[nesfa-reading-group] Reading group report Feb 2025 - book choices

[David Whitham]

Hi All,

Apologies, I will not be able to make the Feb meeting.

Here are my three choices for one of the summer month's reads:

The Grace of Kings, Ken Liu
Wily, charming Kuni Garu, a bandit, and stern, fearless Mata Zyndu, the son of a deposed duke, seem like polar opposites. Yet, in the uprising against the emperor, the two quickly become the best of friends after a series of adventures fighting against vast conscripted armies, silk-draped airships, and shapeshifting gods. Once the emperor has been overthrown, however, they each find themselves the leader of separate factions-two sides with very different ideas about how the world should be run and the meaning of justice.

Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
Norman Niblock House is a rising executive at General Technics, one of a few all-powerful corporations. His work is leading General Technics to the forefront of global domination, both in the marketplace and politically-it's about to take over a country in Africa. Donald Hogan is his roommate, a seemingly sheepish bookworm. But Hogan is a spy, and he's about to discover a breakthrough in genetic engineering that will change the world ... and kill him. These two men's lives weave through one of science fiction's most praised novels. Written in a way that echoes John Dos Passos' U.S.A. Trilogy, Stand on Zanzibar is a cross-section of a world overpopulated by the billions. Where society is squeezed into hive-living madness by god-like mega computers, mass-marketed psychedelic drugs, and mundane uses of genetic engineering. Though written in 1968, it speaks of 2010, and is frighteningly prescient and intensely powerful.

Seveneves, Neal Stephenson
What would happen if the world were ending? A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space. But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain . . . Five thousand years later, their progeny-seven distinct races now three billion strong-embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown . . . to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth.

For a short and (not so) sweet review of Pattern Recognition,  I was bored. Good writing style, but I did not like any of the characters and the protagonist's "allergy" to imagery/branding did not ring as believable or compelling to me. I plowed through thanks again to the engaging writing, but it felt like I was on a tired amusement park ride. One that was oiled and still ran well, but nothing all that interesting happening. I'd give it a 5 out of 13.

David

-----Original Message-----
From: reading-group <reading-group-bounces at lists.nesfa.org> On Behalf Of Wesley Brodsky via reading-group
Sent: Sunday, February 2, 2025 10:11 AM
To: NESFA Clerk <clerk at lists.nesfa.org>
Cc: Wesley Brodsky <wesbrodsky at alum.mit.edu>; NESFA ReadingGroup <reading-group at lists.nesfa.org>
Subject: [nesfa-reading-group] Reading group report Feb 2025

We have not read a new book since the January 2025 report.  The next meeting on Friday, February 7, 2025 7:00pm to 9:00pm will discuss: "Pattern Recognition" by William Gibson.

-Wes Brodsky
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