30-12-2024, Ellecom
This third session will establish the WONDROUS CALS Book Club as a bona fide tradition. I’m certain it’s going to be another wondrous evening. If you want to vote for one of the two themes, please read about them below.
If you’re interested in joining, you can sign up for the mailing list, join the Signal group or let me know you want to join this session via this form. I’d love to hear from you.
Option 1: The Joy of Revolution
Stories of oppression are a particularly popular and essential domain of literature. The struggle to be free, to be seen and to be heard is often presented through the lens of suffering and sacrifice. However, there’s also branch of rebellion that is joyful, exciting and rambunctious. In order to challenge stifling regimes in our own lives, let’s investigate the lessons expressed in the stories of merry mayhem, delightful destruction and happy resistance.
Required reading: none!
Short read: “Bartleby the Scrivener, A Story of Wall-Street” by Herman Melville. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11231
Longer read: Bea Wulf by Zach Wienersmith and Boulet
Extra reading: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin, Endgame by Samuel Beckett, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf.
Option 2: A Future of Artificial Intelligence
Although the discussions surrounding generative AI are still in full swing, there is even more uncertainty and speculation about the long-term effects of artificial intelligence. Many fear the advent of general artificial intelligence, some think it impossible, most have no idea how to imagine intelligence outside of humanity. To imagine possible future of AI, let us turn to writers, visionaries and literature!
Required reading: none!
Short read: “I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison, found here, and/or “EPICAC” by Kurt Vonnegut, found here.
Longer read: “The Lifecycle of Software Objects” by Ted Chiang.
Extra reading: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adam, Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
Want to join? Please let me know via the contact form, join the mailing list or the Signal group. Any questions beforehand? See the Q&A or ask me. I’d love to hear from you.