More flash book reviews--science fiction & fantasy class

The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells (July 8)
A mad doctor moves to an island where he can practice turning animals as human as possible through vivisection without society's censure/interference. This was pretty bananas. I felt bad for the animals and didn't like the narrator either. 3.5/5
I also read most of The Invisible Man but didn't finish it (I've read it before). The theme of Victorian sci fi seems to be "science men are the worst".

A Princess of Mars by Edward Rice Burroughs (July 18)
A sci fi action movie adaptation was made of this a while back, John Carter, and it did not do well. I didn't watch it, but I read a review/article about it where the person (was it Roger Ebert?) said that that was because it felt too "done", too same old same old. A hero ends up in a new land, fights the natives and comes out on top, is lauded as their leader and gets the native princess. Last of the Mohicans, Dances with Wolves, Avatar, etc. But, the writer pointed out, this is because A Princess of Mars was first and influenced all these stories that came after it. It is the first story in this vein, and we are too used to it now. So I read this for my class, and it was entertaining. I can see why it was so popular; ERB knew how to spin a tale (he wrote Tarzan too). John Carter is hilariously perfect at everything, a total Gary Stu. 3.9/5

Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (July 18)
A trio of male dumdums with varying levels of sexism (benevolent, most dissuadable by reason, and Trump Status) find a country that has been populated entirely by women for centuries. The women reproduce asexually and have bred and engineered everything to be as perfect and useful as possible. The main thought I had while reading this book is I WANT TO GO TO THERE. That, and SEXISM RUINS EVERYTHING. Herland is such a utopia and I firmly believe that it reflects how a country run and populated entirely by women would be. I cannot believe I'd never heard of this book before this class! The story ends abruptly with one dude staying in Herland with his wife (benevolent sexism dude) and the others going back to America (reasonable dude with his wife and Trump Status dude because he was exiled forever for Trumping his now-ex wife). There are sequels and I must read them. 4.9/5

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (July 24)
Myth and frontier exploration/colonization wrapped up in a Martian sci fi veneer. Lovely but sad and angry-making due to the colonization of Mars by humans. Wonderful book. This was my first Bradbury (shocking, I know). 4.5/5

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin (late July-early August)
You know how Herland was so great because it showed how good a women-only country would be where men couldn't mess things up? Well, TLHOD approaches the male problem by doing away with gender altogether. No one on the planet of Winter has a sex or gender, only during their mating seasons (they can take either male or female form). An Earth man is on Winter to try to convince the planet to join the space federation of other planets, but there's a lot of cultural barriers to overcome. It honestly made me wish we didn't have genders on this planet either, since we're so liable to exploit and mistreat them and see one as better or more worthy than the other. Lots of fascinating Tao influence as well. I have to read her other books too. Can you believe this is the first LeGuin I've read? 4.8/5

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (August 9)
Continuing a theme, my first Doctorow. This is actually free on his website as a PDF, which I did not know when I borrowed it from my library. Supersmart hacking teens, terrorism on American soil and the subsequent national fear and stripping away of liberties, government surveillance and oppression, protests and rebellion in response. Good but hit too close to home, as someone who was old enough to remember 9/11 and the period following. 4/5

I wrote short essays for these for my classes and will share them, one by one.