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Apocryphal
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I would argue that there's a very slim band of time, and even then only a few places, where magical thinking wasn't the norm in the world. I think the world did mostly alright with magical thinking. I'm not sure the nuclear age was objectively bette…
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How would the weighting work? FYI for the newer members, we've tried several different methods of picking books over the years. We started with straight up one-member-picks just like we do now. Then we went to one member nominates three and those t…
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@NeilNjae That's too bad. It sounds like all the talk of local life got in the way of your ability to appreciate how tech can impact local life? Did I read that correctly? I'm not sure you can have the latter without the former. @clash_bowley What …
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Not this far western 😂
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I meant to say, this book reminded me of The Circle by Dave Eggers crossed by Tolkien’s Leaf By Niggle.
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Setting-wise it does provide a ready-made village setting one could just lift and plop into an appropriate campaign, complete with village map, factions, and personalities, of one wanted to. From a theme perspective, I could see myself (or to be ho…
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I think it was a feature of the novel, to a degree, but not fully. The only real luddite in the village was teacher Shen, and he didn't come off well. So it was more about how to adapt to new culture while still staying who the villagers were, than …
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I don't see why the book couldn't have worked in, say, a native community in the Americas or in eastern Europe. Or even a Mennonite community. Except that had the author chose those, he would have had to be a lot more careful about understanding the…
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I think in may ways is was remarkably prescient. I did think it did a good (if narrow!) job at examining the impacts of changing tech in general and applying this examination to what felt like real people far from the centres of change. It did not a…
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I also wasn't sold on the pregnancy. Nor on the (magical seeming to me) way they all got insurance and things all worked out. Where was the 2-year fight to get insurance money? The book had a rather fairy-tale quality to it, especially when one sta…
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I though the book's main spirit was to tell a community story (the kind of story @BarnerCobblewood keeps mentioning he's looking for, and what I expect our next book, The Carpet Makers, will also be) against the backdrop of technological change. The…
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I think we have to conclude the author's take is optimistic, though cautious, about technology. Or at least it was when he wrote the book. Things probably looked less scary and more promising back then. In our current global situation, I'm much less…
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All caught up, now. I did enjoy the book - it was my first Ryman. The only other one on my radar is The Child Garden. I'm not quite sure what the author was setting out to do with the book, so I can't say whether that was accomplished or not. On th…
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Looks like I can get from the library - they have 1 copy but no holds. It's not on audible.ca, oddly.
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I'm leaning toward this book for September: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Carpet_Makers I've heard many good things, and since it has a current Penguin release I think it should be generally available. And, I think from a subject matter standpoi…
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Yeah, I curious to read more as well, just to see how many different ways he treats the response to the catastrophe. His books are not difficult to read, from what I've seen. I've got The Long Winter (and The World in Winter - same thing?) plus I th…
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That happened here to a degree, but then the trend reversed as the city folk couldn't take all the bugs, isolation, and dearth of lit fic book clubs.
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@NeilNjae Sounds more like a job for Earth Abides by Geroge R. Stewart.
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Could be.
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> @RichardAbbott said: > I agree that point 5 "The Decisive Battle of the Elect, which is a fancy way of saying there's a final conflict between good and evil, in which the reader recognizes how much they have in common with the evil cha…
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That game is still going? I have 2 editions already, but never hear anyone talk about it.
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"This person doesn't belong here, so I'm going to deflate their tires so they can never leave." Doesn't seem very well thought out lol. Reminds me of when I was in university, a fellow student did a huge bike ride through Asia. He later d…
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Survivors was by Terry Nation, if I recall (I think I have his novelization on my shelf) who also did work on early Dr Who - like invented the Daleks?
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I thought I'd share Gary K. Wolfe's thesis on common structure for Apocalyptic Novels, from his essay titled The Remaking of Zero, which I read in his book Evaporating Genres * Experience or Discovery of the Cataclysm * Journey Through the Wastelan…
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I'm not sure there's anything special about this book in regards to gaming. It's certainly the kind of scenario that might play out in an Apocalyptic Game. The theme of pushing the players to decide how brutal their character will become is well-tro…
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I suppose each has their place. I would call this an Apocalyptic Novel - one that deals with the fall of society, wheras Riddley Walker was a Post-Apocalyptic Novel - one that deals with the reconstruction of society after the fall. Tom's-A-Cold is…
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I thought it did feel credible, in the sense that any one group of might might certainly organize themselves this way. And since this descent into brutality is the theme, it makes sense to have an authoritarian organization. To what degree any of t…
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A disdain of other countries except 'The Americans' who again are assumed will somehow once again come to the rescue. Unlike in Triffids, in this novel this heroic role is also extended to the Commonwealth. The Canadian attitude would be that we ca…
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I think it was key to the theme Christopher wanted to explore, to contrast these individuals. I found it effective.
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I personally didn't find this all that convincing. But although this is the title of the book, I don't think it's really the main concept, either. The mechanics of it is barely touched on, afterall - the actual death of grass takes place in the back…