BW28: Thomas More and Utopia

We are moving on from the philosophical ideas of steampunk to the philosophical ideals of a perfect society, or maybe not so perfect.  

Today is the anniversary of the death of Sir Thomas More. He was tried for treason when he refused to sign the Act of Succession and when he refused to accept King Henry III as the head of the Church of England. He was beheaded on July 6, 1535 and his final words were "The King's good servant, but God's first."  He was canonized by the Catholic Church as a saint in 1935. 

More wrote many works including Utopia, and essentially popularizing and influencing the genre of the Utopian literature. Utopia is essential an ideal society and Dystopia is a society in decline, characterized by dehumanization, strife, or totalitarian government to name a few.  The earliest novel about a utopian society was The Republic written by Plato in 350BC.   Dystopia is an offshoot of Utopian literature, popularized in the early 1900's.

Goodreads provides the best synopsis:

First published in 1516, Thomas More's Utopia is one of the most important works of European humanism. Through the voice of the mysterious traveler Raphael Hythloday, More describes a pagan, communist city-state governed by reason. Addressing such issues as religious pluralism, women's rights, state-sponsored education, colonialism, and justified warfare, Utopia seems remarkably contemporary nearly five centuries after it was written, and it remains a foundational text in philosophy and political theory.

Since Susan Wise Bauer includes Thomas More's Utopia in the list of great history/political reads in Well Educated Mind, now seems like a good time to read it. 

Currently in my stacks, along with Utopia, are James Hilton's Lost Horizon, Veronica Roth's Divergent,  Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and Cormac McCarthy's The Road.  

Check out this list from Utopian Literature and the ever popular goodreads list of Best Utopian and Dystopian fiction.

The theme of the month for July is reading Utopian/Dystopian novels.

***********************************************************************

 Please link to your specific book review post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you don't have a blog, tell us about the books you are reading in the comment section of this post.  

BW51: Challenge News

No, you aren't going crazy. There are actually 2 1/2 weeks left to the year and week 52 will be a long one since I didn't include the last 1/2 week in my count.  You may have noticed I posted the information for the 2014 challenge and the I'm participating thread below this post. I've been brainstorming with the gals over on Well Trained Mind forums and came up with a list of readalongs and monthly themes.  Hopefully everyone will enjoy all, some or a few of the things planned for the coming new year. I know some folks like to plan ahead so here's what I have so far:

January:     Haruki Murakami's 65th birthday - Wind Up Bird Chronicles Readalong

February:    700th Anniversary of Dante's Inferno - readalong

March:        Sully Prudhomme (French) 1st Nobel prize Winner -  birthday 3/16/1839)
April:          National Poetry Month

May:           Art History Mysteries - Monuments Men Readalong   
June:          Steampunk month (gear con) (steampunk.com)
July:           Anniversary of Thomas More's Death - Utopia /  Utopian/Dystopian literature 

August:       World War 1 100th Anniversary / Fiction or Non fiction readalong 
September: Banned Books Month   
October:     Spooktacular 
November:  Non Fiction November   
December:  Inspiration read month

Now mixed in with all those things, we have a geography Challenge and a decades challenge, so my plan is to try to tie those things in. Such as with Murakami readalong, also read other authors or books from Japan; for Prudhomme, turn it into an all things french month and visit different decades.  That's the plan, but who knows how it will really work out.  Because you know those rabbit trails that pop up while you are reading? They kind of send you off on side trips and before you know it, you started off in France but end up reading about the scientific theory of Gnomes.

Speaking of Gnomes, since next Saturday, the 21st is the first day of Winter, I'll be following a winter theme and be reading Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale, followed by Susanna kersley's  Winter Sea.  So join me in all things winter for the remainder of the year.  


For those anxious about what the wrap up questions will be, check out the list from last year to get started. 

****************************************************************************************

Link to your reviews:    Please link to your specific book review post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you don't have a blog, tell us about the books you are reading in the comment section of this post.