Samantha Harvey
Harvey, Samantha "Orbital" - 2024
#6Degrees of Separation:
from Orbital (Goodreads) to A Clockwork Orange
#6Degrees is a monthly link-up hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. I love the idea. Thank you, Kate. See more about this challenge, its history, further books and how I found this here.
The starter book this month is Orbital by Samantha Harvey. As so often, I have not read the book.
Here is the description:
Sounds interesting but I have been really disappointed by the last Booker Prize winners I read, so it might take a while, if ever, until I pick this up. But I have read other books about space travel and I will start with my favourite one of them and then go back to using words in the titles.
Here is the description:
"A book of wonder, Orbital is nature writing from space and an unexpected and profound love letter to life on Earth
Six astronauts rotate in their spacecraft above the earth. They are there to collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch their silent blue planet, circling it sixteen times, spinning past continents and cycling through seasons, taking in glaciers and deserts, the peaks of mountains and the swells of oceans. Endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.
Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of a mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. They look on as a typhoon gathers over an island and people they love, in awe of its magnificence and fearful of its destruction. The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams. So far from earth, they have never felt more part - or protective - of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?"
Kadaré, Ismail "The Fall of the Stone City" (aka Chronicle in Stone) (AL: Darka e Gabuar) - 1971
Löwenstein, Anna "The Stone City" (Esperanto: La Ŝtona Urbo) - 1999
LeBor, Adam "City of Oranges. An Intimate History of Arabs and Jews in Jaffa" - 2006
Burgess, Anthony "A Clockwork Orange" - 1962
What do the first and the last book have in common? Well, they both are a work of science fiction.
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I liked Orbital a lot, but it seemed more like a poem than a novel. It has an exceptionally fascinating setting, and it reminded me of the true smallness of the world and our little daily struggles.
ReplyDeleteThe only one of these I've read is The Martian; it's one of my favs. Fun chain of books. :D
ReplyDeleteNice chain! I haven't read any of these but am curious about The Martian, as it does not seem like typical SF.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any of these. Clever links and good link between first and last books!
ReplyDeleteGreat chain. I don't think I've ever read any books about space travel!
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting... is The Stone City actually written in Esperanto? I've never come across that before, but it does make sense that there should be books in an international language, same as any other language.
ReplyDeleteYEAH! Another chain with the Martian Chronicles. You know, I think I read Clockwork Orange, in High School, but I don't remember much. Lovely chain!
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