SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Hello All. Those interested in social issues may be interested in this buddy read project. Let's read 10 Utopian/dystopian books together. More fun that way!

I am an old literary reader. So I suggest Metropolis by Thea von Harbou.


Tell. Tell. do Tell. What do you want to read for our proposed buddy read project?

I don’t have anything to suggest yet but I’m interested in the project and will join the reads when I can.

Scratch that, I just found out that I do have some dystopias very high on my TBR:
Farenheit 451
Cat’s Cradle
Snow Crash
To name a few

Are we going to try and pair them somehow (dystopia to utopia) to see contrasts and maybe even similarities?

Utopian = possibles include

I, Robot
A Psalm for the Wild-Built


Dystopian = possibles include

Lord of the Flies as it's a breakdown of civilization
Unity by Elly Bangs as the blurb says fleeing across the otherworldly beauty of the postapocalyptic Southwest

found a few lists containing some Utopian novels, which is way harder than dystopian. The only book I could think of was “Herland”. Herland But A Psalm for the Wild-Built also qualifies.

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

These lists also contain plenty of books that are not Utopias!

Thank you so much for your interest!
I want to be sure to select books that make people comfortable. When we attract us some men and manly readers, I hope we will read more manly books too. I read books to be expansive in understanding. I believe many others do too.

Brave New World is such a disturbing, dystopian choice.

Based on your lists and the costs of the books and the easy accessibility of some books, including Kindle Unlimited, I am suggesting the following books for now:

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (Olga)

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (CBRetriever)

Wanderground: Stories of the Hill Women by Sally Miller Gearhart (DivaDiane)

Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey

Metropolis by Thea von Harbou (Cynda)

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (Nutanella)

1984 by
George Orwell (Melanie)

Does this work well enough for the first few months?

Hi Cheryl
Is that a suggestion? Or a warning? 🤔🙂

As for the question of pairing, Olga, if you have a suggestion for a pairing, please share book titles. We can point out a pairing as an extra treat for readers.

I have a few suggestions, but none as to pairings for now:

1984 by George Orwell
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Blindness by José Saramago
Ice by Anna Kavan

"Ice" is high on my TBR list, as it is currently available on Netgalley due to its upcoming reprint by Pushkin Press.

Cynda wrote: "Based on your lists and the costs of the books and the easy accessibility of some books, including Kindle Unlimited, I am suggesting the following books for now:

Fahrenheit 451 by ..."

the second Becky Chambers book should work too: A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

I absolutely loved A Prayer for the Crown-Shy and A Psalm for the Wild-Built. I'm planning on purchasing those so that I can reread them multiple times.

I am not allowed to suggest my own dystopian book, am I?

Dieter, yes, please do suggest a short list to select from.

CBRetriever, thank you for that comment so that others will know that the series is good. . . .Let us see who else shows up with suggestions as there are only 10 more months in the year.

So Cheryl, so I am guessing your reading joy is commenting, so comment away. Let me know when you have a suggestion by calling me by name, something like: Hey Cynda. . .

Dieter wrote: "I am not allowed to suggest my own dystopian book, am I?"

not if you wrote it

Thanks CBRetriever. I was just coming back, realizing exactly what Dieter was probably saying.

No Dieter not your own.

However. . . .If you have another book to suggest, we will consider.

OK, INFINITY GATE, by M.R. Carey

Adding Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey. For now I will add to message 9 where I list the other books.

Cynda, since you have so much interest and have been so kind as to help organize this, do you want to tell folks a little about what you're thinking this might look like and how long they have to recommend books? Is it 5 utopia, 5 dystopia? Are these all suggested buddy reads or will there be a final list based on interest?

I'd like to bump my post 12, since no one has responded to my suggestions. Is there any interest in any of the books I suggested?

I'm on a book buying ban at the moment, but I have 1984 and could Buddy Read that.

I'd be in favour of the original cyberpunk/steampunk option; but I'm sure both will be stimulating.

Netanella, my eyesight is not the best. I apologize for my unintentional rudeness and thank you for you allowing me to correct myself.

While Ice looks good, I am keeping book budgets in mind, so I am adding The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

Melanie, yes, let's add 1984 by George Orwell.

a.g.e. montagner, there were two options originally. Since utopia/dystopia is also a literary genre, I am familiar with it and can lead a discussion. I cannot lead discussion at all on steampunk/cyberpunk. If you want to lead such a discussion, I will participate with alacrity and reading joy.

