Much like the subject of this book, living on Mars, the book feels experimental. It jumps between being a narrative about a group of people living on Much like the subject of this book, living on Mars, the book feels experimental. It jumps between being a narrative about a group of people living on Mars and being a quirky but useless instruction manual about how to live on Mars. The author says that he first envisioned it as a story about the first child born on Mars.
I suppose the book is an interesting thought experiment, but I find myself not having much to say about it. There were some confusing bits that I never figured out. There was something called "The Pattern" that they talked about that seemed like it could something interesting, but the idea just petered out. And one character starts to hear voices, but we never really learn anything about those either.
The book really feels unfinished. It feels like it wanted to be 3 or 4 different things but decided to have a rush ending suddenly telling about the life of the first person born on Mars in a few paragraphs. This book was going somewhere other that! Wasn't it?...more
We all fantasize from time to time, so why not take it one step further and fantasize with photoshopping yourself into someone鈥檚 life? Is that so wronWe all fantasize from time to time, so why not take it one step further and fantasize with photoshopping yourself into someone鈥檚 life? Is that so wrong?
Delta envisions what she wants, photoshops it, obsesses over it, and then does it. She moves into people鈥檚 lives to make her fantasy a reality.
I鈥檓 really torn after reading this book because I鈥檓 trying to figure out the point where Delta crossed a line. Was it dreaming and making it happen or dreaming? Because it seems that the characters in the book think that the dreaming part was the worst bit. Should you just let things fall into your lap without working to get there because wanting it ahead of time is wrong?
I guess the real question is how far to take something. It鈥檚 not wrong to want to befriend someone, but you can go too far. And Delta definitely goes too far. She uses photoshopped photos to create a backstory for herself that she starts to believe is true. And she uses them to manipulate other people to get what she wants.
By the end of the book, I went from thinking that maybe the fantasies she has aren鈥檛 so bad to realizing that she鈥檚 a full psychopath.
I guess the book is an interesting thought experiment, but it鈥檚 not a book I want to gush about. I didn鈥檛 turn pages frantically, but it was highly readable. I think it could be an 鈥渋t鈥 book if it鈥檚 marketed well enough because it鈥檚 an interesting idea to explore....more
There's an urban legend that the Finiculi Finicula coffee shop cafe has one chair in which you can time travel. However, the chair is only available fThere's an urban legend that the Finiculi Finicula coffee shop cafe has one chair in which you can time travel. However, the chair is only available for travel once a day and you have to stay in the chair when you time travel. You can only meet people who were in the cafe on your destination day, and it's impossible to change anything in the present. Cell phones don't work in the cafe because it's in a basement. Also, you have to end your visit before your coffee gets cold. With these strict rules, there's no big line for people to time travel.
I'm imagining time traveling in a chair in the Gypsy coffee shop where I met my husband. What day would I even choose? I think I'd just pick a random open mic night when he was there before I met him so I could just slyly spy on a younger him and see all the characters who used to hang out there. It would be more of a voyeuristic time travel adventure than one that had any real goal. Come to think of it, that's the main reason I ever went there back then anyway: to watch people.
The book follows the stories related mainly to characters who frequent the cafe enough that a lot of their lives play out there. Thus, it's mainly the regulars who end up eventually finding a reason to use the chair for time travel: to say things that were left unsaid, to retrieve a letter that wasn't given, to see someone that had died, etc.
I had a hard time following which characters were which at the beginning. There was too much of an info dump where it wasn't needed rather than introducing the characters organically into the story. Plus, there were some plot points I missed because of the wording of sentences: who was married to whom, whether someone was pregnant or not, and whether someone was alive or dead. Since the book was originally written in Japanese, these issues were possibly a product of the translation because I reread those sentences several times to try to determine exactly what was happening.
Overall, it was an entertaining read. The next book in the series comes out in English in October 2021. I'm not sitting at the edge of my seat waiting for it, but I think it will still be an enjoyable read. It's already more highly-rated than this one, so I'm hopeful....more
Remember when you use to be obsessed with that one thing when you were a child? Dinosaurs? Egyptology? Greek gods? Now, imagine that you never stoppedRemember when you use to be obsessed with that one thing when you were a child? Dinosaurs? Egyptology? Greek gods? Now, imagine that you never stopped having the same wonder for them as an adult. That's Michael Blencowe and his awe and fervor level for extinct creatures. He idolizes extinct animals and personalities related to them like other people idolize movie stars or rock stars.
