Enthusiastically Ambiverted Hopepunk
Book forty-five of 2019: Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1962 Hugo Best Novel
Good story, and this was very likely one of my earliest introductions to any sort of consensual non-monogamy ideas, but gender role and sexuality issues bother me.
The announcement of the 2019 Hugo Awards winners means that I’ve had to readjust my progress on my Hugo “best novel” reading project, and am now at only 21.33% of the way through.
As I said when I started, this is a marathon, not a sprint.
Book thirty-nine of 2019: A Canticle for Liebowitz, by Walter M. Miller, Jr._ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1961 Hugo Best Novel
Not terribly optimistic in its outlook towards humanity’s ability to learn from our mistakes, but an excellent and far-reaching post-apocalyptic tale.
Status check: I’m now 20% of the way through my project of reading (or re-reading, for those I’ve read before) every Hugo Best Novel award-winning book. 📚
Book thirty-five of 2019: Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1960 Hugo Best Novel
Finally, a Heinlein Hugo winner I enjoyed! He still has issues with women’s roles, and I’m not on board with all the political philosophy, but it’s still a good read.
Book thirty-three of 2019: A Case of Conscience, by James Blish. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1959 Hugo Best Novel
Kept my interest, though I’ve read other SF dealing with the intersection of religion and SF that I enjoyed more. Almost two separate stories; the first section was the better.
Book thirty-one of 2019: The Big Time, by Fritz Leiber. ⭐️⭐️ 1958 Hugo Best Novel
For some reason, I couldn’t get invested in this one. I didn’t dislike it, and it being structured very much like a single-set play was interesting, but I had to work my way through it.
Book twenty-nine of 2019: Double Star, by Robert Heinlein. ⭐️⭐️1/2 1956 Hugo Best Novel 📚
Still too much early-Heinlein manly men and weepy women characterizations, and I saw the end coming, but at least I didn’t roll my eyes through the entire thing. An improvement!
Since the next book in my Hugo reading project is an early Heinlein, and I’ve already disliked the last two of his that have come up in this project, it’s time for a fluff break. For which, the irresistible title My Life as a White Trash Zombie should do just fine.
Book twenty-seven of 2019: The Forever Machine, by Mark Clifton & Frank Riley ⭐️⭐️ 1955 Hugo Best Novel 📚
Odd mix of early postulation about how AI might affect society and almost new-age “woo” of psychoanalysis rejuvenating the physical body to youth. Not very engaging.
