Inspiration: politics

This could be a really heavy topic, but it doesn't have to be!

You can choose nonfiction or fiction, local or international, history, current affairs or even speculative dystopian fantasy.

Pick a smaller topic than POLITICS: Choose economics, or narrow it down to a biography. Drill down to a current social topic.

• Love Hamilton? Try Ron Chernow's biography that inspired it
• Robert Penn Warren won a Pulitzer for this novel of an ambitious governor
• Lincoln's Team of Rivals was a smash hit for Doris Kearns Goodwin
• I was fascinated by How the States Got their Shapes by Mark Stein
• Robert Harris wrote the Cicero series about ancient Roman power struggles
• I mean, if the Hunger Games isn't political I don't know what is
• Radio Free Vermont made me laugh, and reminded me of some neighbors
• YA has lots of politics, because high school is full of evaluating moral values - try The Chocolate War or Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock

Can you recommend something?

Tenth of December by George Saunders

Designer drugs, human slaves as yard art, a returning soldier with anger issues, and an attempted suicide - what a collection of short stories!

After having LOVED Lincoln in the Bardo, I was excited to dip into a bit more of Saunders' oeuvre. I enjoyed this post-modern collection of stories: there's a sci-fi bent, a bit of absurdity for satire, and a very dark look at modern society.

This is another book we read for the library's discussion - and another one I enjoyed that they all hated! Although the more we discussed it, they at least came around a bit on some of it.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

In a near-distant future, life on earth sucks. So everybody lives full, rich lives inside "the OASIS" - a virtual reality computer world; you can live, love, work, and play all in the OASIS, only rarely venturing to reality for food or other personal needs.

When the guy who invented the OASIS dies, he reveals he's left an "easter egg" inside, and the first to find it and solve its puzzles will be his heir. Everybody loses their minds, looking for it.

We follow from the perspective of one teen, scraping by and mostly homeless in the real world, and also searching for the egg and attending high school in the virtual world.

I loved, loved, loved this book and I can't stop talking about it! Everybody in the future is obsessed with the 1980s, so the book is futuristic and sci-fi while also reveling in John Hughes movies, electro pop music, and Atari games. There are these parallels of future and past, while also the parallels of real and virtual. It's a lot to keep sorted, and it's done sooo well.

Morning Star by Pierce Brown

In the finale of the Red Rising trilogy, Darrow and the Sons of Ares rise to battle for control of Mars - and other planets in the modern system too. Their goal is the end of government based upon class distinction and birth caste. The battle is mighty.

While Red Rising was about character development and Golden Son was about political positioning, Morning Star is completely about the war: battles, fighting, blood, death, strategy and survival. Who can you trust, and who must you kill? But also, is it all worth it?

This book has twists and heartbreaking betrayals, and just when you think you know how it will end, it twists again. Oh!

What a great series, overall. Highly recommended!

Golden Son by Pierce Brown

In the second of the Red Rising trilogy, class rebellion is nearer to erupting as red-hiding-as-gold Darrow negotiates the political and social intrigue of the ruling class.

This book is all about tactical planning - political, social, and in battle. There are crosses and double-crosses, friends who turn out to be enemies and enemies who aren't what they seem either, and lots of literal and figurative backstabbing.

While Darrow believes every person should be free, he can't let that be know. And now that he's lived among the ruling class for a few years - and enjoyed the fruits of that class' position on the hierarchy - does he still have the drive his wife Eo's death once lit within him?

I could NOT put this book down. It's all scheming and doing, running and fighting, leading and inspiring - action from start to finish. I'm totally recommending this series to my teenage nephew as his next read (and I cannot wait for Morning Star).

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Darrow's part of a hard-working clan who spend their difficult, short lives mining underground on Mars in order to make the planet above hospitable for future colonization.

So he's shocked to discover everything he knows is a lie - for one, that Mars aboveground and many, many other planets and moons have been successfully inhabited for a very long time - when he's given an opportunity to join the rebellion and try to change things.

