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What is your favorite political Sci-fi type books??


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The Handmaiden's Tale and I just finished reading Fareheit 451 by Ray Bradbury on book censorship in the future. Recommend both.

 

Here's a strange one that is not a classic but could become one IMO - The Cure - it's a sci fi book which intertwines discrimination of Jews in medieval times and the importance of music/violin to one's soul - flashes forward in time. Stunning ...

 

There was also another cool one where couples were twins raised in human factory/farms and wore face masks to conceal their emotions ... but can't remember the title. It was about breaking out and becoming human again - bucking the system.

 

Two of my kids and I give Siberia a thumbs up too. It's set in the future in, surprise, Siberia ... tundra, DNA in a magic bottle & oppression. What a story! We all loved that one. If you like these books, you may like Lord of the Flies - while it's not really sci fi - it's an adventure into the basic human tendencies. It also has lots of adventure and survivalist themes ... We like these in our house too so don't get me started down that road.

 

Gee ... I guess I like this genre and have passed the tendency down to my kids!

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It might be a good idea to specify what kind of political theme you're looking for. The Handmaid's Tale was required reading in public school when I was 14, and I found it to be very sexually graphic, contain a lot of foul language, and it conveys extremely anti-religious and anti-conservative messages. I'm an atheist and even I think it's way over the top. Of course, if you know what you're getting into before you start reading it with your kids and you make it known that it's more of a "case study" of ideas, it could be useful. I think it's important to discuss political fiction with your kids so that they don't just swallow whatever pill the author is prescribing, but actually ask important questions like, "What was the author was trying to say about our society today? Who are the antagonists supposed to represent? In what ways might the author's opinions about human nature or opposing ideologies be flawed?" Whether we read something that is in some way supportive of our worldview or opposed to it, we always try to approach it from as careful and studied analysis as we can. For what it's worth, this kind of dialogue was completely absent in public school; when we read The Handmaid's Tale, the ideas presented in the book were taken for granted as absolutely true, and the analysis was limited to talking about the technical aspects of writing (foreshadowing, imagery, etc.).

 

One of my favorite political novels is V for Vendetta. Other similar titles you might want to look into are A Clockwork Orange, Fight Club, and Watchmen. All of these have explicit violence or sex to varying degrees, so be sure to look into them for yourself first to make sure they don't conflict with what you think is appropriate for your age group. Personally, I think it's not as much about the amount of graphic violence or sex in a book that's harmful -- it's the combination of graphic themes with not talking to your kid about how those themes should be dealt with. Hope this helps.

 

EDIT: Although it's not science fiction, I'd recommend this book with subtle political undertones: Watership Down by Richard Adams. It's fantastic.

Edited by Klothos
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Check out this list of Top 100 Sci-Fi Books: http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_books_rank1.html

 

 

And these are all good, older sci-fi, but might be of interest:

 

- Dune (Herbert) -- ruling houses in a power struggle over a desert planet and the all-important spice it produces, and a teen boy who will either become the savior-leader of the beduin-like people -- or lead them on a bloody jihad-like purging of the galaxy -- political intrigue

- Foundation (Asimov) -- series of short stories on the same setting/premise, each moving forward in the history of the "world", in which political decisions are made and foretold by the new science of "psycho-history"

- On the Beach (Shute) -- people's last days and choices as radiation fallout after atomic war engulfs Earth

- The Invisible Man (Wells) -- a man begins to think he is above the law when he can make himself invisible

- Island of Dr. Moreau (Wells) -- Dr. Moreau attempting to create utopia through creating a blended race of man/animals, goes insane along with the falling apart of his created social order

- The Giver (Lowry) -- utopia/dystopia; young adult book

- House of Stairs (Slater) -- 5 teens find themselves in the midst of a behavior modification experiment; young adult book

- Out of the Silent Planet; Perelandra; That Hideous Strength (Lewis) -- CS Lewis' "space trilogy" -- #1, Ransom is shanghai'ed to Mars by villians who want to exploit the natives; #2, Ransom is sent to Venus to prevent the fall of "Eve"; #3 evil comes to power/is revealed/and judged, through the awakening of Merlin from King Arthur's time, and the choices of ordinary people

- Farenheit 451 (Bradbury) -- loss of literacy/ascendence of the image, and burning of books to censure/control ideas

- Canticle for Leibowitz (Miller) -- post apocalyptic world, in which monks (as in the middle ages) keep literacy/book knowledge alive

- The Left Hand of Darkness (LeGuin) -- tolerance/intolerance, gender identity (mild sexuality in this book, but very much appropriate to the theme), and political intrigue

- Lathe of Heaven (LeGuin) -- attempts to solve world problems (such as overpopulation) through one man's dreams which come true -- are uncontrollable and go disastrously awry

- Eye of the Heron (LeGuin) -- planet colony founded by prison ship and political exiles and the resulting political intrigue

- Flatland (Abbott) -- intolerant Victorian-like society of 2-D beings who encounter 1-D and 3-D beings

 

 

Here's a recent children's series that was quite interesting:

- City of Ember; People of Sparks; Diamond of Darkhold (DuPrau)

 

 

Not quite sci-fi but in the ballpark of your perameters:

- Below the Root (and sequels) (Snyder) -- problems in the "paradise" of a utopian, pacifistic community when the young adults no longer seem to have the powers of levitation, etc. of the previous generation (very well written!) = http://www.amazon.com/dp/0595370314

- Watership Down (Adams) -- rabbits attempting to find a new home run across several other warrens with politically restrictive "governments"

- Animal Farm (Orwell) -- sharp satire of both communist and capitalist systems

- In the Penal Colony (Kafka) -- disturbing short story about capital punishment and guilt

- The Metamorphoses (Kafka) -- a man wakes to find he has turned into a giant cockroach, and how his family ends up treating him

- Something Wicked This Way Comes (Bradbury) -- fantasy/horror combo that is a very compelling, quick read analyzing the nature of good and evil, youth and age, wisdom & self-sacrifice vs. empty need & loss

Edited by Lori D.
correction
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Lori, you rock as usual!

 

I second all the ones on her list--except I haven't read them all :D!

 

Animal Farm and Watership Down and The Giver are particularly accessible, and don't contain the sexual element.

Don't watch the movie of Watership Down.

The movie of Animal Farm is pretty good.

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Not science fiction but perhaps of interest -- and fun -- is The Mouse that Roared by Leonard Wibberley. There is also a movie starring Peter Sellers with the same title.

 

I see from the Wikipedia article I linked above that the original English title was The Wrath of Grapes a pun on Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. I learn something new every day!

 

Regards,

Kareni

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