I am Number Four: The Lost Files: The Search for Sam

Pittacus Lore

This novella is a followup to Lost Legacies novella in the Lorien Legacies series. It continues from the perspective of Adam, the Mog general's wayward son. Adam has, as the result of a memory retrieval experiment, gained some of the consciousness of One. This results in new sympathies and in this novella, we find out how he is able to help out with Sam and his Father, intersecting with the storyline of The Rise of Nine. This is a great serial and Lore can't write them fast enough.
Read

The Book Thief

Markus Zusak

Leisel Meminger is a young girl being raised in a Munich suburb by her foster parents in the early 1940's. As she grows up, she learns about Germany through her new family, friends, and life in the town. The fact that she steals books seems like a plot device that was invented (somehow not integral to the identity of the characters). What is particularly interesting is that this book has not antagonist. All the characters are protagonists. It is one big happy support group... with the exception of the Fuhrer of course. So with just the idea of Hitler as an ever-present, domineering character, Zusak can completely avoid writing in specific characters to dislike. All conflict and tension comes directly from a character that is not really even in the book. I suppose this is a modern Anne Frank, which is strange to say since the timing of the books is identical. But this book feels more modern somehow. Perhaps is it the "Grimm Reaper as blogger" feel that the narrator uses (which turned me off initially nearly terminated my interest). I would say this is an average book, but you can read it quickly and I think it does give a glimpse of life in "normal Germany" where the average people lived during the war.
Wait

Monsters of Men

Patrick Ness
Chaos Walking Trilogy (Book 3)

In this final installment, the two sides in the human war for dominance (men vs. women) decide to a precarious cease fire in order to collaborate agains a common enemy, the Spackle (or The Land as we soon learn). This cease fire and collaboration does not in anyway decrease the antagonism between the Mayor and Mistress Coyle, nor do the political machinations of either go away. They are just thrown into the mix of any decisions of the larger battle. I particularly like how Ness is willing to explicitly link bad decisions to prior bad decisions. He is explicitly calling us to think about making alternate decisions that lead to true peace, not the "only decision possible" which is generally violence. When those decision points arise, the characters always call to mind the previous "only decision possible", which only led to an escalation. In the end, this is still a tragic war, a tragic portrayal of the average human response to violence, and probably more than accurate picture of the ugliness of war on a personal and global level.  None of these books stand on their own, but as a trilogy, well done.
Read

The Ask and The Answer

Patrick Ness
Chaos Walking Trilogy (Book 2)

We start with Todd and Viola having made it to Haven only to be met by Mayor Prentiss, who arrived first. The Mayor has taken over the town and this book is a description of the struggle for control over the town. The Mayor controls most men and the town proper, while most women follow Mistress  Coyle and her efforts to resist the Mayor. Clearly Coyle and the Mayor have history and their antagonism runs deep. Ness, having developed the strange idea of Noise in the first volume, is now using the Noise as a differentiator between the establishment and the rebellion as well as a potential weapon in this war. Perhaps the most interesting developments in the story are those that surround questions of how to resist a tyrant, and how to avoid violence or escalation. You easily see the blowback coming as a reader, and wonder why it is so hard in reality to see blowback in advance. Ness also lays out in pretty simple characters the various approaches to war, violence and resistance. He also doe a good job of showing that there is no ideology that works in all cases. Life and conflict are complex, and the decisions that we make are never made in isolation. I was cautious after book 1 in this series, but Ness does a good job with further world development and idea development that makes this book worth reading. I will bump this series up to 

Read

The Knife of Never Letting Go

Patrick Ness
Chaos Walking Trilogy (Book 1)

The setting for this story is a "New World" planet that is being settled by those seeking religious freedom. We are about 20 years in to the settlement process and pick up with our protagonist (Todd) about a month away from reaching his 13th birthday and initiation into manhood. We learn that on this planet, the men are afflicted with Noise. That is, their thoughts (all of them) are made available for everyone to see/hear/feel. Of course, not all is at it seems to Todd initially and his discoveries and travels over the two week timeframe of this novel are all about setting the stage and developing the world. The series has possibilities for looking at privacy, power, gender roles, religious freedom and religious coercion. But as of yet, it is only setting the stage. On its own, it is interesting, but not strong. So stay tuned for the remainder of the series to see if this is worthwhile.
Wait

How to Survive in a Science Fictional Universe

Charles Yu

Strange. And not in a good way. Yu is describing a time travel scenario in a world where science fiction is reality. Science fiction universes can be created and he is working in one that is not yet completed. This is kind of interesting, but not used. The primary device here is a time traveling mechanic who is in effect searching for familial meaning. The time travel piece is dealt with in a straight forward way and I found myself slogging through this, waiting for it to be better. Wanting it to be better. About 2/3 through, I came across a 2 page section where Charles father is describing the theoretical underpinnings of how time travel works. Finally, this was interesting. But 2 pages does not a good book make. Sorry Charles, go back and try again.

Skip

The Drowned Cities

Paulo Bacigalupi

Another dystopian future dominated by climate change and genetic modifications. This entry is definitely in the Young Adult genre and is a bit softer than The Windup Girl, which I loved. Here we are set in the eastern seaboard of the U.S. The Chinese peacekeeping forces have pulled out, considering the former U.S. a lost cause. The resulting chaos is managed by warlords battling for control, utilizing child soldiers as their primary fighting force. Into this melange of chaos we meet Tool, a genetically modified fighting organism (part human, part dog, part hyena, part ...) and Mahlia, a young girl who lost a hand to the roving bands of fighters. When these two meet up, we are faced with humanity in the best sense as they make decisions based on other instead of self.

