#books!

Cities, edited by  Peter Crowther 

I'm including this on a technicality because my edition was a misprint and missed out a large hunk of the China Mieville story I was most excited to read. So I'm annoyed about that and will have to seek it out elsewhere. The other three stories were okay. I liked the world of the Paul DiFillipo story but the plot didn't interest me much. I enjoyed the Geoff Ryman most of the three but I didn't *love* it. I didn't get on with the Michael Moorcock story at all... It felt like I'd have needed to work harder than I was willing to if I wanted to access the full meaning of it... I simply didn't like it enough to be bothered. That's a me problem, maybe, but it's my hobby and I'm willing to put the work into books that give me a reason to and this one didn't. Overall the collection didn't greatly inspire me but I do still really want to read the China Mieville one.

There is No Antimemetics Division by qntm

Loved this! Some brilliant and unsettling ideas about phenomena that erase memory or make it impossible or unsafe to remember them, and the Foundation who tries to contain these phenomena and protect society from them. I really enjoyed all the different Happenings, which started somewhat episodic and then led into a bigger plot. 

My appreciation of this book was also enhanced by discovering that there are two different editions, so my ebook and the paper edition a friend lent me are different, including different ordering of events and renamed characters. I could not find any evidence of this being the case online so probably the antimemes got me. Maybe this post will redact itself. Who knows. 

Can Socialists Be Happy by George Orwell

I've read one or two of George Orwell's essays before, but this was the first big collection. Unfortunately this edition didn't include the original dates of the essays, which would have provided some useful context.  Nonetheless the collection had some interesting entries and I appreciated it, if not enjoyed (because a lot of it was terribly depressing). The titular essay was the one I've been thinking most about since... It's not really asking the question if socialists can be happy so much as asking if socialism can define what "success" means in terms other than absence. Like we want an end to war and poverty and inequality, but what does the world look like when we achieve that. Mostly it came down to fictional utopias seeming incredibly bland. It was interesting and well worth reading, but as I say several of the essays were just depressing. 

And with the kids I read: 

The Arctic Fox by Holly Dean

A cute little story about a visit to Lapland and a slightly mystical encounter with an arctic fox. Nothing that set me on fire but I enjoyed reading it with my kid. 

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis

I must have read this before but I remembered basically nothing about it, so it was very fun to reread with my eldest. Definitely better than I remembered it being, but it turns out I only really remember the first three books. 

In addition I am currently reading: 

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (should finish this by next month) 

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan

Clariel by Garth Nix

The Silver Chair by Garth Nix