Book 11 Project Hail Mary

 

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir fulfills the category “Book that Features Two Languages” for the PopSugar 2022 Reading Challenge. I also read The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield.

SPOILER ALERT

If you have not read Project Hail Mary, do not read this blog. I’m going to spill all the goods. Come back once you’ve finished the book.

As usual, I read two novels for the prompt. It was even worse this time, though. I read two space books, and the same person narrated both. Yeah, what was I thinking? I distanced them a bit and decided both are worthy of the blog. Let’s talk about The Apollo Murders first.

This book was written by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield. Maybe you’ve heard of him. He’s the one who used to sing on the international space station. Space Oddity, anyone? His book is about a 1973 Apollo18 mission (which didn’t exist). He uses a mix of actual history and fiction. In the novel, a mission commander is killed in a helicopter accident before launch, causing a load of problems.

So the two-language prompt… The second language is Russian. The Apollo astronauts try to sabotage a Russian observatory satellite, but they don’t know that it’s manned. Suddenly, they have a Russian passenger on their spaceship and are forced to take her (yes, a woman) to the moon. Now we have a possible murder, a Russian and another astronaut on one ship—interesting and intriguing. The female cosmonaut was an amazing character. It was a great book with a unique twist on language and communication.

But Project Hail Mary…

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir starts with a catastrophic event in space. Microscopic organisms are eating our sun. Mankind has to stop these astrophages. The science in the story is fantastic. The language part doesn’t come in until the end after they’ve launched the ship, Hail Mary, into space. One other star nearby is not experiencing the same dimming issue. That’s the Hail Mary’s destination. Our hero, Ryland Grace, ends up alone in the Tal Ceti system because his crewmates didn’t survive the trip. Once in orbit around Tal Ceti, Grace finds another ship! It’s an alien!

Here’s where the second language comes in. The alien race, the Eridians, has a musical language. It’s amazing! A completely different life form and they use music to talk. I’m a big music fan so this was thrilling for me. The book was compelling, science-y, and funny. And I totally cried twice. Andy Weir is a brilliant writer.

That’s the spoiler. There are aliens.

Both books were great for the prompt. They are page-turners, for sure. The reader did an amazing job, especially with Project Hail Mary, where he sounded like John Goodman in space. I highly recommend both novels, especially if you love space stories.

I give The Apollo Murders Five Special Rocks (hint hint).

I give Project Hail Mary Five Nobel Gas Alloys (if you read it, you get it).

 

 

Book 10 Shamrocks Are a Girl’s Best Friend

 

Shamrocks are Girls Best Friend by Lucinda Race fulfilled the prompt “Book Published in 2021” for the PopSugar 2021 Reading Challenge.

I have a special treat. Shamrocks is a St Patrick’s Day book, and today is St Patrick’s Day. I refused to wait for tomorrow and have you miss this great story. It was released on Monday. I buckled down and did some serious reading. I wanted to share this new book by one of my favorite authors in a timely fashion. Hence a Thursday blog.
Shamrocks Are a Girl’s Best Friend is a strangers to friends to lovers trope. It’s a sweet look at a couple of Irish Americans on a magical island. Both are learning to heal their hearts and bodies. Smokejumper Tric (short for Patrick and an appropriate nickname for this jokester) comes to Last Chance Beach to recover from an accident in Alaska wildfire. He ends up in the same cottage as Kelly O’Malley, who lives at her uncle’s rental because her house burned down.

Ironic? Not really.

These characters had sparks from the beginning. This is what I like about romance books like Ms. Race’s. I saw the connection immediately between the two. No messing around with long-drawn-out “will they or won’t they?” storylines. Not to mention the hesitancy of two people who are friends but are scared to move to the next level.

The other thing I liked about this novel, even though it was short, was how the big conflict loomed over the entire story. The sparks absolutely flew between them, but also the truth about his job. They wanted to be together, but eventually, he planned to go back to Alaska to jump into wildfires again. Could he give it all up for her? Could she give up everything to be with a man who left her for six months at a time? And don’t forget how dangerous his job is. Oh, and let’s not forget they just met. The novella compacted the conflict so well in such a short time.

I won’t spoil, but we always have happy endings in romance books so…

Let me throw in a note about the setting. It being March here in Upstate NY, with all the cold and snow, it was lovely to read a beach book. And not just any beach. Last Chance Beach has a magical quality about it. Ms. Race didn’t go overboard with that idea, merely left us some hints along the way. There’s something wonderful about sunset on the ocean. Ms. Race captured it perfectly.
I give Shamrocks Are a Girl’s Best Friend by Lucinda Race Five Giant Green Shamrocks for St Patty’s Day and a beautiful friends-to-lover story.

