“… the more complex they made their world, the less capable they were of dealing with it. They had no means of consensus. They learnt to co-operate constructively in small units; but only destructively in large units. They aspired greedily, and then refused to face the responsibilities they had created. They created vast problems, and then buried their heads in the sands of idle faith.”
― John Wyndham, The Chrysalids
I had initially intended to post on something else entirely but I was scrolling through instagram this morning and saw Anna @anansible‘s post on the Wyndham readalong hosted by Jessica @jeshisbooknook and felt inspired to join in on this one. I have an enduring fondness for Wyndham and his sci-fi dystopias. I first read Wyndham at an early impressionable age and have loved his books ever since. They remain surprisingly pertinent even today.
Without question The Chrysalids is my favourite, a dystopian post apocalyptic tale of the future that can be seen to clearly have influenced writers like Margaret Atwood. I have a great fondness for that outrageous cover to The Chrysalids seen above. That image bears absolutely no resemblance to the story and the content of the novel whatsoever and yet I love it for it’s sheer eccentricity, it is a book I will never part with and it will always have a home on my shelves. That cover could be in the running for most misleading book cover ever and yet it is so bad it is good. Looks like I will be re-reading it in 2021.
I discovered John Wyndham about the same time I discovered Doctor Who and I have had an enduring love for Wyndham and Doctor Who ever since.
#BookSnapSunday is a weekly bookish Instagram meme hosted here at Gum trees and Galaxies.com, if you would like to join in please feel free to leave a link to your post in the comments below. All you have to do is post an image of a book. Happy reading!
Gum trees and Galaxies 
I have only read The Day of the Triffids, although I have this vague feeling there may have been a sequel that I read – was there a sequel? I do have The Chrysalids sitting on my TBR. Lifeline sales are so good for picking up old sci-fi titles. Love Dr Who too. What do you think of the current doctor?
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Love LIfeline for books and and I don’t think I have come across a sequel to Triffids. Chrysalids is a fantastic read. I was pleased to see a woman cast as the Doctor but I think I would have preferred an actress who had a bit more gravitas, maybe someone like Sarah Lancashire. Michelle Gomez was just brilliant as MIssy/Master but for some reason Jodi Whittaker does not seem to be quiet as good, not sure why.
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I was excited about having a female doctor, but we’ve slipped a bit in keeping up with episodes. I think the change in time slot threw us. A lot of the time we just end up getting the DVDs of series we like, mostly because we only have free-to air.
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So glad I am not the only one who gets dvds. There has been some discussion in our house about whether or not things like Netflix are worth it, I am the person who argues they are not worth it but then I don’t watch a lot of tv anyway. Did you know you can find a lot of stuff through a couple of the databases at uni; edutv has a lot of things on it including some DW.
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I agree with you Sharon about services like Netflix. The problem that I see, is that once you are paying for a service, you feel obliged to watch it and then you waste a lot of time watching stuff when you could be doing something else – like reading. Sure, I might be missing out on shows, but since I’ve never heard of them anyway, I’m not likely to miss them. Yes, I did know about edutv – I’ve used it occasionally, when I remember. I should try to use it more often. 😊
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