Swedish Fish for me. On my last road trip I discovered North Carolina gas stations do not seem to regularly stock this delicacy. It was distressing.

Are you sure they'll see him as incompetent? I mean George W. Bush was President for eight years, and conservatives loved him even at the end.

The seven countries listed were already designated by the State department as "terrorism sponsoring Sates", so any citizen from them must go through high-levels of vetting before being given a Visa to enter the US. So while I'd like to blame Trump for picking them just because of his business interests, it isn't…

This seems a bit of a bait and switch. It seems to think that people are upset that Trump may eventually give preference to Christian minorities in Syria, which wouldn't be terrible since they are a persecuted minority in that Country. But most of the outrage I am seeing is the fact that Trump effectively banned…

I know that you have a giant list to currently read, but I can't help but advocate for Le Guin's Earthsea series. Great books, only "young adult" in the sense that they follow "young adults." They deserve to be in the conversation for greatest sci-fi/fantasy novels, but often seem to be forgotten.

I finished number9dream just last month, but had the exact opposite reaction to it. It was my least favorite of his by a long shot. A lot of the scenes were very evocative, and the bowling scene is definitely up there, but never felt like they amounted to anything much or connected to anything larger, unlike Cloud…

How recent is recent? Someone above mentioned Octavia Butler, and I just finished Kindred, which she wrote in the late 1970s. It was a really good read, and my first Butler novel. I plan on seeking out more of her work.

Why do so many sci-fi/genre writers do this? Michael Crichton did it, Orson Scott Card does it, Frank Miller does it (though was it always there with him?) It makes it hard to even pick up their earlier works that don't include that stuff. Do they just get old and cranky?

That's the next one on my Pratchett list, so I'll let you know!

I'd probably have students read it in a sociology class or a philosophy class rather than Literature class for exactly that reason. But I also went to school before No Child Left Behind, when you were actually allowed to teach classes in High School that weren't directly related to being tested. Simpler times.

It's funny, I ready Brave New World in a high school psychology class, and can't remember if 1984 was by myself or assigned, but even though they are obviously science fiction, I don't think of them that way. Not sure why.

The Fifth Elephant was the very first Pratchett I ever read. My sister gave it to me when we were on a family trip (it was the only one she had with her), and I loved it so much I immediately starting searching for every Terry Pratchett I could find. Considering how far into the series it was written, the fact that I…

I actually worked in opera and theatre, so I understood some of the superstition, and "show must go on" kind of jokes, but it was such small stakes, especially after Lords and Ladies. I also was really uncomfortable with all of the fat jokes. He's never really cruel, and it is more how others view Agnes, but there…

I would be all on-board for more teachers to add science fiction and fantasy into the curriculum. Throw in something like The Dispossessed , and you've got a great foundation for discussions on how we create, contribute to, get complacent about, and destroy human societies.

The Handmaid's Tale is great. If you've never read Atwood before, you are in for a real treat. And if you have, I think it is one of her best.

Your review of the Big Short makes me want to read it. I though the movie was good, though sometimes a bit too interested in its own cleverness, and the This American Life episode "Giant Pool of Money", did a better job of explaining and exploring the housing crash. But a story that is more focused on mass delusion…

Left Hand of Darkness takes a while to get going, I almost gave up on it and I love LeGuin, but it gets way better. The last 1/3 is some of her best work, and it definitely goes beyond simply diplomacy.

Hamlet is simply amazing, and I was really lucky to be able to work on the it when I was in college. As much as I like reading Shakespeare, digging into one of his plays with great actors, and a director who knows what they are doing, illuminates the work in such interesting ways. I ended up loving the play so much…

More like what I read then what I'm reading. Since we get a break around Christmas, I actually finished three books in two weeks:

I tried too, and found that he used just enough of Austen's actual writing, slightly watered down and simplified, that it came off as a pale imitation, which it is. About a 1/3 of the way through, I realized I could read the real P&P again, and have a much better time. So I did.