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Okay, have you read Perdido Street Station, though? I only came upon China Mieville this year and it was one of the weirdest books I've ever written. Great article too, but I've never seen anyone else casually talk about this author.

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I haven't read Perdido Street Station—but my husband's review was very similar ('It was really weird...'). I read Embassytown (it's mentioned in my essay on the work you were "born" to do), which I'd say is a bit less weird and more straight-up sci-fi with a philosophy of language twist. He also has an incredible commentary on The Communist Manifest (called A Spectre, Haunting) that came out a year or two ago. He'd been on my radar for a while—but he gave an interview on On The Media that finally made me dive in!

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They make Murakami look like a contemporary fiction writer with their level of weirdness. Now I have to read more of their work. I didn't love the book, but I have not stopped thinking about it since.

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This perfectly describes the feeling I had watching the spectators the one time I attended a high school football game in Georgia. The coaches and quarterbacks were white, the rest of the players black. Two matching groups of spectators passed through each other exactly so.

There are unfortunately many current examples.

The City & The City is on my TBR list now, along with Doppelganger.

Thanks Tara, for making me think. Again!

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Reading The City & The City. It's a slightly surreal experience to be reading this against the backdrop of current events.

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