And I hope you will stop by to read with.

Allison, thank you for your direction.
May we just read whichever genre --utopia or dystopia--as the list organically generates?

Utopia contains elements of dystopia.
&
Dystopia contains elements of utopia.

Is this okay?

Also Allison and all others, let's have list of 10 books so that we can complete our study this year.

When we get 10 suggestions (that I see) we will have completed our list

This is the list I have so far.

1. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (Olga)

2. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (CBRetriever)

3. Wanderground: Stories of the Hill Women by Sally Miller Gearhart (DivaDiane)

4. Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey (Dieter)

5. Island by Aldous Huxley (Cynda)

6. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (Netanella)

7. 1984 by George Orwell (Melanie)

8. The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks (Allison)

Please let me know if I need to correct this list.

I am changing my suggestion to Island by Aldous Huxley. I found it on a list of The Best Utopian Books of All Time

https://www.bookscrolling.com/best-ut...

Cynda wrote: "Netanella, my eyesight is not the best. I apologize for my unintentional rudeness and thank you for you allowing me to correct myself.

While Ice looks good, I am keeping book budget..."

No worries. :)

Currently "Ice" is on Netgalley as a Read Now, since it is about to be rereleased. This is how I got my budget copy.

Glad we are good reading together again.

Cynda wrote: "Allison, thank you for your direction.
May we just read whichever genre --utopia or dystopia--as the list organically generates?

Utopia contains elements of dystopia.
&
Dystopia contains element..."

I am happy for it to be whatever you intend! It's good to know the goal isn't to simply crowdsource ideas, but to actually bring up books the nominator would like to read together, so that this can be kept focused. I'd love to see a few other utopia-focused works though (I can't help it, I love a juxtaposition!)

I just finished The Player of Games which might be a good fit. Lots to discuss on both sides of the -topia.

Yes! that is why I changed my suggestion, Allison. Let's go with first of the series: Consider Phlebas first of the Culture series. Good to have a mix.

Let's give readers a moment to find us as they may be busy with real life or focused on book challenges and projects. I say we close off selections Tuesday 11th 5pm my local time USA Central Time. If not enough to reach ten, I will select other utopian selections that are commonly available through US libraries or for nominal costs USD or are available through Kindle Unlimited.

Cynda, I would rather go with Alison’s suggestion of Player of Games for this, since it reflects the spirit of the dystopia/utopia idea much better than Consider Phlebus.

I have read Consider Phlebus (and didn’t love it), and I don’t think it matters if you read them out of order. They are stand-alone books.

Oh standalones. Okay. Thanks DivaDiane for letting me know.
Will edit above.

Reading Friends,
I have made up a list based on your and my suggestions to make up a list of 10, five utopian and five dystopian. I did change things from lists you all made up to read more clearly defined utopian and dystopian selections. I even selected my selection from several lists of utopian selections provided. I have tried to keep things not too literary, not overly young adults, and at lower costs. I did select from Kindle Unlimited selections as well.

March 2025
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury

April 2025
Wanderground: Stories of the Hill Women by Sally Miller Gearhart

May 2025
Unityby Elly Bangs

June 2025
Island by Aldous Huxley

July 2025
Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey

August 2025
The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks

September 2025
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

October 2025
The Town with No Mirrors by Christina Collins

November 2025
1984 by George Orwell

December 2025
Conjunction by A.D. Zoltan

Allison or Moderator,
May we have help to set up this buddy read for the year?

I can help set up the threads for the buddy reads. We should decide what we are going to call the whole thing:

Utopia vs Dystopia ?
Utopia/Dystopia Buddy Read Series ?

Any other ideas?

So we could have the Subject header of
“Fahrenheit 451 (Utopia vs Dystopia)” or something similar.

Cynda, is the list you made in the order you’d like to read them in? Do we want to read one per month and alternate dystopias and utopias?

Yes, we will help add it to the BR list once you have the threads! Thanks Diane! 😁

Thanks DivaDiane. Yes to alternating between uptopias and dytopias. Other than that, if you think certain books should be read in a particular or better order, do that.

Thanks Allison for asking me to organize.

Glad to be of service.

Diva Diane, I just saw your question: Utopia/Dystopia Buddy Read Series is good. Subheader: Alternating Between Genres or Styles?

Thank you for setting up threads ☕

Perfection or Apacalypse (utopia/dystopia buddy reads)

Ahhh. Better.

I like Melanie’s best too!