Paper Towns by John Green, 2009

Paper Towns by John Green, 2009

Who is the real Margo? Well, that would be Alaska!

I decided to pick up and read this book before the soon-to-be-released movie version is out in the theaters. With all the attention John Green books have been receiving lately, I figured now might be a good time to get caught-up with his books; not to mention being able to talk about Paper Towns to others without having to sit through the movie.

It's yet another story about an unbelievable teenager secretly loving another unbelievable teenager.  I found a lot of things absurd that I simply had to consider amusing otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get through the book.

In a nutshell, Quentin falls in love with Margo. She disappears. He takes a road trip, guided by "clues", to find her . He finds her in a "paper town". He goes home.

Personally, this book might as well be Looking for Alaska, John Green's earlier prize winning book.  Paper Towns just isn't as interesting as Looking for Alaska.

My rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2 out of 5 stars) - It was ok.

Steel World (Undying Mercenaries #1), by B.V. Larson, 2013

Steel World (Undying Mercenaries #1), by B.V. Larson, 2013

Steel World is a military Sci-Fi book with even pacing with the action scenes and enough intrigue in the story that made the read quite fast and over before I knew it.

Recruit McGill, our hero, enlists in humanity's mercenary legion. His first campaign involved defending the mineral-rich planet called Cancri-9, better known as Steel World.  He dies, he gets revived, he dies again, gets revived again, and so on. But along the way he improves his skills and knowledge of the universe ruled by the Galactics.

The book was enjoyable for what it is; a straight-forward military sci-fi action story. There were no plot-twists.  The characters are fairly flat, and our hero doesn't go through any major character development.

Exploring the alien technologies and alien cultures, which were present throughout the book, would have made this a more interesting book. We only get hints of culture of the seal-like aliens and small nuggets information on the inner workings of the Galactics.

All in all, it felt like a mish-mosh of Scalzi's Old Man's War, Heinlein's Starship Troopers, the Emily Blunt/Tom Cruise movie Edge of Tomorrow, and Card's Ender's Game. Steel World held my attention all the way through, but I didn't find it to be particularly outstanding.

My rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5 stars) - I liked it.

Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi, 2004

Agent to the Stars, by John Scalzi, 2004

In a nutshell, smelly slimy aliens want to make first contact with Earth but decides they need an image (and smell) makeover first. Tom Stein, a
Hollywood agent, is charged with the impossible task and craftily devises the means to, not only humanize the aliens, but to have them well received.

Humor and some snark made the read quite enjoyable. I must admit, there were more than a few times I had to ask myself where the current subplot is going or what it had to do with everything else that preceded it.

Though the story meandered a bit much to my liking, in the end, everything tied together and with no leftover questions. Everyone got their happy ending; even the Aliens.

You can read the entire novel on John Scalzi's website.

My rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5 stars)

More Pets with Tourette's (Pets with Tourette's, #2) by Mike Lepine and Mark Leigh, 2008

More Pets with Tourette's (Pets with Tourette's, #2) 

by Mike Lepine and Mark Leigh, 2008

The idea of foul-mouthed cute pets spewing profanity is quite absurd. But one can't help give a naughty chuckle after perusing the pages full of potty-mouthed pets, well me at least.

On the surface, there's something inherently wrong with pictures of cute pets with cartoon-ish thought bubbles containing filthy language yet brilliant. After closer inspection, the same concept that got a naughty chuckle from me in the first few pages lost its novelty before I  reached halfway through the book. And the book is less 90 pages of pictures. 

Towards the end, I quickly found myself quickly glancing at the pictures and reading the "thought bubbles" just in case I stumble on insults I am yet to discover and slur at someone.  

For the $9.95 price I paid for this book, I got two small chuckles, learned no new insults, and one coffee table book to gift someone.  Let's just say I'm glad I did not pay for shipping charges.

My rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5 stars)

Beyond Lies the Wub, by Philip K Dick, 1952

Beyond Lies the Wub, by Philip K Dick, 1952

Beyond Lies the Wub is about an alien that gets aboard a human starship while resupplying at Mars.

The alien called a Wub, resembles a 400 pound pig and is clearly intelligent with unique abilities such as telepathy and mind control.

As the crew of the human starship grow a sort of report with the intelligent pig-like alien, the captain becomes intent in cooking it as there is a shortage of food despite the resupply at Mars.

