. I have such a problem with finishing any series.

[Faye, The Dickens Junkie]

Renee wrote: "I have a whole summer plan, that this genre doesn't easily fit. I'd go with something uniquely American, if Anyone has a suggestion. Otherwise I'm thinking about these..."

It's funny, but I found the book Utopia pretty darn dystopian. ;)

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

*falls on floor*

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

Oh My God! That's Perfect!!!!
Sandy, you are a genius!

[Becky]

I've just put in a whole display of dystopian lit at work... some titles I would suggest....
No Harm Can Come to a Good Man/The Machine - James Smythe
Red Rising - Pierce Brown
Divergent/Hunger Games obviously
Intrusion - Ken Macleod
The Girl With All the Gifts - MR Carey
The Long Tomorrow - Leigh Brackett
Lies Inc/Penultimate Truth (or pretty much anything else) - Philip K Dick
Handmaid's Tale/1984/Brave New World (again obviously..)
V for Vendetta - Alan Moore
The Southern Reach trilogy - Jeff Vandermeer
Bird Box - Josh Malerman
Memory of Water -Emmi Itaranta
When She Woke- Hilary Jordan

I could keep listing.....

My biggest recs here go to the James Smythe titles, to The Girl with All the Gifts and to Red Rising all of which are incredible!!

[Overbooked ✎]

Many thanks Becky for the suggestions, for next month challenge I decided to read Red Rising , which I didn't know about. Some other books on your list have found a nice spot in my TBR list. Cheers!

[Melissa]

Divergent by Veronica Roth
The Stand by Stephen King

I hope to finish up some of the June list.

[Karen]

I want to finish Brave New World which I started in June, and I definitely intend to read Red Rising which I have heard many good things about. I also plan to read The Girl with All the Gifts although I had not realized that this would be considered dystopian.

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

Thanks, Becky! Your list is really helpful. I plan on reading Girl with Gifts but will take a look at Red Rising if there's time.

[Becky]

Not a problem :)

[Candy]

I am going to finish "Island" that I started before and then got distracted reading "The Goldfinch".

[Lauren]

I read Brave New World coming into the month, I'm reading We at the minute. Just came across this part "And, of course, the only things that are aware of themselves and conscious of their individuality are irritated eyes, cut fingers, sore teeth. A healthy eye, finger, tooth might as well not even be there. Isn't it clear that individual consciousness is just sickness."

[Andi]

I finished Remnants by Lisa T. Bergren. Great book!

[Gavin]

I'll be starting The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde later today or tomorrow.

[Faye, The Dickens Junkie]

Lauren wrote: "I read Brave New World coming into the month, I'm reading We at the minute. Just came across this part "And, of course, the only things that are aware of themselves and conscious of their individua..."

I'm reading We, too! That line is scarily rational...

[Lauren]

Are you enjoying it? I love it when books make me challenge my views, I'm sick of the sight of ellipsis though lol!

[Faye, The Dickens Junkie]

Lauren wrote: "Are you enjoying it? I love it when books make me challenge my views, I'm sick of the sight of ellipsis though lol!"

Not as much as I thought I would, no. I wish we'd see more of this world than pink slips and closed blinds, you know? And yes, the unfinished sentences are...

[Lauren]

No, I've been disappointed by it too,that line was one of the few bits that didn't frustrate and confuse me. I know, surely there must be something else worth describing.

[Emily]

When my parcel arrives from fishpond.com.au I will be reading books 2 and 3 from the Divergent series!

[Faye, The Dickens Junkie]

Lauren wrote: "No, I've been disappointed by it too,that line was one of the few bits that didn't frustrate and confuse me. I know, surely there must be something else worth describing."

I'm glad it's not just me!

[Lauren]

I've just finished reading The Road by McCarthy, the writing style was really annoying to begin with but forgotten by the end, it was very pessimistic but I enjoyed it.

[Susan]

The Bone Season, 10 pages in and I'm mega confused.

[Holly, That Geeky One]

Hoping to finally get round to The Giver, something that has been on my Goodreads TBR shelf for forever.

[Holly, That Geeky One]

I've heard it's essentially the first Dystopian YA book, before the mass hype of The Hunger Games etc.. Can't wait to see how it compares to more modern takes on the genre.

[Lauren]

I was quite disappointed by the Giver... I think it's because a big part of the world building is visual though and I'm not a visual person, I see everything in words.

[Melissa]

I've finished Divergent and When She Woke by Hillary Jordan. Enjoyed both books. Now I'm reading Stephen King's The Stand and I'm liking this one right from page one, but it will be interesting when I finish this chunkster since it is over 1,000 pages.

