Michel Faber, The Book of Strange New Things (2014)

I received this book for Christmas from LibraryThing's Secret Santa program and, as is my usual practice with such books, tried to go into it with as little foreknowledge as possible; in this case, all I knew about The Book of Strange New Things was that it was science fiction.

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber

Originally published: 2014
Acquired: December 2025
Read: April 2026

This is definitely one of those sf books written by a "literary" author, as opposed to a "genre" author, yet it also seemed to me that it was in dialogue with the genre of science fiction, specifically that subgenre of science fiction about missionaries going to alien planets: James Blish's A Case of Conscience (1958), Dan Simmons's Hyperion (1989), and Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow (1996). Unlike those, though, the protagonist of this book, Peter Leigh, is not Catholic—he's a convert to Protestantism and a married one at that. I thought this was interesting, because all of those predecessor books I can think of are not only about Catholics, but specifically Jesuits, one of the most intellectual of the Catholic traditions. Peter comes at his faith from a very different direction, with the emotional fervency of the late-life convert (very much not, in my experience, a Catholic trope). His love for Jesus is bound up in his love for his wife. It's a different perspective on faith than I'm used to (as an atheist that grew up Catholic), and I found it interesting—sometimes Peter and his wife are so damn earnest I found them annoying, but never not real.

Like a lot of fiction, it's also about what Elaine Scarry calls "the difficulty of imagining other people": Peter struggles to empathize with his wife, and his wife struggles to empathize with him, over such a long distance, and in such different contexts. And this difficulty is also what's driving a social collapse on Earth, which felt all too real. 

I found the book kind of nerve-wracking, in that everything in it is vaguely off-putting—the environment Peter finds himself in, the actions of the people on the settlement, the enthusiasm of the aliens for Christ, Peter's own decision-making. You know bad things are coming, but are completely sucked along in it. The final reveal about what the aliens are interested in is very well done.

Reading Roundup Wrapup: August 2026

Pick of the month: Crucible of Gold by Naomi Novik. It was a little bit of a struggle to pick a winner this month, because I don't think I really read any standout books, and indeed, a number of the books I read were not very good at all, alas. But Crucible of Gold is another solid installment in the Temeraire series, with some excellent parts.

All books read:

1. Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum, illustrated by John R. Neill
2. Colourfields: Writing About Writing About Science Fiction by Paul Kincaid
3. The Struggle for Mastery: Britain 1066–1284 by David Carpenter
4. Star Trek: Vanguard: Declassified by Dayton Ward, Kevin Dilmore, Marco Palmieri, and David Mack
5. Sex, Lies and Private Eyes edited by Joe Gentile and Richard Dean Starr
6. Victoria’s Secret: Her Life by Lida Bell Lunt
7. Young Avengers by Heinberg & Cheung by Allan Heinberg, Jim Cheung, et al. 
8. Doctor Who and the Space War by Malcolm Hulke
9. The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum, illustrated by John R. Neill
10. Crucible of Gold: Book Seven of Temeraire by Naomi Novik
11. Legion of Super-Heroes Archives, Volume 8 by Jim Shooter et al.

All books acquired:

1. Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold
2. JSA, Vol 3: Year One by Jeff Lemire and Gavin Guidry
3. DC Finest: Events: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part Two by Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas, Alan Moore, George Pérez, et al. 
4. Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny 

 Currently reading:

• Again, Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison
• Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold
• Star Trek: Vanguard: What Judgments Come by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore 
• DC Finest: Events: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part Two by Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas, Alan Moore, George Pérez, et al.
• Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
• The Hollow Crown: A History of Britain in the Late Middle Ages by Miri Rubin

Up next in my rotations:

1. Star Trek: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack
2. The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Sixteenth Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois
3. The Poe Clan Vol. 1 by Moto Hagio 
4. On Progress in Physics and Subjectivity Theory: An Amateur’s Meanderings as Inspiration for Actual Physicists by N. Otre Le Vant 

Books remaining on "To be read" list: 675 (down 1)

Steady progress!