Michael grew up and traveled the world looking for what remains of the extinct creatures he's obsessed over most in his life and only seen in books. He visits natural history museums that have bones or stuffed bodies of extinct creatures, visits the last place extinct creatures once lived, and even goes searching for the animals themselves in places they were rumored to have last been seen alive.
The creatures featured in this book include several birds: the great auk, spectacled comorant, upland moa, huia, South Island kokako, and the dodo. Featured mammals include Steller's sea cow, and Schomburgk's deer. He also talks about the Xerces blue butterfly, Pinta Island tortoise, and Ivell's sea anemone.
I have to admit that the only one I'd heard of before was the dodo. But it turns out that I once owned what I'm pretty sure was a Xerces blue butterfly collection I picked up in an antique store. I had no idea it was a collection of extinct butterfly wings arranged artfully behind glass on an Art Deco tray. When people were catching these beautiful bluish-brownish-purplish-rainbowish butterflies on a beach in San Francisco to add to their collections or turn into art, they had no idea that the butterflies on that beach were the only ones anywhere in the world. And when their habitat disappeared from urban development in the 1940s, so did the butterflies. I truly regret accidentally leaving my Xerces blue butterfly serving tray behind when I left my ex. It feels like I dishonored their extinction by not treasuring them forever.
If there's any theme to the stories of the extinct animals in this book, it's one of collectors and hunters not fathoming the idea the animal they were killing could go extinct. Find a bird with nice feathers or an animal with great fur? Kill as many as possible. Find a big animal that's tasty? Let the slaughter begin. Find a new animal? Kill as many as possible so that collectors can have them.
The late 1700s was the first time the concept of extinction was even introduced in the scientific world. Before then, the world seemed big enough that perhaps that one we haven't seen for a long time might be hiding somewhere. They all should have hidden better. Humans even kill their own species in wars that claim millions.
One thing that really strikes me is that I didn't know about most of the extinct animals in this book. They're gone and only extinction-animal-obsessed people like this author remember them. We might see such animals in a natural history museum, but most of us then forget about them and go on with our lives. I'm not sure what I can do as an individual other than plant flowers and trees to attract and feed the animals that are still with us. But I think perhaps remembering the animals that are already gone and their stories is something important, too....more
It seems like 4 stars is the standard rating for this book. I think that perhaps it's because there's never an explanation about why people (and even It seems like 4 stars is the standard rating for this book. I think that perhaps it's because there's never an explanation about why people (and even animals) on the island start "forgetting" things.
The rules for forgetting are kind of strange. One day, the whole island wakes up and realizes that something should be erased. Perhaps it's boats, fruit, or calendars. Whatever it is either disappears or people have to get rid of it. If they don't, the Memory Police punish them. Later, when the people see an erased object, like an emerald, they don't recognize it. Boats have been erased, yet the old man in the book lives on a decommissioned ferry, which they call a boat.
Only, for some genetic reason perhaps, the memory erase event doesn't affect everyone. And those people go into hiding. It's hard for them to understand how people can forget about the missing items and go through life without missing them.
I'm not sure exactly what metaphor the author had in mind when she was writing the book. But, since I was reading a book about extinction at the same time, I read it through that lens. Animals and plants go extinct, and we go through our day like nothing has happened.
Here are some quotable parallels:
I mean, things are disappearing more quickly than they are being created, right?
If it goes on like this and we can鈥檛 compensate for the things that get lost, the island will soon be nothing but absences and holes, and when it鈥檚 completely hollowed out, we鈥檒l all disappear without a trace. Don鈥檛 you ever feel that way?
I鈥檝e lived here three times longer than you have, which means I鈥檝e lost three times as many things. But I鈥檝e never really been frightened or particularly missed any of them when they were gone.
I think, though, that this is perhaps my favorite passage that touches on human extinction:
But what if human beings themselves disappear?鈥 I asked. This was the question that had been on my mind. The old man swallowed and blinked again. 鈥淵ou have to stop worrying about things like that. The disappearances are beyond our control. They have nothing to do with us. We鈥檙e all going to die anyway, someday, so what鈥檚 the difference? We simply have to leave things to fate."