Read

Counting Heads

David Marusek

Feed on steroids. In this world created by Marusek, nanotechnology and biotechnology were first weaponized and then went rogue. The result is that individual cities are all contained in protective spheres that filter out the nano and bio threats. We also get nanotech integrated into your body for enhancement and communication. Your personal valet (an artificial intelligence made of some bio-goo) communicates directly with you and monitors your well being. Clones are pervasive and job specific. So this is a world where technology has taken humans to amazing new capabilities, and humans have to tread lightly because of the unintended consequences. In this fabulous world, Marusek sets upon us with a crime thriller. An assassination, a kidnapping, political/corporate intrigue, and good old fashioned detective work. A nice juxtaposition of a crazy future and recognizable forms.

Read

Unbroken

Lauren Hillenbrand

Wow! The story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner in the 30's from Southern California who ends up in the pacific theater of WWII as a bombardier and as a POW in Japan. The story covers his pre-war life, his journey adrift in the Pacific for a couple months (yes, a couple), eventual capture and two years in POW camp, and finally his life after camp. Every component of his life is astounding and so crazy that you think it is made up. Hillenbrand does an excellent job of providing the details needed to visualize the craziness of every situation, as well as to suggest the calm & matter-of-fact nature of how Zamperini deals with what is thrown at him. I particularly appreciate that the book doesn't end with rescue, but lets us know about the difficulties and successes of life after POW. Zamperini is a particularly charismatic subject to highlight this part of WWII, but I think he is in many ways just a common soldier who survived.

Read

Railsea

China Mieville

Mieville creates an astounding world. Take every idea that you can imagine related to an ocean based society, with ships, islands, pirates, salvage, navies, and creatures of the deep. Now instead of water, this entire world is built on an intricate tangle of rail lines, with switches & junctions, different gauge lines and everything you can imagine related to trains. Crazy. I love how Mieville imagines and develops, actually pulling you into the world by keeping you curious about how the world works. His language causes the reader to visualize strangeness in a way that is clearly not physical reality, but is believable in an imagination. As such, I don't think this could ever be a movie. Or at least, a good movie. It requires the mind to do most of the work. Beyond developing this world, however, the story here is pretty standard and not very engaging. I would read this book for the world. The story was just good enough.

Read

Unwholly

Neal Shusterman

In the follow up to Unwind, Shusterman continues with his story of teens who are scheduled to be Unwound (have 99.44% or more of their body transplanted). The interest for me in these stories are looking at questions of identity and soul. Questions where the science of biology meet up with the religion of biology. Shusterman pushes the envelope here by introducing Cam, the first ever fully composite human. This leaps past the ethical issues of cloning or abortion or genetic modification. To assemble a functional person from "organ donors". As in Unwind, the premise is so far out that we can ignore the practicality (as all good science fiction draws us to) and jump straight to the immanent moral/ethical/personal catastrophe that is unfolding. Does the composite have a soul? Does an unwound person die? Presumably no, so where is their soul? On a larger scale, we are also beginning to explore how a society/culture gets to a place where the status quo might be crazy. And how do you expose the craziness or begin to move a society/culture beyond to a better place? And can you do this only via violence? Shusterman sets up a third novel in this series to be able to look closely at these questions. Looking forward to it.

Read

The Wall

William Sutcliffe

This is a story with a point of view, designed to expose the reader to the shocking political and personal tragedies of what is going on in Israeli occupied Palestine. But because it has a point of view, it feels to me like propaganda. I know that a book can't very easily express all sides of an issue, or even many sides. But Sutcliffe is developing an argument here, through story. If you know nothing of what it is like to live as an Israeli settler, or what it is like to live as a Palestinian in the vicinity of an Israeli settlement, then this is a good human interest fiction to give you one perspective. This story follows Joshua, a teen boy who has moved with his mother and stepfather to a settlement in the West Bank. The settlement is separated from the Palestinians by a wall, and the message is that all good happens here, and the other side of the wall is all evil and anger. Then Joshua discovers a tunnel under the wall and visits. He indeed finds evil and anger. But he also finds kindness and humanity. Only to discover that when he returns, he finds evil and anger on "his side" of the wall as well.

What I find a bit strange is that while I most likely agree with the political slant and personal opinions that I attribute to Sutcliffe through this novel, because it is so one sided, I still feel used. I guess I prefer to hear stories of solidarity, of people with extremist ideas moving a bit more to the center. Those stories are stories of hope, while here the extremism is stark. The emotions and the antagonism are so deep that hope for a personal or political change seems futile. In that regard, the novel is probably truly reflecting the reality for many.

Read

American Gods

Neil Gaiman

This is the first novel by Gaiman that I have read. It was a bit of false advertising (or at least false expectations). The jacket cover promises a "journey...across American landscape" and in the forward, Gaiman suggests that the descriptions of this American landscape will be so familiar that we will try to drive and find the places he writes about. I felt no such urge. Perhaps I have not spent enough time in the Midwest to be the target audience, but I found the locations to be generic and rather flat.

