Artemis, by Andy Weir: A Review

Image courtesy of Google

Did Andy Weir’s creative mojo weaken when he joined the Big 5 Publishing Machine? Is publishing in New York City his kryptonite? For sure, it’s hard to follow The Martian. It became an on-line sensation that was noticed by publishers and movie-makers. But still, I know Mr. Weir has better chops that this.

Artemis, in Greek Mythology, is the daughter of Zeus and twin sister of Apollo. She is the Goddess of the wilderness. A perfect name for this book, considering it takes place in a colony on Earth’s moon.

I had high hopes for this novel. I absolutely loved the map of the moon colony at the front of the book, it stoked my imagination! Sadly, this book was lacking in so many ways. Just so you know, I’m going to talk about that now. Spoiler alert!

Jazz, the main character in this story is a petty outlaw. A smuggler. She’s estranged from her dad, a renowned welder. She’s promiscuous and impulsive. But why? We know that she and her boyfriend accidentally burned down her dad’s shop- thus the estrangement- but we never learn why she’s such a Bad Girl. 

Courtesy of Google Images

She has a pen pal on Earth named Kelvin (clever!). I though her backstory would develop through the letters they sent back and forth, they started out that way, but fizzled. Kelvin’s character became mainly her smuggling/scheming partner. As I’ve talked about before, every story has a back-story. Our past is what makes us who we are and what we do in the present.  I didn’t know what made Jazz tick, so I didn’t really care about her. Story death. Big time. (Story Genius by Lisa Cron.)

Other things that bothered me include several characters “pinched his/her chin…” What’s that all about? I believe in each scene, the character was thinking, but it’s awkward that at least three different characters did it. I understand if it’s one character’s tendency, it shows a bit of their personality, but it’s not o.k. for several characters to “chin pinch.”

Jazz’s friend, Svoboda, talked in exclamation points! Everything he said ended in an exclamation point!  Most writers understand that exclamation points should be used sparingly! This story read like a young adult or juvenile story. It was written in first person, like The Martian was, but it lacked maturity. Every time Jazz talked to me, the reader, 

I was pulled out of the story. Again, story death.

Like The Martian, there was lots of chemical, sciency stuff that went over my head in Artemis. However, in Weir’s first novel, that stuff was explained better. In that book, I could see the technology in my mind. I this book, I could not visualize so many, too many, things.

Overall, the characters were underdeveloped, making me not really care about them. The premise of the story was all about being underhanded- by accident they learned their underhandedness was against organized crime, and in the end Jazz talked herself out of being deported by convincing the Powers-That-Be that her monopoly and personal ‘community first’ stance in smuggling was what kept their colony free from drugs, gangs, and crime, and if she was deported to Earth, who knows what kind of smuggler would take her place? Give me a break.

Sorry Andy.

Until next time,

Be Good To Yourself.

~Nadine

Empowering Girls through Princess Stories

Even the male illustrator is listed before
the female author. That's just not right!

Usborne is a well-known children’s book publisher. They create beautifully illustrated books for children of all ages. People who purchase Usborne books expect a quality story for their children. Unfortunately, all is not well in the Usborne Kingdom.

A few days ago, my three-year–old granddaughter chose a nap-time story for me to read to her. It was a beautiful pink color with a cute little girl princess on the cover.

The Unsborne Book of Princess Stories. Looks good, right? Wrong. And let me tell you why. There are four short stories in this book. Two of them are fine, but the other two are ridiculously anti-girl power. Here’s the gist and my take on each story.

The first story is entitled The Princess and the Pig. In this story Prince Max and his sister, Princess Alice, are playing outside. Alice finds a little pig stuck in a big mud puddle. She pulls the little pig out of the mud, while her brother, Prince Max, reminds her that she’s not supposed to get her dress dirty. “Don’t let Queen Mama see you. She told you not to get your dress dirty.” (Seriously????? What year is this? 1960?)

Alice ignores her brother and washes the piggy...and she gets in trouble for getting her dress dirty. Alice is undeterred.  She kisses the pig and it turns into a little boy prince. (Sure, why the hell not? Makes perfect story sense…) Queen Mama says, “We can’t have a strange prince in the castle, change him back.” So Alice kisses him again and he turns back into a pig. (What kind of a queen mom would refuse a little boy who’d been turned into a pig? If I was a kid hearing this story, I’d be so stressed about having the boy turned back into a pig!)

