So Many Books

I've made a terrible mistake. Apparently I haven't reviewed any books that I've read for nearly 3 months. I guess I've been busy with unemployment and stuff. So I'm 11 books and 4,820 pages behind, not counting the two books I'm currently in the middle of. Let's see if I still remember what all these books are about . . . .

Old Man's War by John Scalzi
The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
The Last Colony by John Scalzi
Hooray, a trilogy! Look at all this progress so far. This is a sci-fi story set in the somewhat distant future of Earth. Earth is still around and doing ok, but there are a number of colonies out there. There are two ways to get to the colonies. People from some developing nations can get one way tickets as colonists, and people from developed nations can volunteer for military service ... but not until the age of 75. What good are a bunch of old people marines? No good at all, but this is the future, where we can fix up your old and busted body - though we're a little vague on how that works. And that is about the extent of the information the main character, John, has when he decides to sign up for the military. You'll be shocked to find out that John is shocked to find out that life in the space marines (my name for it) is not at all what was expected. On the surface, this is "Ender's Game but with Old People" but it manages to create an interesting universe and fill it with interesting characters.

The next two books follow the universe that Scalzi created, not necessarily the characters in the first book. Some of them still play prominent roles, but John certainly isn't the protagonist of the second book. (But has a bigger role in the third book.) I think this is a nice little feature, because its frankly a little ridiculous when so many series have one main character who is miraculously present for every important event ever. Also, in looking this up on wikipedia to check on the spelling of Scalzi's name, I see there are three more books in the series. I'll tentatively add them to my list, though they aren't getting priority status.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
It takes a long time to read these books aloud to your kids. My vocal chords are glad we're finally done, but I miss the nightly reading time. Somewhere in book 5 or 6, I started the tradition of finding a silly way for Harry to die in every single chapter - long before I realized what sort of confusion I was potentially setting them up for by the end of book seven. It didn't really play out like I thought - it looks like our years of telling the girls that everything will turn out alright at the end of the book/movie has finally sunk in. Obviously an excellent book. Go read it to your kids.

Grandma Gatewood's Walk by Ben Montgomery
One day a sixty-something year old grandma from Ohio threw a denim bag over her shoulder (that she had made herself) and decided to go for a walk along the 2,100+ mile Appalachian Trail. She traveled alone, stopped at strangers homes to ask if she could sleep for the night, and foraged for food when she didn't have any better options. She was a month or so into her trip before she even bothered to write to her kids to tell them where she had gone. Emma Gatewood, at the age of 67 was the first woman to hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail. A few years later, she did it again. And then a third time (in sections) for good measure. Somewhere in there she decided to walk the Oregon Trail, too. (And I can't keep up on a blog of the books I read.) This was an excellent book about a lady who thought "it would be a nice lark" to hike the AT, and didn't see any reason why she couldn't do it.

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
The title of this book is redundant, because all librarians are evil. They just don't want you to know it. They secretly rule the world, and withhold information, like the fact that dinosaurs aren't extinct (also they aren't as large as you think and they speak with a British accent) and that there are whole continents that don't show up on the maps that the librarians publish. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Alcatraz Smedry is your standard 13 year old foster kid who is always getting into trouble until the day that his grandfather (who he's never met) shows up and tells him that he is Not What He Seems™. You know how these books go: his parents were important people, and he is needed in the resistance against the evil librarians. Also, as a part of the Smedry family, he has special powers. Alcatraz has the ability to break things. His grandfather, Leavenworth, has a talent for showing up late to things. Other impressive Smedry talents include Falling Down, Speaking Gibberish that No One Can Understand, and Spilling Unbelievable Amounts of Water. This is a YA book which is not, in my opinion, as good as Sanderson's usual work, but could be fun for someone in the 10-13 age range that wants a somewhat silly adventure. Apparently there are 5 or 6 books in the series now, though I've only read the first one.