What is did love about this novel was the description (and implicit commentary) of the gods. Gaiman describes a mythological landscape that pits the "old world gods" of greek, norse, roman, african, asian origin against the "new world gods" of money, technology, tv, sex, etc. He describes how the old gods arrived in America based on the belief of the people coming. If someone believes in and/or worships a god, that god comes into existence in this new land. The story of this conflict is told with a character named Shadow as the protagonist. He is an ex-con who has been drawn into the god conflict, and follows along with all the crazy idea and thinking that is presented to him. In the end, we realize that not only is this a mythological exercise, it is also a mystery novel. Quite fun.

Read

The Republic of Nature

An Environmental History of the United States
Mark Fiege

I had been looking forward to this book for a year when I first heard about it (2 years ago) and when it was finally released last year, I immediately picked it up. And then struggled through it for the past year. Maybe it is me, that my scholarly reading chops aren't ready for prime time. But I am going to say it is a much Fiege's fault that I did not read this in one sitting. Here is the rundown:

Fiege presents nine significant events in American History and tells the story while paying attention to the influences and affects of the environment. This is simultaneously fascinating and obvious. For example, the chapter on the Salem witch trials raises the issues of land use, overpopulation, population density based diseases for humans and livestock as underlying factors that put constant pressure on the early settlers. These factors were overlooked or unknown, which left only the religious/supernatural explanations available. Wow, and duh! In the chapter on the transcontinental railroad, Fiege reminds us of the massive labor and resource issues that were both motivation for the railroad companies as well as hinderances to their success. These labor/resource issues affected broad swaths of land and people both during construction as well as for decades after. This is not just an industrial or economic achievement. Wow, and duh! The same sort of new lens is offered for Brown v. Board of Education, Cotton & Slavery, the Civil War and the OPEC oil embargo of the 1970's. This is all fascinating.

So why did it take me a year to read? Fiege meanders. In nearly every chapter, I had to discover his point. Why are you writing this? What is the environmental connection? For the chapter on Lincoln, the best I could discern is that Lincoln chopped wood as a kid, and that changed his being as a human and the course of the United States. The Manhattan Project was somehow a reflection of knocking over pine trees to build housing at Los Alamos National Lab. The connections were not strong. Even when the environmental connections were strong and clear, Fiege still meanders, as if he is working to tell a story instead of write a scholarly historical text. But it was too obviously work for him and he ended up loosing focus nearly every stage of the way.

I think this material is fascinating and I would recommend reading individual chapters based on your interest or study of that subject. Much like a text, each chapter can be taken individually and does not hang on the prior. With that method, you will find this worth read, and more importantly, worth discussing with someone.

Read

The Wheel of Time

Robert Jordan (and Brandon Sanderson)

This fantasy series encompasses 14 books as follows:
The Eye of the World
The Great Hunt
The Dragon Reborn
The Shadow Rising
The Fires of Heaven
Lord of Chaos
A Crown of Swords
The Path of Daggers
Winter's Heart
Crossroads of Twilight
Knife of Dreams
The Gathering Storm
Towers of Midnight
A Memory of Light

It is not worth giving an individual plot summary of each book. Suffice it to say that Jordan creates a fantasy world that is largely human based (no elves or dwarves) and set in a pre-industrial timeframe. In this world, good and evil are represented by the Creator and Dark One, with the Dark One beginning to influence the world increasingly as the seals on his prison weaken. Magic is wielded by Aes Sedai, women who are able to touch the True Source and channel it to affect the 5 elements of earth, air, water, fire, and spirit. Men can also channel, but because in ancient history men were involved in creating the prison for the Dark One, their access to the True Source is tainted and eventually leads to madness. The story begins by identifying our protagonists, 5 young people from a small remote village. Prophecies abound about "The Dragon Reborn", a man who will be able to channel and whose purpose is to go to the last battle to challenge and defeat the Dark One. So from introduction of our 5 characters (Rand - the Dragon Reborn, Mat, Perrin, Egwene and Nynaeve) to the completion of the last battle 11,000 some pages later, we are told by prophecy almost everything to expect. And as with prophecy, interpretation and expectation often lead us astray.

Jordan's world is intricately detailed. His ability to follow these 5 characters (who are rarely together) as their lives intertwine and affect each other is fascinating. This is an epic of political intrigue, spiritual purpose and personal growth, of duty, development of self and community, of love, learning, arrogance and humility. I am impressed at how well Jordan is able to pull everything together. All prophecies that are mentioned, resolve. The only loose piece that is left hanging is that the Tinkers do not find the Song, which it turns out is not that important. I love that a main character can not appear in an entire novel, and then be wrapped right back in later. I love that we follow a story line long enough to sink in to it and have a bit of resolution, before jumping to the next. This is not a series of cliff hangers, but a series of minor resolutions that leads to a major resolution. And in the end, the major resolution is largely satisfying. If you have the time, read this series. If you get through the first few, you will not be able to quit, so settle in for the long haul of all 14 volumes.
Read

Beauty Queens

Libba Bray

I really liked Going Bovine so was looking forward to this. Almost as strange, but largely unsatisfying. Bray sends  teen beauty pageant contestants to a remote island after a plane crash. We have to see how they cope and adjust. I was hoping for a bit more Lord of the Flies. It is a bit too cheesy, too surface focused. We don't get to see any depth of development in the characters. We don't get substantial commentary on culture of women, war, or media (all of which are possible here). Instead, we slide along the surface with complex plot constructs that take too much time to allow us to settle in to any real thinking.

