Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

After reading To Say Nothing of the Dog last summer I knew I wanted to read more of Connie Willis but I’m just now getting around to it!  (And I still want more!)

A few short years into the future (2054 to be exact) and time travel has been discovered (invented?).   Kivrin, a young student, is obsessed with the 1300s (considered a dangerous century to visit) and has finally found someone who is willing to send her there.  She is assured that she will be going to 1320, a full 28 years before the plague came to England.  However, something goes wrong, but the only person who knows what it is falls ills with an epidemic flu before he gets the chance to tell anyone what is wrong.  In the midst of a quarantine and opposition from the higher-ups, Kivrin’s tutor desperately tries to discover what the problem is and what he can do to fix it.

I didn’t like this one as much as To Say Nothing of the Dog but I still couldn’t put it down.   It had the same dry humour as TSNotD and just as fun of a story.  I also love how she’s telling two stories here.  The science fiction-y modern day epidemic story and then the historical fiction story.  And even though she was telling a story about an epidemic flu that actually killed people, it was all doom and gloom, it was actually very entertaining.  I don’t really have much else to day about this one, but I will definitely be reading more of Willis (and hopefully it won’t take me another year to do so).

The third book in L’Engle’s Time Quartet.  I remember loving these books as a child.  I didn’t like this one as much as the first two this time around.  I still enjoyed it but I still like A Wrinkle in Time the best.

This book has skipped a lot of time since the last one.  Meg is now pregnant with her first child and Charles Wallace is 15.  As they are all enjoying Thanksgiving dinner, Mr. Murry receives a phone call from the president informing him that a South American dictator plans on starting a nuclear war the next day.  The Murry family spends the rest of their evening worrying about the end of the world as they know it.  After they all go to bed, Charles Wallace and Meg (through kything – a kind of mind to mind communication.  She just stays in her warm bed with the dog the whole time.) travel through time making small changes that they hope will change the future and prevent the nuclear war.

Each of the times they visit are almost like short stories and I’m still not sure how I felt about this.  The characters in each time were all descendants and ancestors of each other and their names were the same or similar in each story.  Also, they didn’t appear in chronological order and I have to admit I found it a little hard to keep everybody straight.

Even though time travel is a huge part of this novel, I found it to be less science fiction-y (is that a word?  It is now!!) than the previous two which is something that I loved about them.  I also found the good vs. evil theme to be more subtle in this one (still it’s not that subtle) and somehow I liked the more obvious approach in the first two.  And lastly, it wasn’t really about the Murry’s because Charles Wallace actually goes “Within” (becomes a part of the individual) the other characters in the story.  And I like the Murry’s.  I don’t typically choose character driven stories over plot driven ones but in this case, I’ve fallen for this family and I wanted to read more about them.

After having said all that, it probably sounds like I didn’t like the book at all but actually I did.  In fact, as a childhood favourite I think it stands up pretty good to the adult reading.  It’s just in the comparison to the other books in the series that it doesn’t do so well (for me)!  I can’t wait until I can read these books to my seven year old.  We started reading A Wrinkle in Time about a year ago and it was a little bit over his head but I think that he might be getting there.  I’m almost afraid to read him some of my childhood favourites because I’m worried he won’t love them as much as I did!

Read for: Banned Books Challenge

I’ve been meaning to read this book for a very long time.  It’s been sitting on my night stand (where I keep my TBR in the next month pile) since September because I planned to read it for Banned Books Week.  But I just never got around to it.  But then a friend told me that I had to read When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, but that I should probably reread A Wrinkle in Time first.  So I finally picked it up.  I remember loving this book when I was younger.  In fact, I remember it as one of the books/series’ that made me love reading!  I read it several times and loved it every time, but I was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy it as much as an adult.  But I did!  I think I may like it even more now because I think I have a deeper understanding of the novel now.

I’m surprised that this book has been challenged/banned because it apparently has anti-Christian ideas.  I found it just the opposite.  I think it has very strong religious themes.  People may have been offended by the “witches” and I’m not sure that if this book were published today it would have any problems with it.  They have their hands full with all those evil Harry Potter and Twilight novels!