Oh, yeah. All those species are going to die anyway one day. Why care if they go extinct? Nobody will miss them.
Anyhow, that's my takeaway. I'm sure there are other ways to read this book.
I feel like I could have given the book 5 stars if I were sure of the message the book was trying to give, without adding my own spin to it. The book is really a work of art and deserves reading....more
Follow the rules, make the customers happy, and report any signs of hemorrhaging to corporate. To Derek, the job is easy enough. It's almost as if he Follow the rules, make the customers happy, and report any signs of hemorrhaging to corporate. To Derek, the job is easy enough. It's almost as if he was made to do it. He doesn't remember anything before November, doesn't really have any friends, and lives in a shipping container behind the store.
The store is like an upscale IKEA, selling $3000 egg chair toilets that, coincidentally, later becomes a character in the story. Yes, the furniture comes alive and rearranges itself in LitenV盲rld. The store keeps losing customers through wormholes. And it turns out that the members of the night crew are all variations on Derek.
This book definitely reminds me of 贬辞谤谤辞谤蝉迟枚谤. I think it would certainly suit fans of 贬辞谤谤辞谤蝉迟枚谤.
I think perhaps I wasn't in the mood for a bizarre, absurdist book when I dug into this one. I also didn't realize it was #2 in a series when I agreed to review it for Netgalley. However, it does stand alone pretty well. It just wasn't my full cup of tea. However, I did appreciate the message of not being willing to sacrifice your all for a crappy job that really doesn't care about you....more
Raft of Stars is a great little book that ticks all the right boxes for me. It takes place in the vast Wisconsin woods, has elements of survival, and Raft of Stars is a great little book that ticks all the right boxes for me. It takes place in the vast Wisconsin woods, has elements of survival, and features an interesting cast of characters. A baby snapping turtle, poetry in the margins of utility bills, a lost boot, a poacher camp, a skull-decorated raft, worm soup, a shoreline tornado, deadly falls, bear breath ... there were so many little touches in the story that make it into a memorable piece of literature. I want this to be a new classic. When I started out reading it, I thought the author was maybe trying too hard to write "literature." But he did. It's gorgeous, and the ending ties everything up so perfectly.
Two young boys flee into the woods when Fish thinks he's killed Bread's abusive father. They start out on bikes and then make a raft to float the river toward a destination that's not really there. The sheriff (newly transplanted from Texas) feels truly out of his element, tracking them through the woods on horseback with Fish's grandfather. Fish's tongue-talking, denim-dress-wearing mother is also in pursuit in a canoe, along with a purple-haired lady who is secretly in love with the sheriff and has just lost his dog.
I love a story with well-fleshed characters. Even though the book starts out following the two young boys, it's the sheriff who changes most in the story, so perhaps he's meant to be the main character. I imagined him as the sheriff from Stranger Things (David Harbour). And, in my mind, Tiffany was Stevie from Schitt's Creek (Emily Hampshire).
I'm sure there's supposed to be some type of Biblical parallel with the kids being named Bread and Fish. Did they ultimately end up feeding everyone like the bread and fish from the Biblical story? Maybe.
I hope this book ends up on the radars of the right people because it deserves a place in the sun. It's just lovely. I'm glad the publisher gave me a chance to read it free through Netgalley. I'm also glad I got to spend time in the forest with these characters....more
Wow. What a perfect trilogy ending. Halfway through the book, I thought I knew where it was going, but it surprised me at least three times. I feel liWow. What a perfect trilogy ending. Halfway through the book, I thought I knew where it was going, but it surprised me at least three times. I feel like talking about any of it would be a spoiler for the whole series, so let's talk in riddles.
The hero gets the treasure, but the treasure ... Agh! Anything I can say is a spoiler!
And they live happily ever after.
But that's not quite right either.
And the reader gets Rick Rolled one last time. There ya go. You've been warned.
