Year One by Nora Roberts

 

WHERE have you been, Smart Girls??

Oh, wait. It was me that was missing in action. I will not insult you by offering a weak excuse for my absence, but please know that I have recommited to sharing the books I read. The last couple of years have been less read-y for me, but I'm hoping that changes as well. All we can do is try.

My first book of 2024 is Year One by Nora Roberts. I've never read a Nora Roberts book before now because I only knew of her as a romance writer and that's not really my jam. When a friend recommended this sci-fi trilogy, I was intrigued. The copyright is dated 2017, but boy was this book about a global plague ahead of its time. Fortunately for us, the pandemic we just endured was not nearly as bad as the one in Roberts' books.

A mysterious flu sweeps the Earth, taking out 80% of the world's population. In its wake, some of the survivors discover new magical abilities. It isn't difficult to imagine the power struggle that ensues.

The cast of characters in this first book is lengthy and I did find myself forgetting who they were and needing to flip back a bit to remember. Max, Lana, Arlys, Fred, Chuck, Poe, Kim, Jonah, Rachel, Will, et cetera, et cetera. 

It's a lot.

I was immediately drawn in by the description of how The Doom, as they call it, makes its way across the globe. The different groups of characters that we watch as they begin their survival is interesting. This being the first in a trilogy, it needed to lay out a lot of information. At times, that became a little tedious for me, and near the end, I wasn't sure I would want to continue the series. Fortunately, the last couple of chapters renewed my interest.

I will give this book a hopeful three stars.

🌟🌟🌟

I hope you're reading something wonderful, Smart Girls. There are so many fantastic books out there!

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

Whoa, Nelly! I don't think I was ready for the whirlwind that was Upgrade by Blake Crouch. This technothriller follows Logan, an investigator with the government agency tasked with enforcing the new laws against genetic research. When he becomes the victim of a genome hack, he has to fight against his friends and his family to find a way to stop this from happening to anyone else. He is smarter and stronger and faster than ever before, but would this be the answer to humanity's problems, or will it usher in the end of the world. And how many will die if it all goes wrong?

This fast-moving thriller was exciting and kept me up well past bedtime. It got a little technical at times, but the research that went into writing it must have been massive. The science is fascinating, but the real enjoyment for me came from the philosophical questions raised. If we can, should we? What would make the world better? And what is an acceptable loss to save the human species?

The end of Homo sapiens lies just over the horizon. We can see it in a thousand metrics. Which means we have a chance. But only if we collectively decide to act. If nothing changes, we will die off for the stupidest reason imaginable- because we refused, for so many childish reasons, to do the obvious things that would save us.

Science fiction set in the near future is my favorite. The reader can see the world they know, but also begin to imagine what could be. We know what our problems are now and to see them solved is exciting, even if it isn't quite real. Yet. There are other quotes I'd love to share with you, but I'd hate to spoil such an entertaining read for you. I can't wait to read more Blake Crouch.

 

Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton

Early this morning I finished reading Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton. I watched the Netflix movie shortly after it came out and I liked it, but I have to admit I had forgotten most of the plot. Last week I stumbled across this slim paperback version at my local library sale and I was intrigued. I brought it home with me and immediately started reading. 

Augustine is a world-renowned scientist at the end of his days studying the stars from a research facility near the north pole. When a mysterious world-ending event forces the evacuation of the post, he chooses to stay. He has no family to go back to and he would rather spend what time he has left gazing through the massive telescope at the universe. When he discovers a small child has been left behind in the emergency departure, he must force himself to keep living a little longer and set up some way for her to survive.

Sully is an astronaut halfway through a two-year expedition to Jupiter when mission control suddenly goes silent. She and the rest of the six-person crew have no idea what has happened and must wait until they are back in Earth's orbit to make a plan for their future. There is no way to know what has become of the families they've left behind or if there is any way for them to return to terra firma.

I loved this book. It is beautifully written and filled with so much emotion in so few pages. It is a quiet kind of book with plenty of internal examination by the characters, and yet it is far from slow. I was struck repeatedly by how a book like this should be a bit boring with all the reflection on memories and lives now passed, but Brooks-Dalton crafted it in such a way that I couldn't put it down. When I finally closed the back cover, all I could say to myself was, "Damn. That was a good book." Over and over again, I said it. It probably seems silly, but I actually cried because it was so good, not because of what the characters faced or their outcomes, but just because it was so good.

I love this book. I wish there were more of it. I wish I knew more at the end, but I also respect the way the author chose to tell the story. It was magnificent.

 

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

If you enjoyed reading The Martian by Andy Weir, I think you will really like Project Hail Mary. Ryland Grace is all alone in space and he has no idea how he got there, where he's going, or even his own name. Slowly the memories return and he realizes he has a mission vital to the survival of the human race. Alternating between his current situation and the brief clips of memories, we learn all about this project at which the whole Earth has thrown everything they have. Light years from home, and completely on his own, Grace has to solve the possibly unsolvable.