Skip

The Yiddish Policemen's Union

Michael Chabon
Chabon creates an alternate future here where an Israeli state is not created after WWII. Instead, Jews are given a 50 year lease on land in Alaska and that becomes the "homeland" after the war. This book is set with 1-year left on that lease and Jews again beginning to think about what happens next. Of course, the zionists are thinking of settlement in the Holy Land and others are trying to figure out what it would mean to stay in Alaska, or emigrate to somewhere else. In this context, Chabon offers a classic murder mystery/political thriller. Much of the beauty of this book is that the context is unfolded slowly as detective Landsman and his partner detective Berko work to find the source of an unlikely murder. They are navigating cultural barriers between ultra-orthodox Jews, native Alaskans, and secularists. Lot's going on here, and it all holds together as a reality, however alternate it might be. Well done.
Read

The House of the Scorpion

Nancy Farmer

It is strange how many different ways you can write a time travel book. In this case, the setting is sometime in the future, but our protagonist spends most of  his time in the past. And even though there is not "time travel" as you normally think of it, Mateo definitely encounters many of the same culture shocks that time travelers do. In many ways, the "child held in the attic" syndrome and time travel are really the same problem, in a literary sense. The plot here involves Mateo, the young clone of powerful drug lord in the country of Opium (a new political entity that has developed between Mexico and the US). As he comes of age, Mateo slowly has his blinders removed to both his own existential issues as well as to the cultural and moral issues that surround someone in his position. Farmer presents characters carefully and with enough substance to feel as if you understand their motivation. Perhaps 30 years from now, this book will look prescient. But that is the beauty of science fiction. If you write enough of it, something will inevitably be right.

Read

Requiem

Lauren Oliver

Book 3 of Delirium trilogy
 Delirium - Book 1
 Pandemonium - Book 3


I had high hopes. Those hopes were dashed. This is one of the worst completions to a trilogy that I have read in quite awhile. Blue Mars wasn't great, but it had some value. This had none. No character development, no real resolution, no novelty. Really cookie cutter dystopian, teen love triangle with a cop-out ending. In the first book, Lena discovered the truth about society, in the second she discovers life outside of society. In the third, she wanders around with angst about which boy she loves. I will say that I continue to appreciate the modified biblical scriptures presented in "The Book of SHHH", as exemplified by the story of Solomon solving the problem of the baby with two mothers claiming it by actually cutting the baby in half. This is a brilliant continuation of the look at propaganda and power. But it doesn't go anywhere beyond what we have already seen. Spend your time reading something better.

Skip

Blue Mars

Kim Stanley Robinson

Book 3 in Robinson's Mars Trilogy (started in Red Mars and followed in Green Mars). Blue Mars is the story of nation formation. After the revolution, when you are basically independent and recognized as so by everyone, what do you do? How do you transition from a "leave us alone" mentality that has driven culture for many years of revolution into a "we are just like you" mentality that makes you part of civilization. Of course this is not easy, and Robinson recognizes that it takes time. Fortunately his plot device of long life lets him tell the story of nation building over decades without having to introduce new characters. The thing that I love about Robinson's story is that he (or his characters at least) are committed to non-violent action. Every time the "natural" reaction is to take up arms, or escalate tension via "normal" political processes, a few of the First Hundred step in, holding the vision that this nation that is being created is different and will not interact "normally". It is rare to see such a commitment to this value in any literature. In this case, it takes the fact that the key players in exploration, revolution and nation building are consistent across the couple hundred years that it takes to accomplish the goal. This extreme long view is a severe contraction to the current political scene or corporate scene with 2-3 year re-election cycles or quarterly profit reports. Can a great civilization be built (or survive) with only "short-view" pressures? What cultural pressures can be brought to bear to encourage a long view in either time or scale (to deal with planetary scale problems)? I love that Robinson puts all these socio-political thoughts in the forefront of my thinking.

My critique of the book is that Robinson continues to use long, meandering descriptions of geology or relationship, when at this point in the series, brevity could accomplish the same thing. I often wonder if a long, meandering passage about how slow and boring life can be is intended to bring the reader into emotional congruence with the characters. That is, the characters are experiencing the difficulties of a slow life, and in my reading I feel that slowness. I tend to think, that even if it is intentional, a good editor could help with pacing without destroying the reader/character connection. For this reason, I would say I enjoyed this book less than the first two. If you don't mind leaving long plot lines unresolved, go ahead and wait on this last volume until you have nothing else to read.