There were a few things that bothered me about the book but I think it’s mainly because I am not the target audience.  The pacing of certain events were a little too fast for me, with not enough character development but I know it’s perfect pacing for a younger audience.  I think children need the story to happen faster, but they also have a better ability to accept the characters relationships without a whole bunch of lead-up.

I’m so glad I was able to enjoy this book as much as I did as a child and I can’t wait to reread the rest of the series.  I also can’t wait until my oldest is mature enough to read it to him.  I love reading to him my favourites from when I was young and I really hope that by doing this I can teach him to love reading and books as much as I do!  (This is the cover of the copy that I had as a child.)

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Read for: Banned Books Week

First of all, can I just say that I think it’s truly ironic that a book about books being illegal is banned?!  I had no idea what this book was about when I first picked it up except the whole dystopian future thing.  It seems pretty common for dystopian future books to be banned or at least challenged, doesn’t it?

Anyway, in this novel, written in the 1950s and set sometime after the turn of the century, firemen are no longer employed to fight fires, their new task is to start them.  At the firehall they receive alerts that tip them off to the presence of books and off they go to burn down the house of whomever was hiding the books.

As the novel begins, Montag a fireman, enjoys starting fires but as he is walking home from work one day, he meets a young girl and what she says causes him to question what he has always thought.  This girl actually plays a small role in the novel but is the catalyst for Montag to change his entire way of thinking and acting.  She has a huge impact on him.

I don’t generally enjoy books in this genre and this was no exception.  However, I can see the value in them, if that makes sense.  And this one in particular was actually quite accurate in some ways.  Montag’s wife was the epitome of everything that was wrong with their society.  She had these little seashells that she wore in her ears and they were constantly playing news and ads and who knows what else.  Remind you of anything?  The other thing she did was spend the day in front of her wall sized televisions (3 walls, and she was saving up to do the fourth wall) watching other people live their lives.   It reminded me a lot of reality TV.  One night she invites her friends over to watch some TV with her and one of her friends says this

“I plunk the children in school nine days out of ten.  I put up with them when they come home three days a month; its not bad at all.  You heave them into the ‘parlour’ (what they call their TV rooms) and turn the switch.  It’s like washing clothes: stuff laundry in and slam the lid.”

I have to admit, I’m guilty of doing this sometimes.  In fact, just last week I was counting down the days until my oldest would go back to school because he was driving me crazy!

It’s creepy how well Bradbury was able to see the future.  However, he didn’t foresee the internet and I think the internet is so important today in the sharing of information.  As we’ve seen, it’s becoming harder and harder for governments and other authority figures to suppress the spread of information.

Although, as I’ve said, I didn’t really enjoy this book, I can understand it’s importance and appreciate Bradbury’s cleverness.  And I definitely don’t think it should be banned or challenged.  The only people who would want this book challenged would be people who support the suppression of information.

Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel (sequel to Airborn)

Read for: Canadian Books Challenge

This one was almost as good as the first one.  Right from the first page it was action, action, action!  This time around the legendary ship Hyperion has been spotted in the air and Matt is the only one who knows the coordinates.  The Hyperion is rumoured to be carrying a fortune in gold.  And whoever gets to it first gets to keep the riches.  The Hyperion is also said to contain quite a nice collection of animal artifacts, which surprise, surprise, Kate is dying to get her hands on.  The only problem is that the Hyperion is drifting at an impossible height so Matt and Kate have to find someone to help them who owns a very specialized ship.  And of course, Matt, Kate and their two new companions aren’t the only ones on the world searching for the Hyperion. So you can imagine all the action and adventure that is packed into this novel.

If I hadn’t just read the first book I don’t think I would have found this one to be lacking at all.  But since I did just read it, yesterday, I remembered the suspense and tension I felt while reading Airborn.  But Skybreaker was still amazingly entertaining.  I’m already deep into the third book of this trilogy and loving it just as much.  Of course, there’s a little bit of romance thrown into these books, but it’s done well.  There are no over-the-top declarations of love and it doesn’t seem to be an add-on to the plot.  It flows well with the story, without taking over.  And I love Oppel’s writing.  He has a way of describing things that allows me to see the events unfolding in my mind without getting too bogged down in long, flowery explanations.  This one gets a 10/10 too.

