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Hum by Helen Phillips had the effect of transporting me into the past and into the future: Into the past, because it felt like a book perfect for the now defunct blog Outlandish Lit (miss ya, Julianne!) that nearly ten years ago held a readathon celebrating weird books — I had so much fun participating! Into the future, because Hum is set in a none too distant world, one where all of the worries that plague us in the here and now (AI and the environment and identity and security) are magnified. The violence of a world ravaged by relentless advertising and consumption and a dependence on (and fear of) technology underlies this story of one family’s dream vacation. Viscerally creepy and deeply unsettling, Hum feels like a contemporary Fahrenheit 451 or 1984 — a book that imagines a future rooted in reality and built on our worst fears. The vast wealth gap that allows only a privileged few access to the natural world recalls the birth of parks in response to urbanization in the 19th century — and serves as a reminder that we can look to the past to understand the present. Shoutout to @jlm.bookstagram for putting this one on my radar! 📸: A kindle displaying the ebook cover of Hum sits on a white shelf. I’m reaching out to touch the kindle with one hand. via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/DFIWS3rR-JY/