Although, in the end the alien is cooked, the story's plot twist allows the Wub to continue beyond.

Running through the story are themes of immortality and intolerance. The author, Dick, presents humanity as intractable while the slovenly pig-like alien exhibits a deeper humanity.

Notwithstanding the short length, the story is packed with detail and information. Enjoyable all around.

My rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars)

Link to the free eBook

Hybrids (Neanderthal Parallax #3) by Robert J. Sawyer, 2003

Hybrids (Neanderthal Parallax #3)

by Robert J. Sawyer, 2003

Hybrids is the third book in The Neanderthal Parallax series and  returns to science fiction theme of two cultures from Parallel universes.

In Hybrids, Ponter Boddit and his Homo sapiens lover, Mary Vaughan, are torn between two worlds, struggling to find a way to make their relationship work. Aided by banned Neanderthal technology, they plan to conceive the first hybrid child, a symbol of hope for the joining of their two versions of reality. Meanwhile, the books single antagonist, a racist bigot wants to take the unexploited and unpolluted Neanderthal world for Homo sapiens.

Not quite what I expected. The novel was fraught with plots that it wasn't very clear to me what was important and was minutia. If there was an overall message intended to be delivered, it was lost on me. At best, the combination of love story, social commentary, and ecothriller felt like multiple stories weaved with naive preaching to me.

If the sub-plots were to be thought of as episodes in a series, then I think it would more enjoyable as the plotlines can be compartmentalized yet run through.  The entirety of the book was marred with uneven pacing between action and exposition towards the end.

My rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5 stars)

Humans (Neanderthal Parallax, #2) by Robert J. Sawyer, 2003

Humans (Neanderthal Parallax, #2) by Robert J. Sawyer, 2003

Similar to its preceding book, Humans is a technically smooth novel with a pleasing style. Unlike its preceding book, Hominids, this installment mixes it up a bit. The running plot is framed by Ponter's session with a personality sculpture (what we would call a shrink in our universe)

At first the story focuses primarily on Ponter Bonditt and Tukana Pratt, who are Neanderthals from Earth from a parallel universe visiting Earth from the universe we know. With the portal between the Neanderthal world and ours is permanently reopened, Tukana works to build trade and information exchange between our two societies.

Running midway through the story, about a hundred pages in, the pacing changes and focus shifts to Ponter Bonditt and Mary Vaughn.  Accompanied by Ponter, Mary travels to the Neanderthal universe and navigates the cultural and ideological differences between the peoples of the two universes.

things I especially liked:
- The various technologies from the parallel world; alibi archive, companion implant, transportation cube, and personal shield.
- The Neanderthals lack of sexual discrimination.
- The world-building of the Neanderthal universe; identical to Earth yet different.
- The concept, explanation, and examples of man-mate and woman-mate.
- The idea of sterilization as the form of punishment for serious crimes, not just for the aggressor, but any family member who share more than fifty percent of their genes with the aggressor.
- Tukana the Neanderthal ambassador to Earth.


things I didn't mind:
- The religion aspect. Not that it was preachy or uninteresting.
- The personality sculpture was, at first, intrusive. Eventually, as we move past the second half of the book, he was less interruptive.
- Rape as drama.
- The Vietnam Memorial scene.

things I could have done without:
- The length at which religion was discussed and debated, particularly midway through the story.

things I didn't expect or made me shake my head:
- Although I expected the (male-to-female) rape was to be covered, the (male-to-male) rape caught me with, umm, with my pants down.
- All the steamy sex about halfway through the story. For a bit there, I thought I was reading a Harlequin romance novel. The scene was quite descriptive.

My rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars)

Hominids (Neanderthal Parallax, #1) by Robert J. Sawyer, 2002

Hominids (Neanderthal Parallax, #1) by Robert J. Sawyer, 2002

Hominids is a technically smooth novel with a pleasing style and sense of balance that is also very interesting in its theme and content. The parallel-running plot is straightforward and sound, with enough surprise to be interesting but enough integrity to avoid any sort of deus ex machina.

The story focuses primarily on Ponter Bonditt and Adikor Huld, who are Neanderthals from Earth from a parallel universe, and Mary Vaughan, a geneticist from Earth from the universe we know.

