May's Selection: H.G.Wells War of the Worlds

Hello everyone and my sincerest apologies for the delay.  May has been quite a busy month for me and I have had little time to commit to reading or writing.  Thankfully, I have had a short respite from my duties and now have a little time to announce this months book (albeit a bit late...) .  I'm sure it seems incredibly swell of me to post the book information one week from the end of the month, but maybe two people are currently following this book-list so I won't fret over it.  For you others out there who are also saddled with busy work or social lives I am glad to inform you that this months choice, H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds,  tops out at a mere 130 or so pages.  This should make for a light, few nights read compared to our last few endeavors.  For those of you who have not picked up a copy as yet, any edition will do.  We do not have to deal with translations or multiple versions in this case.  I, myself, acquired from Barnes and Nobles a nice gilded and leather-bound volume of H.G. Wells seven novels but you do not need to go that far with it.  Anyone should be able to find a super-cheap used copy from Amazon.com, or a local used-book seller.  Those who really want to save cash can probably find free online versions (those who have Kindles also have access to free pre-1920 books; I always support the buying of books but I know the economy is tough right now.

Herbert George Wells was an English author born in 1866 into a family of meager income.  His father was an unsuccessful businessman who would jump from one failed enterprise to another while his mother remained at a fixed position as a live-in maid.  This would eventually lead to his parents living separately and him having to seek apprenticeships.   H.G. Wells would, in his early adult life, struggle to find teaching positions, often temporary, and sometimes could not  keep himself well-fed or gainfully employed. Wells, socially speaking, was a bit of a womanizer having been married twice while still engaging in multiple affairs with a myriad of women including an early activist for birth control and a feminist writer.  Philosophically, Wells was a pacifist as well as a socialist extremist whose views were so divergent they eventually got him expelled from the socialist Fabian Society.  Conversely, he was also a Social Darwinist and supported the now-controversial idea of eugenics (preventing "undesirable" traits from continuing in the human gene-pool).  Despite his outspoken political and philosophical views Wells is still considered one of the great thinkers of his time.  In addition to his "Social Science Fiction" novels he also published several scientific journals and articles and accurately predicted some of the progress of the twenty-first century.

War of the Worlds tells the story of one man's observations of an alien invasion on the terribly unprepared (who would be?) London suburb of Woking.  Attentive readers should be able to pick up on some of H.G. Wells' typical social commentary in this novella.