October 2016: H.G. Wells

October is right around the corner! We'll be reading H.G. Wells this month -- anyone read any of his books before? What are you planning to read this month?

Haven't actually read any H.G. Wells before, so I'm excited to fill that hole in my reading history. I'm almost done with my current audiobook read, so I picked up The Time Machine as that was the only one my library has an audiobook. Will be starting that soon -- today or tomorrow :)

I've only read War of the Worlds, which was alright but nothing so special. I have a volume of Seven Novels of his, so I'll be starting with Time Machine as it was his earliest, not sure if I will make it to more than that but we shall see.

I'm intrigued by The War of the Worlds, but mostly because of the whole radio show debacle :D

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/welles-scares-nation

Yeah it was pretty crazy, hard to believe masses of people could think it real!

I have read quite a few of H G Wells' books and many of his short stories. The last Wells book I read was The Sleeper Awakes which was published in 1910. In this novel a business man falls asleep and awakes 300 years later. This device, not original by a long chalk, is used to present Wells' view of how society might develop. It was amazing to see how his story included so many social and economic issues that are current issues. Another thing about this book that surprised me was the number of his technological predictions that came true. (Video calls; video recording; etc...) Of course, there were some predictions that were well off the mark. (Human powered flight.)

I have mentioned this book here in case some people would rather read one of his less well known novels that has real discussion about real issues.

I've read his more popular books and could be tempted to read Sleeper.

I've read The Time Machine and War of the Worlds and consider The Time Machine, especially, to be something of a science fiction masterpiece. I'm planning on reading The Island of Dr Moreau, and, also, hopefully, one of his lesser known works, Men Like Gods. I might finally get round to watching the film Things to Come as well.

>5 .Monkey.: Have you met people? ;) As a whole, we're pretty dumb. And prone to mass hysteria.

>6 pgmcc: That's always a fun thing with older scifi novels -- seeing what predictions do and do not become reality.

>8 leigonj: Glad to hear that you consider The Time Machine a masterpiece; that gives me motivation to keep on reading it -- the intro has been a bit slow, but we'll see how it goes :)

I'm a few chapters into The Sleeper Awakes and jeez is it boring. I think I'm going to bail.

>10 Bookmarque: Well, there had to be a reason for the main character to sleep for 300 years.

The end of the book gets into what Wells sees as wrong with society. I read it at the time of the "Occupy Wall Street" protest and large anti-globalization protests across the world and at G8 summits. What amazed me was that the protestors in The Sleeper Awakes were protesting about the same things the Occupy and Anti-Globalization protesters were protesting about.

Many things change and many things remain the same.

Wells was a self-confessed racist and his perverse views on race come out in "The Sleeper Awakes".

>11 pgmcc: Yikes! Being a self-confessed racist is really something awful. Especially given that the time period during which he lived wasn't super great re: race relations anyway.

One of our local universities hosts "Dinner and a Book" (that's not what the Univ calls it, but it is what we regular attendees call it). Discussion is led by a member of the English faculty. Next week the book is H G Wells' The Island of Dr Moreau. Just got an email that if we want to come early, there will be a "field trip" of the Center for Biomolecular Modeling. The director of the center will give a brief overview of “tweaking the genome.”

Can hardly wait. Definitely leaving work early to attend this "extra" ....

>13 BookConcierge: That sounds cool.

>13 BookConcierge: That sounds amazing! Please come back and report to us about how it went :)

Here's my review of
The Island of Dr Moreau by H. G. Wells
Audiobook performed by Robin Lawson
4****

This classic is set on a remote island somewhere in the South Pacific. The island is inhabited by Dr Moreau, a “mad” scientist bent on experimenting with the human / animal form, his assistant Montgomery, the stranded traveler Edward Prendick (who is our narrator), and a variety of strange creatures.

I remember a commercial in the 1960s or ‘70s with the tag line “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!” I cannot think of a more succinct way to describe the basic theme of this book. And yet, it is so much more – a strong, philosophical and ethical argument both for and against vivisection and experimentation. A moral tale of one man’s descent as a result of his ego, and how he is able to draw others into his twisted way of thinking.

And yet, Wells clearly points out that Nature will have her way; that despite man’s meddling, Nature will win out. The journey on which Wells takes the reader to arrive at this conclusion is twisted, compelling, dark, and horrific. The tension is lessened by the story’s premise – a telling of what happened by the only survivor. Wells used a similar device in The Time Machine. Despite this, however, there is still considerable suspense.

I was struck by some of the descriptions of procedures – at least one of which I know is currently performed by plastic surgeons specializing in facial reconstruction. In fact, I read such an operative report just a week before picking up this book!

Robin Lawson does a fine job performing the audiobook. He has good pacing, and gives life to Edward Prendick’s telling of the story.

UPDATE on book discussion, and tour of the university's Center for Biomolecular Modeling.

Well ... I could still be sitting in that lab and listening to that professor talk about what they do! Absolutely fascinating. Interestingly enough, a couple of weeks ago my husband and I were talking about CRISPR technology at the dinner table ... so when the prof asked "who has heard of CRISPR?" we were the only ones who raised our hands. (Go ahead ... google it.)

The discussion on the book was equally good.

>16 BookConcierge:, 17 Thanks for the updates. Sounds like you had lots of interesting food for thought.

I finished The Time Machine and wasn't thrilled with it. Maybe because I've read a decent amount of more recent science fiction, this one just seemed a little "eh" to me compared to scifi books I really loved, although I was trying to appreciate its place in science fiction history. Mostly I couldn't get past how it was VERY much a "tell" rather than a "show" book, with 90 percent of the story being one long narrative from the time traveler. I prefer books that paint a picture rather than simply being talked at...

By the way, in case anyone is still deciding on what to read this month, these books by H.G. Wells are all on the list of 1,001 Books to Read Before You Die:

The Time Machine
The Island of Dr. Moreau
The War of the Worlds
Tono-Bungay
The Invisible Man

>20 sweetiegherkin:
Thank you for the list. It appears I have one H G Wells book to read before I die. I'm throwing that book out. Too risky to read it.

>21 pgmcc: Which book? And why is it too risky?

>22 sweetiegherkin: Tono-Bungay

You have drawn the books from the list of 1,001 Books to Read Before You Die. If I read them all...then I die. As long as I keep at least one book unread I won't die.

;-)

>23 pgmcc: hahahaha, oh okay! :D

I plan to read The Invisible Man for October. I think I can find time for it.

>25 rainpebble: His works all appear to be relatively short, which is a plus when you're crunched for time..

The War of the Worlds – H G Wells
Digital audiobook performed by Christopher Hurt
4****

Classic science-fiction horror. Residents of a small community outside London are puzzled and curious about the “meteor” that has landed in a nearby field. But it’s clearly a manufactured rather than a natural object. And they notice that there is an effort – from the inside – to open the vessel. Thus begins the horror that becomes an invasion from Mars.

I knew the basic premise going in. I knew about the Orson Welles’ radio broadcast that caused panic (despite an introduction advising that this was a dramatic reading of a work of fiction). But I’d never read the original.

The first-person narrative lends a sense of urgency and immediacy to the narrative. The reader feels completely immersed in the story. Wells includes significant tension; while there are a few moments of respite, I found it a very anxiety-producing read. I like that he leaves much to the reader’s imagination, which heightens the suspense.

Christopher Hurt did a fine job narrating the audio book. There’s something about that clipped British accent that just draws me in.

>27 BookConcierge: Sounds like a good one!