Reading with Comrades discussion

We haven't yet had any books nominated for our group read (fiction) for April. Could you post any nominations in the next day or two?

I nominate “Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro 😊

Wow, it must be special. 150+ people have it on hold at my library and 72 for the eaudiobook!

I'll keep with the SF theme, and nominate "The Star Fraction" by Ken MacLeod.

The poll has closed, with "Klara and the Sun" the clear winner. I hope many of the group members will read it during April, and post comments, questions, etc on this feed. But please remember either to avoid "spoilers" or to make it clear at the start of any post if it contains spoilers.

It would be particularly interesting to get feedback on how this book, or author, relates to each of our political views.

To start off the discussion - both the nominations for April were science fiction. It seems to me that there is a strong affinity between socialists/radicals and science fiction; is that a general feeling in the group, and why does that affinity exist?

As an aside, I've just bought the book in Kindle format on Amazon UK - it cost the equivalent of $8.30, but the kindle version on Amazon.com is $14.99???

i always thinks of something adrienne maree brown said, that science fiction is the space where we can imagine social justice that doesn’t or hasn’t ever existed in our own societies. she was speaking specifically about octavia butler, and after reading parable of the sower i 100% agree. i feel like a lot of popular science fiction explores our fears & anxieties, but there’s also always been the utopian side of it that gives us permission to dream about the world we *wish* we lived in. this just seems naturally appealing to anyone invested in creating social change, as lefties are

I've started Klara and the Sun; I'm fairly well through it already and its a pleasant, well-written, undemanding read so far.

Has anyone else started reading it yet?

I’m number 156 to receive it from my local library! So I won’t be reading it this month with all of you but I will in the future!

i just ordered my copy, i’m gonna start it next weekend :)

I've finished Klara and the Sun - but I'll not post any comments on it until others have had a chance to read it.

I've finished reading it as well✴️

i’m about halfway done and i can already tell it’s gonna make me cry 😭

i just finished and i did not cry lol. i liked the book though, not as much as never let me go, but this had a much happier ending 😊

My reaction was much the same; it was a pleasant enough, feel-good read, but you'd never guess it was from a Nobel-prize winner.

I felt like I wasn't too invested in the character's lives. I would have much rather read more about the AFs, their origin and their future.

It looks as though only a few of us read Klara and the Sun, and the consensus seems to be that while we enjoyed it, and it was worth reading, it wasn't quite as good as we'd hoped/expected, based on his previous work.

We thought we'd start the nominations for our June fiction book a bit earlier, and hopefully get more nominations, and more group members participating in the discussion.

So, please post your nominated book on this thread by Tuesday 11th May, and I'll set up the poll the following day. You can simply state the title and author, but feel free to tell us a bit about the book, and why you've chosen it.

Hey John if it’s alright with you I’m gonna make a new post for June to avoid confusion!

lindsi wrote: "Hey John if it’s alright with you I’m gonna make a new post for June to avoid confusion!"

Good idea lindsi, I'm fine with that.