The next story, thankfully, is better. In The Dragon, Alice and Max find a hungry little dragon. They bring him home and feed him. And because he’s a fire-breathing dragon, he becomes the royal fireplace starter. (He gets to live in the castle but a pig-turned-little prince-turned-pig-again is sent away? I’m still bitter over that one.)

The third story is a real piece of work. It’s called The Tournament. The castle is excitedly preparing for a jousting tournament.  Max gets to practice jousting but Alice can’t, because no girls are allowed. Alice, bless her little rebel heart, won’t have it. She dresses in her brother’s clothes and calls herself “Alex.” While jousting, “Alex” knocks a boy off his horse. Alice is found out when she trips and falls off her horse. (She didn’t even get the respect of being jousted off. Just another clumsy girl, I guess…) Queen Mama says to her, “You’re a very naughty girl.” (I thought this story was so bad, I talked with my granddaughter about how girls can do all kinds of stuff that boys can do, too. Then I re-read it two times, changing it to: “The boys and girls all practiced jousting together. Sometimes they fell off and got hurt, but they got back on their horses and kept practicing.”)

I didn’t even want to read the final story, The Royal Broomstick, but I did because my granddaughter had to put off nap-time as long as possible. Luckily, this book ends on a stronger note. The children go to visit their grandmother in her tower. Grandma is not there so the kids decide to wait for her and end up playing with her magic broom.They get on it and fly out the window. They have great fun and even find grandma’s pet cat stuck in a tree. They bring the cat home and grandma is happy her kitty has been found.

Fifty percent of the stories in this book are stupid. The marketing department at Usborne did a great job on the cover and back blurb. They made it sound so inviting, without telling a lie about the contents of the book. No mention of the Princess Alice being naughty or dirty or trying to do ‘boy things.’

This post is getting long, but hang with me for a minute more. I can’t close without telling you about an awesome, strong princess book. The Paper Bag Princess, by Robert Munsch is the kind of princess story children should be reading. 

In this story, a nasty fire-breathing dragon burns up the castle and everything in it. The dragon carries off the prince and leaves the princess behind. Since everything is gone, destroyed by the dragon, including her clothes, she finds a paper bag to wear as a dress and heads out to save the prince. She goes through hell and high water to get to the dragon’s lair and rescues the prince. BUT, he’s an asshole, so she tells him off and leaves. It’s a great story of courage, perseverance and self-respect.

"Elizabeth, you are a mess!
You smell like ashes, your hair is all tangled and you are wearing a dirty old paper bag. Come back when you are dressed like a real princess."

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself.

~Nadine

Personality Tests

Have you ever taken one of those “personality tests” on Facebook? I have. A lot of them. I don’t know why I take them; I just think they’re fun.

  

I’ve learned what color my aura is, I’ve done spelling tests, vocabulary tests, and grammar tests and I’ve taken the Image Test, you know, Is it a witch or a young girl? type of thing a few times. Oh, and I can’t forget about the various color tests for personality. Yeah, I know. I’ve done lots of them. Lame. 

Back in the day magazines used to have these types of tests. I remember taking them in teen magazines, and when I was older, ones in Cosmo.  (I don’t even know if magazines run tests/quizzes any more.)

I think these personality tests have finally Jumped the Shark because I ran across a new book titled 2 Kinds of People: A Visual Compatibility Quiz, by Joao Rocha.  It's an adult book, not a kids' book! (The perks of working at a library!)

And yes, I did the test. And Tim agreed to do it with me, because, you know, as the title states you need, um, two people. (I didn’t think he would do it with me, and that would have been  a first “test” I think, but he did!)

There were eighty-five dual images to look at. I was pretty sure Tim wouldn't want to look at all of them, so I didn't show Tim the ones I knew for sure, I just scored them. See the handy-dandy wheel to the right? You're supposed to turn the dial for each "same" answer. I just tallied instead.

Same. Roll on the right side.

This one we didn't know what it was trying to say.
The red movie has a 12 on it and the
purple movie has a 15 on it. Besides color, that's
the only difference in the pictures.
We gave ourselves a point anyway.

 Different.
Me sunscreen on the left.
Tim Aloe Vera.

Out of eighty-five total points, we scored sixty-six matches. We're considered "Peas in a Pod", just seven points from being "Soul Mates."  Works for us. If we were too much alike, life would not be fun, challenging, and exciting.

