What are you reading right now?

[Dustin]

I absolutely LOVE Farenheit 451!!

[Evelyn]

@ Dustin - I am about half way through since picking it up yesterday and want to finish it so bad!

[Schuyler]

I need to reread Fahrenheit--I'm trying to revisit classic dystopians I read years ago, and see how they strike me today.

[Dustin]

WOW, Evelyn! You're really flying throught Fahrenheit!

[Julie]

My brother grabbed Brave New World from one of my bookcases. I hope that he enjoys it since he does not usually read dystopias.

Watching him read that makes me want to pick up a good dystopian book since it has been a while since my last one.

[Dustin]

Go for it, Julie!:)

[Julie]

Well, I did end up reading a somewhat dystopian book, but it was not very good. It was a YA book, Dark Life, and I was disappointed. Oh well. That just means that the next dystopian novel that I read will be automatically better in the competition.

[Phair]

Julie wrote: "Well, I did end up reading a somewhat dystopian book, but it was not very good. It was a YA book, Dark Life, and I was disappointed."

This book is being made into a movie by Disney studios w/ Robert Zemeckis directing.

[Julie]

Well, that is one movie that I will probably not see.

On another note, I picked up Lightpaths at the public library. It seems like it will do a better job than Dark Life did for me.

[Schuyler]

Pat wrote: "I've decided on, Tomorrow, When the War Began
by John Marsden, followed by, not sure on the order, The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan, The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, and T..."

The Knife of Never Letting Go--and the whole Chaos Walking trilogy--is brilliant to infinity and beyond!

[Sooz]

Schuyler wrote: "Pat wrote: "I've decided on, Tomorrow, When the War Began
by John Marsden, followed by, not sure on the order, The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan, The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick..."

brilliant to the point of infinity? and beyond? that's some pretty serious praise.

[Julie]

I just finished Lightpaths, and it was not very good. The back of the book made it sound like it would be dysopian, but it had no typical dystopian characteristics.

[Schuyler]

Sooz wrote: "Schuyler wrote: "Pat wrote: "I've decided on, Tomorrow, When the War Began
by John Marsden, followed by, not sure on the order, The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan, The Knife of Never Let..."

Sooz, it's so true about the Chaos Walking series! I'm absolutely intimidated to review these books, because they are just THAT fantastic. I'm in awe of them!

[Michael]

"Tomorrow, when the war began" was pretty good, and as Schuyler (message 106)said, it isn't like many of new dystopias out. No 'sexy' techno gadgets, just YA's trying to survive a messed up world. My book (Blending Time, and sequels) takes place in a low-tech world where technology and society is set back a hundred years by wars and other shit. 'Hunger Games' was great, but it and its like depend a lot on near-magical effects. To each his/her own!

[Julie]

I just finished Bumped and it left me feeling that it was so-so.

[Michael]

Anybody read Little Brother? It's supposed to be hot book, but I'm having such a hard time getting into it. Maybe it's too techo-punk (is there such a thing?) for me. I'll keep trying.

[Dana *]

Michael wrote: "Anybody read Little Brother? It's supposed to be hot book, but I'm having such a hard time getting into it. Maybe it's too techo-punk (is there such a thing?) for me. I'll keep trying."

Loved it, i think the tech stuff made it more believable. I truly enjoyed the big brother aspect of the story. Some of the teen stuff was annoying but did not get in the way.

[Michael]

Thanks, Dana. I've just finished a couple of books, so I'll tackle "Little Brother" again and stick to it.

[Julie]

Little Brother is OK. It has a lot of growing up/coming of age/teen angst type stuff going on in addition to dealing with the themes. Adults may or may not like it.

[Michael]

Thanks, Julie. I can take teen angst/coming-of-age stuff-- IF it is handled well... without the maudlin baggage.

[Jazz]

I love the Uglies and The Hunger Games trilogies and just finished Mockingjay last night.

Now I'm reading 2030, a rather recent (published this year) look into the future using real events that have happened. A different sort of dystopia, but it's all right.

[Stephen]

I tried to read THE ROAD twice. Got about halfway through. Great writing and very involving, but too despairing. But it's a book I want to come back to because it establishes a strong setting and spins a pretty good story.

[Michael]

All of his books are despairing. Only Cormack McCarthy can paint such bleak tales with such extraordinary use of language. I never want to finish one of his books, but I always have to.

[Kelly]

I loved The Road, it is one of my all time favorite books. I'm a pretty fast reader and I ususally will just zip right through a book in one or two sittings. I couldn't do that with The Road though; I had to put it aside sometimes and take a break from the bleakness. But my need to know what was going on with the characters always brought me back. I was amazed by how invested I became in two characters that I knew so little about and that didn't even have names.

[Schuyler]

The Road is absolutely beautiful, even amongst the bleakness--but I can barely get through a few pages at a time before I, too, need a break. My eyes tear up and there's this huge ache inside me for these characters, and I'm not even halfway through. So I trudge along at my 2 or 3 page pace. But it's a book I know I'll see to the end--someday.

[Dustin]

The Road IS beautiful, isn't it?

[Dana *]

Just finished Trapped which I enjoyed and did not think of as a YA book. But next one is YA Divergent and still working on Doc: A Novel

[Julie]

I recently finished Camp Concentration: A Novel. It's hard to believe that it's by the same man who wrote The Brave Little Toaster.