Wait

Green Mars

Kim Stanley Robinson

Book 2 in Robinson's Mars Trilogy (started in Red Mars). In this second volume, we pick up after the failed revolution of 2061 with the underground scattered and the Transnational Corporations now transitioning into Metanational Corporations (actually taking over multiple nations) and effectively destroying the UN as a decision making organization. Again, traversing approximately 50 years, we follow the leaders of the underground political movements (notice plural form) as they recover and rediscover their purpose. The movements are basically anarchic in form and over the course of the 50 years, a few leaders of each faction (mostly the from the first hundred or 1st generation native) work to try to organize a cohesive and meaningful rebellion. A convention is held to discuss principles of organization for an independent Mars. I find two things interesting about this novel: First, the detailed and careful descriptions of the land and terraforming process of trying to develop a biosphere and Second, the chaos associated with developing a new political entity. The descriptions and events around the political development of a Free Mars is fascinating and makes me think about the reality of the development of the American political system. In the historical textbook way of thinking, George Washington led the revolution and everybody did what he said. In reality, the frustrations and lack of communications and rogue, reactionary groups were probably a dominant part of the entire "revolution". I also particularly like the struggle and tension between advocates of violent revolution and those who are insisting on alternatives. Robinson actually takes time to outline the implications of creating something new and not settling into old forms of "kill the bad guys". Looking forward to the finale.

Read

Red Mars

Kim Stanley Robinson

A science fiction telling of the events surrounding the development of the first permanent colony on Mars. Spanning approximately 50 years, from the launch of Ares from earth, to the end of the first revolution and basic destruction of Mars colony, Robinson provides an amazingly detailed and realistic portrait of what Mars colonization would look like. And while this is definitely SciFi, it is also an exercise in historical analysis. Robinson delves into issues of power and politics, immigration, economics and ecology, the power of charisma, the ethics of applied science in terraforming, mining and GMO's and the implied contracts that colonies have with colonizers as well as science with society. All heavy and full discussions, presented while walking through a vision of the future that includes a level of automation and robotics, genetic engineering and materials chemistry that is plausible and exciting. I would recommend this as an excellent ancillary text for any early US history course to prompt thinking about the new world colonization and eventual rebellion. Great stuff.

Read

ps Also read The Years of Rice and Salt by Robinson for another sweeping historical fiction that will make you think of society and culture in a new way.

Nation

Terry Pratchett

When a massive tidal wave crosses the South Pacific, two worlds are altered. Mau is a boy on a solitary journey which is part of his cultures coming of age ritual for young men when the wave hits. Daphne is a young English girl traveling to see her father who governor of the English flagged islands. After the wave, these two teens are the only ones left, and they begin to build (or re-build) the Nation. There are cultural and language barriers to cross, there are pirates and cannibals, and of course a talking parrot (and Pratchett has a little fun with these). But the real joy of this book is the coming of age process for both Mau and Daphne. In their isolation from either of their histories, they are able to explicitly consider what they believe and what they are willing to toss overboard. The questions of identity, God the role of childhood education and culture in belief formation are questions that everyone should ask and discuss. After reading this book, you should definitely sit around with friends over a cup of coffee late at night and explore your own belief system.

Read

The Future We Left Behind

Mike A. Lancaster

How about this. The story is set in the future, and is narrated by a history professor who is effectively reading the diary of a kid (Peter Vincent) from ancient history, who is on an adventure guided by the diary of a kid (Kyle Straker) from his ancient history. And yet all of these are in our future. I almost didn't read this after the first chapter because this could have gone all wrong. But I persevered  And am glad I did. Peter Vincent lives in a world where everyone is connect to the Link. Imagine a direct brain link to the internet... on steroids. Peter gets a girlfriend and begins to help her investigate the disappearance of her father. The interesting part is the discovery (or suggestion) of what the link is, and really thinking about the impacts of this for computing. I was reminded of the cat in the final scene of Men in Black, with the pendant that is an entire universe of its own. Enough said.

Read

A Million Suns

Beth Revis
Book 2 in Across the Universe trilogy

Last time, in Across the Universe, we found that the space ship Godspeed was traveling to Centauri-Earth (from Sol-Earth) so set up a new colony. The people on the ship were regimented in their lives to maintain order and efficiency. Their leader was nearly as regimented. With the new leader (Elder) rising to power effectively by coup, he has de-regimented the ship... which is where we pick up.

The 3,000 some inhabitants of Godspeed are not as enthralled with their lives as when they were on space-prozac. So Elder continues to work toward maintaining control while finding out what he can about the progress of the ship. Amy, who was woken from cryostasis in the last book, continues to cause trouble just because she is different. Well, and because she is inquisitive and in the middle of a twisted puzzle that threatens to either save or destroy Godspeed. As the ship people revolt and Elder fights for control, the intrigue of clues left by Orion prod Amy onward and in the end reveals a whole new world of possibilites.

Revis does a good job here of creating three books with three distinct plots that each have their own problems and characters and resolutions. This trilogy is not just one story cut into three parts. Much like the Shannara world of Terry Brooks, the independence, story arc and resolution makes this feel like its own book, and yet still fully part of the trilogy.

Read

Unwind

Neal Shusterman

This story takes place sometime in the future after the second Civil War. The war split primarily along pro-life/pro-choice boundaries and after too much fighting and killing, the two sides signed an armistice. It was a crazy, far out idea that neither wanted, but both could live with. Abortion became illegal. However, between the ages of 13 and 17, parents could have their kids unwound. That is, every single body part of the person would be utilized in transplant. This way, the unwanted child would not be killed, just redistributed. The story here follows a couple of Unwinds who escape and enter the underground system, just trying to survive until they are 18, when they will be legal again. Risa was an orphan, a ward of the state. She was sent to be unwound to make space for the new orphans coming in. Connor was sent to be unwound by his parents because he was just a troublemaker. And Lev was a tithe. His religious parents conceived him explicitly for the purpose of giving back.

