Review of There Goes the Galaxy by Jenn Thorson

I have read thousands of sf novels. This is a great example of absurdist sf, much like Hitchhikers in tone and language, but I can assure you there is only one towel on one page. There is, however, a significant soap on a rope. And our hero, Bertram,and his ex, Rozz, are not merely pinging around the universe, victims of the paddles of fate, but are actively working to save themselves and the Earth.
My favorite scene is when the non-organic rights march is joined by life for tryfe march, engineered by Bertram by offering food for marchers, and then the march turns into a 5,000 member OWS riot. The interview of the compost pile was priceless.
I highly recommend this novel, and I will buy the sequel when it comes out.

Review of Finding Angel by Kat Heckenback

Seven years before the book opens, Angel was discovered wandering alone in a forest with the locket that gave her her name. She cannot remember her past, and no one claimed her, so she is growing up in a foster home with one of the sweetest little foster brothers you can imagine. Her little brother finds a black and silver beetle that sings and matches the diagram on Angel's locket. Her search to identify the beetle that does not exist on our Earth ends up propelling her into the fairie world she came from and fighting an evil that is blighting that world.
I was prepared to not like this book and add it to the Why bother finishing? sack that goes to the used bookstore; but the story sucked me in with good writing, likable characters, and magic with a twist. If you like fantasy at all, I think you will like this book.

Review of The Bars That Once Condemned Me by Stephanie Buslach

Stephanie Buslach is a member of our church, Imago Dei Vancouver or House of Providence.
The subtitle of the slim book is A Testimony About the Spiritual Implications of Depression. She wrote the book because none of the books she was given while she was hospitalized with depression addressed what she thought was most important: the lies that depression told her about herself. That is always a good reason to write a book. She works with troubled teens. And this is the perfect book to give to a teenage girl suffering from depression. Stephanie shows incredible bravery by baring some of the bad decisions she made and quoting from her diary during depressed times. She shares what God says about us versus what depression tells us.
I think this would make a great youth group book study.

new granddaughter

Tonight Best Beloved is flying home from a week-end visit in Cleveland to visit our four-year old granddaughter and brand new granddaughter. I am lying in bed. Ah-CHOO!

Review of Oxygen by John Olson and Randy Ingermanson

This is a book that will make your days drowsy as you cannot go to sleep while you keep turning just one more page. Well researched by people who understand the science and give you true tech-speech instead of bafflegab. This reprint by Marcher Lord Press includes bonus appendices that are fun to read and instructional. If you like thrillers, you will like this book.

Review of Conundrum by C.S. Lakin

Wow! What an intelligent and literate book. Because of it I now understand a certain line in a certain poem I could not get before. But what I just said should not make you afraid of the book. The real subject is how real love works. The book opens with Lis meditating on conundrums and whether or not the truth truly sets you free as she goes to visit her brother in the mental ward.
After the pain-filled visit, Lis begins to ask questions about things she was always afraid to delve into. When answers come, her whole world shakes, and her narcissistic mother attempts to destroy her before she finds out the rest of the story.
The writing is beautiful, and the motifs and resolution and discoveries are excellent and satisfying. One of the best books I've read this year.

Review of Ultraviolet by R. J. Anderson

I was not prepared to like Ultraviolet. Most stories about teen-age girls bug the snot out of me. And there is some creepy romance in it. Even if I liked romance, I would have found it creepy. But I ENJOYED this book. Here a girl with the worst (or best?) case of synesthesia I have ever seen (which makes it one truly colorful book) who wakes up in a mental hospital. She is so traumatized she can't remember why she is there. She collects cues and memories until she remembers that she murdered somebody with her mind! And then, and then, oh my goodness, where the story goes then. This is a page turner as a girl discovers not only what makes her tick, and her family tick, but also a few things about the universe and how perceptions can flip with some knowledge. This is one cool book.