Rock your reading world

I am a creature of habit. I like to get up at the same time. Eat the same things. It’s easier. Routine is important to me.

However, if you never deviate from your routine, life can get a bit stale. Every so often, you need to shake things up, do things differently. It keeps your mind fresh and energizes your life.

I tend to read similar books. In my own defense, I do buy romance professionally and I read a great deal of that genre for review. It’s easy and I like it. I also read quite a bit of YA professionally as well. YA is fun because the story moves along quickly and tends to be character driven. Romance, YA, rereading favorite books – in my busy workaday world these are my comforting habits.

But every once in a while, I mix it up. I choose something outside of my usual habits and it is a revelation.

Recently I read two books that are completely outside my normal zone. Mecha Samurai Empire by Peter Tieryas and State of Wonder by Ann Patchett.

Mecha Samurai Empire was the first book I was auto-approved for on NetGalley. I was so excited that I accidently downloaded it before I realized what that meant. And of course, since I downloaded I felt I had to read and review it.

Mecha Samauri Empire by Peter Tieryas

As a librarian, I always encourage people to take chances with their reading. Mecha Samauri Empire was definitely a step out of my comfort zone. And while it was not a typical read for me it was an adventurous and surprisingly thoughtful novel. This novel is a sequel to Tierya’s novel, United States of Japan but can be easily read as a standalone.

Makoto Fujimoto grows up a war orphan in California and dreams of becoming a mecha pilot. But with no parents to speak for him, no connections and a lackluster scholastic performance, his chance of success seems slim.

When a series of events sets Mac on a course to achieve his dreams, he has to consider if his dreams are worth the cost.

This alternate history novel supposes that Japan and Germany won World War II and established territories in the United States. While Germany occupies the Eastern half of the US, Japan rules most of the West. An uneasy truce exists between these super powers and society is organized around military might and sophisticated weaponry. Specifically the giant Mecha and Biomech fighting machines.

The pace of the book was a bit choppy punctuated by periods of intense action and battle mayhem with slower periods of suspense and philosophical musings. There is a strong message of the futility and waste of war and that politicians and military leaders aren’t concerned about the individuals.

The battle scenes were well choreographed and exciting but at times I felt like I was watching a cross between Transformers and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Gaming references abound. And lots and lots of references to Asian foods that I found a bit odd in an action novel. I think this is somewhat of a niche read but has enough action to entice a variety of SF readers. 3 stars.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My library has a book club that meets six times per year so that means each staff member takes a turn and leads a discussion once annually. September is my month and the book I chose was Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder. I picked it because it sounded so interesting. I’ve read Patchett before and she is a lovely, literate writer who tells a good story.

State of Wonder was a bit of a challenge and required a good bit of patience. The novel had a very slow start and I was wondering when anything of significance would occur. But suddenly, in the last 150 pages all the action comes to a rushing and dramatic conclusion and everything alluded to in the first half of the novel makes sense.

Marina Singh is a talented pharmacological researcher. When news that her colleague, Anders Eckman has died while on assignment in the Amazon, she feels she owes it to his wife to go and find out what happens. She begins a long, frustrating journey and discovers things about herself and the research being conducted that she never imagined.

Even with the slow beginning, the novel is beautifully written—thrilling and poignant. I feel a novel is worthwhile when it causes me to stop and ponder, I find lots of phrases that resonate with me and if I cry. State of Wonder succeeded with all three.

Here are some favorite quotes:

“Hope is a horrible thing, you know.  I don’t know who decided to package hope as a virtue because it’s not. It’s a plague. Hope is like walking around with a fishhook in your mouth and somebody just keeps pulling it out and pulling it out.” 

“Questions are for the benefit of every student, not just the one raising his hand. If you don’t have the starch to stand up in class and admit what you don’t understand, then I don’t have the time to explain it to you.”

“He used to say we all had a compass inside of us and what we needed to do was to find it and to follow it.”

“Never be so focused on what you’re looking for that you overlook the thing you actually find.”

 “Rushing is the greatest mistake.”

I highly recommend this one. You won’t regret it.

State of Wonder with notes. It's always a good idea to not write in library books. It'll take me an hour to peel off all those post it notes!