Every month a group of willing and hungry readers gather to discuss a new book, have a nice chat and practice their English. New members are welcome!
This month's book of choice is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (1968).
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a dystopian science fiction novel set in a post-apocalyptic San Francisco, where Earth's life has been greatly damaged by a nuclear global war occurred in 1992. Most animal species are now endangered or extinct. As a result, owning real animals has become a fashionable and expensive status symbol, while poor people can only afford realistic electric robotic imitations of animals. Also, due to the radiation, people are encouraged to move to off-world colonies with the incentive of free androids: robot servants so similar in appearance to humans that only an empathy test can confirm their identities. The main plot follows Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter who has to "retire" (a euphemism for kill) six escaped Nexus-6 model androids, while a secondary plot follows John Isidore, a man of low IQ who aids the fugitive androids. The book served as the basis for the 1982 film Blade Runner and, even though some aspects of the novel were changed, many elements and themes from it were used in the film's 2017 sequel Blade Runner 2049.
Philip Kindred Dick (1928 – 1982) was an American science fiction short story writer and novelist. He wrote 45 novels and about 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines. His fiction explored varied philosophical and social questions such as the nature of reality, perception, human nature, and identity, and commonly featured characters struggling against alternate realities, illusory environments, monopolistic corporations, drug abuse, authoritarian governments, and altered states of consciousness. He is considered one of the most important figures in 20th-century science fiction.
Full calendar of the next meetings:
- Thursday 19 February, 5:45 PM
"Between the Acts" by Virginia Woolf (1941)
- Thursday 19 March, 5:45 PM
"A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons" by Kate Khavari (2022)
- Thursday 16 April, 5:45 PM
"Beloved" by Tony Morrison (1987)
- Thursday 21 May, 5:45 PM
"James" by Percival Everett (2024)
- Thursday 18 June, 5:45 PM
"The Dream Hotel" by Laila Lalami (2025)