Kiln People

“...where were answers to the truly deep questions? Religion promised those, though always in vague terms, while retreating from one line in the sand to the next. Don't look past this boundary, they told Galileo, then Hutton, Darwin, Von Neumann, and Crick, always retreating with great dignity before the latest scientific advance, then drawing the next holy perimeter at the shadowy rim of knowledge.” 

 The first Sci Fi book I ever read was by David Brin.  I was hooked instantly and quickly became immersed in the the Uplift Trilogy, and a love affair with Sci Fi was born.

So picking up a Brin Sci Fi novel is a big deal for me.  I have been holding on to this one for a while and looking forward to savouring every page. 

I didn't. Savor ever page that is.  It was over all a little disappointing.  Still a great read and I did enjoy it but it certainly didn't engross me the way some of his other novels have.  I often get to the end of a good Sci Fi book or trilogy and wish there was more.  However by the end of Kiln People I felt like 20% could have been cut and it would have been a better book. 

I am still glad I read the book.  It was good entertainment and was thought provoking in places.  In particular I enjoyed his exploration of the nature of identity.

Out Stealing Horses

“People like it when you tell them things, in suitable portions, in a modest, intimate tone, and they think they know you, but they do not, they know about you, for what they are let in on are facts, not feelings, not what your opinion is about anything at all, not how what has happened to you and how all the decisions you have made have turned you into who you are. What they do is they fill in with their own feelings and opinions and assumptions, and they compose a new life which has precious little to do with yours, and that lets you off the hook. No-one can touch you unless you yourself want them to.” 

"I can close my eyes and clearly see those lines, like shining arrows, and if I did not see them quite as clear that autumn day in Karlstad, I did know they were there, of that I am certain.  And those lines were different roads I could take, and having chosen one of them, the portcullis would come crashing down, and someone hoist the drawbridge up, and a chain reaction would be set in motion which no-one could stop, and there would be no running back, no retracing my steps....

.... If I had punched the man in Karlstad, my life would have been a different life, and I a different man.  And it would be foolish to maintain, as so many men do, that it would have come ot the same thing.  it would not."

These are longer quotes than I usually include about a book, but I found myself musing over these passages after finishing the book and so I wanted to include them both.

I really enjoyed this book by Petterson.  I loved the dual narrative positions of the Norwegian man in his 60's and his recollections of a significant summer when he was 15 years old.  A few members of Slim Tomes book club found it slow moving and lacking in grace (compared to some of our other recent books).  However I found this novel had a beautiful cadence and was filled with poignant moments and descriptions that evoked such a sense of place and atmosphere.

It would have been amazing to read this book in a cabin in a beautiful forest near a picturesque river.  I think I need a reading holiday soon!  

The Long Walk

“They're animals, all right. But why are you so goddam sure that makes us human beings?” 

"These things, they don't even bear the weight of conversation," he said, "J.D. Salinger...John Knowles...even James Kirkwood and that guy Don Bredes...they've destroyed being an adolescent, Garraty. If you're a sixteen-year-boy, you can't discuss the pains of adolescent love with any decency anymore. You just come off sounding like fucking Ron Howard with a hardon.

A book that I found very hard to put down.  I read it late into the night, with my eyes burning and my eyelids heavy.  And yet, the knowledge that the characters in the story were experiencing a deeper, more intense fatigue than I am ever likely to feel made it impossible for me to put the book down.  Also, I just had to know how long and how far the walk would go.

This is only the second King novel I have read, the first being "The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon".  Neither of these books are classic King horror, but they both demonstrate that his author is a master story teller.  He certainly knows how to get me hooked and keep me turning the pages.  My husband bought me a copy of "On Writing" by King for my birthday.  I am really looking forward to reading it.  Although I doubt that reading it will improve my fiction writing to be anywhere near the quality of Kings.

Anatomy of a Disappearance

“There are times when my father’s absence is as heavy as a child sitting on my chest. Other times I can barely recall the exact features of his face and must bring out the photographs I keep in an old enveloped in the drawer of my bedside table. There has not been a day since his sudden and mysterious vanishing that I have not been searching for him, looking in the most unlikely places. everything and everyone, existence itself, has become an evocation, a possibility for resemblance. Perhaps this is what is meant by that brief and now almost archaic word: elegy.”