By the way, we just celebrated our thirty-fourth wedding anniversary. We've decided that we'll keep going. Have fun today with the one you love.

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself!  

~Nadine

          

        

The Silent Corner, by Dean Koontz- A Review Sort Of...

Image courtesy of
Google from Amazon

The first Dean Koontz book I read was By the Light of the Moon, published in 2002. I’m not a big fan of horror, guts, or gore so the fact that this book captured my attention is strange enough in and of itself. 

And the book is even stranger.  Here’s the gist:

It begins with a “mad scientist/doctor” injecting a serum into unsuspecting strangers. He tells them, while they’re tied up, ‘Either you’ll die (from the injection) or you and your world will become astounding.’ 

Well the characters, of course, do not die. (Else no book, right?) They gain some super-human skills from the serum injection that the bad guys are willing to kill them over. (They already off'd the doc.) 

My favorite character in this book is the autistic adult (yet younger) brother of the main character. Unbeknownst to big brother, little brother has also been injected and gains the ability to time travel, which he calls Folding. Their brother-to-brother conversations are charming and take the edge off my “nervous scardy” for a little while.

The Silent Corner, by
Dean Koontz

Fast forward fifteen years. Today I just finished our book club pick, The Silent Corner, recently released by Dean Koontz. FBI agent, Jane Hawk, (Koontz’s newest hero) is searching for some answers. The untimely death of her husband and many other unlikely victims have caused Jane to “go rogue” from the Agency.

This story is scary, not because of zombies, evil spirits, aliens, or supernatural events- there is none of that in this book- but instead because of its possibility of being very, very real.

Point number one: The “dark web” is in this story. – Just this week on the national news a report from Italy about a young female model being abducted and nearly sold into human trafficking ON the dark web. It’s a real thing with real bad dudes. *

 A nanobot on a blood cell. Image courtesy of Google.

Point number two: Nanotechnology plays a prominent part in this book. -Also real. Science, technology, and medicine all wrapped into one. Its implications are nothing short of miraculous. Little machines in our bodies that fight cancer or brain tumors or whatever. Machines the size of molecules. **  

Except in The Silent Corner nanotechnology takes a horrible turn. Bad guys are using the technology to alter the human brain. Make people do what they wouldn’t do.  All sorts of shit hits the fan.

Image courtesy of Google.

As a writer myself, I loved several things Mr. Koontz did in this story. First, every story worth its salt has a protagonist that has a need. Check.
Also, every major character has a back story that motivates what they do. Check. 
Good stories don’t have random characters that  do nothing to move the story forward. Check. (Homeless guy on page 34 becomes a player later in the story.) 
And, finally; Beautiful language does not a story make. Tell the story and the language will emerge. Like this: 

“ Together…they ascended on foot through a meadow carpeted with a variety of grasses and decorated with formations of chaparral lily in early bloom. Rabbits dining on sweet grass hopped away from them or sat up on their hindquarters to watch them pass. Cicadas sang, and orange butterflies with narrow dark margins on their wings took flight.”

Poetic, huh? I can see it, feel it. I know where the characters are. Oh, and I know all hell is about to break loose soon. (Shout out to Lisa Cron, author of Story Genius. Click here to read my post about this book.) 

Inside the book jacket of
The Silent Corner.

The next Jane Hawk story, The Whispering Room, will be released November 21, 2017.

Jane won some hefty battles in The Silent Corner, but she didn’t win the war. I hope to find out if Jane conquers this particular evil group, if she has it out with her estranged father, whom she’s “called out” after many years of no contact, if Dougal will to be her side-kick or backer, and how her son Travis is fairing.

I'd love some reading suggestions. What have you been reading lately?

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself.

~Nadine

* http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-model-kidnapped-italy-dark-web-20170807-story.html

** https://www.theguardian.com/science/nanotechnology

Saving Red by Sonia Sones

I just finished reading a Young Adult book called Saving Red. People sometimes think young adult books are for readers between, let’s say, 14 and 20 years of age, but that’s not true. Young adult books typically have teen-agers as the main characters but the stories are far from teenybopper.

If you liked the Hunger Games series, the Divergent series, or the Twilight series, you actually read in the Young Adult genre.

Any book in the Young Adult genre will be fast-paced. That’s one of the things I like about YA. The action starts right away and the reader isn’t stuck on pages of description of the carpet, or weather, or what-have-you.

