All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

Another novel that has been on my to-be-read list for a very long time.  So much so that now it's out in paperback, and I fully expected to read it while it was in hardcover. Thankfully, Penguin/Random House reached out and asked me to review it as it came out in paperback with new cover art.  

What to say about this novel.  It's so much packed into one epic adventure, and would appeal to anyone with a science background, someone with a love for alternate worlds, or anyone who just wants to read about a man who reinvents himself into a better human being.  That ever elusive time travel question--if we could ever do it, should we?

I've got to admit, it took me a few weeks to read this novel. I had a hard time getting into the first part, where Tom Barren talks about life in a 2016 that is vastly different in terms of technology, but people are pretty much the same.  Tom is a bit of a loser, and not because he didn't ever have chances to make something of his life.  He blames his father, a brilliant scientist, on most of his feelings of worthlessness, and the death of his mother in a crazy accident sets in motion changes that will literally change Tom's world.  Our world.  The future. 

Basically, Tom's father Victor creates a time machine, and Tom is a back up to the number one chrononaut, Penelope.  She's being trained to go back to July 11, 1965, to the exact moment Lionel Goettreider creates a source of energy that ends up changing the world.  A world that Tom lives in, where energy is clean and plentiful, there is no war, everyone has plenty of everything, and everything revolves around being entertained. It's a world where Kurt Vonnegut is embraced as a beloved philosopher. A world where clothing trends are minutes long, not months long. It's a world where books don't exist, because stories are created with your desires, fears, and the outcomes you want--they become personal to each person.  Ugh.  I can't imagine how horrible that would be!  

Tom being Tom, he mucks up the unveiling of the time travel machine big time, and finds himself in 2016, but our 2016.  It's more of a parallel time than going back in time.  He has the same parents, but this time his father is a professor of physics who takes a back seat to Tom's mother, a professor of literature who has become well known in academia.  And he has a sister, Greta, that didn't exist in his 2016.  And Penelope, the woman he fell for, is actually Penny, who owns a bookstore and is kind of like his Penelope, but in all the best ways nothing like Penelope. Follow me?  All of this hinges on what happens the moment Lionel flips the switch on his engine in a laboratory in San Francisco in 1965.  

There's a lot of complex science "stuff" in this novel, and I valiantly tried to follow, but without success.  Enough to understand, and enough to know my brother Dan the scientist would get a kick out of this story. Tom's evolution from a ne'er-do-well to a man who has to make the right choices and save the world is an entertaining one, and I enjoyed reading his journey, and I really loved the supporting characters:  Penny, Victor, Greta, Lionel.  And I'm happy to say I loved the ending, because after all that adventure, Tom deserved a happy conclusion. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.  It's not something I would normally read, and I think if I hadn't had the chance to read the paperback, it would have remained on my TBR list for a long time.  I owe a big thanks to Penguin/Random House for sending me a review copy, and changing the trajectory of my reading this year.  I'm fascinated by time travel, and all the ripple effects that could happen if it ever does (or maybe it does?) exist and become something we can actually do. If we could change the past, should we? 

Rating:  4/6 for a delightfully complex novel about time travel, love, family, choices, and finding yourself. Anyone with a science background or a love of science would enjoy this, and I imagine a group of time travel fans having an endless discussion about the possibility of time travel after reading this novel. 

Available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audio. 

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All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

March Reads and the Sad Tale of My Check-Outs from the Library

I have to confess I didn't have a library card until about 6 years ago.  Never in my life did I have a library card, and I didn't go to public libraries.  Most of that reason lies in where I grew up, out in the country in Iowa.  We lived just over the county line, and that meant I couldn't have a library card for the city where my parents worked (plus it was 15 miles away).  My parents had a lot of kids, so random trips into town didn't happen very often. We were also about 20 miles away from the next biggest town, in the county where I lived.  We never went there, so that wasn't an option. I never asked to go to the library, and my parents never offered to take me.  None of my siblings seemed interested, either. 

I did live for library day at my elementary school, and when I went to high school, we had a decent library, but I don't remember checking too much out.  Mostly we sat there and giggled until the librarian told us to be quiet. So while I somehow developed a love for books that pretty much has eclipsed any other potential hobby or interest, I just didn't do libraries.  I spent most of my adult life working at a bookstore, and heck, I bought all my books. So the fact that I'm a librarian is not because of ever going to a library as a kid. I think it naturally developed from not only my love of reading and talking about books, but my retail years where I helped people find what they needed, and felt pretty good when I did and they returned for more recommendations.  I know the power books have to change lives, because they changed my life.  

All this long story is just to tell you that I'm a bit overzealous in my library checkouts.  I like to think I've got plenty of time to read them all--after all, I have them for three weeks. But no.  I've got Sing, Unburied, Sing sitting on my coffee table, and it's due in two days.  I've read approximately 45 pages, and darn it all, someone else is waiting for it.  Now I've got to return it and put myself back on the list. While I was shelving new fiction yesterday, I stumbled across a book and ohmygodIhavetocheckthisouttoday.  I've done that approximately 4 times in the past two weeks.  I'm in a bit of a pickle! I'm sure we all have this problem with library books, right?  I don't know how people function reading just one book at a time.  What discipline!

March is rapidly approaching, and while it's 70 in Iowa today, we'll be back down in the 30's in a few days. The usual weather pattern here.  But it reminds me that Spring is getting closer, and I'll have to spend time outside taking care of my yard.  That means less time to read. I'm in the minority when I say that Winter flew by.  

