#page-turners

[words-and-pages]

Hi! I was wondering, what’s the book you’ve read that you’ve been the most engrossed in? Something you just couldn’t put down?

Is it odd that I find this a stupidly hard question to answer? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had lots of books that I’ve read in one sitting, but it’s so hard to choose one that I would say is the most engrossing. So here’s a list + reasons why I found them a page-turner.

A Sky Painted Gold by Laura Wood - Okay, so ultimately this book is incredibly predictable, but that’s kind of what made me love it? It was such a relaxing and aesthetically pleasing book that I just couldn’t bear to put it down. It’s set in Cornwall in the 1920′s and is a coming of age for an 18-year-old girl who wants to become a writer. 

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton - This is a stunningly intricate whodunnit. It’s Agatha Christie meets Groundhog Day. The main character has to keep reliving the same day over and over until he can solve a murder. Even though I had a really bulky hardback I still insisted on carrying it around with me until I finished it. Incredibly gripping. 

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer - There’s so much that doesn’t make sense when you’re reading this book; it was that mystery, coupled with the creeping uneasiness that seeps out of the pages, that kept me reading. The search for answers about the uncharted Area X and the strange and dangerous creatures that live there was such a fun ride that I couldn't help but read this one in a day.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - My ultimate cheer up book(s). Doulas Adams is hands down one of my favourite authors, and the first time I read his books I would not be parted from them, I was just so enchanted by his unique and witty writing. Now they are the ultimate source of comfort for me.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - Okay, a bit cliche I know. But the first time I read this book was an experience. There’s a story behind it (one that I’m not going to share now, as I think it would turn out kinda long), but never again in my life have I read a book so quickly and so furiously. So yeah, had to mention it. 

Anyway, I’m going to leave it at that for now because if I make this any longer Tumblr will probably drop the post (again). But those were the first that came to mind. (There are some others, like Lord of the Rings, but I have recommended them in the past and don’t want to sound like a broken record all the time!)

Want a book recommendation, or just want to ask a question? Click here!

[brennanbookblog]

Dry 

by Neal Shusterman & Jarod Shusterman

Drop everything right now and get this book and a liter of Smart Water.

It is not surprising that Dry is an unblinking-eyes-glued to the page-terror-filled car-crash that you can’t look away from type of read. It does, after all, have Neal Shusterman at its helm. Co-written with his son, Jarrod Shusterman, I suppose is proof that genius may in fact be genetic.

You may remember Shusterman from earlier entries about the incredible and terrifyingly possible world of The Unwind Dystology. If you were a fan of that, you will surely be a fan of this. A little Michael Grant’s Gone Series paired with Emmy Laybourne’s Monument 14 world but wholly Shusterman in eloquence and verisimilitude to our world today.

Dry opens with a sputtering faucet, as the Morrow family tries to fill Kingston’s water bowl. The tap is dry. So begins the “Tap-Out,” a water crisis for all of Southern California. Seemingly not an unsurmountable event- well if it weren’t for all of SoCal becoming a dust bowl in recent years and the Frivolous Water Act draining all swimming pools, fountains and the like.  Because people can survive for a time without transportation, electricity and adults - but every body needs water.

So embarks the tale of three misfits: the stalwart Alyssa, her younger brother Garrett and the survivalist creepy kid next door, Kelton. Three shortly turns into four and then five once a gifted street urchin and preppy spoiled business kid join the mix. This motley collection of characters proves that even the unlikeliest alliances can form during a catastrophe. 

Shifting in narration amongst our rogue troupe while alternately periscoping outside into the unraveling martial law mob landscape compounds the growing tension in the narrative. We learn the sum of all the stories whereas each character only sees from one perspective, and in this case, maybe ignorance is bliss. 

