Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I don’t know quite what I expected from this book – but have quoted Huxley (not from this book) in that persuasion/propaganda can ‘only canalise a pre-existing stream’. I can see why the book has new resonance in a world in which we chase experience, happiness, and consumerism … and the final question of whether we’re entitled to be unhappy – aka, have ‘free will’.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Well I got drawn into that … intriguing bit of dystopian futurism (not the first I’ve read this year in which women/babies = scarce resource). In some ways frustrating there’s no clear cut end, but as a historian a recognisable format!