[Kassandra]

I finally read The Maze Runner so I'll count that for this month. Interesting book - I'm keen to find out what happens next but the writing style was a little different for me, which gives me some hesitation in committing to read the rest of the series.

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

I didn't love the writing style of Maze Runner either, but finished the series. The overall series was good. Now that I know all the secrets, I look at the first book with more affection. (The last book is full of plot holes but still the overall affect was positive.) and the movie looks like it's going to be terrific. Not surprising, since I spent the whole time I read thinking 1) this will make a great movie 2) this reads like a screen play.

[Kassandra]

Renee - I'm glad to hear that the series left a positive impression with you. You're right, it really does read like a screenplay! I'll add it to my TBR. Thanks!

[Tracey]

I didn't love The Maze Runner. The plot was too convenient to me, but I do agree that in movie form it would be better.

I'm currently halfway through Brave New World, which will fulfill the challenge and take off a book that's been on my bookshelf forever.

[Kassandra]

Chase, I'm a big fan of Brave New World. How are you finding it?

[Tracey]

Well, just finished it now. I honestly wasn't as impressed with it as I thought I would be. I was a bit surprised about how much that book was touted because I felt that the world building was the only memorable part of the book. The plot fell a bit flat to me.

[Susan]

Susan wrote: "The Bone Season, 10 pages in and I'm mega confused."

Brilliant book, I love the possibilities it throws out there and can't wait for the next in series due in October.

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

I'm working on the Divergents. And I'm struggling. Oh, it's a fast-paced read, lots of action and pretty characters. But somehow it feels flat. I'm not sure why. Plot holes abound but I can usually suspend my level of disbelief to accommodate. Trite after Hunger Games? Maybe. I don't know. I'm hoping it fleshes out for me by the end if the series. Right now I'm Finished Divergence and about halfway through Insugence.

[Overbooked ✎]

I second 1984 by George Orwell, the daddy of the dystopian novels. It was a wonderful re-read for me and one of the highlights of this month's genre challenge.

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

Finally finished Insurgence. Meh. I might have liked it, if I weren't currently reading books by Dickens and Trollope. Books with buckets of characters that HAVE personalities and move the plot and engender some level of emotional involvement on the part of the reader. And the "world" building is lame. Another series written with a screenplay in mind. Plus, I truly believe that Divergent and Insurgent are one book fluffed out into two for the remuneration.

[Karen]

I read The Girl with All the Gifts which I quite liked. Sort of puttering along with Brave New World. Hoping to start Red Rising this week, which I am quite looking forward to. I have heard such high praise.

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

Sandy-
Yeah. I'm really disappointed. So many people recommended it. I'm going to see the movie, so maybe I'll be glad to have read it for that.

Also, the Livrivox reader for Moving the Mountain is Elizabeth Klett, for whom I am a total groupie. I've basically decided to do a lot of Wharton this year because EK has done most of the readings.

Also, I started The Girl with All the Gifts today and am blown away. I don't think in going to be able to put it down. Which means another day when my closets don't get reorganized. Sure, yeah, twist my arm but my closets seriously NEED help! :p

[Renee, Mistress of the Mini-Challenge]

Yeah. I do my research on the Librivox website (who is the reader, is there more than one version, etc), then I track down what I want. The app I have doesn't include all the work done by Librivox, but I'm not sure what the cut-off is. Sometimes I have to go through iTunes for a podcast.

p. s. I did finally give up on the audio for Song of the Lark. The writing is just so good, that I don't want to miss a word. :)

[Faye, The Dickens Junkie]

I'm reading Lost Horizon, which is where Shangri-La came from. Utopia? Dystopia? Can't wait to find out...

[Natalie]

I'n about to start The Giver by Lois Lowry, as well as catching up on all the previous months I've been slacking on

[Faye, The Dickens Junkie]

Sandy wrote: "Faye wrote: "I'm reading Lost Horizon, which is where Shangri-La came from. Utopia? Dystopia? Can't wait to find out..."

Faye, I've always been curious about that book. Hope you enjoy ..."

Thanks, I enjoyed it very much! I would definitely recommend it. :)

[Roseanne]

so I was very disappointed that I never came up on the list from the library for Allegiant and am still waiting for the book. I was looking at a list of dystopian books and Under the Dome was on it. I am reading that now. really? I can count that for this month?

[Kassandra]

Hopefully you will come up on the list for Allegiant soon Roseanne. As for Under the Dome, I would still count it if I were you!