I guess I'll just leave this trilogy with a list of things I liked about it rather than a synopsis:
*Far future, post-apocalyptic, small village setting *Deceptive leadership system that needs overthrowing *A forest alive with moving trees, deadly seeds, and vicious animals *Tech and robots from the past with human-inspired personality *A commentary on how AI can be used for bad and for good *How a lack of education and reading can create myths and theisms out of history *A hodge-podge cast of characters, varying in race, humanity, and genderedness *Extremely strong character and setting development *A noble vision for the future
This is one of the better series books I've read. I wanted to get to the end, but I wanted to stay in the world of the book as long as possible at the same time. I stayed in Koli's world for 25 days and 1389 pages. While I hate to see Koli's world go, the ending is satisfying enough that I don't need to be there anymore. ...more
This book prolongs the hero's journey. In the last book, Koli left home and gathered new friends in seek of the "treasure." And onward he goes. The fiThis book prolongs the hero's journey. In the last book, Koli left home and gathered new friends in seek of the "treasure." And onward he goes. The first 13% was a rehash of book #1. Half of this rest of book #2 is a layover in a seaside village, while the other half allows us to find out what's been going on in Koli's old village since he left. So, only about 40% of this book really furthers the story. But that's okay. It still immediately made me buy book #3 so I can find out what happens. Silly cliffhanger....more
Imagine a far-future world where people once again live in small villages because they're afraid of trees. Genetic engineers created trees that are moImagine a far-future world where people once again live in small villages because they're afraid of trees. Genetic engineers created trees that are mobile, and when the sun is out, the trees are bent on crushing people and using them as fertilizer.
Only a few pieces of old technology are left in these small villages and are only in the hands of one family. During your 15th year, you're allowed to try out a piece of tech to see if it will wake to you, but it seems that only one family has been able to wake the tech for as long as anyone can remember. But Koli learns some secrets and thinks he can also wake one of the old machines. If he can, he can change his name to Koli Rampart and go live in the house where all the other people who can wake tech live.
I love reading books set in the future of our world with different cultural traditions. The characters are very well fleshed out and make the book come alive. I find it interesting, though, that the characters are in England yet talk like someone in the backwoods of the deep South of the USA. I keep hearing an American Southern accent when I'm reading the book.
I enjoyed this book so much that I immediately had to get the 2nd book in the series when I finished. ...more
I have a feeling that this is going to be one of the star books of 2021. The ideas and writing feel unique and raw, while the subject matters are contI have a feeling that this is going to be one of the star books of 2021. The ideas and writing feel unique and raw, while the subject matters are contemporary and relevant. It's a dark book with the ability to draw you in completely.
Vern has grown up in black power utopian cult that lives off the land, only she's starting to see the huge cracks around the edges. When you're a teenage girl with a mind of your own and you find a way to escape into the woods, you do so. Only now, she's given birth to twins in the woods and is being hunted by a sadistic fiend who seems bent on her destruction.
Being an albino and being able to raise toddlers in the forest without modern conveniences are not the only things that are different about Vern. She seems to be experiencing some sort of transformation that she doesn't understand. She sees people who aren't really there, she is getting stronger, and she is growing something similar to an on her back. Eventually, she becomes so sick that she has to seek help from civilization.
I can't believe I haven't read anything by Rivers Solomon before. Her identity and the main character's identity as a black lesbian is definitely at the forefront of the book.
The genre of this book runs somewhere between literature, speculative fiction, and horror. As a fungi enthusiast, I really appreciate the mycelial threads that run through the book (pun intended). That concept alone would have been worth the read. I always enjoy when authors speculate about the what-ifs of our world and bring those ideas to life in a big way....more
Seven people that I don't even know liked that I was reading this book. Why? This book is so ... full of creeps. The main villain is a pedophile seriaSeven people that I don't even know liked that I was reading this book. Why? This book is so ... full of creeps. The main villain is a pedophile serial killer who murders people for the 12-year-old vampire in his care. The "hero" of the story has the potential to become a serial killer and is egged on by the increasingly evil antics of the school bullies. The vampire is definitely a serial killer. Everyone else is a druggie or a drunk or a wife beater. There are also way too many pedophilia scenes in this book. The only characters that are halfway decent human beings have violent ends.
