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43) "Farnham's Freehold" - Robert Heinlein (sucked horribly) The black overlords in the future were breeding their white slaves, and some of them they were breeding for eating. The black guy who was working for Farnham at the beginning and who Farnham tries to treat as fairly as he treats anyone (which I'll take up in a minute) deserts them and joins the black oppressors and doesn't seem bothered by the fact that the particular black overlord who owns Farnham likes to eat teenage girls. Meanwhile, Farnham is pretty much a jerk to everyone. He starts to realize it a little toward the end, but he really thinks women should be seen and not heard, and they exist to take orders. So, it's not good for anyone to be in charge besides HIM, apparently. His old, fat wife drinks too much, whines and likes to be waited on, and she is perfectly happy as the new master's favorite slave. Farnham's son is more loyal to his mother and ends up getting castrated, which Farnham thinks is the ultimate evil (he won't even have a cat fixed) but the son is fine with it because it means he can be with his mother. So what's the message there? That mama's boys might as well be castrated?
44) "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" - Anita Loos (really good)
45) "The Highlanders" - Gerry Davis Rather poorly written, but fun. And The Doctor - and this would be Two - was more violent than I expected, whacking people's heads quite freely. I was a little surprised at the way they basically kidnapped Jamie at the end.
46) "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" - Robert Heinlein (really good) A racially integrated society - so much so that people's 'race' is not noticed when they're within it - it's only when the main character goes to the U.S. that it becomes an issue. Manuel O'Kelly Davis is so mixed that he's too dark for some and too light for others. Women being treated... well, much better than in most Heinlein books. At least he seemed to conceive of the idea that women might not want to be manhandled all the time, though this only comes about because there's half as many women as there are men - and somehow, rather than becoming merely a commodity they actually gain some power of their own. There's still some silliness about women being all about their ability to bear children, though I guess that can be excused by the Moon still being underpopulated at the time of the book. (However, though the people on Earth breeding out of control is deplored, there seems to be no mention of the possibility that Luna should try to balance their population and keep it small.) A main character who actually seems to have emotion! And a fun narrative style and lots of action and so much stuff about how to organize a conspiracy and force a revolution (the people didn't want it, they had to be made to want it before conditions got so bad that they all died) and how governments basically never work. Lots of thinky stuff about trying to keep governments in line.
So "Mawdryn Undead" (another Dr. Who adaptation) will be 47 and "Well of Lost Plots" should be 48
44) "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" - Anita Loos (really good)
45) "The Highlanders" - Gerry Davis Rather poorly written, but fun. And The Doctor - and this would be Two - was more violent than I expected, whacking people's heads quite freely. I was a little surprised at the way they basically kidnapped Jamie at the end.
46) "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" - Robert Heinlein (really good) A racially integrated society - so much so that people's 'race' is not noticed when they're within it - it's only when the main character goes to the U.S. that it becomes an issue. Manuel O'Kelly Davis is so mixed that he's too dark for some and too light for others. Women being treated... well, much better than in most Heinlein books. At least he seemed to conceive of the idea that women might not want to be manhandled all the time, though this only comes about because there's half as many women as there are men - and somehow, rather than becoming merely a commodity they actually gain some power of their own. There's still some silliness about women being all about their ability to bear children, though I guess that can be excused by the Moon still being underpopulated at the time of the book. (However, though the people on Earth breeding out of control is deplored, there seems to be no mention of the possibility that Luna should try to balance their population and keep it small.) A main character who actually seems to have emotion! And a fun narrative style and lots of action and so much stuff about how to organize a conspiracy and force a revolution (the people didn't want it, they had to be made to want it before conditions got so bad that they all died) and how governments basically never work. Lots of thinky stuff about trying to keep governments in line.
So "Mawdryn Undead" (another Dr. Who adaptation) will be 47 and "Well of Lost Plots" should be 48