This is the opening paragraph of this beautiful little book.  (I had to look up the word elegy).  

It is an absorbing story and very well written.  I came to love Nuri, despise Mona, feel fondly about Naima, and miss the presence of the father.  I think this indicates that Matar had done a pretty good job of engulfing me in his novel.

I am really looking forward to reading his first book In the Country of Men which was shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize, and generally received a better reception than Anatomy of a Disappearance. I found this book mesmerizing so I am expecting to be blown away by his first book.   

White Noise

“No sense of the irony of human experience, that we are the highest form of life on earth, and yet ineffably sad because we know what no other animal knows, that we must die.” 

"The nonbelievers need the believers. They are desperate to have someone believe."

"How stupid these people were, coming into my office unarmed."

This is the second novel by Don Delillo that I have read.  I found that I enjoyed it a lot more than the first, Falling Man.  But, interestingly, reading this booked helped me to appreciate Delillo's style more and I retrospectively adjusted my assessment of Falling Man and added an extra star to my rating of it.

White Noise is a wonderful book choc full of themes and interesting images.  The dialogue is fantastic.  Some of the interchanges between Jack and Babette are both fascinating and funny. 

I enjoyed being caught up in Jack's head as he worried his way through the novel and found the progression to absurdity to be believable and enjoyable.

A Monster Calls

“Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both.” 
  
A beautiful story about a 13 year old boy, Connor, whose mother is dying of cancer.  The plot may sound a bit morbid but this really is a lovely little book.  Even though it is pitched at a pre-teen level, there is plenty here to delight and move adults.  I cried and my husband admits to feeling a "prick of tears".  It received unanimous approval at our Slim Tomes Book Club.

I am still thinking about the 2 parables that the monster tells to Connor.

The book is embellished by the gorgeous illustrations of Jim Kay, who used "everything for beetles to breadboards to create interesting marks and textures.  The illustrations are so beautiful that I just have to include a couple here.

The illustrations below are from Jim Kay's website: http://www.jimkay.co.uk/Jim_Kay_Illustrator/A_Monster_Calls.html 

The Monster sitting on Grandma's office.

The Monster in Grandma's sitting room.

 

Atonement

"Come back, she used to whisper.  It's only a dream.  Come back."

“It wasn't only wickedness and scheming that made people unhappy, it was confusion and misunderstanding; above all, it was the failure to grasp the simple truth that other people are as real as you.”

"“How can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God? There is no one, no entity or higher form that she can appeal to, or be reconciled with, or that can forgive her. There is nothing outside her. In her imagination she has set the limits and the terms. No atonement for God, or novelists, even if they are atheists. It was always an impossible task, and that was precisely the point. The attempt was all.”

Another great McEwan novel.  I read it in just 2 days.  I could barely put it down.   McEwan is a fantastic story teller and creates such fascinating and believable characters. 

** Spoiler Alert **
The sense of foreboding and tragedy over through out was deliciously unbearable.  So I was surprised in the last few chapters to see things panning out so well.  How satisfying then to read the final section and feel the story reach its ending in just the way it should.

My question now is whether to watch the 2007 movie adaptation.  I don't usually enjoy watching Keira Knightly in serious period dramas.  What a botch she made of Elizabeth Bennett, and how overwrought was her performance in A Dangerous Method?  Though I think she shines in comedy.  However, the film has an 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a fair recommendation, so I guess I will put it on my list of movies to watch.

The Brothers Karamazov

A longer quote than usual to start with.  It is the first book I have given a 5 Star rating to so surely it deserves to be quoted (and indeed it often been quoted).

