For summer reading, a wonder

I tried reading Octavia Butler's 1979 novel Kindred earlier this year, and couldn't understand what the fuss was about. The plot was interesting, the prose pedestrian. I lost interest.

But then Facebook friend Baratunde Thurston (no, I've never actually met the guy) responded to a message of mine with a suggestion that I try one of Butler's later works, Parable of the Sower.

Just...wow.

Seems Butler grew a whole lot as a writer between 1979 and 1993. I'm still in the first half of the book, but this is wondrous stuff--a deep and thoughtful dystopian novel, beautifully written. If you haven't already, check it out.