I used to read dystopian novels regularly believing they gave insight into the problems of our current world as well as hints of a difficult future if we didn’t pay attention. Ready Player One also fills this role but makes it all so much more fun than the average tale of dystopian hardships. Ernest Cline’s novel is set in a dismal future that has turned the global population toward a virtual computer-generated OASIS to escape the filth, crowding and poverty of reality.
Trickster. Father of Lies. Wildfire. Lucky. He goes by many names, but we probably best know him as Loki. Before he was an Avengers fan favorite, Loki was playing tricks on the Norse gods of Asgard, sometimes as a tenuous ally, other times as the villain, but if Joanne Harris’s The Gospel of Loki is to be believed, always a bit misunderstood.
A plumber and hockey player fall in love. I'm sure that would make a perfectly good romance novel, but in the case of Beast Behaving Badly, there is so much more going on. Bo Novikov is a professional hockey player for the New York Carnivores and just happens to be a shape-shifter. Half polar bear and half lion, Bo is very detail-oriented and has his day planned by the minute. Blayne Thorpe is a plumber by trade and a wild dog/wolf mix by birth.
In the latter half of the 19th century, many scientists believed that there was an Open Polar Sea that could be reached by ship once they had pushed past the outer ring of ice. A race between many of the wealthier countries began to see who could claim the route for both trade purposes and bragging rights. The U.S.S. Jeannette expedition was a joint venture between eccentric newspaper publisher James Gordon Bennett Jr. and the U.S.
Take one part 300, one part Das Boot, and one part Inglourious Basterds, and you have Fury, a brutal and overly-earnest tank battle movie. Set in the final days of WWII, five American soldiers are trapped in a disabled tank and must fend off hordes of Germans
Bullying is a sad fact of many children’s lives. Some adults like to dismiss school bullying as kids just being kids, a normal part of growing up. For those who are bullied, life is anything but normal—becoming a tortuous, unbearable place with no one and nowhere to turn to for relief.
I have tried, and failed spectacularly, to write a concise recommendation of We Have Always Lived in the Castle. So here is the short version: This book is an actual masterpiece written by a true literary genius. Go read it. Now.
The Martian follows an American Mars astronaut who is mistakenly left for dead on the red planet after an abnormally bad sandstorm causes NASA to scrub a month long mission after six days. The extremely long flight, preparation time and resources required by NASA for such a voyage means this astronaut’s life depends on some creative means of seriously extending his supplies until the next mission is sent—and that means lots of math!
Kinsey Millhone has been hired by Lorna Kepler's mother to investigate her death. Mrs. Kepler is convinced Lorna was murdered, but it's been 10 months, and no proof or substantial information has ever been found. How will Kinsey be able to find what the police couldn't? But of course, she finds little clues that lead her forward in her investigation. Following the footsteps of a serious night owl turns Kinsey's world upside down and throws off her game. As in all of the Alphabet Series books so far, Kinsey puts herself in danger and suffers the consequence.
Ben Goldacre is a British doctor who has a major bone to pick with science done badly, and with the media that often misuses, misunderstands, or distorts scientific concepts (intentionally or not).