I almost started to reread this book as soon as I turned the final page. It was that good. It made me simultaneously want to stock up on perishables and take shorter showers. But this is the type of book-satisfying hydration that is not just skin deep. It is worthy of book-group discussions about mob mentality, about what lengths people will go to in order to survive, about conservation and climate change. But then, this at the core of all Shusterman novels: a serious question about humanity disguised as a YA page-turner.

And doesn’t that make you a little bit thirsty?

[brennanbookblog]

Artemis

by Andy Weir

What’s better than being stranded on Mars and abandoned by your crew with only potatoes to live on?

Anything really.

Anything would be better than that.

But if we are talking in terms of Andy Weir’s brilliant first novel The Martian, what would be better that Andy Weir writing the witty and scientifically credible story of one character? That would be Andy Weir creating a witty and scientifically credible story about a whole city on the moon with an awesome no nonsense female protagonist smuggler. Which he did when he wrote Artemis.

Having loved Weir’s writing voice in The Martian, I scooped up Artemis immediately and summarily devoured it. The protagonist, Jazz, a citizen of Artemis, the moon colony, slaves away as a smuggler to save up enough slugs for a better life. Because moon real estate sounds pricier than New York and San Francisco combined. An integral player in the city’s sordid underbelly, Jazz is roped into a scheme by a wealthy benefactor while desperately dodging the ever-watchful moon cop and a new slew of moon mafia. Which, let’s face it, is kinda challenging in a city that’s literally under a bubble. (Note to self: this could be included in the genre: books that effectively employ domes as a device.) Let’s just say that oxygen is at a premium in zero G.

With a seriously diverse cast of characters, an entirely new take on moon landing and a unique pen pal scenario, Artemis is bound to launch to the bestsellers’ list immediately. Pun intended.

Kudos to Weir for introducing a minority female protagonist who is dynamic, intelligent, flawed, and beautiful -  and incidentally, like a lot of the awesome dynamic, intelligent, flawed and beautiful female characters in my own life.  

Plus, reading Weir is like taking a cool science class as an adult, just in a totally different atmosphere.

*B3 received a galley from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[brennanbookblog]

The Word Exchange: A Novel

Alena Graedon

I recently remembered a book that I read two years ago. I got it in my head that it was called The Language Exchange. A google search for The Language Exchange does not lead to any books, however, and my failed search struck me as so odd, I started to panic. Had I imagined this book? This book about language and technology? This book in which technology spreads a virus and erases language as we know it? It was part Stephen Vincent Benét’s “Nightmare Number 3” and part my worst fears manifest in a real experience. What if the book didn’t actually exist? Or worse, what if it did exist at one time, but was absorbed into the digital juggernaut and coopted as a takeover plan by the machines themselves?

Turns out, the book I was thinking of is actually called The Word Exchange. So we may be safe.

For now.

I didn’t write about The Word Exchange two years ago because I was abroad at the time, and speaking to kye in Orkney was the only version of blogging we had at our disposal. But the fact that I still remember it now convinces me that it is an excellent fable for our times.

The story, like all good stories, is a love affair with language. Ana, one of the few remaining wordsmiths, is compiling an archive of language while the world has turned their attentions to handheld Memes for communication, for entertainment, for, well, everything your iPhone is doing right now. Suddenly Ana’s father goes missing, leaving only a literary clue behind while the people of the world fall sick with a “word virus.” This concept is so creative and terrifying, I want to simultaneously share this book with the world and lock it securely away from readers’ vulnerable eyes.

If the word-lover premise doesn’t get you, consider it an ineluctable opportunity to learn new vocabulary. I actually liked vocab quizzes in high school and it was teaching me plenty of chestnuts I’d never even heard of before. Keep a dictionary handy.

It’s a little Steven Hall’s The Raw Shark Texts, a little All the Birds in the Sky, and a lot of Armageddon via the Tower of Babel.

Because what if, like a file on your computer, your language, your ability to communicate, your very relationship with the world, could be corrupted? What if it is already happening right now? lLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

[fictionophile]

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[goodbyegirl211]

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[fictionophile]

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[fictionophile]

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