The idea is really prepostorous, so we don't have to take it seriously. However, it is the extreme extension of some of the arguments that people make about embryonic stem cell research and abortion today. Shursterman is also quite clear in his purpose to make the reader think about the value of life as well as the definition of human. In a couple of striking sub-plots, we are confronted with the idea of identity and soul. What is it? Where is it? Who has it?

Well done.
Read

Aurora

Julie Bertagna

Final Book in Bertagna's climate change trilogy. In Exodus, Mara takes her island community to sea and finds New Mungo, only to realize they are not welcome in this modern city built above the ocean. In Zenith, Mara takes her new community of unwanteds north to Greenland, and sets up to live peacefully in the interior of the island. Throughout both, Mara's long distance relationship with Fox back in New Mungo is a way to keep tabs on his effort to revolt and change the culture of the isolated sky cities. In this third installment, Mara and Fox's daughter Lily leaves home for her own adventure. She meets back up with pirate boy Tuck, discovers long lost friends and realizes that she has been the catalyst to change the world.

Overall, Bertagna provides a captivating plot and enough change of scenery in each volume to keep interest and travel in new directions. Her politics is right out front and she is not apologetic about it, but in the end, this is an adventure tale. I do like the fact that she pushes scientists to utilize nature as a model for good science. Her scientists are ones who learn from nature instead of dominate it. And she is able to even raise (albiet briefly) some discussion of GMO morality. Easy read, but make sure you are willing to read the entire series, or you will be left feeling flat.

Read

Zenith

Julie Bertagna

Book Two in a climate change trilogy started in Exodus. After stealing supply ships and loading them with the boat people and sea urchins surviving on the outskirts of New Mundo, Mara now leads her ship at least (the others can't be seen) to a supposed new life in the highlands of the north (aka Greenland). This is not the class struggle of Exodus, highlighting the plight of the poor. Instead, it is a pilgrimage  and a good old fashioned wagon train on the high seas. Mara struggles to lead her band of misfits as they (and she) continually doubt her leadership. A chance collision with a band of pirates introduces new characters to the drama, and when they reach the new world, survival is not as easy as it seems it should be. This book is not explicitly about climate change. But with a destroyed earth at the basis for the entire plot, Bertagna continues to weave a thread of hope. I suppose in many ways, this is a classic western plot. A good continuation of the plot and a good middle book.

Read (only if you plan to read Book 3 too).

Exodus

Julie Bertagna

It appears that I am following a biblical theme as of late (The Parable of the Sower). In Exodus, we are set in the year 2100 and the earth has survived the post-climate change 100 years of storms. Most land is covered in water. This fact alone is key for the premise of the book, but unfortunately not even remotely realistic. Worst case sea level rises are less than 10 meters and this story suggests 100 meter or more. But this story requires most land to have disappeared for two reasons: 1) our protagonist Mara must have a reason to abandon her North Atlantic island home and 2) civilization must have a reason for abandoning land by building giant isolated cities anchored to the sea floor and soaring above into the atmosphere. These two conditions place Mara in a position to be a refugee at one such city, find a disturbing classless society in the trash-heap of that city, expose the dirty secret of slavery imposed by the city rulers and initiate a mass escape (hence Exodus). The story is engaging and the read is easy. If one does not only read for entertainment but use the ideas presented by Bertagna as a reason to think, we are led to question our own role in global climate change as well as our proclivity in the West to think that even if it is a worst case scenario, we will survive. Bertagna pushes us to consider the blinders that we wear as individuals and as a culture to the often nameless/invisible impoverished underclass that exists. And I find it amazing that while the year 2100 is a long way away, people born now will be the Caledon, Tain and Lily of the story. In this case, Bertagna intentionally places the story within a current lifetime, but it is strange to think that to be truly futuristic science fiction, authors are going to have to start to setting their timeframe beyond 2100.

As a first book, this is engaging. Will let you know if the series holds up.
Read

The Parable of the Sower

Octavia E. Butler

Futuristic novels set in 2025 used to be futuristic. But now that we are only about a decade away, 2025 is now. Perhaps this is what  makes this novel so frightening as it is set in 2025 and the future described is actually a possibility within the next 10 years. We are set in Los Angeles in what I would describe as the leading edge of a post-civilized world. Most people in the city are homeless scavengers and a few gated communities are able to hold the hordes at bay. The police are ineffective and it has not rained in 6 years. At the same time, money still has some value and the state and federal governments do exist. In this setting, a young woman is chased out of her community when it is destroyed by vandals and makes her way north, collecting companions along the way. As she travels, she is developing and testing her new religion, Earthseed, as a source of purpose and hope in this crazy world. Butler does an excellent job of revealing the strengths and weaknesses of characters in her portrayal of the emotional drama of survival. At the same time, she develops a world which that is completely new and scary, but completely familiar  Not the Hollywood grand finale of most dystopian future novels that are popular, but better off because of her resistance to that trap.

