Hard to be God

I just finished the book Hard to Be God by Arkadi Strugatski. It was written in the 1960s in Russian, under communist Soviet rule. It was extremely difficult to get a copy of. On Amazon, its sold as a rare book for $70+ . The Columbus Library System, which is actually rated as the best in the USA by a lot of rankings, did not have a copy. The OSU library did not have a copy. I finally found it on Ohio Link, the program that allows OSU students to borrow books from other Ohio Universities. It came from the University of Akron. This might be the only public copy of this book in the state of Ohio, and that is very unfortunate.

This is a fantasy book. It was a difficult read. I would be worried about "spoiling" you, but the chances of of anyone else seeking out or getting their hands on this book is small, but do be warned. In the prologue, you see three children playing in the woods. The writing style was easy and crisp (through translation at least), and I enjoyed it. Turn to the first chapter. Complete Chaos. What the hell is going on? I had no idea. Took me a LONG time to catch on. All the sudden you are thrown into this medieval style world with elites and peasants and warlords... gradually it begins to make sense, but I spent a long time confused. That first page of the first chapter is probably the most confused I have been by any book, ever. So what it boils down to is that this is actually a book about highly advanced earthlings researching and experimenting socially on less developed cultures on other planets. Social scientists actually being scientists in a way - "being god" on another planet. It covers a lot of overarching big topics - the nature of humankind, the inevitability of certain human behaviors and patterns in history, the role of the individual, etc. Once I got into the swing of it I really enjoyed it and have added it to by top-100 list.

You may have noticed I have been reading a lot. While some of that is just due to time, some of it is also due to my participation in an online book group via Good Reads. It is called The Next Best Book Club (TNBBC). In particular, they have something called the Spring Challenge, running March 1st to May 31st, in which there are tasks to fulfill with points attached. What do you get for getting points? Nothing really, unless you are at the top, which I won't be. But, it still is fun and addictive. So far, for this challenge (since March 1st) I have read or reread

100 Great Poems of the 20th Century
Poisonwood Bible
Geography of Bliss
Kiss
The Time Travellers Wife
Brave New World
Red Badge of Courage
Of Mice and Men
The God of Small Things
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'
Hard to Be God
and Poison Study

I am currently reading Uglies and rereading Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, while Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone is the audiobook in Aaron's car and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the audiobook in my car.

I love fiction. Did I mention that?

Oh, and some of you might have noticed that the books read for my spring challange include books I read for book club. This is just clever arranging on my part. For example, Poison Study is counting as a five point challenge to read something fantasy, while The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World counts towards a 25 point challange to read a book with a title at least 12 words long, and Brave New World is counting for a 15 point challange in which you listen to an interview by the author. I am having a good time. :)