The Martian Chronicles

 The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (1946-1950) 182 pages

I listened to the audiobook on Hoopla narrated by Mark Boyett. This is a series of short stories that are loosely connected around Earth people colonizing Mars. Some short stories I would give 4 out of 5 stars, some I would give 3 stars, and some 2 stars. In my opinion it averages to 3 out of 5 stars. "There Will Come Soft Rains" is often considered a top example of Bradbury's work here. It reminded me of Percy Shelley's "Ozymandias" poem. In an automated home the owners and neighbors are gone. There is no one left to fix the technology or stop the flames when a fire starts. I got a kick out of the story "Usher," which is a homage to Edgar Allan Poe and Karloff, Lugosi, and Chaney. A wealthy man loves these horror books and movie that have been banned by those "protecting" civilized society. Fans of Tim Burton creations will enjoy this dark tale too. Some of the other stories express interesting thoughts about colonization. Some are quite dated. There are evidently editions of this that push the years that these stories happen back thirty years. This audiobook used the original text. So, all these events are imagined to take place from 1999 to 2026.

No Longer at Ease

 No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe, 196 pages.

This book follows Okonkwo's grandson Obi as he tries to find his place in a new Nigeria decades later. Obi was once the smartest boy in his village, which is why he was given the privilege to go to England to get his degree and uplift his people. But bit-by-bit the corruption of the colonial civil service in Nigeria sinks his hooks into him, as all of his cultural touchstones slowly disintegrate. 

This book, second in publication order but last chronologically, wrapped up our Big Book Challenge for the year! It was fascinating to see how quickly the world changed around this one family, as many things were both similar and completely unrecognizable when compared to Things Fall Apart. I personally found this novel more engaging than the first. I found Obi's character struggles very compelling. I do think that this book had some of the same pacing issues I complained about in Things Fall Apart, but I did find them less extreme. I would certainly recommend this book if you liked the first one, and perhaps even if you didn't. 

Palestine

 

Palestine by Joe Sacco (1996) 288 pages

I've had reporter and artist Sacco's The Fixer and Other Stories on my reading list for awhile. Then I saw he wrote this book of graphic journalism called Palestine. It is available on Hoopla. Considering current events I thought this was a great opportunity to learn more about the Palestinian perspective. This was written back in the 1990s. I was in high school and definitely not paying attention to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. There are nine chapters. It took some time to get used to the chaos of some of the comic panels. Narration and speech bubbles are at angles or follow an "S" curve. Eventually I did grow to enjoy the style of Sacco's black and white sketches. Joe Sacco (illustrated with prominent round glasses and lips) is there on the ground meeting and interviewing everyone he can. He shares the history with chapter 2 containing columns of text and smaller illustrations compared to the rest of the book. Sacco witnesses and hears dozens of stories about the Occupation, the colonial power of Israel taking land and homes and lives to control and reduce the Arab/Muslim presence of Palestinians. He visits multiple refugee camps. He encounters the red tape of the Israeli military. He experiences the hospitality of tea served in every Palestinian home. He hears prison stories and stories of violence. He hears how the court system works against Palestinians and the Israeli hospitals avoid treating serious injuries of refugees. He discovers the differences of opinion about peace talks from the different Palestinian factions. Chapter 8 contains an especially heartbreaking tragic story from a Palestinian mother. Old folks tell stories of this happening decades ago. Teenagers tell stories of it happening then in the '90s. The news shows it is still happening now. Joe Sacco talks to Israelis, who have come from other Western countries, too. It is a complicated political issue, but identifying which group Sacco sees as the colonizers and which are the oppressed is not hard.

King Leopold's Ghost

King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild (1998) 442 pages

A friend planned a Jolabokaflod event around New Year's this year. It was my first time participating in the Icelandic Yule book flood tradition. This history book was gifted to me as a recommended read. 

This is about the exploration and colonization of the Congo. The Belgian King Leopold's rapacious rule for resources such as ivory and rubber caused the many indigenous African peoples to be enslaved, traumatized, and killed. There were a few journalists and missionaries who protested despite efforts by the state to silence them. 

It was well-researched and revealed how rarely the Africans' experience was given voice by Europeans and Americans. It was fascinating and disturbing history. Yet there were heroes highlighted in the Congo reform movement. E. D. Morel, Roger Casement, George Washington Williams, William Sheppard, and Hezekiah Andrew Shanu each are revealed to have achieved something in the fight against Leopold's human rights crimes.
 

The City in the Middle of the Night

The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders, 366 pages

Set hundreds of years in the future on a dying planet, this book follows student Sophie and smuggler Mouth as they try to find their own way in life. Sophie took the fall for a friend and was cast into the harsh dark and frozen side of their tidally locked planet, miraculously surviving, though not without both trauma from her ordeal and a fondness for the alien creatures that saved her. Meanwhile, Mouth has spent her life on the road, traveling the thin line between the sunny side and the dark side of the planet, first with a group of nomads, and now as part of a smuggling crew that illegally transports goods between the planet’s two major cities. 

This book is full of haunting histories, a confusing present, an uncertain future, and plenty of thought-provoking cultural clashes. It's the second time I've read it in as many years, and I loved it just as much this time as I did the first. I can't wait to see what the Orcs & Aliens book group thinks of this one next month, as there's plenty of fodder for discussion.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickenson, 400 pages

Josh summed this up incredibly well here, so I'll try not to rehash what he wrote. I will say that the bulk of this book can be examined as the ways in which an indigenous savant can use her talents to gain power both in and out of the colonizing empire, as well as the central role of accountants can play in governing. In those elements, this is a pretty straightforward novel.

But the end. Well. Oof.

I'm curious to see how the Orcs & Aliens book group reacts to this one on Monday.

Dancing in the Streets

Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy by Barbara Ehrenreich, 320 pages

Ever since people started trying to rule over other people, there has been a crackdown on instances of collective joy. Festivals or dancing or carnivals, religious or spiritual or cultural, symbolic or just plain fun — they've all been targets of oppression from colonizers and rulers dating back as far as the written word can detail it. In Dancing in the Streets, Ehrenreich gives an overview of the ways in which collective ecstasy has been tamped down, and posits theories about why collective ecstasy keeps bubbling back up. It's a fascinating book, tying together culture, religion, music, sports, and more from Dionysis to Burning Man. I'd love to hear her thoughts on more recent events, as the book was published back in 2006.