"Can you understand why a little creature, who can't even understand what's done to her, should beat her little aching heart with her tiny fist in the dark and the cold, and weep her meek unresentful tears to dear, kind God to protect her? Do you understand that, friend and brother, you pious and humble novice?Do you understand why this infamy must be and is permitted? Without it, I am told, man could not have existed on earth, for he could not have known good and evil. Why should he know that diabolical good and evil when it costs so much? Why, the whole world of knowledge is not worth that child's prayer to dear, kind God'! 
...
It's not worth the tears of that one tortured child who beat itself on the breast with its little fist and prayed in its stinking outhouse, with its unexpiated tears to 'dear, kind God'! It's not worth it, because those tears are unatoned for. They must be atoned for, or there can be no harmony. But how? How are you going to atone for them? Is it possible? By their being avenged? But what do I care for avenging them? What do I care for a hell for oppressors? What good can hell do, since those children have already been tortured? And what becomes of harmony, if there is hell? I want to forgive. I want to embrace. I don't want more suffering. And if the sufferings of children go to swell the sum of sufferings which was necessary to pay for truth, then I protest that the truth is not worth such a price. 
...
Besides, too high a price is asked for harmony; it's beyond our means to pay so much to enter on it. And so I hasten to give back my entrance ticket, and if I am an honest man I am bound to give it back as soon as possible. And that I am doing. It's not God that I don't accept, Alyosha, only I most respectfully return him the ticket."

An amazing book!  I hardly know where to start or what to say about it.  It is so dense, rich and engaging that my comments inevitably seem superficial.  There are so many thought provoking ideas crammed into this novel.  

The book is like a series of philosophical essays interspersed in a fantastic story full of fascinating characters.  Sometimes when authors try this you end up with a clunky, preachy, over-wrought mess.  But Dostoevsky manages to balance the plot and the philosophizing so perfectly that it never feels bogged down.  

The quote above is from Ivan, grappling with the problem of evil.  This passage affected me deeply when I first read it about 8 years ago.  I was still in the grips of religious fundamentalism at the time but the needless suffering in the world was steadily eating away at my faith.  I was shaken to find how strongly I could empathize with Ivan's declaration: "I most respectfully return him the ticket"

It is such a shame that Dostoevsky did not live long enough to write the sequel he had planned.  I would love to know how he would have unfolded the further adventures of the brothers, but also of Katya, Grushenka, Lise, Kolya and others.

So, which brother am I most like?  Which brother are you most like?  Is there some Karamazov in all of us?

A Tiger In Eden

It is not very often that opinion at our "Slim Tomes" Book Club is unanimous.  This book prompted one of those rare occasions.  We all disliked it.  I found the main character annoying, the "transformation" unconvincing and the conclusion fulfilling.  Flynn played with lofty ideas but his superficial treatment of grief, remorse and the desire to start anew was so badly done that it was annoying.  Overall a banal book that did not even redeem itself with the humor promised by the reviews on the cover.  The only good thing - it was a short little book and a quick, easy read, so it did not waste much of my time.  I don't think I will be reaching for a Chris Flynn book again anytime soon.

Neuromancer

We recently joined a new Book Club and Dear Husband suggested Neuromancer for the first book as he had just purchased a copy. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  The world of Neuromancer is fantastically imagined and communicated by Gibson.  The characters are fascinating enough to be absorbing, even though I found it hard to feel any empathy for them until nearing the end of the novel.  The plot is fast paced but I did get a bit lost in the action occasionally.  A few times I would read a couple of pages, feel a little hazy about what was going on, and then something would suddenly click and cause an "oh, so that's what just happened" moment. 

It was really interesting reading this and keeping in mind that it was written 28 years ago, in 1984.  Gibson is truly visionary.  He coined the term "cyberspace" in his 1982 short story "Burning Chrome" and popularized it with his novel Neuromancer.  He is also responsible for popularizing the term "matrix" and his work had a big influence on "The Matrix" film trilogy.  He is considered responsible for launching the sub-genres of Cyberpunk and Steampunk.  Honestly, this guy is truly a legend in his own time!  

"Neuromancer became the first novel to win the triple crown - Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick awards - and, in the process, virtually single-handedly launched the cyberpunk movement."   http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/gibson_interview.html 

Of course the vegan apprentice in me loved this snippet:
"Jesus," Molly said, her own plate empty, "gimme that.  You know what this costs?" She took his plate.  "They gotta raise a whole animal for years and then they kill it.  This isn't vat stuff." 
I wish that more people would see the meat on their plate in this light.  Could they then realize the absurdness of their dietary choices and the effect on our fragile planet?

For more on William Gibson:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gibson
For more from the man himself - he is a tweet meister:  https://twitter.com/#!/GreatDismal

I was about half way through Neuromancer when Dear Husband informed me that it is the first book in a trilogy and that he had already ordered a copy of the next two books.  Hooray!  I love a good trilogy.  Can hardly wait to read more Gibson.

