Octavia E. Butler’s “Parable of the Sower” topped our 101 Best Book Club List survey by receiving the most votes. We talked to Nikki High, the founder of Octavia’s Bookshelf bookstore in Pasadena, about Butler’s legacy and why the title resonates with so many.
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
The book was first published in 1993, and speaking for myself, I read it in ’93 and the year 2024 felt like something that could never happen, right? Now that we are here in 2026, we’re two years into the book as it starts — it’s a great book club read because we’re in this together at the same time that she’s writing about. I think there’s going to be some incredible discussions around “Parable of the Sower” in book clubs this year.
I read “Parable of the Sower” every six or seven years, and depending on what’s going on, something different resonates with me. When I reread it again, I felt like our main character, Lauren Olamina, being 15 years old, having this level of invincibility that 15-year-olds feel, is so needed. For me, it really created this blueprint of hope. I am hopeful that the young folks will look around and say, ‘We have to do something different, something really radical.’ I think Lauren’s character is more important now than ever. And she totally reminds me of a Gen Zer. I mean, I’m in my 50s, and when I was 15 years old, the mentors and people older than me would say, ‘If you don’t have a seat at the table, bring your own chair.’ And Gen Zers today are like, ‘Let’s smash the table.’ We really need that.
If you are someone who has read Octavia Butler extensively, this area, Pasadena, Altadena, shows up so frequently in her books. As I’m riding through town, I’m like, ‘Oh, those are her mountains.’ This is her corner. Her spirit resonates here. Being at the Los Angeles Central Library, which was one of her favorite libraries, feels so important. I think her spirit is just all throughout Los Angeles; she was a public transportation rider for life. Many times I’m driving through the city, and I think of her words — she was trying to warn us.
There’s one line when Lauren Olamina says, “Embrace diversity or die.” Particularly in this area, during the Eaton fire, we saw that nobody came to save us but ourselves. We had no other choice but to rely on each other, and I think the events that are happening in our world today stress the urgency of that statement from Lauren. We are all we have, and so we have to embrace each other and all of our intersections so that we can continue to grow and build a world we’d like to live in.
— As told to Maddie Connors
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