This week in Bwog’s Book Club, senior staffer Abby Rubel recommends sci-fi short story master Harlan Ellison. Bwog’s Book Club is intended to spread the literary love around campus and encourage you to pick up a book, as opposed to your iPhone, in your spare time.

Rating: 9.5/10—would have rated higher but if you’re in the wrong frame of mind it’s kind of discouraging.

Would I recommend: Obviously! I’m recommending it to all of you right now! Buy a copy and loan it to your friends.

Summary: A collection of science-fiction short stories ranging from dark musings on the future of humanity to lighthearted satires of religion.

Review: I love Harlan Ellison and you should too. His dark sense of humor is present in every one of his stories, and it’s impossible to read one without feeling vaguely troubled and forced to examine your reaction to his ideas. You get the sense throughout the book that Ellison is sneering at you because he knows something you don’t, and trying to figure out what that might be is addictive. Many of the short stories were written during the Nixon years and in the run-up to Watergate, and the zeitgeist Ellison channels is at times shockingly similar to our own. I recommend you get the 1974 edition, if only for the magnificent introduction that touches on some of these issues. I would also highly recommend the collection I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, which is considered the “classic” Ellison volume, but I like Approaching Oblivion better—it feels less depressing but more meaningful.

If you have a piece of literature, be it novel, essay, or anything non-fiction, that you want to share with the student population, please feel free to email us: tips@bwog.com. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Yes I bought it used via Abby Rubel