The problem is, with all of this fabulous fiction sitting enticingly on the bookshelf, and belonging two Book Clubs which guarantees I will read at least two fiction books per month, how am I going to keep up with reading my Non-fiction quota for this year?

The Sense of an Ending

"We thought we were being mature when we were only being safe.  We imagined we were being responsible but were only being cowardly.  What we called realism turned out to be a way of avoiding things rather than facing them.  Time... give us enough time and our best-supported decisions will seem wobbly, our certainties whimsical."

"I had wanted life not to bother me too much, and had succeeded - and how pitiful that was."

I enjoyed this short novel - apparently much more than anyone else in our book club.  So I found myself feeling like an advocate for the book.  Maybe I enjoyed it more because I didn't even know it was a Booker Prize winner when I started reading it (yes I spend most of my time under a rock) so I just approached it as a something to relax with, rather than judging its merits as a Booker winner.  

I found it to be a real page turner.  So much so that I had to exert self-discipline to put it down for a day or two so that I could savour the ending even more.  

I liked the way Barnes dealt with the unreliability of memories and examined how our version of the past may not be as accurate as we like to believe.  I found the idea of corroboration of memories thought provoking, and it lead me to want to journal more regularly so that I will have more of my own "in the moment" reflections to look back on in years to come.  That's not to say I won't be interested in your version of the past too - so try to lay down some accurate memories please.  :)

He did manage to surprise me with the final twist, but I found the 'twist' convincing and believable.  It wasn't a sky hook and did not induce an "how dare he trick me" fit as all the necessary clues were there, they were just more subtle than the usual bleeding obvious "look here is an important detail" kind of clues.

Maybe the novel was particularly engaging for me as memories and our view of ourselves is something I have been thinking about lately.  I started raving on about memories, neurons and psychobabble but decided to move that discussion over to Mandy's Musings where it belongs. 

A Christmas Carol

"There's the saucepan that the gruel was in!" cried Scrooge, starting off again, and going round the fire-place. "There's the door, by which the Ghost of Jacob Marley entered! There's the corner where the Ghost of Christmas Present, sat! There's the window where I saw the wandering Spirits! It's all right, it's all true, it all happened. Ha ha ha!"

I really enjoyed this little book.  Even though the story was so familiar from watching so many movie versions I still found that reading it felt like a novelty.  A perfect, heart-warming, nostalgic Christmas story.  It was cliched, and soppy and cutesy but somehow still beautiful and effective. I think I will be re-reading this again for future Christmases.  Although perhaps once a decade or so will be often enough.

Cloud Atlas

An amazing book.  A mesmerizing, absorbing, memorable book.  I loved it.  Mitchell is a wonderful story teller.   He has written a masterpiece which shows the best and worst aspects of human nature are pitted against each other

Warning: spoilers!

I really enjoyed the devices he used to connect the stories.
I loved the double Matryoshka doll layering of the stories with time advancing and then peeled back.
The nested stories are beautifully crafted and sandwich together perfectly. 
I liked the subtle (and not so subtle) references to the comet shaped birth mark.
I loved the Sci Fi sections (but then I am always a sucker for a good sci fi story).

The Manor

This is the first book I have read by Singer and I really enjoyed it.  It was loaned to me by a work colleague who is a self confessed non-reader.   Despite being someone who "doesn't like to read" he said that this was one of his favorite books.   I wasn't sure if this was a good recommendation for a book or not!  However, within a few pages I was hooked.

The scope and the treatment of morals, values and societal pressure reminded me of Anna Karenina. 

I found the insight into Jewish society and family quite fascinating.  It is set in Poland in the late 19th Century.  Singer examines the conflicting pressures on Jewish families to rigidly continue their Jewish culture or integrate with the wider Polish society.  For individuals there is then the further pressures to conform to expectations placed on them or break out and pursue other dreams.  The consequences, perhaps predictably for many of the characters, are often disastrous either way.

As I came close to the end of the story I started to worry about how Singer was going to tie up all the loose ends in the remaining pages.  When I finally reached the end I felt cheated, as though the story had been suddenly snapped closed without resolving much of the tension.  I complained about this to my husband.  So imagine my relief when he told me, after a quick google search, that there is a sequel.  I promptly ordered a copy of The Estate from Better World Books and I look forward to reading it.