Other Reviews:

• Canuck Librarian
• A Book a Week
• Goddess Librarian
• The Inter-Galactic Playground

Did I miss yours?  Please post a link in the comments.

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

Read for: Canadian Books Challenge

Why haven’t I read this sooner?!  I loved the Silverwing books and somehow I just forgot about Kenneth Oppel.  Then just last week I read a review somewhere (sorry, I can’t remember where) for the third book in this series and remembered that Oppel is Canadian and realized I’d better get on these books! I read this book in a day and I couldn’t put it down!

Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on a luxury cruise ship but this cruise ship doesn’t float in the ocean, it floats over the ocean!  From the first page Matt and the crew on the Aurora are in for some major adventure.  And just when one mishap (or worse) seems to be just about cleared up, something else comes along to cause more mayhem and definitely some of the most captivating story I’ve read in a long time.  I don’t want to give anything away about what happens to Matt and the rest of the crew so I guess that’s going to have to be my summary for this one!

Not only was this book very well written, it really was adventure from start to finish.  And I just felt like I was right there in the middle of it.  And it was truly unpredictable, I was never sure what was going to happen next.  As I read, my heart was pounding, I was chewing on my thumbnail the suspense was so great!  (And it’s not often a book can do this to me!)

Overall this book was amazing.  My library had it shelved in the juvenile section but I’m not sure it should be there.  Not that there is any mature themes or anything, I’m just not sure a younger child could understand everything that went on.  (And there were people killed in the book.)  All I’m saying is that I wouldn’t read it to my 6 year old.  I remember the Silverwing books to be aimed at a younger audience.  Overall I would give this book a 10/10.  I’m so glad I have the next two sitting on my night stand waiting to be read!

Other reviews:

• Bart’s Bookshelf

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Read for: What’s in a Name Challenge – book with a medical condition in the title (this might be stretching it a little, but someone else has already used this for this category so SUE ME!)

Wow.  I don’t even know where to start with this one…  This book is horrifyingly good, let me see if I can explain.

Sometime in the future, North American has now become Panem, a country divided into the Capitol – the haves, and 12 Districts – the have-nots.  Every year the Capitol puts on the Hunger Games, where 2 children, aged 12-18, from each District are chosen to fight to the death in the arena.  The last man (or woman) standing brings fame and fortune to their district for the coming year.

Katniss, from District 12 (one of the poorer districts) volunteers herself for the Hunger Games when her 12 year old sister’s name is drawn.  Katniss actually has a lot of practical skills that may be useful to her in the games.  Peeta, the boy that is chosen from District 12, a baker’s son, once helped Katniss when she was starving to death, so there is of course a little history between them.

I don’t really want to say much else about the plot because it would require giving away too much about the story.  The book is divided into three parts and the entire first part of the book is about the reaping (chosing the names of the children that will participate), and preparing the children for the games.  The second and third part are about the actual games and what happenes afterward.  The ending is satisfying, but also leaves a lot of loose ends that left me dying to read the next book (which comes out September 1, 2009 – can’t wait!).

I almost forgoet!  To add to the drama of the Games, the entire thing is televised,including each gory death, so everyone at home is watching, like some sick reality TV show.  Of course, Katniss and the other contestants have some acting to do to try and garner sympathy so their sponsors might send them food or medicine or weapons or whatever they might be in need of.

So, when I first started reading this I almost put it down again, because I normally don’t enjoy novels about a dystopian future.  Somehow they are just depressing.  But, then the story drew me in.  Katniss was a very compelling character, but the reaping was what really got me.  It was kind of like watching a train wreck, I just couldn’t pull myself away it was so awful!  And by then, I was totally involved in the story and was able to forget about the dystopian future thing and just enjoy the story.

