I just finished a couple of books. The first, The Phoenix Pencil Company, I read for book club. I liked it.
I think it is odd that some of the book club choices have science fiction / fantasy elements that are just kind of glossed over. Like the Phoenix Pencil Company uses a "power" that a family or women have to bury a pencil into their arm, the lead runs into their blood and then they can reproduce the words on paper by pressing their arms on it?
The deal is that this is just a way to get a historical story onto the page. The ability is a catalyst for many things, but that is not the point of the story. The point is a relationship between two young girls in Shanghai right before WWII and two different women in 2018. It was pretty good, and very well written.
I also read The Lost Cause by Cory Doctorow. He is a scifi writer, and the book was in the scifi section even though it was only set a few decades in the future, and there were no extra "powers".
Having said that, I will also say I didn't love it. Its message is pretty preachy, I thought. And I am probably the target audience. Which is unusual. Normally, Cory Doctorow makes me really think about things. This was just kind of a way to scream "Boomer" at anyone older than he is. He does (or his characters are forced to) admit that not every old white guy is evil, but then can't show a single example.
But that isn't why I disliked the book. It is why it disappointed me a little, but there were bigger problems for me.
So, on balance, Yes to Phoenix Pencil Company, No to The Lost Cause.
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