I really enjoyed the adventure in this book. The storyline was great, but I thought some of the science could have been edited down a bit. I'm not suggesting removing it all, but it felt like unnecessary exposition that was left in purely to prove the calculations had been done. I love science and I am fascinated by all the things I don't know, but I will admit to skimming a fair few pages of this book.

I liked the way the story was told with flashbacks to the leadup to outer space. If it had been told linearly, it may have gotten boring, but not so with the alternating timeline. I am reluctant to say more about what I loved in this book for fear of spoilers, so I'll just recommend you read it on your own. Also, I am so excited that a film version is already in the works and starring Ryan Gosling. That is a movie I'll definitely want to see. I really hope they do a good job with it!

 

The Price of Time by Tim Tigner

This book was not at all what I expected it to be, but it was so, so good! A group of scientists have made the ultimate discovery, but sharing it with the world would mean utter destruction, their own and that of the world as a whole. When keeping this secret leads to extreme measures, the group finds itself in the crosshairs of Zachary Chase, a former CIA agent searching for his missing college roommate. When Chase stumbles upon a young woman in need of saving, his investment in solving the mystery multiplies.

There is science fiction, adventure, espionage, plenty of intrigue, and even a little romance. This was a swift read full of excitement pushing the reader to keep turning the pages. The group of scientists all kind of ran together in the beginning, but it wasn't long before they were more distinct and easier to follow. This was a book club book and we had lots to talk about- the chief opinion being that it was a lot of fun to read. I highly recommend this book for when you need something a little more exciting and adventurous.

Blasphemy by Douglas Preston

Blasphemy by Douglas Preston follows a group of elite scientists attempting to recreate the conditions present at the theoretical beginning of the universe, the Big Bang. Led by Dr. Hazelius, the self-proclaimed smartest person in the world, the group has built an enormous supercollider in the northern Arizona desert where they hope to discover all the mysteries of creation. To a certain high profile televangelist, this sounds exactly like blasphemy and he is determined to put a stop to it. The additional viewers and donations are just a bonus, right? When things get out of hand, there is no controlling the situation until it all ends with its own big bang.

This was a book club selection and it is highly unlikely that I would have picked this book up on my own. The scientific aspect of the story sounded like it could be interesting, but the writing was just kind of terrible. The author was obviously attempting to write a tough guy novel where the main character is the only one who understands everything, but he seemed so two-dimensional to me. The other characters in the book were even worse. Honestly, in a couple of cases, I couldn't tell if the characters were meant to be racist, or if that was just the author coming through the writing.

I was committed to reading this book all the way through for book club, but that was all that got me through the first half or so. Once I got past that point, I genuinely couldn't put it down because it had finally picked up enough speed to keep me interested. I stayed up too late finishing it, and was glad to be done, but I can't say I enjoyed it. I don't know that there was necessarily anything wrong with this book, other than I don't enjoy this writing style and the couple of racist comments that may have been meant as character flaws, but it wasn't my kind of book.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I have heard only good things about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams so when it came up as an option for book club this month, I was all for it. After all, it's been a part of pop culture (and nerd culture) for so long, it was about time I'd read it for myself.

Arthur lives in a country village in a modest home and is startled awake one morning by the sound of bulldozers preparing to demolish that home to make way for a bypass. As you can imagine, he is unhappy about this. Just as he is prostrating himself in front of the machines in protest, a friend comes to inform him that his greater home, the Earth, is also set to be demolished for an intergalactic bypass. This friend, Ford, turns out to be an alien in the process of updating The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a very useful book for those familiar with the rest of the universe. Hijinks ensue, there are capers and antics, THE Question must be answered and Arthur is along for the ride.

I'll be honest with you: I could not get into this book. Actually, I was having so hard a time with it that I had to pause halfway through and watch the movie just to try to make heads or tails of it. It helped...a little. I can see that some people would really love this book and all the fun, nerdy, sci-fi aspects of it, but me- not so much. There was humor and parts of it could have been interesting, but this book just wasn't for me. The only reason I muscled through it was because it was for book club. Otherwise, I doubt I would have made it through the first three chapters.

I will leave you with one quote that I really appreciated:

It might not even have made much difference to them if they'd known exactly how much power the President of the Galaxy actually wielded: none at all. Only six people in the Galaxy knew that the job of the Galactic President was not to wield power but to attract attention away from it.

Well, that's certainly something to think about, isn't it?

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig is exactly the kind of book I love. It is historical fiction and literary fiction and science fiction and a love story all in one. Why confine yourself to just one genre when you can have them all?!?

In this book, Tom Hazard looks like he is about forty when in fact he is actually more than ten times that age. Born in 1581, Tom's early years were like anyone else's. Once he hit puberty, however, his aging slowed to about one year for every fifteen. This may seem wonderful but in the late sixteenth century this was seen as evidence of witchcraft. Forced to keep moving and changing his identity, Tom has had a difficult time managing his life until he is introduced to The Albatross Society, or albas for short. With this group, Tom is assisted with his transitioning from one life to the next, but what is asked of him in return is a high price.

This book was wonderful. It took me longer to read than it should have because I was out of town and unable to get to it. Given the time I would have easily been able to finish in only a couple of days because it was just so engaging. Tom is a wonderful character- tortured and lonely, but also with brilliant observations on humanity.

