Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

I read a review that said the author has captured our collective despair about climate change, in that those of us who believe lack the power to change the crash course we are on, and those who have it are trying to make all the money they can regardless of the consequences. This is far shorter than the only other book that I have read by her (The Luminaries) but no less complex in it's story telling. The finishing of this also puts me well on the way to completing Obama's summer reading list, which always gives me a sense of accomplishment! It’s hippies versus billionaires--sort of. A group of Greenpeace style commandos decide to do some kamikaze planting after a land slide isolates a part of New Zealand, and things go terribly wrong. There is a lot of nuance in the story telling, with the second half of the book veering into the thriller genre, and with a take home message that will have you thinking about it long after you close the book.