Comparisons to the Hunger Games series is inevitable - a "game" between young people that leads to the victor's eventual success in politics and society. But this book stands on its own - I didn't feel it was reactionary or derivative of Suzanne Collins' series. It's a great action-adventure story, full of strategy and twists, espionage and doubletalk. It's easy to forget (as it is for the competitors) that there's more to life on Mars than what's happening inside the game.

The book ends in a place that made me say "REALLY? Really!" and the countdown for the second in the series has begun ("Golden Son" has a January release date).

Man In the Empty Suit by Sean Ferrell

An unnamed time-travelling dystopian-future dude has to stop someone (himself?) from killing him a year from now at the birthday party he throws himself every year. But if he dies next year, why are there still older versions of himself at the party - shouldn't they never exist?

Sometimes I suspect I'm not smart enough for science fiction; I was continually confused and a little delirious about who, what and which version of the narrator was bending which paradox. The narrator's habit of giving differently aged versions of himself nicknames based on some notable characteristic or experience (The Drunk, Seventy, Screwdriver, and The Inventor) aid the unpuzzling - but also make it easy to forget it's all just future and past versions of the same guy.

The reason I persevered is the storyline that takes place from the party - about a woman he meets the night of the murder, then backtracks six months in time to attempt to steer her away from the party. That six-month story was way more interesting to me - and by the time we caught up to the party again, I simply had to finish to find out what happened.

This book was a tough row to hoe for me, but I suspect there are time-paradox fans who will find it much more though-provoking and engrossing than I.

Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

I have been threatened that if I did not read these books SOON, I would no longer be sheltered from spoilers. So as my end-of-vacation and holiday-weekends converged, I consumed all three books. I'm going to blog them together but discuss each a bit individually too.

Overall, I loved this series - obviously, I read them all, and fast. Although I had moments of despair, I forced myself to remember that one of my favorite 12-year-old boys told me to plod on ... it gets better. So if he could endure the "which-boy-should-I-choose" dithering, so should I.

• "The Hunger Games" was my favorite of the three - fast-moving drama, unexpected twists. Several times I shouted out loud to myself as I was surprised by the direction of the story. "Romeo and Juliet!" I exclaimed at one point. Nice!

• About halfway through "Catching Fire" I got frustrated. It had deteriorated into Bella Swan territory with the helpless fretting on which boy I should love. Yuck. (Even though I did love the Twilight books) But once the Games began, I was again captivated. I loved the new characters and learning their histories and motivations.

• "Mockingjay" threatened to be just like every other dystopian future fiction: establishing a new colony, reinventing government, chafing at uniformity, etc. And again, once the action began I was swept away. I didn't know what would happen in the end, yet was satisfied by both the events and their conclusion.

Collins does a phenomenal job with the characters in this series. The victors stories were amazing, and kept getting better the more you knew. Even characters that had been present from the start continued to evolve in the third book. You could never just assume you knew anybody. And I thought that was brilliant.

I'll recommend these books - but will add the disclaimer I was given: Keep going. Whatever drags the narrative down will eventually pick up again. It gets better!

Catching Fire

by Susanne Collins

The second book in the Hunger Games trilogy was riveting; I had it read in 24 hours and that includes taking time out for an all day event. Katniss is a survivor , but now she has to see how that will change her life beyond the extra food she expects. Will she be the new mentor for District 12's tribute in the 75th Games? Added to that is the fact that it is a Quarter Quell which always means there is a dramatic twist to the whole event. Behind it all is the realization that "the girl who was on fire" has ignited a rebellious spark throughout the nation of Panem.

Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins

OK. I get it. This is worth the hype. It's well written, alludes to other great works in literary history, and captivates the reader. On a Wednesday night, knowing I had to work in the morning, I still settled into the plot until 1:30 a.m.

Katniss Everdeen has been a survivor for years. Unfortunately, the only real challenge in that has been starvation in the past. That all changes the day she becomes her district's female tribute for the annual Hunger Games. She knows that now she must use all her best skills to hunt other teens while they hunt her and the entire nation watches.