The Millions discussion

Hi Everyone, I'm looking for book recommendations on the theme Community, Utopia, and the Individual for an alternative residency program I'm developing. Do any of you have any recommendations? It could be anything, fiction, non-fiction, a recent article you've read... Thanks for your help!

Sara wrote: "Hi Everyone, I'm looking for book recommendations on the theme Community, Utopia, and the Individual for an alternative residency program I'm developing. Do any of you have any recommendations? It ..."

The themes of Community and the Individual are HUGE areas. I can think on this.

Two books that come to mind for the individual are: Middlesex and Annabel. Both novels centre on people born as intersexed individuals and tell the stories of them negotiating the world.

The Scarlet Letter could work for community. Maybe?

I guess it would help if you could offer a bit more of an explanation for what you are looking for within these themes.

:D

Those are some very broad categories. Are you looking for nonfiction or fiction? I can only offer fiction selections as that's what I read for the most part.

For Utopia, you could go back to the beginning with Utopia by Thomas More, where the term was coined.

For the individual, you could do Everyman by Philip Roth. This book also addresses some of the themes that connect everyone together.

Hope this helps.

Have you read any of Michael Chabon's essays? One of the essays in Maps & Legends (actually it might be the introduction – it's early on, anyway) talks about growing up in a failed utopian town. actually, it's online, here:

http://usinfo.org/mgck/usinfo.state.g...

The theme of Community can be found in the classic "Middlemarch" by George Eliot and the extremely Individual would be "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath.

Not a recommendation request at all (okay maybe it is a little??)...but I did not know where to post this, so chose this thread as it was not as specific as the other threads.

Nick, I tried to message you but you "aren't accepting messages". I was wondering how you see this group evolving? I think there is a lot of untapped potential and so was curious about your hope for the group?