Read

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle

Haruki Murakami

Again strange. I don't quite know how else to explain this. Murakami is a well known, well regarded Japanese author and most of his novels have been translated to english. I enjoyed this novel as it gives a little bit of insight into Japanese culture, much like Ogawa's The Housekeeper and the Professor did for me. I feel like (and this is speaking from ignorance) Japanese culture has a certain respect for spirituality and belief in the supernatural. Along with this is a pretty matter of fact acceptance. There is not a lot of drama about the super in supernatural. Here Murakami presents Mr. Okada, a recently unemployed law clerk who has chosen to enjoy his unemployment while his wife Kumiko supported them. When their cat disappears, Okada and Kumiko consult with a local "shaman" to help them find the cat. Eventually, the missing cat turns into a missing wife and in the search, Okada becomes central in a "spirit world" (for lack of a better descriptor) struggle between Kumiko's family and his own interest in having his wife back. The language is not dramatic, but often plodding and methodical. There is a real sense of "this is the way life goes", bordering on (but not really) existentialism. I know individual people that have this life outlook, but when a culture embraces it, it feels foreign. This book is definitely worth the time.

Read

The Declaration

Gemma Malley

Apparently (and there is not a bit of surprise in my tone here), young adult fiction is all about reproduction. Odds are that a dystopian future is going to be based on how reproductive rights are withheld, suppressed, or just plain bad. Ally Condie's Matched and Lauren Oliver's Delirium trilogies are great examples of this, and now with the Declaration, we get another version. In Malley's version, big-pharma has finally developed the "live forever" pill and society has accepted it as a natural good. What society then comes to realize is that if you actually live forever, you don't need kids and in fact, they become a burden to the global resource problem. So anyone who does not opt out of eternal life must sign the declaration, stating that that will not have kids. Of course there is an underground and of course, the protagonist is one of these kids that is born, considered "surplus" and sent away to an orphanage of sorts to be trained in the arts of service (because if they are surplus, they may as well be maids or gardeners, right?). Surplus Anna meets a new kid in the orphanage, begins to have her eyes opened and struggles to understand the world in a whole new way.

Probably the most interesting idea here is to really think about societal willingness to enforce limits on families as people do actually begin to live longer. Do these limits mean pressure to limit births, or reconsidering the value of living longer. "Who is really the burden?", asks Malley. Is it the aging parent who continues to consume resources, or the kid who is consuming additional resources? So while this is a second tier dystopian future novel, I continue to like the themes that the authors are raising as they look into our not-so-distant future and take a stab at the kinds of societal issues that we will necessarily be addressing.

Wait

The City & The City

China Mieville

This was a strange book. I feel like I have been saying that a lot lately about the books I am reading (see here), but mostly this has been good. It took the first third to really understand what was going on, and it turns out that Meiville has taken a current political issue and pushed it to the extreme. So extreme, that it is ridiculous, and yet allows you to pull back and look at current reality with a new lens. The landscape of this novel is two cities (Beszel and Ul Qoma) that are split a la Berlin pre-1989 or Jerusalem now. The difference is that the cities are not split by a single wall or line, but geographically overlap. So there are sections that are total Beszel, sections that are total Ul Qoma, and sections that are "crosshatched", or geographically coincident. Think gerrymandering on steroids. The citizens of each city are not allowed to cross the borders, which means careful attention everywhere. And when in these "crosshatched" areas, you may be standing next to someone from the other city, but not allowed to talk to them as that would constitute a border crossing. A mysterious police force called Breach monitors and enforces border violations with a zero tolerance policy. With this landscape developed, throw in a murder mystery that does cross borders, detectives on both sides that are serious about solving crime and you have an entralling tale. I love how Meiville has developed the "unseeing" as a natural way of life in the crosshatched areas and challenges our detective protagonist to see and unsee differently when he travels to the other city. One could definitely ponder for quite some time what kinds of things in our own lives we choose to unsee, or have happened into unseeing based on repetition or denial.

Read

postscript - It has been just about a year since my librarian has been feeding me books and now 50 books later, I have yet to be disappointed. If you want to read more or start reading, get to know your librarian. In my case, if you tell her the kinds of things you like... she will hook you up.

The Eyre Affair

Jasper Fforde

This is a clever book (a series actually) which takes place in the mid eighties in England. However, this is clearly an alternate universe, where England and Russia have been fighting a 100 year war in the Crimea, Wales is independent, and lots of strange things can happen. The hero is a detective named Thursday Next with a job in the Literary branch of Special Ops. The book is clever in many ways, not the least of which it is about literature and the name of the hero is such that you have to read carefully to know when you are talking about Ms. Next, or when you are talking about a subsequent thing. It turns out in the alternate England, that there is an alternate universe in every book. Next's uncle has invented a way to enter books and, in doing so, allow the visitor to actually alter the text of the book. Enter some good political commentary as a global corporation actually controls much of the government and you have nothing but fun. A nice, easy, light read.

Read

Going Bovine

Libba Bray

This is one of the strangest books I have read. A teen boy gets mad cow disease and embarks on a hallucinogenic journey to save the universe. He encounters norse god in the form of a garden gnome, fire giants, punk angels, reality TV, Inuit rock bands, jazz legends and a nefarious snow globe company. Since the path through this journey is to look for random connections, it all makes sense as you read. But once in a while I would just sit back and absorb the weirdness. I do believe this one of the most honest books about end of life issues as well, in terms of how the brain actually works. Great fun, a decent stab at some cosmological physics and simultaneously logical and random, if you can believe it.