Saving Red is no different. I mean, just read the inside flap:  “My name is Molly.  This book is about me. I’m probably the guiltiest person who ever lived…” I checked this book out from my library solely on the cover design and inside flap blurb.

But when sat down and opened the book, ready to read, I realized the whole thing was written in verse. Crap. I was looking for a good novel. 

Courtesy of Google Images

But then I thought about another book written in verse, Love That Dog, by Sharon Creech. That book ripped my guts out. (You gotta read that book, by the way.) 

So I thought I’d give it a go. I read the whole book in 2 settings within a 24 hour period. About 4-6 hours was all it took.

This is a story about a teenage girl, Molly, who tries to help a homeless teenage girl realize that going home is safer than living on the streets. The problem is, the homeless girl has literally went off her meds and is pretty much crazy. 

Not many fictional stories take on a topic as tough as mental illness. Even less have a likable main character with a mental illness. To top it all off Molly’s family is going through their own hell dealing with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Her mom is always high on doctor prescribed marijuana (talk about opening a can of worms!!!), and her dad is a work-a-holic lawyer.  

See?  Intriguing, isn’t it??

This is the one and only page in the book that
the verse rhymes. I laughed out loud when I
read it! That author is a trickster!

Check out Saving Red by Sonya Sones. You won’t be disappointed.  (In fact, you’ll be thinking about it for much longer than it will take you to read it.)

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself,

~Nadine

Veterans Day 2016

This Friday is Veterans Day. November 11, 2016.

I come from a long line of men who have served our country, and I believe it is my duty to honor and pay tribute to all who haveanswered the call to serve our county.

My grandfather served in WWI and WWII.

My dad served in the Korean War. My uncles Terry and Jerry served in Viet Nam. (All of my dad’s four brothers served in the military.)

When my generation of young men and women were of “going to war age,” the U.S. had relative peace- no wars to fight.

Veterans Day dislplay at the LeClaire
Community Library

My nephew, Jake served in Afghanistan, where he earned a Purple Heart. My son-in-law Phil, still active duty, served in Afghanistan, too. My son, Nate, and nephew-in-law, Corey, serve on the front lines right here in Iowa.

God bless those who are willing to confront the bad in order to protect the good.

On that same note to honor and pay tribute, I created a Veterans Day book display at work (The LeClaire Community Library.) I chose books that gave first-hand accounts of events… Also Known As: When shit goes down.

 

The summaries of the following books are courtesy of Goodreads.

FLYBOYS: A True Story of Courage by James D. Bradley

This acclaimed bestseller brilliantly illuminates a hidden piece of World War II history as it tells the harrowing true story of nine American airmen shot down in the Pacific. One of them, George H. W. Bush, was miraculously rescued. What happened to the other eight remained a secret for almost 60 years. 

LONE SURVIVOR: The Eyewittness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell, Patrick Robinson

On a clear night in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader known to be ensconced in a Taliban stronghold surrounded by a small but heavily armed force. Less then twenty-four hours later, only one of those Navy SEALs remained alive. 

NO EASY DAY: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden by Mark Owen, Kevin Maurer

No Easy Day puts readers alongside Owen, of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group--commonly known as SEAL Team Six, and the other handpicked members of the twenty-four-man team as they train for the biggest mission of their lives. The blow-by-blow narrative of the assault, beginning with the helicopter crash that could have ended Owen's life straight through to the radio call confirming Bin Laden’s death, is an essential piece of modern history.

BAND OF BROTHERS: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest by Stephen E. Ambrose

As good a rifle company as any, Easy Company, 506th Airborne Division, US Army, kept getting tough assignments--responsible for everything from parachuting into France early DDay morning to the capture of Hitler's Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden. In "Band of Brothers," Ambrose tells of the men in this brave unit who fought, went hungry, froze & died, a company that took 150% casualties & considered the Purple Heart a badge of office. Drawing on hours of interviews with survivors as well as the soldiers' journals & letters, Stephen Ambrose recounts the stories, often in the men's own words, of these American heroes.

FLAG OF OUR FATHERS By James D. Bradley, Ron Powers
In February 1945, American Marines plunged into the surf at Iwo Jima—and into history. Through a hail of machine-gun and mortar fire that left the beaches strewn with comrades, they battled to the island’s highest peak. And after climbing through a landscape of hell itself, they raised a flag.
Now the son of one of the flagraisers has written a powerful account of six very different young men who came together in a moment that will live forever.

