Random Recommendation Guest Post: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

This recommendation comes from Chelsea. You can follow her on her blog The Globally Curious and on twitter @chelsea_mcgill4.


The Dispossessed (1974) by Ursula K. Le Guin

"A bleak moon settled by utopian anarchists, Anarres has long been isolated from other worlds, including its mother planet, Urras—a civilization of warring nations, great poverty, and immense wealth. Now Shevek, a brilliant physicist, is determined to reunite the two planets, which have been divided by centuries of distrust. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the walls of hatred that have kept them apart.

To visit Urras—to learn, to teach, to share—will require great sacrifice and risks, which Shevek willingly accepts. But the ambitious scientist's gift is soon seen as a threat, and in the profound conflict that ensues, he must reexamine his beliefs even as he ignites the fires of change."

Review: Severance by Chris Bucholz

Severance by Chris Bucholz (Apex Publications, 326 pages, 2014)


It’s been over two hundred years since the Argos, a generation ship, left Earth, bound for a new home (Tau Pruis III). Now, you might suppose that the people on board have somehow progressed beyond the violence and intolerance and hatred practiced on Earth in order to have survived for this long on a ship in the middle of Nowhere, Space, right? Yeah, well, not so fast…

In Severance, Bucholz takes us on a roller-coaster ride of spaceship technology, genetic manipulation, and politics as dirty and shameful as anything you can find in the news these days. Although we’re never really told why humans left Earth, or even how they decided who would get to leave, we do know that by the time the story begins, many of those on the ship are either listless, really dumb, or both. They form vomiting clubs, dress up as horses, and do all kinds of other “interesting” things to stave off the intense and mind-numbing boredom that comes with shooting through space on a pretty uninteresting ship.

Books to Look For (February): Biography

American Vandal: Mark Twain Abroad by Roy Morris, Jr. (Belknap Press, 288 pages, February 9)

Well, if it's a book about Mark Twain, then it had better be in my hands, like, yesterday. American Vandal focuses on the significant amount of time that Twain spent traveling around the world, and how he encouraged middle-class Americans to do the same. This was the "dawn of mass tourism," and Twain enjoyed becoming a "global citizen," especially because it gave him tons of material for satirizing trite American ideas and expectations of other cultures.



Eleanor Marx: A Life by Rachel Holmes (Bloomsbury Press, 528 pages, February 24)

Feminist, translator, and daughter of Karl Marx, Eleanor Marx was a trailblazer, supporting the theater of Henrik Ibsen, leading British dock workers' and gas workers' unions, and editing many of her father's works. Holmes has written about these and many other achievements in what looks like a fantastic biography.

From the TBR Shelf #38: The Children of Men by P. D. James

This was one of those cases where I saw the movie first, and then read the book. And as usual, the book was much better. However, the film was intriguing enough to make me want to read P. D. James for the first time.

You're probably not surprised to hear that I absolutely LOVED this novel. I kept picturing scenes from the movie while reading it, and each time fought against this (inevitable) occurrence, quickly realizing that the people who had adapted it to film changed around all the characters and the ending and...many other important things. 

More Cool Maps of Fictional Literary Places

You loved that first “Cool Maps of Fictional Literary Places” post so much, that we decided to give you more because you’re awesome.

Also, a big thank-you to everyone who suggested other lovely fictional maps. And be sure to tell me in the comments about any that I missed!

Bookish Moments in Fraggle Rock

As you may already know, I watch a ton of Fraggle Rock because my twin toddlers are OBSESSED with it. They know all the songs, much of the dialogue, and more of the characters’ names than the names of their classmates at nursery school. Friends have told me that this shows I’m being a good mother, so I take that to heart.

Not surprisingly, I always keep an ear out for bookish/literary references in everything that I watch (which, at this point in my life, is basically Fraggle Rock and Farscape. Yes- I’m definitely getting my required dose of Hensen puppetry). And while there aren’t tons of bookish references in this delightful show, there are some, which are just wonderful. So close your eyes and think back to your childhood and what you remember of Fraggle Rock. Then tell me what I missed!

(By the way, have I mentioned that Margery the Trash Heap is my favorite character?)