There is a love story in the book that actually becomes a major part of the plot and Katniss spends almost the entire book being entirely oblivious to the fact.  Some have compared her to Bella Swan in her obliviousness but I actually found Katniss to be a much more believable and likeable character than Bella.

The Hunger Games was extremely entertaining and I really could not put it down.  I will be buying the next book the day it goes on sale, which is called Catching Fire and will be released on Sept. 1.

The Hunger Games gets a 10/10 from me!

Other Reviews:

• A Comfy Chair and a Good Book
• Bart’s Bookshelf
• Becky’s Book Reviews
• Book Nut
• books i done read
• Dreadlock Girl
• Farm Lane Book Blogs
• It’s All About Books
• Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?
• Random Wonder
• Stephanie’s Written Word
• The Book Nest
• The Well Read Child

Did I miss yours?  Please link in the comments.

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

Ok, so this book was totally awesome.  I don’t know if  I can even attempt a summary.  It’s a science fiction book about time travel where they spend most of their time in the victorian era so it’s got that angle.  It’s also hilarious and there’s a little bit of romance in it just to round it out.  Confused yet?  It was a really enjoyable read that I had a hard time putting down.  I would definitely reccomend this to anyone, even someone who wouldn’t normally enjoy science fiction or a book about time travel.  I honestly think that this is a book that just about anyone (including non-readers) could enjoy.

I would give this a 10/10.

Other Reviews:

• Becky’s Book Reviews
• books i done read

Have I missed anyone?

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

I believe it was Michelle that introduced me to OSC, and I know that Ender’s Game was the first one of his books I read.  I was in high school the first time I read this book and I was really into science fiction at the time.  However, I have continued to read it over and over because it’s more than just science fiction.

The novel opens as the human race is on the brink of destruction.  Earth has been attacked previously and future confrontations are imminent.  The ruling body has decided that the best hope for success is to breed geniuses and train them in the art of war.  The main character in the story, Ender, is one of these geniuses.  As the story begins, Ender  – a mere child – is taken from his family to begin his military training in space.

All of the other recruits training on the space station are children as well (although Ender is the youngest) and their life revolves around the game referenced in the title of the novel.  It is a war game played in zero gravity.  As the story progresses the game becomes more and more important and difficult. As Ender is challenged in the game, he reveals his intelligence and sheds his innocence.  I can’t say more than that without giving away the story.

There are so many reasons why I continue to read this book over and over.  First, I love the narrative. There is something about it that will appeal to anyone who enjoys a good story.  It is interesting and entertaining and relevant (even though it’s about an alien war…it’s not really about the war, it’s really about human nature).

I also love the way it is written.  The only word I can think of to describe the way it’s written is smart.  (I know that’s not very descriptive, but hey, I’m not putting myself on this list!)  I really like that the writing strictly tells the story.  There is nothing at all that is not needed as part of the story.  (No 100 page soliloquies here!) It’s very succinct and to the point.

A third reason I love this book is that despite the fact that this is a science fiction novel, it is very real and believable.  The characters and their behaviour strikes a familiar chord.  The behaviour of the children is certainly not admirable or the best we could hope for, but in this sense I find it very similar to Lord of the Flies.  I took a class in university were we always seemed to end up arguing about the reality of the Lord of the Flies. Many of us, myself included, argued that this would never have happened.  I have since changed my opinion.  I think, if left unchecked, a child dominated society would very quickly deteriorate into anarchy.  (I’ve seen how quickly that happens in my own home when I am not policing things!)  With current research we now know a lot more about how the human brain develops and when, than OSC and William Golding did.  Turns out that the part of our brain that is responsible for rational decision making isn’t fully developed until your mid-twenties (as anyone who has dealt with teenagers probably already knows)!

Anyway, back to Ender’s Game.  I think it’s a book anyone can enjoy and not just science geeks like me!

I recommended another book by Ayn Rand and I have another recommendation for Card too that’s a little less science fictiony.  It’s called Songmaster.  It’s been a while since I’ve read this one but I remember liking it because it was about the power of music.