Dec to Jan: Diana's Book Reviews
By Diana S.
January 31, 2022
The Last Noel by Heather Graham
It's Christmas night and a blizzard is howling outside of the window of the vacation home of the O'Boyle's. A knock on the door interrupts the lovely night. The two people who walk through the door aren't your usual passerby, aside from the fact that they are practically in the middle of nowhere during a blizzard that's been going on for hours. They're cold-blooded killers, and only two things are stopping them from immediately murdering the happy family: Craig, the third criminal currently tied up in their jeep, and that Scooter, one of the criminals, wants a Real Christmas Dinner™.
Read this captivating story, find out who gets shot at the end.
The Martian by Andy Weir
Mark wakes up to find himself half-buried in a dune… On Mars. He’s an astronaut who was left stranded on the planet after a sandstorm caused the other astronauts to evacuate, while the rest of the world thinks he’s dead. But Mark won't give up.
The Martian isn't one of those science fiction stories where magic is crossed out and "science" is scrawled over it. This is Real Science Fiction, where everything works in Kerbal Space Program (jk, I haven't checked). I listened to the audiobook version, and man, I wished we'd never gotten to our destination so I could continue listening. This book is pretty famous, so if you've heard about it, congratulations. If you've read it, here's another book written by the same author: Project Hail Mary (another amazing book).
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (Series)
Once upon a time I had thought I had read all the books on my bookshelf, besides the boring dictionaries, cookbooks, and other "grown-up books" (I was maybe eight). Recently, my mom had begun to tell me a story about an orphan girl who always smiled and had red hair, and who was adopted by an elderly couple. During the drive from the orphanage to her new home, she (and her new dad, who is currently a bit dizzied by the rush of words coming from the child) pass under a tunnel of trees, their large canopies creating the aforementioned "green gables". I remembered this story and asked my mother where I could find the books. So she handed to me a tome: the first three books of Anne of Green Gables combined.
As usual, I was not able to stop reading. The sunshiney spirit of the main character made the world seem like it was really made of rainbows and candy, and of course, it was so much easier than doing schoolwork or other stuff.
This book is a classic because it is absolutely amazing, and not because it's heartbreakingly sad (okay, it sometimes is) or the language sounds like Greek or Shakespeare. This is not a book "everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read". This is something that I have reread at least three times. Absolutely fantastic.
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Everyone's heard of George Orwell's 1984. Who hasn't? Animal Farm is another classic, this time focused on the notion of communism. The story begins with a farm. An ordinary farm. Yet here the smart pigs have finally figured out a way to take over the farm, making their owners flee, and setting an example to the rest of the animals all over the world. Yet things start to go wrong, one by one, and the only animals to realize it are all too afraid to step up and say something. I mean, what if they're wrong? What if the dangers lurking outside are real? What if the farmers are going to come back?
Written during the rise of the Soviet Union, this book was a call for the people to realize what the country was doing. (According to legend, Stalin ignored the whole matter).
Rationality: From AI to Zombies by Eliezer Yudkowski
You've heard of philosophy textbooks like Plato's Republic, Thomas Paine's Common Sense, Sun Tzu's Art of War. But these all describe philosophies of the past. I present to you: Rationality, the philosophy used by the people in this place and time.
Rationality: From AI to Zombies is a series of texts and speeches written by AI Researcher Eliezer Yudkowsky. Examples of chapter titles: "How to Actually Change Your Mind" and "The Lens That Sees Its Flaws.”
See how you can change the way you see the world today (well, not today. I have not met a single person who has read this thing in only a day).
This feels like a commercial for a reason. Well, this book is definitely worth your time, not like Tropical™ Sun Juice or the millions of video games advertised. (Look, I've read it twice)
Rationality: From A to Z has taught me some life algorithms that I use daily. It's almost a self-help book that concentrates on making one stronger and open to new things, widening your views and talks about many things from Psychology to Math.
The Long Earth by Stephen Baxter and Terry Pratchett (Series)
There's only one Earth, right? Even though we've looked at the closest stars, not a single planet shows any sign of life. What if… what if the next world was just a step away?
With the invention of the Stepper Box, sent out anonymously across the Internet, millions of kids worldwide had been found building this curious contraption, powered by a… potato. Immediately, parents freaked out, finding that their kids had disappeared into thin air. But the missing children had found themselves in a world that looks just like theirs… without the cities and people. Instead, the Earth is covered with nature. With this discovery, whole families strike out either East or West, into both directions of the Long Earth, going back to the pioneering days of when America was being colonized. But the further you go, the stranger the worlds become…
This book caught me and didn't let go. I read all five of the books in around three days, because I just had to know what came next. The story might seem slow at first, but beginning at around half the book in, all you can do is tune out the world and flip the pages.
The Black Hole War by Leonard Susskind
Stephen Hawking died on March 14, 2018. That date marked the end of the Black Hole War, waged between him and his friend, Leonard Susskind. This book tells the history of this war, along with a lot of quantum physics and astrophysics.
The Black Hole War was an intellectual fight (if only all wars were like this), where both scientists try to figure out how black holes work. History, Physics, and life stories are brought together in one book, learn more than you did by reading You Must Be Joking, Mr. Feynman, and become the local expert on black holes, or at least the opinions of these two scientists on them.
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau (Series)
The people of Ember live in a city of darkness. The generator that powers the whole city is slowly breaking, and nobody even knows how to fix it since the Builders left. Beyond the trash heaps stretches impenetrable darkness. And Lina and Doon are going to fix everything. I mean, how hard could it be? But with a disease attacking the crops and seemingly endless store-rooms running out of supplies, their time is limited. And then… A box opens up. A sheet of paper flies out.
This fast-paced story about a city that isn't understanding how dire the circumstances are teaches us that while problems don't always come our way, we always have to be ready to realize there is a problem, and only then begin to fix them.
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
"The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone…" But she was never troubled, and in her wood, it was always spring. But one day, she begins to wonder about the world outside the wood, and about the other unicorns. For she was the last one, wasn't she? So the unicorn leaves the wood and goes to find the others. But instead of getting answers, she only gets more questions.
This book is akin to poetry. I know I've reread this book more times than I can count. Every time I do so, I see something more beautiful, another hidden message. It's this book that has influenced my writing style the most.
House at the Edge of Night by Catherine Banner
Imagine an island off the coast of Sicily. A small island by the name of Castellamare. A century of history is recounted in this book, and everything changes but the House at the Edge of Night. World War II comes and goes, people die and people are born, but the House at the Edge of Night stands tall.
A moving story with relatable characters that capture your feelings, I could not believe it when the book ended. It felt like I'd been immersed in the story for weeks on end. Every new development is one that could happen to someone in real life - love, voting, a stranger who washes onto the shore at night. Real life with a magical tint is one way to describe this book. The characters feeling like real people is another.