Weird & Wonderful- We Have Always Lived in the Castle

For the October meeting of City Lit's Weird & Wonderful book club, we discussed We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.

A superb horror/psychological thriller, the novel follows the survivors (and perpetrators) of a terrible crime years later. Brief notes and possible spoilers below.

Classic Sci-Fi- The Drowned World

For September's Classic Sci-Fi Meetup, we discussed "The Drowned World" (1962) by J. G. Ballard.

Set in a future where the world has been radically transformed by increased solar radiation and things seem to be reverting to a dinosaur-era biome, "The Drowned World" follows a small cast of characters attempting to survive and perhaps adapt themselves to these new conditions.

An easy read, a deeply problematic book, a good discussion. Possible spoilers below!

Classic Sci-Fi Meetup: Solaris

Stanislaw Lem's 1961 novel “Solaris” is probably his most well-known work, having been adapted multiple times—most notably the Tarkovsky (1972) and Soderberg (2002) film adaptions. It's a pretty influential work, and thus a pretty good selection for the Chicago Classic Sci-Fi Meetup.

I think Solaris is an important book to read in terms of the history and ideas of science fiction, although user enjoyment may vary—a number of folks at the meeting expressed the idea that they “enjoyed having read it more than they enjoyed reading it”, which is perhaps fair. I've found the work kind of haunting, though, and I've returned to it quite a few times over the years—so I wouldn't want you to think that everyone will find this tough going.

The novel is set in a distant, space-faring future. One planet—Solaris—has evaded human comprehension for many decades. It's covered in an ocean—possibly one superorganism—that creates strange and inexplicable constructions, and can change basic physical constants (altering the planet's gravity to maintain a stable orbit in its binary system, for instance). Our story begins when our narrator—a psychologist—arrives at the main research station hovering over the planet, to find that a whole new class of phenomena has begun—“manifestation” of people seemingly pulled from the researchers' minds. Possible spoilers below!