I did some googling about Singer myself and was interested to find out:
1. He won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978, "for his impassioned narrative art which, with roots in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life".   Nobel Prize Web Site  The fact that I have never heard of him before this is proof (yet again) of my uncouthness!
2. All his work was written in Yiddish and later translated to English.
3. He became a vegetarian in the mid 1960's and was a strict vegetarian for the last 35 years of his life.  He is responsible for some fabulously insightful and quotable statements about the ethics of vegetarianism. 

The International Vegetarian Union has a page about Singer and reports that

"He was fond of saying that he was a vegetarian for health reasons - the health of the chicken." 

Some further examples all lifted from the Wikipedia page about him (showing that I am not only uncouth but lazy):

"How can we speak of right and justice if we take an innocent creature and shed its blood?"

In The Letter Writer, he wrote:

"In relation to [animals], all people are Nazis; for the animals, it is an eternal Treblinka."

In the preface to Steven Rosen's "Food for Spirit: Vegetarianism and the World Religions" (1986), Singer wrote:

"When a human kills an animal for food, he is neglecting his own hunger for justice. Man prays for mercy, but is unwilling to extend it to others. Why should man then expect mercy from God? It's unfair to expect something that you are not willing to give. It is inconsistent. I can never accept inconsistency or injustice. Even if it comes from God. If there would come a voice from God saying, "I'm against vegetarianism!" I would say, "Well, I am for it!" This is how strongly I feel in this regard."

Open City

I struggled a bit with this one at first.  It was for book club and I was rushing to try and finish it in time for book club so perhaps that made it a bit harder.  Possibly if I had taken my time with it I would have enjoyed it more.

As it was I found it a bit tedious, pretentious and not very engaging. 

I enjoyed some of the conversations, particularly the political conversations that take place in Brussels.  And looking back now I can see that the book is well crafted and I suspect deserves more credit than I originally gave it.

I guess that overall I just couldn't get away from the feeling that the book, and by implication the author, was taking itself a bit too seriously.  But perhaps I was influenced by the photo of Cole in dust jacket.  I don't know why, and I know it is immature of me, but there is just something about the photo that I really don't like. But I am sure that indicates something wrong with me not Cole.  However, I really like his photography. 

Here's a link to his web site: tejucole.com/
If you want to see some of his photos: flickr - Teju Cole
And if you want to see the one of the most prolific twitter streams I have ever come across: Teju Cole on Twitter

Maestro

First impressions?
Misleading, of course.  As always.  But unforgettable.....

A miracle was occurring.  In the span of one lunchtime, music, the universal common language, would come to provide me with permanent protection in the schoolyard, and a safe conduct pass into even the darkest corners of the Covered Area.

Coming of age novels can be tedious and formulaic.   And certainly there are some predictable elements in Maestro.  However overall I really enjoyed this book.  A perfect holiday read. (I read most of it reclining in a spa bath.)

Last Days of the Dog-Men

A beautiful collection of short stories that had more to say about humans than dogs.  Though I guess that will come as no surprise.

Watson writes about a wide range of situations with gentle probing and sympathetic unveiling.  The characters are shown with all their objectionable blemishes and yet are still cloaked in vulnerable humanity.

I read these stories slowly, with pauses between each, to savour them and make them last.  Each had a unique impact - as all good short stories should.  There may have been a tear or two.  I will not soon forget the characters, particularly the tragic ones.  And there was enough sweet tragedy to satisfy even the most melancholic reader.  However the stories are never morbid or cynical.

Overall Watson has a achieved a collection that encourages introspection and empathy for those around us.  That seems a very impressive and worth while impact for a little book of short stories.

Agnes Grey

"You're to go to the schoolroom directly, mum - the young ladies is WAITING!!"  Cimax of horror!  Actually waiting for their governess!!! 

After being traumatised by The Wasp Factory I wanted to read something "nice".   So this was a perfect choice because, well, you don't get much nicer than Agnes Grey.

I thought I had not read this book before, but within a few pages I realised that I had.  I felt slightly disappointed that it was not going to be new or surprising, but then again, it was never going to be that surprising was it?

