Sci-Fi Group Book Club discussion

This is the discussion thread for the first book of the month, or group read, for December. Please remember to use the spoiler tags where necessary. The other group read topic for this month (Antioch) can be found here.

I read this book many years ago. It is one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors.

I just finished this book in the last month or so, and I think it is one of the best books I have ever read. I look forward to discussing this book this month. BTW, for anyone who may not know, City is a fixup of several standalone short stories, and I think it holds up very well as a complete novel.

Del wrote: "I read this book many years ago. It is one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors."

Hi Del! Are you considering re-reading it for this group read?

David wrote: "I just finished this book in the last month or so, and I think it is one of the best books I have ever read. I look forward to discussing this book this month. BTW, for anyone who may not know, Cit..."

Were the stories published over a number of years?

Most of the stories were published between 1944-1951. The 1980 and later editions include a ninth story written much later than the first eight, but I don't know if it was published separately.

Greg wrote: "Del wrote: "I read this book many years ago. It is one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors."

Hi Del! Are you considering re-reading it for this group read?"

No.

Just started. Not sure what to make of it yet, although I'm enjoying the writing style so far.

Just finished it. Wow. Blown away! Will probably have to read it again. Little book - big themes ........and the saddest robot :(

Mel wrote: "Just finished it. Wow. Blown away! Will probably have to read it again. Little book - big themes ........and the saddest robot :("

I loved the melancholy feel that pervades the whole book. I will definitely have to read this again as well, as I couldn't figure out what the deal was with the ants and the ant city. They were interesting but didn't seem to add anything to the overall novel, and then they just (apparently) died or left. It just seems to me that they were a plot device to show that Joe was a mutant.

One of my favourites. I just finished the one where they keep sending people out onto the surface of Jupiter.

I'm glad to hear that it's a great book. I'm still on the fourth tale but so far so good!

Damon wrote: "One of my favourites. I just finished the one where they keep sending people out onto the surface of Jupiter."
I came across this story in an different, multi-author anthology around 25 years ago. Re-reading it within the context of Simak's original work made it even better.

Such an oddity. I loved it but I can imagine many people finding it terrible.

I liked this book quite a bit. A couple questions:

What's the deal with Juwain's philosophical breakthrough? Is this some kind of technology? We are somehow supposed to believe glancing at a screen unlocks human empathy? It doesn't really make sense.

What are mutants/where did they come from? Are they all like Joe?