[Phair]

Just finished When She Woke - it kept me reading but I can't say it was outstanding. Just so-so. If anything it made me angry. I can see this type of dystopia creeping up on us.

[Sheila]

Divergent, Enclave, & Red Blood Road are the best books I've read after the Hunger Games & The Maze Runner trilogies. I can't get enough of dystopian or post-apocalyptic books!

[Amy]

3 in a row:
The Unit, Never Let Me Go and now Ready Player One!

[Anna]

1

[Anna]

Can I just say here, I am sick of Goodreads ads staying on when I try to write a review. eejits...

[Stephanie]

Just finished re-reading Tomorrow, When the War Began and Ready Player One (which was a pretty fun read).

And now I'm currently reading Feed by Mira Grant.

[Dana *]

Phair wrote: "Just finished When She Woke - it kept me reading but I can't say it was outstanding. Just so-so. If anything it made me angry. I can see this type of dystopia creeping up on us.

[..."

I just finished this also, and I truly enjoyed it, I thought it was a good spin on The Scarlet Letter and Handmaids Tale, and yes, it was way too close to reality for comfort. As all good cautionary tales are.

One, the idea of changing the skin color of criminals in order to avoid prisons is genius and appalling. That these people will be ostracized is given, and really is part of their punishment, should they survive. I can also see this going the other way, where gruops of Reds form mafias. Another cautionary tale there. And there is the Scarlet Letter reference.

However, a future where abortion is murder punishable as a crime is way too close for comfort.

I really enjoyed the story and it was though provoking also.

[Dana *]

Now reading

[Zak]

Notice a lot of people loving The Hunger Games Trilogy. It is a great read.

My suggestion: Try reading The City Of Ember Trilogy. Disregard the terrible movie that came out. I enjoyed this trilogy more than The Hunger Games. Much more original since it's not just ripping off Battle Royale. It's about a dystopian city that is underground with no access to natural light. The lights in the city are slowly starting to flicker and go out for longer periods of time. What are they to do once the lights go out forever?!

[Dana *]

Zak wrote: "Notice a lot of people loving The Hunger Games Trilogy. It is a great read.

My suggestion: Try reading The City Of Ember Trilogy. Disregard the terrible movie that came out. I enjoyed this trilogy..."

I have read the first two books of this series with my daughter, starting the third. She is 10 and the first book was required reading for a class. They are pretty good. I am still anxious to learn, if ever, what caused the ruin of the US. But there are valuable lessons being learned, and even though it is YA and the antagonists are kids, it is a very good read.

[Ben]

Amy wrote: "3 in a row:
The Unit, Never Let Me Go and now Ready Player One!"
[..."

I loved Ready Player One, I just finished it last week. It enabled a nice queue up to Divergent. I'm searching for the next thing after these two excellent books. I'm thinking about Maze Runner, but am not sure as reviews about the end of the trilogy are mixed. I've finished the McCarthy library, as well as several of the books mentioned here (When She Woke, Ship Breakers, The Passage, etc.) and am thus conflicted about where to go next.

Ideas?

[Ben]

I opted to start Blood Red Road at the suggestion of Joel. It's an interesting dystopic, quest-based, story. No lessons, no retrospective damning or anger, just the future and a f'ed up story within it. Think of it as an interesting balance between the film Gladiator and Mad Max: Return to Thunderdome, with elements of the Stand/The Road/True Grit thrown in. Pretty interesting. Worth a read.

[Sadie]

It's not dystopian, but I am about halfway through Nette.

[Chris]

I'm reading a book called One by One by Phil Tucker. It's about the people all disappearing without trace, while one man struggles to survive the anarchy that grows among the survivors.

I loved the cover and the blurb, unfortunately the story isn't up to much and I'm struggling to finish it. Not a lot happens other than the central character runs around worrying while gangs of citizens smash stuff up. It's just not written very well. Tucker clearly has ideas but I'd be inclined to come back in ten years and see what he's up to then.

[Katie]

I am just about to start reading matched. I just finished the series uglies... thought they were an easy read and pretty interesting story.

[Anna]

Have you read yet? It's a very interesting and vivid account of the people left behind after what many people called the rapture. The leftovers come up with all sorts of explanations, new rules and regulations, and interesting cults.

[Anna]

Katie wrote: "I am just about to start reading matched. I just finished the series uglies... thought they were an easy read and pretty interesting story."

My daughter just told me that she would be okay with being a pretty, even if she did become a bubblehead! How am I supposed to handle that? :) I think I need to re-read it.... also, is due out this year, a kind of sequel for one of the most memorable dystopian books I've read

[Cory]

Just finished Battle Royale and enjoyed it.
Have read the Hunger Games and The Uglies series and enjoyed them as well. Loved The Road--very bleak but beautiful since the father loves his son so much and the use of language...wow.
Any good suggestions?

[Michael]

An often overlooked great dystopia is "into the Forest" by Jean Hegland. Touching, scary, mystical. Also "Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood: Our govt has become a fundamentalist theocracy. Chilling. (also the movie with Tommy Lee Jones).

[Anna]

is great, and . also, and , was very unnerving, imho

[Anna]

Evelyn wrote: "I've just started reading Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451 - a world where firemen burn books and never read because it's illegal? Noooooooooooooooooooo!"

I just finished
, very good collection of shorts in honor and memory of Mr Bradbury

[Chris]

I'm reading Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West a heartbreaking memoir about a real dystopia - North Korea. It's hard going but fascinating at the same time.