Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

This is a guest post
by Jessica Kirby

Snowman—lover to Oryx, friend to Crake, monster-god to a manufactured tribe—sleeps covered in a mangled bedsheet at the top of a tree. In his waking hours he reveals his unremarkable self by fantasizing about long-lost women, devising ways to trick fish from the natives, and pissing on the crickets. His narration of Margaret Atwood's 2003 tale, Oryx and Crake, is a twisted version of his otherwise mundane reality in a futuristic world of people with citrus-flavoured pheromones living in aristocratic, bubbled communities.

Word Nerd by Susin Nielsen

This is a guest post
by Cheryl Hannah

Twelve-year-old Ambrose is a misfit. He has a life-threatening peanut allergy, a knack for Scrabble, and an overprotective mum. She “was this close to being a normal mom,” but then his dad died. While Ambrose understands why she worries he might lift up the toilet seat, “fall in, and drown,” and understands why she makes him watch the Stranger Danger video “twenty thousand times,” and understands why she pulled him from public school to enrol him in correspondence school, he’s desperate to find a friend.

Ambrose and his mom live in Kitsilano, in the basement apartment of a nice old Greek couple, the Economopouloses. It’s right on the bus route to UBC, where Ambrose’s mum works as a sessional lecturer. Then, one day, the Economopouloses’ son Cosmo shows up on the doorstep, fresh out of jail …

Pacific Edge by Kim Stanley Robinson

This is a guest post
by Fraser Hannah

Why do so many people love science fiction so passionately? I read it more than every other kind of book combined, and this may be the first time I've wondered why. I think it's because I like looking at different worlds and societies, and seeing how we still bring out our eternal themes and stories. Even in the dark empty reaches of hyperspace, I like to think, there will still be evil to fight, people to fall in love with, and personal quests to follow. And Pacific Edge is a science fiction novel, in just this sense.

It's a novel about an admirable future Earth (well, California, anyway) where huge global corporations have been painfully eliminated, and humanity has once again realised the importance of building ecological, healthy homes in towns that respect and support the environment. A new social structure has emerged (well, obviously) and technology has been repurposed to reclaim the environment, a little at a time.

Swirls book trailer

I have another book trailer for you, to get you all excited for my upcoming review. By "upcoming" I mean sometime within the next two months. Not soon enough for you? Well, that's just the way it goes; we can't all get through three books in a week. Unless you want to take some of the work off my plate? Didn't think so.

Oh, and you can find the author, F. A. Hershey's, blog here.

Reamde by Neal Stephenson

This is a guest post
by Eva van Emden

Fans who found the Baroque Cycle and Anathem heavy going will be happy to hear that with Reamde, Neal Stephenson returns to the action-packed techno-thriller style of Cryptonomicon and Zodiac.

The biggest problem that Richard Forthrast, mega-rich owner of the only multiplayer game T'Rain, has to deal with is coddling the egos of his content writers. But the game is turned upside down when a virus called Reamde starts to encrypt the files of thousands of T'Rain users, demanding a ransom paid within the game; a full-scale war breaks out as bandits flock to rob the victims of their game gold. When a T'Rain player accidentally encrypts some files belonging to the Russian mafia, the consequences spread across the ocean to China and involve MI5, the CIA, a group of Islamic terrorists, and Richard Forthrast's own family.

Suggested book for November, 2011

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman 

Genre: young adult fantasy

Philip Pullman's theological subtext is subtle and compelling in this all-ages adventure. The Golden Compass is the story of Lyra Belacqua, a spirited child of eleven, who is drawn into a dangerous contest of wills when her best friend is kidnapped by Gobblers. Experience the world of Jordan College, Bolvangar, and Svalbard as Lyra travels with Gyptians, an armored bear, and an aeronaut on a journey to save her friend and discover the nature of Dust.

View my suggested books by Philip Pullman

The Golden Compass

Navigating the Journey

**Update
Ginny Jacques has launched her website. Here is the link.

                                                                                                                                                                  
I've decided my blog needs more stuff. Content is king, as they say.

So, I'm going to give you the scoop on the books I'm reading before I review them, a little before-and-after.

Starting with Zinovy's Journey, by Ginny Jaques. Here is the author's book trailer. I hope to have the link to her site up soon, too.

I realize I've said that I'm going to give you information on the book before I review it, but I have to stress the words "give you." I plan to make information on the books I review available for interested parties, but I don't plan on reading it myself, if I can avoid it, until after I'm done reviewing. I find that reading the reviews of others inevitably impacts my own. 

So, please enjoy my first video content ever.

Treespeaker by Katie W. Stewart

Jakan has a fulfilling life. He is a father and a husband, and more, he is Treespeaker to his people, the fifth tribe of Arrakesh. He interprets the will of Arrakesh, helping his people to thrive in their forest home. One day, a stranger named Beldror arrives from the outside. The villagers make him welcome, but Jakan senses that this visitor is hiding something dark. Jakan's worst fears are confirmed when Beldror uses his powers to turn the minds of the villagers against Jakan, even his own son, Dovan. Jakan is driven from the forest. It is up to Jakan to follow Arrakesh's last words of guidance in the hopes that he can wrest power back from Beldror before the Arrakeshi and their way of life are destroyed.

Suggested book for October, 2011

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

Genre: Science fiction

In a dystopian future populated by rakunks, pigoons, and the CorpSeCorps, mankind is nearly wiped out by "the waterless flood." Toby and Ren, former followers of Adam One and members of God's Gardeners are some of the few survivors; one locked in the quarantine room of a brothel, the other hiding in a high-end spa. Discover the world of Oryx and Crake from another perspective in The Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood.

View my suggested books by Margaret Atwood

The Year of the Flood

Memory by Linda Nagata

Jubilee is a rambunctious child in a dangerous world, but her childhood is cut short when her brother, Jolly, is taken by the silver. The silver is by nature unpredictable. Sometimes it creates, sometimes it destroys, but it is always deadly to the players it touches. That's why she's so disturbed when, just before being taken, her brother tells her that he called the silver. Years later, a stranger appears out of the silver looking for Jolly. But no one can survive in the silver, and Jolly was taken years before. Troubled by the questions this man raises, Jubilee sets out to discover the truth of her brother's disappearance.