Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme where we randomly select a book from our Goodreads To Be Read list and share it with the world. It’s hosted by Lauren’s Page Turners, so be sure to link back to her site so that we can all see what everyone plans to read!
The Windup Girl
by Paolo Bacigalupi
Science Fiction
359 pages
First published in 2009
From Goodreads: Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen’s Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok’s street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history’s lost calories. There, he encounters Emiko…
Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe.
What Happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said bio-terrorism’s genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution? Award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi delivers one of the most highly acclaimed science fiction novels of the twenty-first century.
When I decided to start reading more award-winning science fictio novels, I made a list of Hugo and Nebula Award winning novels from 1980 to present, and The Windup Girl appeared on both lists. It won not only the top scifi/fantasy awards in the US, but many other awards from around the world. I’m not entirely sure how I’ve not heard of this book before, but I’m looking forward to reading it.
Traveling in Books 
I read this a few years ago. It takes a lot of mental energy, as so much of the world and vocabulary is foreign. And there are some difficult to read scenes. But honestly, I super enjoyed it – definitely one that is under-read/under-hyped.
Great! Glad to hear you enjoyed it! I am not opposed to figuring out new vocabularies. I will probably wait until I don’t have half a dozen library books waiting for me to read them before they’re due back..
Hahaha I totally understand that…