Summer is coming to a close, the weather is cooling down and we’re all ready to cozy up with a good book after a busy season. September’s 2021 Reading Challenge category is “Strange Sci-Fi.”
You’re welcome to choose any science-fiction read to fulfill September’s theme but if you need a little bit of help, we’ve polled our social media followers for their favorite science-fiction reads and you can see some of them below!
An Unkindness of Ghosts
By Rivers Solomon
Aster lives in the low-deck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organized much like the antebellum South. For generations, the Matilda has ferried the last of humanity to a mythical Promised Land. On its way, the ship’s leaders have imposed harsh moral restrictions and deep indignities on dark-skinned sharecroppers like Aster, who they consider to be less than human.
Girls of Paper and Fire
By Natasha Ngan
In this richly developed fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most persecuted class of people in Ikhara. Over weeks of training in the opulent but oppressive palace, Lei and eight other girls learns the skills and charm that befit a king’s consort. There, she does the unthinkable — she falls in love. Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide how far she’s willing to go for justice and revenge.
The Book of Strange New Things
By Michel Faber
It begins with Peter, a devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Bea. But Peter is rattled when Bea’s letters from home become increasingly desperate: typhoons and earthquakes are devastating whole countries, and governments are crumbling. While Peter is reconciling the needs of his congregation with the desires of his strange employer, Bea is struggling for survival.
The Martian
By Andy Weir
Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he s alive and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive
The Testing
By Joelle Charbonneau
It’s graduation day for sixteen-year-old Malencia Vale, and the entire Five Lakes Colony (the former Great Lakes) is celebrating. All Cia can think about is whether she’ll be chosen for The Testing, a United Commonwealth program that selects the best and brightest new graduates to become possible leaders of the slowly revitalizing post-war civilization.
None of these titles speaking to you? That’s okay! We’ve put together an entire category on the home page of our website highlighting science fiction. Head over there for more options!
