relationships

Never Let Me Go

Posted on April 17, 2014

Novel Ideas returns with Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. This book is speculative fiction, or dare we say, science fiction? It is a work that raises a lot of questions, questions that we mostly don’t have answers for. Listen to the episode for our thoughts on subtlety, discrimination, sex, and possible themes. Or if you prefer, listen for our discussions of the stiff upper lip, elephant triggered bullying, silly YA adaptations, and the drama llama.

The music bump is the title track, “Never Let Me Go” by Judy Bridgewater.

Never Let Me Go – Hopes and Dreams and Clone Souls

Recommendations:

An interesting book with a lot of conversation points, and a compelling read despite nothing happening in the traditional sense of the word.

Ben: 7.5/10 One point for each of my favorite organs.

Gabs: 7.5/10 One point for each of Ben’s organs to be transplanted in the future.

Ben: Do I get a say in this?

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged ...but subdued, coming of age, discrimination, dogs love books, donation minutiae, downer ending, drama llama, elephant triggered bullying, false bioethics question, friendship, if Gabs was a bevereage she would be cough-y, incomplete sympathy, Kazuo Ishiguro, logical lovers, mean girl, Never Let Me Go, observant, realistic characters, relationships, rumors, sex, sheltering children, show don't tell, speculative fiction, stiff upper lip, subtlety, very British, W-Theme-F, YA adaptations.

Old Man’s War

Posted on March 4, 2014

We’re back with what is becoming something of a modern science fiction classic, Old Man’s War by John Scalzi. This is a book where humanity is defended by soldiers over the age of seventy-five and under the age of ten. Listen to the episode to hear us discuss universe building, characterization, imperialism, and bioethics. We also talk about the fuuuuture, quip machines, strange alien religions, and, of course, boobs.

Also, next week will be our year in review episode. If you have any last minute comments or questions about anything we’ve covered in the last year, get them in ASAP! If you’re not sure what we’ve covered since last March, go to the Episodes page and look at the titles in “Season Two.”

The music bump this week is a Carl Reike march called “Old Comrades,” performed by a tuba quartet because who doesn’t love that?

Old Man’s War – Six Year Old Adults

Recommendations:

Gabs: 6/10. Easy to read, but probably best recommended to science fiction fans.

Ben: 8/10. Solid writing and an interesting universe, plus it made me laugh a couple of times.

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged alien religions, Atticus is also a puppy, banter, bioethics, boobs, Brainpal books, characterization, creative violence, futurewar, gender equality, good battle writing, humanity, imperialism, John Scalzi, military SF, Old Man's War, overcompetent protagonists, powerful neighbors, pro- v. anti- military, pronouncing names, quip machines, relationships, sci fi philosophy, soldiers with perspective, Starship Troopers parallels, the fuuuuture, universe building, who owns your genes.