Time to find out what "go to hell" really means!

Overdue for an update again... So glad I read this again - I hadn't realised how much it had affected my thinking all these years...

More research. Always return to the original...

Bit late on the updates... This wasn't one of my favourites of the genre when I first read it back in the day and it still isn't now. Definitely hasn't aged well and feels more like a satire or a farce than a sci-fi, sewn through with a thread of arrogance. Still, worth revisiting to know where the path has been tread.

Next up.... Research!

That took me a while.... Definitely a lot to think about, and some great insights to take on - sections about the alienation of the modern workforce definitely stood out. Can be challenging for the layman, and I daresay there are parts that are outdated or since been challenged, but worth pushing through regardless.

Great reading for the morning commute to start the workday right 👍

Giving this one a shot next...

Going to give this a So-So rather than a Pick. Inventive premise, yes. Sharp satire and geopolitical commentary, sure. Character development and insight, not so much. The stories themselves were so formulaic to be a drag - born-gifted human in interlocking, exposition-heavy narrative faces oppression and prevails via luck/gift of birth - and creativity doesn't overcome that in this instance. Anyway, if you like wierd alien sex, this one's for you.

Next up...

Going to give this one a Pick rather than a So-So: even though it's outdated (written before smartphones) and there's a frustrating thread of chauvinism that keeps popping up, there's still plenty of good questions raised and varied arguments put forward. It does make me wonder how different the book and its conclusions would be if written today, I feel we may not be so optimistic.

Half way through, and although the book seems a little dated now there's still some interesting ideas. But this is a theme that seems to pop up a little too frequently - both expressed by the author and from his subjects. Might be ok if the hypothetical ogling was balanced, but that and the underboob on the cover makes it feel like the future is only for certain demographic....

Next....

Great read. Proof that a compelling story can outweigh stylistic distractions.

Halfway through, and I am enjoying it, but books that constantly change tense in a simultaneous narrative make me sad. Pulls me out of the story every damn time.

Both absurd and prescient. I wonder what Mr. Ballard would make of today's attempt to "make America great again"? I think he'd be amused.

There's a wierd dinosaur on my book about wierd dinosaurs :-(

I loved the story of the female-led Polish expeditions in Mongolia in the 60s & 70s and the 'unusual terrible hands' they found - I found it unexpectedly moving to know only one was able to see the final fruits of their work while the other died never knowing.

Well that was a wild ride...

Reread this after recommending it to a classmate despite not having read it since I was a teenager. God, I still love Bulgakov.

Turns out soylent green isn't people.

A refreshing take on a familiar plot line. Would rate it between So-So and Pick if I could.

Intense, harrowing, exhaustive (and at times, exhausting). The final 150 pages or so as things ramp up to their inevitable conclusion were particularly gripping.

Won this one in Writers Victoria's subscribathon. I'm a total bird-nerd, so best prize ever as far as I'm concerned, and that wren wrapping paper is amazing!

Book 2 of 2 in today's non-fic book haul.

Book 1 of 2 in today's non-fic book haul. I loved this guy's coursera course so I can't wait to get into this one.

Such a warm portrait of a fascinating individual. Deserves a wider readership than just those concerned with animal rights, plenty of wisdom there for those involved with other issues too.

Animal liberation, sure - but who's going to liberate the books from the animals?

Anyway, reading this as an antidote to the helplessness felt in seeing the daily news.

Reread a dear old favourite to get the taste of the film out of my mouth. Not that the film was all that bad, it just wasn't High-Rise. Kinda heartbroken that so many people will come to this with tainted impressions and pre-convcieved ideas.

Book 2 of 2 in today's new haul.

Book 1 of 2 in today's new haul.

". . . . [they were the] people who were content with their lives in the high-rise, who felt no particular objection to an impersonal steel and concrete landscape, no qualms about the invasion of their privacy by government agencies and data-processing organisations, and if anything welcomed these invisible intrusions, using them for their own purposes."