 

Book 9 The Neverending Story +1

 

 

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende fulfilled the category “Book with a Misleading Name” for the PopSugar 2022 Reading Challenge. I read a couple for this category, one more wrong than the next.

I had some great titles for this choice: Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, among others, but I went with one of my childhood favorite movies.

Wow, the book was not the same. It has Bastian’s tale of saving the world of Fantastica (Fantasia in the movie) from the Nothing. We follow the narrative along almost exactly as the movie portrayed. I cried about the horse, Artax, and for the Childlike Empress. It was childhood relived.

But it wasn’t. After Bastian saves Fantastica, the book goes on and on about Bastian’s journey. More like a power trip. He explores the world and abuses the power of the Auryn (the snake amulet featured on the book).

What?

What happened to that cute kid who read a book and saved the world? The second half was kind of ugly and a bit of a shock. I get it was a lesson on having and using power, but…

So, the book didn’t have a misleading title. It dragged on forever. By three-quarters through, I disliked Bastian. He was even mean to Atreyu (the hero on the horse). I finished the book because I wanted to use it for the blog. I would’ve been satisfied to stop with the movie ending.

Another book I read that fit this prompt was Dear Writer, You Need to Quit by Becca Syme. I’ve been having some trouble on the writing side of my career and wondered if I was finished. This book is not about that. It was helpful, telling me about all the bad habits I should stop to make writing more enjoyable and profitable. The title was a good read, short, and informative. It’s part of a larger series, and I might peruse the other titles.

Why does a misleading title draw us in? We usually have a gut feeling that the title is lying, but we read anyway. We’ve talked about how much I dislike an unreliable narrator and campaign for those books to have a trigger warning on them. (Except Gone Girl because that was one of the best books I’ve read.) I like a title that pokes at me and makes me think. I always hope the book will tell me the reason behind the deception. Some do, and some don’t.

The Neverending Story was a slog in the second half, never-ending. So, truthful title. Dear Writer, You Need to Quit implied I could quit writing if I needed to. Perhaps neither book actually fit the prompt. Hmm… Should I grab a third?

I give The Neverending Story by Michael Ende Four Luck Dragons because the first half was so darn good.

I give Dear Writer, You Need to Quit by Becca Syme Five Sharpened Pencils because it had some great writing advice.

 

 

Book 8 Luster and 2 Others

 

 

Luster by Raven Leilani fulfilled the category “Book You Can Read in One Sitting” for the PopSugar 2022 Reading Challenge. Once again, I overdid it and finished three books. They all were “meh.”

Luster was a book I included in last year’s challenge as a book about an artist. The novel has a main character who is very artistic. She works (at the start) for a publishing company, doing her art on the side. She gets involved with an older man, and things go downhill, roller coasting quickly. Edie has a voracious libido and finds herself out of a job because of it. Then she ends up living in the house of the man she’s having an affair with. And her life keeps thundering down a long, slippery slope.

The book also fits the category of “What the hell did I just read?” It was recommended to me by a coworker when I said I needed a book about an artist. When I told her I read it, she said, “Wow, huh?” I didn’t know what to say. The main character was young and rather unsympathetic. But her new situation was even more weird, living with this man and his wife and their child. Racial issues tried to intrude, but they seemed secondary to the main character. I think if the book was told from the adopted child of color’s point of view, we would’ve seen another story. My take on this title is “um, okay, sure.”

The next title I grabbed was an autobiography of Lauren Graham, Talking as Fast as I Can. I loved Gilmore Girls and her character Lorelei. I found the autobiography to be rather dry. The behind-the-scenes details and her career were interesting, but the book felt more like a history than a life story. I didn’t connect with her. It was funny and fun, but not remarkable.

Finally, I moved on to a classic, figuring the title would give me something great for the blog. Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach was an interesting read. Kind of. I liked the beginning section of the book immensely. I loved that it was actually about a seagull! Jonathan’s journey to be something more was fantastic. If I’d been the editor, the story would have ended there. The novella, in later sections, becomes religious and high thinking. I don’t think I was ready for a view of Christianity as told by seagulls, but that’s me.

I still have two more books I could throw into this category, but I’ll stop here. Hopefully, no one is tired of my multiple book entries. C’est la vie!

I give Luster by Raven Leilani Four Dirty Paintbrushes because it was so…

I give Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham Four Cups of Coffee because it’s a theme.

And I give Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach Four Shiny Rocks because that first section is something everyone should read.