During an experiment in quantum computing in the Neanderthal universe, Ponter is accidentally transported to a Canadian neutrino lab in our universe. Ponter meets Mary Vaughn and other scientists who take responsibility and work to shelter and protect him.
Hominids (Neanderthal Parallax, #1) by Robert J. Sawyer, 2002

Running parallel to Ponter's story are a series of events occurring in the Neanderthal dimension. Within an abandoned underground  mine located in the exact same location on Earth as the Canadian neutrino lab, Ponter's research and male life-partner Adikor Huld cannot explain why their experiment in quantum computing resulted in Ponter's disappearance. Before he can get very far into his investigation, Adikor finds himself under investigation and brought to trial for Ponter Bonditt's murder.

things I especially liked:
- A multicultural cast of characters
- Pop culture references from the early 2000s (about 1999-2002)
- Everyone for the parallel universe is bisexual and finds heterosexuality boring
- The companion- an electronic device/computer/biotech implanted withing the body; with various amazing uses (universal translator, encyclopedia/recording)
- Usenet newsgroups (I miss reading feeds)


things I didn't mind:
- The religion aspect. Not that it was preachy or uninteresting.
- Flatness of the secondary characters.
- The rape.

things I didn't expect or made me shake my head:
- Anna Nicole Smith. Yes she was mentioned in the book as a reference
- Handspring Vizor. Oh, how I wanted one at the time. Sigh.
- News snippets and coverage that started some chapters

My rating: ★★★★★ (5 out of 5 stars)

"Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues (White Trash Zombie #2)", by Diana Rowland, 2012

Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues (White Trash Zombie #2)

by Diana Rowland, 2012

Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues.  And apparently I do too-- at least after finishing the book. The story left me feeling a bit saddened that this installment just didn't quite have the bite like its first novel.

The story picks right up where the last one left off. Loose ends from the last novel are tied off, but new ones from this story's mystery are introduced as well.

I definitely miss the snark and humor that was present throughout the entire first book.  Here, you only get snippets of it now and again. The romance fizzled out as well, but I didn't mind not get getting the gory details on zombie sex. (bbrraaiiinnss for foreplay)

It was nice to see Angel's character grow-- and quite significantly at that too. While, in the first book she learned how to be a zombie, in this book, she's repairing her relationship with her abusive father, working towards her GED, moving away from her probation status, and bettering herself into someone above her "low class" status.

Super Zombie Powers, activate!

My rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars)

"Rebels: City of Indra: The Story of Lex and Livia (City of Indra #1)", by Kendall Jenner, Kylie Jenner, Maya Sloan, 2014

"Rebels: City of Indra: The Story of Lex and Livia (City of Indra #1)"

 by Kendall Jenner, Kylie Jenner, Maya Sloan, 2014

I can't even.... so instead I'll just give you the  top 10 best reviews on Amazon of the Jenner girls’ new book.

Perhaps they should have had some of these reviewers help them write their book. At least it would have been entertaining.

1. “B.D.” compares the book to toilet paper…
“Garbage from start to finish. Don’t bother wasting your time or money on this piece of trash. The trees that died to make the paper for this book would have been better off as toilet paper.”

2. “T. O’Connor” gives the girls suggestions for their next literary masterpiece…
“To the authors, I have a suggestion for your next book. It might actually be something you know about. Although you’ll probably have to get a ghost writer for that too. It should be called, ‘Your Big Sister Gets Pissed on In Film: How to Make it Work for You.’”

3. “Madison” mourned the loss of the trees it took to create the book….
“By the time I reached 240 or was it 242, I wanted to shriek like a hellion and soil my tablet with whatever gunk I could find. But, I love my tablet way too much to soil it for anything (even the loss of my brain cells)…I’m mentally holding a memorial service for the trees that perished because Kylie and Kendall decided to “write” a book.”

4. “Alexandra Ware” managed to find a good use for this book–warding off coffee shop creeps!
“Are you tired of cute hipster guys or girls hitting on you in the coffee shop while you try and have a quiet read with an almond milk soy cap frap? Me too! This book acts like an EMP on Sentinels, it shuts that s*** down. Money saving tip – Just print off the front cover and stick it to any old book you’re reading. Honestly, don’t buy it – otherwise you’re just enabling the Cardissian’s filler addiction.”