What I want to know is why the vampires in this book don't rob a blood bank rather than kill victims to get their blood. They establish that the blood has to come from a living person and that it can be transported and doesn't have to be consumed fresh off the victim. So why not get a job at a blood bank or hospital or rob one of those places? Right. There'd be no plot then, would there?
This book is just far too gut-wrenching, and I'm kinda worried about those randos that dropped in to like that I was reading this....more
**spoiler alert** This is the worst book I've tried to read in a long time. The premise is that the bad guys want access to a book that will tell them**spoiler alert** This is the worst book I've tried to read in a long time. The premise is that the bad guys want access to a book that will tell them how to use a logic tree to get anyone to do what they want them to do. But for a book about logic, the storyline isn't very logical.
Some examples of bad storyline logic: *The villain disables a police station by cutting the electricity. *Police walkie-talkies suddenly don't work without electricity. *The villain powers up a desktop computer with a portable charger while the electricity is out (said charger would have to be the size of a toaster oven). *The villain got into the police network while the electricity was down. *The female villain assaults a police office worker and demands the computer password. Later, she pins the break-in on a male because he was seen in videos entering the building. But the female villain should have been the main suspect because she actually demanded passwords.
The book feels like a bad attempt to parody late 1990s, early 2000s thrillers. The book really lost me when a random group of characters that call themselves the Book Club (because of their study of the famed logic book) decide to train a professor and his jolly Chinese female assistant. That's 2 weeks of intensive logic and fighting training to fight professional baddies. Oh god, make it stop. Please. The reader has to endure pages and pages and pages and pages and pages and pages of this horrible training that starts with paint guns and ends with pink feather boas at a bar.
I ended up speed reading the last 25% because I just couldn't handle reading it slowly anymore. It never got any better. I think maybe the ending was supposed to be a setup for a sequel. Please, no.
I got this book free from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. I feel bad being so honest, but it kinda sucked. Now I'm afraid to read any more Net Galley books any time soon lest they be 1-star bad....more
I know this is probably going to be one of the "it" books of the year. The title of the book and the character names are a call back to Jane Eyre. ButI know this is probably going to be one of the "it" books of the year. The title of the book and the character names are a call back to Jane Eyre. But that's really where the similarities end.
The author clearly wants this to be a gothic novel (the characters sometimes say it feels like one), but it's not.
It's set in the world of the affluent in Birmingham, Alabama. Jane can't believe her luck when a dog walking job in a rich neighborhood lands her a love interest with Mr. Rochester. Ugh. The names. And the title and storyline immediately reveal that --you guessed it--there's a wife locked up in a hidden room upstairs. Everyone has their own secrets. And at least one someone is a murderer.
Jane tries to fit in with the vapid culture of the neighborhood women who spend their days in expensive yoga clothes and making up useless committees. But she ultimately becomes annoyed and bored with it.
I think it's this judgy woman culture that really annoys me the most with the book. I saw more of it from the stay at home moms from my daughter's public school in a rich neighborhood than I did when I worked in a private school. Although, I was taken aback by the private school moms' spend鈥恆nd鈥恡hrow鈥恆way culture.
Anyhow, it is a book that I could read and get lost in enough to forget I was reading. But I wouldn't call it a page-turner. It was just okay. I loathed most of the characters. Funny how the character that all the characters disliked most is the one you end up feeling the most sympathy for in the end.
I guess that the connections to Jane Eyre will sell the book, but I feel that it cheapens Jane Eyre by doing so....more
A guy takes a girl canoeing on a first date, and they find an underwater house in a hidden mansion. And, of course, they have to dive down and exploreA guy takes a girl canoeing on a first date, and they find an underwater house in a hidden mansion. And, of course, they have to dive down and explore it. That's all I needed to know about this book to know I needed to read it. It's a creepy page-turner. From reading previous reviews, I knew it was going to have an ambiguous ending, but I liked the ending. Who knows? Maybe that means there's a creepy page-turning sequel.
I ended up telling the entire story to my 10-year-old daughter which had us laughing when we realized we were both looking for underwater houses when we went hiking around a lake later in the day. Disappointingly, we found no underwater houses.
After The Bird Box, I think Josh Malerman has made a name for himself as being an author with interesting ideas who will keep you turning pages well after your bedtime. This definitely didn't disappoint. ...more
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