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dustydigger
Posted 2015-01-25 11:09 AM (#9358 - in reply to #9162)
Subject: Re: The Definitive 1950s Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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Location: UK		Finished the Martian Chronicles,though that title has no resonance for me,I knew it as a teenager under the UK title The Silver Locusts. Much more romantic and fitting than the dry as dust US title,dont you think?
This book was one of 10 books that were promoted as possibly still being read in a hundred years. I definitely think it will be.There is a complexity of viewpoints and themes enough that the book will always strike a chord somewhere. Fear of a nuclear war destroying earth may be in abeyance at the moment,but that insistence in trampling over and simply destroying other cultures than its own is as rampant as ever,as is the destruction of the environment by crass commercialism and greed. The book is more a dream than an actual depiction of colonizing Mars,and its elegiac style,poetic rhythm and intense emotionalism making any outdated concepts or attitudes seem unimportant. We dont stop to pick holes in dodgy science or even sneer at some sentimentality (would everyone go back home in the case of a nuclear war? sounds unlikely!) because we are moving on to the next little vignette which gives us a rush of nostalgia,awe at the martian landscape,sadness at mans seeming inability to learn from mistakes etc etc. The whole work is suffused with delicious irony from beginning to end,and this neutralises any sugariness and sentimentality. That irony will be what preserves this book for the future I believe. A true classic
At an earlier time I also read severalmother of the 1950 books. Hope it is OK to post about them,since not many books seem to have been read or reviewed yet
Isaac Asimov - Pebble in the Sky.Asimov's firsst full length novel is no spectacular masterpiece, but still is a solid enjoyable read. It was a change to see a middle-aged sedentary man as the hero for once, and the story was engaging enough. I was reading Zelazny's This Immortal at the same time, and there was a similar theme, a post nuclear war badly radiated earth, much of the population fled to other planets as second class citizens, outsiders in control of the earth. A nicely developed plot here, with a few surprises, though the characters are as usual rather cardboard, and there is quite a bit of coincidence. There was an obligatory stilted romance, though it was of interest in the prejudices the young archaeologist hero had to overcome to accept one of the despised earth citizens as a worthy lover. All in all a good effort from the young Asimov, and a pleasant read.
Robert A Heinlein - Farmer in the Sky. One of my favourite Heinlein juveniles about a typically ebullient young man who goes off to the moon Ganymede with his father to escape the bleak life on an overpopulated earth,where food is strictly rationed.Young Bills 'practicality and quick wits leads him to save the ship on the journey, They intend to become farmers on Ganymede which is in the process of being terraformed,but various disasters cause great problems,but our intrepid young man sees it through. Lots of fun on the spaceship,and some very interesting info on terraforming,and some quite dark emotional issues for a juvenile book. Well worth a read by adults,for the terraforming alone. No wonder I was disappointed with KSRsRed Mars,I was looking for something similar to Heinlein!

Edited by dustydigger 2015-01-25 11:13 AM

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