Read

Brain Rules

John Medina

Found this book by chance on a colleagues book shelf and promptly "borrowed" it. Medina is a molecular biologist and brain scientist. His personal research and review of current leading science about the brain led to this book, which presents 12 rules for how the brain operates. What I like in particular about Medina's approach is that every rule is accompanied by practical ideas for both education and business. I also appreciate that he admits that some of his ideas are just that... untested ideas that should be investigated, tried and studied. He doesn't have the answers, but he is willing to think about them. Just a couple of teasers for education:

• Committing learning to long term memory requires repetition, both while awake and (by your brain) while sleeping. Missing the conscious and explicit repetition or the sub-conscious, repetition while sleeping will decrease the likelihood of you remembering something. How do I organize my "teaching day" to take advantage of this and help (require) students to do so.
• Activity while learning (not just adjacent to, but while) increases ability to learn. Does taking time "out of class" to do this actually make learning more efficient
• Multiple, simultaneous sensory inputs are better than single sense. Can I organize lecture/discussion away from solitary text to text+pictures, or discussion+sound, or ...

This is definitely a read and discuss for educators.

Read

When we Wake

Karen Healey

Another variation on the dystopian future, teen hero novel. Tegan is a young girl who finally pronounces her love to her long time crush and then gets in the way of a sniper bullet the same day. All of one chapter takes place in early 21st century Australia. The remainder of the book takes place 100 years later, when Tegan is rejuvenated from her century long cryogenic nap. She is the first subject to be woken up and "repaired" and reintroduced to life. She is (of course) a strong personality and meets some additional strong personalities at school and her little cohort sets off to change the world. I love to see how different authors envision the world of the future. Here we see a dramatically climate changed Earth and Australia as a bastion of stability (based on its isolationist policies). Journalists all have personal "bumblebee" cameras that they use get video and post continuous updates on the network. Computers are flexible (literally), powerful and ubiquitous. And power remains power - seemingly unchecked, imperial, and nefarious. Add the difficult issue of good people working for power, without knowing (or unwilling to know) that they contribute to a system in fundamental opposition to their values and you have lots of parallels to our current world. You could read this as another generic dystopian future book and check your brain at the door, or you can read and reflect on the parallels between the 22nd century world created by Healey and our world and use it as an opportunity to think.

Read

Chime

Franny Billingsley

Set sometime in the mid 19th century somewhere in England... is my guess. The narrator never really says as much, but we have witches, protestant preachers, and bogs. Our narrator is Briony, a teen girl and daughter of the local pastor. She is a witch, but only she knows it. And she is doing her best to deny her witchy-ness lest she be hung. She has a twin sister Rose, who is a bit of a chore to manage and Briony has to take care of her (both her mother and step-mother have died). Enter handsome guy Eldric and you have the stage set for a romantic, self-discovery, supernatural teen drama that evolves into a murder mystery. I don't generally like the first person teen narration, since most teens don't write very well and a good author makes that part of the narration. But maybe I settled in, because after the first half I stopped being annoyed by the style. Good, low budget entertainment... no real thinking involved.

Wait unless you have nothing better to read

White Noise

Don DeLillo

Maybe it was that I haven't had a lot of time to read lately, but I really had to push through this book. Seen as a real statement on the effects of electronic/consumerist culture on family life, I was looking forward to reading this. Unfortunately, it did not meet my expectations. DeLillo's style consistently reminded me of a Vonnegut novel, but without the clear Vonnegut panache. Instead, I felt like I was reading someone trying too hard to be Vonnegut. And while there were some enjoyable ideas here, the execution left me flat. That said, I will highlight the one element that was worthwhile. If nothing else, get the book and read the second to last chapter. The protagonist finds himself in the ER of a local hospital run by nuns. In a conversation with one of the nun nurses, a great dialogue transpires about the role of the religious in a cultural belief system. Extremely cynical and cutting, which is probably why I laughed out loud.

Skip this one.

All Clear

Connie Willis

The second in a two part story started in Blackout. Actually, it is a one part story that was too long to fit in a single binding. So you can't really read the first without the second, and vice versa. The two do not stand alone. In this second volume, Polly, Mike and Merope are stranded in WWII London and can't get out. They go about life, but always have a hope that they will be ultimately rescued. When Mr. Dunworthy (chief Oxford historian) shows up, with no actual rescue plan, hopes are dashed. But Mike doesn't know this, and neither does Colin. Will it be a happy ending?

Two factors make this series excellent and worth reading. The first (and largest) is that we get a real picture of war time London for the "average" person. Of course, this is exactly what the historians went to WWII for, but they encounter "average" in ways that they didn't expect. Because they are outside of the times, Willis is able to use the historian's narrative to highlight these findings to the reader. It is never preachy or monologue, but true personal revelation about survival, relationship and minor heroism that the reader is swept up in. The second factor is the treatment of time travel. There is a point in every time travel story (movie or book) in which one wonders "Wow, how is this going to resolve". At this point, the reader is hooked and the author can either crash and burn (i.e. ignore any continuity details) or can ride into the sunset (or sunrise, as the case may be) knowing that almost every detail is covered. Since this plot revolves around the time continuum maintaining its integrity, Willis does a great job fitting every detail together. In the end, the reader is treated to a sewn up time continuum with the requisite questions about "How did that work" and four days later thought of "Oh, that's cool".

This is definitely on the Read list.