Anne is definitely the least Bronte-ish of the famed sisters.  Agnes Grey is much more Mansfield Park than Wuthering Heights.  It is a very preachy little book.  Agnes would give Fanny Price a run for her money in the goody-two-shoes department, although with the retrospective narrative position, Agnes at least carries a bit more authority and insight.  

Just when you start to feel that the book is a little too nice Agnes goes ahead and falls in love.  And then the moralising gets diluted by some good old fashioned romance.  Exactly what I needed to help me recover from the torturing of wasps!

I tend to get mixed up with who's who and who wrote what amongst the Brontes.  Fortunately a quick wiki search can set it all straight.  To aid my memory, of the 3 Bronte sisters who survived childhood:

The Bronte Sisters

Charlotte, the eldest, outlived the rest, experienced some acclaim in her lifetime for Jane Eyre, married her father's curate, but died soon after at 38yo while pregnant.  Her novels:

- Jane Eyre

- Shirley

- Villette

- The Professor (written before Jane Eyre but rejected by publishers during Charlotte's life)

Emily, the middle sister, died at 30 years old in December 1948, just 3 months after Branwell's death in September 1948.  She published one glorious novel:

- Wuthering Heights

Anne, the youngest of the family, died at 29 years old, 5 months after Emily in May 1949.  Her contribution:

- Agnes Grey

- The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

All three of the sisters also wrote poetry.  Their first published volume, containing poems by all 3, was not well received at first.  The portrait above was painted by Branwell.  Apparently Branwell was also in this portrait originally but either removed himself, or was rubbed out by his father after an argument!

Poor little Anne is the apparently the least distinguished according to wikipedia.  I guess her writing is the least like to be studied by high school English Literature students, if this is anything to gauge by!  And yet the entry on wikipedia about her is much, much longer than either of the entries about her sisters.  Go figure.

Anne on Wikipedia 

The Wasp Factory

This is not a book that you "enjoy" reading exactly.  I found myself wondering at times "What kind of person writes a book like this?"

But I did find it engrossing and intriguing.  I thought the portrayal of the main character, and in particularly his psychopathy, fairly convincing.  Though this point was strongly disputed by other members of book club.  Over the course of the story I found myself warming to the awful main character, almost against my will, and despite a strong sense of revulsion.

Banks story-telling ability is demonstrated well enough to leave me wanting to read more of his work.  That in itself seems a strong testament to an authors first published novel. 

He publishes as Iain Banks for "regular" fiction and as Iain M. Banks for science fiction.  I plan on trying one of his scifi books soon.  A dose of good scifi is always welcome - so hopefully Iain M. Banks has some good scifi to offer.

The Dispossessed

Ursula le Guin is one of my favourite authors.  I only discovered her a few years ago when she was referenced in the movie version of "The Jane Austen Book Club".  Since then I have been metering out her books so that I don't run out too soon.  I have been saving this book for a while and I am happy to say that it did not disappoint. 

The Dispossessed is a fantastically complex novel and yet it is a very engrossing read.  Le Guin has an amazing talent for exploring weighty themes in her novels without the character or plot becoming staid or "preachy".
 
The dilemmas and conflicts face by the main character, Shevek, take us through a wide range of issues and ultimately address our ideas of utopia and meaning.  And, being good science fiction, there is also a good dose of ethics, gender issues, psychology (with a not-so-subtle reference to the Stanford Prison Experiment), speculative physics and of course, relationship concerns. 

Capitalism, Socialism and Anarchism are all treated with an even hand.  History has already shown us some of the possible pitfalls in capitalism and socialism.  In some ways The Dispossessed  is a thought experiment in Anarchism, and, given that le Guin has no historical examples of how a large Anarchist society might work, I think she gives a convincing account.  The ideals of anarchism are respected even while showing the difficulties in practical application that may occur and indeed compound over time.

It was particularly good timing for me to read this as I am currently study a 1st Political Science unit:  The Liberal Democratic State.   It has been fascinating and informative to study the early ideology of Liberalism and see how this has, in practice, delivered many unintended consequences in our contemporary capitalist and individualistic society.  As we scratch our heads and wonder what are our alternatives I think that le Guin's offering can perhaps help us to think a little more broadly and creatively.