5. “Knox Kingston” gives us a peek into how this whole mess began….

“I can only imagine how this all begin…
“OMG, like, I’m bored. You know what we should do? We should, like, write a book.”
“OMG I know, right? Writing books is soooo easy.”
“So what do we have to do?”
“Well, like, apparently we have to sit down and write a lot of words.”
“Ugh, that sucks SOOO bad. I don’t even like words. Isn’t there an easier way?”
“I think, like, we can just hire a ghost writer or whatever.”
“Oh, cool! So hey, ghost writer lady, like, can you write a book about us as like, I don’t know, Hunger Games girls? And make us super cute, okay?”
“Totes. And call us when it’s done, cuz, like, we totally gotta have a book party or whatever those author nerds do when they make a book. We love parties.”
“Totes!”
Then the book is released, IQ points are massively destroyed world wide, and I die a little inside from even having written this review.”

6. “David” offers advice for a more exciting alternative purchase…
“Kim Kardashian’s sex tape had a better plot and a more powerful climax. At least there were no misspelled words, I gave it star for that.”

7. “K. Sanderson” figured out how this book came to be…
“I really think that the ghost writer just slammed her head against the keyboard and came up with this crap.”

8. “Luke”— I’d pay to see what you suggest…
“Jenner & Jenner should stay out of novel-writing for the same reasons Stephen King should stay out of bikini modeling–though I’ll venture he’d do a far better job of crossing over careers than they have here.”

9. “Rebecca Wordd” does remind us that the Jenners are good at a few things…
“Awful book, no plot development, character development-what the heck? Sorry pretty little girls-stick to what you do best, posing for selfies and shopping.”

10. “I. Patricia” proves that the characters in the book are based off of Kylie and Kendall…
“The characters were poorly developed – Lex and Livia, are they serious? You just don’t get attached to them, they seem like puppets without real emotions, they act like puppets with no mind…”

My rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ (0 out of 5 stars)

"The Martian" by Andy Weir, 2014

"The Martian" by Andy Weir, 2014

It's good to be an engineer.

This book is nothing short of brilliant. Astronaut Mark Watney is stranded on Mars and has to survive 1,412 days until he can be rescued. He only has what was left behind by previous expeditions to live on; mainly a Habitat, 300 liters of water, rations for 50 days, a scrubber, two vehicles, and twelve potatoes.

This book is a hard sci-fi novel in the likes of Arthur C. Clarke. It's also about human ingenuity. And boy, you can't help but root for the underdog.

Though the book was billed a "survival thriller" by the endorsements found on the back cover, I found the driving force of the book isn't tension, but of humor. The Martian makes the tale of an engineer stranded on the red planet gripping.


I disagree with how others describe this story as a "Castaway" on mars, Die Hard, Gravity or Robinson Crusoe. Although I see why other may see it that way, I do feel this book a "stand-out" in the hard sci-fi genre. It's full of action with humor at unexpected moments. I was rooting for "Martian". I caught myself saying, "oh shit," "crap", and laughing out loud at moments.

I can only hope the movie adaption releasing in the second half of 2015 will do the book justice.  

My rating: ★★★★★ (5 out of 5 stars)

Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades #1)

by  E.L. James, 2011

At this point, especially with the movie adaptation releasing in 7 days, it seems like anyone with an ounce of curiosity about this book, has picked up and read it.

If you haven't yet, I guess you probably never will -- either because you feel like James' amateur writing will make you want to gouge your eyes out or you're simply rebelling against the pop cultural tide.

A lot has been blogged about this novel, and there's no reason you should be left out of copious, inevitable, and surely heated conversations about the books.

So here are some of the things, I find, either memorable, funny, interesting or dumb:

- I found the BDSM scenes very basic. I suppose that is the point as this book was probably intended to expose "soccer moms" to BDSM culture.

- A lot of time was spent in discussing the BDSM rules of play and safety, rather than the act themselves.

- "Oh my", "Inner Goddess", and did I say "Oh my", where so overused and was just cheesy.

- "Christian Grey-flavored popsicle". I don't think I need to explain that one.

- They don't have sex until chapter 8.

- Christian's mystical tie; now only if he used that to shut Ana up.

My rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2 out of 5 stars)