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Book Club: Dystopian December

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited January 2023 in General Chat
Franki is taking a month or so out, so you're all living in your own personal dystopias where I'm in charge... mwahaha.

And that's the theme of this month: Dystopia.
Dystopia (noun) An imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.

Off you go! Don't forget to explain in your reason for nomination what the dystopian element of the story is. Fiction only, please.
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    This is not a nomination

    Nomation format:
    Book: Snuff by Terry Pratchett | Kindle Edition | ePub

    Synopsis: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a policeman taking a holiday would barely have had time to open his suitcase before he finds his first corpse.

    And Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is on holiday in the pleasant and innocent countryside, but not for him a mere body in the wardrobe. There are many, many bodies and an ancient crime more terrible than murder.

    He is out of his jurisdiction, out of his depth, out of bacon sandwiches, occasionally snookered and out of his mind, but never out of guile. Where there is a crime there must be a finding, there must be a chase and there must be a punishment.

    They say that in the end all sins are forgiven.

    But not quite all...
    From Amazon

    Reason for Nomination: Any reason you like can go here. The above is an example, and was our book for March 2012, so no nominating!

    As I did above, if there are Kindle/e-reader editions, put separate links to those, please.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Book: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell | Kindle Edition | ePub

    Synopsis: The archetypal dystopia. London, 1984, where Big Brother is always watching. Written in 1948, this was Orwell's chilling prediction of how the future would be if people continued to be content to give the state control of civil liberties. Often cited by anti-surveillance activists, and the inspiration for countless parodies, etc.

    Reason for Nomination: The original, and best.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Book: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness | Kindle Edition | ePub

    Synopsis: "Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him -- something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn't she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd's gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is." - publisher blurb

    Reason for nomination: I have been meaning to read this for ages, it looks perfect for Hunger Games fans
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Book: Fatherland by Robert Harris | Kindle Edition | ePub

    Synopsis: It is twenty years after Nazi Germany's triumphant victory in World War II and the entire country is preparing for the grand celebration of the Furhrer's seventy-fifth birthday, as well as the imminent peacemaking visit from President Kennedy. Meanwhile, Berlin Detective Xavier March -- a disillusioned but talented investigation of a corpse washed up on the shore of a lake. When a dead man turns out to be a high-ranking Nazi commander, the Gestapo orders March off the case immediately. Suddenly other unrelated deaths are anything but routine. Now obsessed by the case, March teams up with a beautiful, young American journalist and starts asking questions...dangerous questions. What they uncover is a terrifying and long-concealed conspiracy of such astounding and mind-numbing terror that is it certain to spell the end of the Third Reich -- if they can live long enough to tell the world about it.

    Reason for Nomination: This is amazing. Robert Harris is a fabulous historian and novelist and completely leads the reader into a world where Nazi Germany won WWII
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    There's something niggling at the back of my mind that would make a good nomination - but I can't for the life of me think of what it is. It's a big brother looking over your shoulder type thing - I want to say by Slyvia Plath but I know she's a poet.

    From that rubbish description - can anyone help my poor brain?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    There's something niggling at the back of my mind that would make a good nomination - but I can't for the life of me think of what it is. It's a big brother looking over your shoulder type thing - I want to say by Slyvia Plath but I know she's a poet.

    From that rubbish description - can anyone help my poor brain?

    Slyvia Plath wrote "The Bell Jar" but don't know if thats what you're referring to as I read it a very long time ago and can't remember what it's about!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Handmaids Tale was the one I had in mind - I'll do a proper nomination later. Thanks for the prompt White Lillies, I read it at around the same time as I read The Bell Jar, so was enough to remind me.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    piccolo wrote: »
    Book: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness | Kindle Edition | ePub

    Synopsis: "Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him -- something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn't she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd's gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is." - publisher blurb

    Reason for nomination: I have been meaning to read this for ages, it looks perfect for Hunger Games fans

    Read the whole series, they're really good :D

    Nina x
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm nominating Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde.

    Someone do the rest for me?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Fiend_85 wrote: »
    I'm nominating Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde.

    Someone do the rest for me?

    Book: Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde | Kindle Edition | ePub | audibook (unabridged)

    Synopsis: In the distant future, after Something that Happened, everyone sees the world differently, one or two colours at a time. Eddie Russet is a Red, with good sight and the chance to rise to high office. Until he falls in love with Jane, a Grey - the lowest of the low - who is trying to get him killed.

    Reason for nomination: Fiend says, she has seen something new in it every time she re-reads it. I have only read it once, but it's a rich, brilliant narrative.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Handmaids Tale was the one I had in mind - I'll do a proper nomination later. Thanks for the prompt White Lillies, I read it at around the same time as I read The Bell Jar, so was enough to remind me.

    I was going to nominate this anyway, so I'll just let you fill in your own reason for nomination. :thumb:

    Book: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood | Kindle Edition | ePub | audiobook (unabridged)

    Synopsis: (from Goodreads.com)
    Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining fertility, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now...

    Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.

    Reason for nomination: Again, I've been wanting to read this for ages. I'll let Scary Monster provide her reason, too.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    We're a bit short on time this month (sorry!) so I'll close this some time tomorrow. Get nominating! I know people wanted to suggest The Hunger Games, for example.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    OK, since no one else has nominated it:

    Book: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins | Kindle Edition | ePub | audiobook (unabridged)

    Synopsis: In the near future, in a post-apocalyptic America (now known as Panem), as punishment for a past revolution, each of the country's twelve administrative districts is forced to pit two of its children (one boy and one girl) against the other 'tributes' in a televised, twisted fight to the death.

    Reason for nomination: It casts a shadow over our obsession with reality TV, as well as being a thrilling and darkly disturbing adventure. I got the feeling in chat that a few people wanted to nominate this.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    piccolo wrote: »
    I was going to nominate this anyway, so I'll just let you fill in your own reason for nomination. :thumb:

    Book: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood | Kindle Edition | ePub | audiobook (unabridged)

    Synopsis: (from Goodreads.com)

    Reason for nomination: Again, I've been wanting to read this for ages. I'll let Scary Monster provide her reason, too.

    Because it messes with your mind, in a dark, yet somehow still fun way. Haven't read it for years, but it's a good one.
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