I was angry, yes, but as was so often the case with anger, it was really just fear projecting outwards.

It is the simplest, purest joy on earth, I realise, to make someone you care about laugh.

And my favorite:

And then, in this new state, free from fear, you ask yourself: who am I? If I could life without doubt what would I do? If I could be kind without the fear of being f--ed over? If I could love without fear of being hurt? If I could taste the sweetness of today without thinking of how I will miss that taste tomorrow? If I could not fear the passing of time and the people it will steal? Yes. What would I do? Who would I care for? What battle would I fight? Which paths would I step down? What joys would I allow myself? What internal mysteries would I solve? How, in short, would I live?

I really enjoyed reading this book and I hope that you will read it, too. The Washington Post called it "a quirky romcom", but don't let that stop you.

And OH MY GOODNESS! I just this moment discovered that it will soon be a major motion picture starring Benedict Cumberbatch!! Okay, now you really do have to read it!

Suicide Club by Rachel Heng

Modern medicine is making advances all the time, certainly not quickly enough for some, but at a much faster rate than in previous generations. What will that mean in the next few hundred years? How close can we get to curing everything? Could immortality be possible and if so, would we want it to be?

These are the questions posed in Rachel Heng's Suicide Club which introduces us to Lea and Anja, two "lifers" in the midst of their own individual struggles with the system and regulations of mortality. In a world in which the birthrate has dropped significantly, life extensions have become available in order to maintain human existence. At birth a child is tested and the results indicate how long they are likely to live. If the child is a "lifer", someone expected to live far beyond the average lifespan, they are given treatments to maintain and supplement their health. As the book begins, Lea is celebrating her 100th birthday though it looks quite different to any 100th birthday celebration I have ever seen. Lea is in the prime of her life (three hundred was now the number to beat) and her career. She is of the utmost health and is expecting any day to be invited to join the Third Wave, a set of life extensions that could lead to absolute immortality.

Anja is in quite a different position. She has all the advantages of being a "lifer", and in this society they are many, but her mother does not. Having obtained certain procedures and medical devices on the black market, Anja's mother's health has begun to fail beyond help, legal or otherwise. Unfortunately, the mechanical heart and other treatments she has prevent her from actually dying and she is stuck in a horrific limbo between alive and dead. Anja wants to help her, but how to do so when the choice to live or die isn't in the hands of the individual? And so we are introduced to Suicide Club, a group of activists intent on changing the mind of society about what it now means to be either pro-life or pro-choice.

The concept of this book was fascinating and so much of it was so good, but at times the plot seemed to lose direction a bit. The science fiction elements, however, were on point. The details from the types of treatments available to the health recommendations for longer life were well thought. Everyone lives to live longer. Gone are most of the foods and even many of the activities we regularly partake of now. No more meat, absolutely no sugar, veg only and even that isn't all recommended. Lea agonizes over a carrot at the market, hoping that since it will be shared by two people it won't be too indulgent. She leaves the grapefruit behind and plans to come back for one for her next Special Occasion. I'm all for eating healthy, but when a grapefruit and a carrot are too indulgent, how much LIFE is left?

Music is too stressful and has been replaced by relaxing Muzak; running wears out joints, but Pilates is still okay if performed carefully, but Swimlates was better.

This book was interesting and made me think about where my health may some day lead me. It also leads the reader to ponder how much control we actually have over our own lives, how much choice is really available to us. I didn't love this book, but I liked it really well.

Artemis by Andy Weir

Sorry, for the delay, SmartGirls, but I'm finally back and ready to post about the final book I read in 2017. It was such a busy time of year with the holidays that my reading took a bit of a backseat. Then we were out of town and I had to wait to post. You know how it is.

The last book I read in 2017 was Artemis by Andy Weir, the author of a book I liked very much: The Martian. Set this time on the moon, Artemis features Jazz Bashara, a young woman living in the lunar settlement known as Artemis. Officially she is a porter, but her main occupation is that of contraband smuggler. Barely scraping enough together to pay the rent on her "capsule domicile" -essentially just an enclosed bunk and access to a communal bathroom- Jazz is searching for a way to increase her income. When she is offered something extremely dangerous with an extreme pay out, she takes it with barely a hesitation. Perhaps she should have done a little more research.

I was hopeful that Weir would be able to recreate the magic in The Martian, but I feel like he fell short. It is difficult for any author to follow a blockbuster debut and Weir's writing style leaves much to be desired. The dialogue is unpolished and at times choppy and Jazz is a bit rough around the edges, but to me her voice never sounds quite right. It feels like what a man thinks women sound like when they are tough and refuse to put up with any nonsense. Like The Martian, there is a lot of language that some might find objectionable, but it isn't overwhelming. And, unfortunately I was about halfway through the book before it got interesting for me. I only stuck with it because I had liked Weir's first book so well.

In the end, this book was fine. I won't likely be adding it to my "must read" list, but it may be just exactly something you would love. A lunar caper involving conspiracy and industrial sabotage is a great premise.