THE GOOD SOLDIERS By David Finkel

It was the last-chance moment of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. He called it the surge. “Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences,” he told a skeptical nation. Among those listening were the young, optimistic army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers. About to head to a vicious area of Baghdad, they decided the difference would be them.

UNBROKEN: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.

ELEPHANT COMPANY: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II by Vicki Constantine Croke

Billy Williams came to colonial Burma in 1920, fresh from service in World War I, to a job as a “forest man” for a British teak company. Mesmerized by the intelligence, character, and even humor of the great animals who hauled logs through the remote jungles, he became a gifted “elephant wallah.”  
When Imperial Japanese forces invaded Burma in 1942, Williams joined the elite Force 136, the British dirty tricks department, operating behind enemy lines. …In a Hollywood-worthy climax, Elephant Company, cornered by the enemy, attempted a desperate escape: a risky trek over the mountainous border to India, with a bedraggled group of refugees in tow. Elephant Bill’s exploits would earn him top military honors and the praise of famed Field Marshal Sir William Slim.

People, I challenge you to read at least one of these books. Use your hard-earned American freedom to read whatever you want! I’ve read Unbroken already. It was not an easy read and because of that, I still cannot watch the Unbroken movie. I’m going to start at the top of this list and read Flyboys next. My dad was an Air Force man and my son-in-law still is.

Until next time,

Thank A Veteran.

~Nadine

Book Review: The Red Thread by Ann Hood

Last week I talked about how life events show up in my writing, and how I like watching for the unusual or quirky behaviors in people because these are the things that make a character believable. Makes them imperfect. Makes them come to life.

Then, I found a novel with a title that hits directly at the heart of my novel. I HAD to read that book!

Courtesy of Google Images

The Red Thread, by Ann Hood was written in 2010. It is a story of six American couples, each who want to adopt a baby girl from China. It’s also the story of six Chinese parents who, because of China’s One Child Family Planning Law, are forced to give up their baby girls.

The six American couples have complicated and sometimes overwhelming ordeals in their quest to build a family.  But the Chinese mothers’ stories just broke my heart.

**Spoiler Alert!**

Courtesy of Google Images

One young mother tried to keep her child hidden from the community because she already had a nine year old daughter. She would have been able to keep the second child had it been a son. (This part of the story is not fiction, but LAW!) She was tricked into helping another family member and left the sleeping baby unattended for a moment. Her husband when in the bedroom and took the baby away.

A teenage girl got pregnant and her boyfriend took off when he found out. When the baby girl was born, the teen had to sneak to the park with her newborn and abandon it there- hoping that she would be found before it was too late.

Courtesy of Google Images

Another mother had twins. Like the mom with a second child, she could have kept both if one had been a boy and one a girl, but since both twins were girls, she had to make a decision on which one to keep and which one to let go. (Talk about Sophie’s Choice!)

There are three more stories like this, each one devastating.

The American parents have their own regrets and pasts to work through in order to adopt a baby from China. It’s a soul wrenching story that, I believe, people who have never experienced adoption could completely understand. This story gives us a glimpse of that emotional upheaval.

The epilogue is eloquent torture. Ann Hood puts the words together in emotional beauty and my only regret in this story is that it seemed to end fairly abruptly.

Courtesy of Google Images

I wished I could have known more about why some of the characters made the decisions that they made. Did Sophie ever forgive Theo, and why is she staying with him? Nell, a powerful business woman, does everything she can to have a baby. Why did she think she needed a baby in her life anyway, and why did she realize she was making a big mistake only after she was on the flight to China? Did Maya ever forgive herself? Could she trust herself with a child?

I guess a good story gives you food for thought, huh?

Courtesy of Google Images

In the acknowledgements Ann Hood shares with us that she lost a baby daughter and that she and her family went through the adoption process for a baby girl from China. This fact blew me away! I don’t know how this woman, this mother, this author-lady could even write a story like this! She’s a super hero in my book.

Courtesy of Google Images

Ann Hood has written several adult novels, her newest, The Book That Matters Most, released in August 2016, is getting good reviews. I know that I’ll be reading it, along with all her others.

I send my love to all adoptive families. And to my favorite “baby”, David, I’m so blessed to have you in my life.

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself.

~Nadine

 P.S. In 2015, China relaxed its thirty year old One Child law, allowing families to have two children of either/both sexes.  However,in my opinion, I think a statewide tradition (especially in China) would be very hard to break.