Here's what I've got planned for March.  I've got a few other titles that I'll be reading, and they'll show up in my reviews.  But in the meantime...

Time travel by a well known British historian.  I'm itching to read this!

Publisher review of a book I've been wanting to read for awhile. Now out in paperback.  Alternate realities and time machines.  

A memoir about a couple that goes bankrupt and starts over in a cabin in the backwoods of North Carolina.

An intriguing tale set in 1910 America.  Not sure what to expect. 

Here's to March, warmer weather, birds singing in the morning, and driving home from work with the sun still up.  

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March Reads and the Sad Tale of My Check-Outs from the Library

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes: My Wow Book of the Year

Just so you know, I will be using profanity in this review because this novel was so disturbing on so many levels that Holy Shit! it is unforgettable.

Here's the gist of the novel:  a man, Harper, is a serial killer.  But let's not stop there.  Harper will pretty much kill anyone who looks at him wrong.  He keeps his special knife skills for the "shining girls", women who somehow have a life force that is so strong he has to kill them to make himself feel better.  Oh--and he gets excited killing them, too.

This story isn't your typical serial killer novel.  Oh no.  What kicks it up into another realm is the added bonus of time travel.  Yep.  Harper is a grown man in 1932 Chicago; one night he's fleeing a mob (cause of course he killed a man) and finds himself entering a derelict home in a dicey Chicago neighborhood.  On the outside, it looks abandoned.  But on the inside, it's a lovely, cozy home complete with a burning fireplace and a decanter of whiskey waiting on a side table.  He also finds out that in an upstairs bedroom someone has collected little "trinkets" from victims--all whom are listed in chalk on the wall.  He knows the house wants him to kill these women, and he has no problem doing just that.  When he leaves the house, he enters another time--up to 60 years in the future.  And Harper can kill without worry, since he simply slips back into the house and into another time.  All of his victims are heartbreaking parts of the story.  

Except Kirby.  She's the only one who survived.  She was attacked in 1989 and survived--barely.  I can't tell you her experience, since a lot revolves around it. Move forward to 1993, and she is a college journalism student determined to find out who attacked her and why.  She knows this man is a serial killer, but lacks the evidence to prove it.  And of course she has no idea he travels through time, and has been killing women for the past 60 years.  Freaky, right?  

Reading this novel is disturbing on many levels, but the writing is so good you can't help but keep reading it.  And then you love Kirby, cause she is a kick-ass survivor and she's pissed.  Harper is possibly the most horrible character I've read about in years and he has no redeeming characteristics.  He kills because he likes to.  No other reason.  

So how can this end?  You think I'll tell you here?  Hell no!  You must read this novel.  There are some graphic parts that will make you uncomfortable and so angry at Harper that this will fuel you through the novel.  You want Kirby to find him and punish him for all the women he's murdered through time.  Jackass. 

Read it!  It really is very very good.  I've had a friend read it, and when I talked about it in my reading group he jumped up and down and couldn't wait to share his feelings on this novel.  It will certainly move you--there's no way you can remain unemotional about this story.

Rating:  9/10 for superb story telling, a completely horrible character who makes Jack the Ripper look friendly, and a twist on the usual serial killer story.

Available in hardcover, e-book, and audio.  So you have no excuse not to read it!

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The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes: My Wow Book of the Year

The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway

After reading The Rook last year (my favorite book of 2012) I was pretty sure I wouldn't find another book quite as entertaining this year; it's hard to find a good blending of sci-fi, humor, and fantasy lately.  

But lo and behold, I found it in The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway.  This book takes all the things I love about a few different genres and puts them together in one story.  And for a first time author, I am pretty impressed!

I don't want to give a lot away, so I'll give you a brief overview of the plot:  Lord Nicholas Falcott is fighting in Spain in 1812 during the Napoleonic Wars.  Just as he's about to be killed, he finds himself lying in a strange room with a man telling him he's now in 2003 and has "jumped" through time.  

Move ahead ten years. He's now  Nick Davenant, it's 2013, he lives in Vermont, is incredibly wealthy, and part of the Guild.  The Guild is a group of people who can move through time--jump into the 'river'.  They help others who jump, giving them money to live on, acclimate them to their new lives, and have a few rules:  you can never go back to your place of origin, you can never go back in time.  For Nick, that means he can never go back to England.  

Until he gets a letter from the Guild.  

The letter says "catch a plane to England NOW."

So Nick's adventure begins.  He finds out that yes, you can jump back in time, and he's being recruited to jump back to 1815 in order to find out who is manipulating the future--with dire consequences.  He returns to find Julia Percy, his neighbor--and the one vision he has kept to himself from his old life.  They reconnect, and the passion is white hot from the first moment they meet again.  

But Julia has a secret of her own, and her secret is part of why Nick has returned.  Can he save her from those who are searching for her?  Can she learn to protect herself before others can harm her?  

There is a lot to this story.  Romance, of course; action, adventure, and time travel.  But there is also the struggle Nick has of returning to a life he thought was long gone, and people he has mourned as long dead.  Now suddenly they are there, fully alive, and he's mysteriously returned from Spain after being presumed dead in battle.  His conflicted feelings at returning to his old life as the Marquess of Blackdown and his new life as a modern man  in 2013 give a depth to the character that could have easily been left out--but it would have left a lack of empathy for Nick's character.  But in keeping this inner conflict a part of Nick's return to 1815 he is definitely a fully sketched character you root for all through the story.  And his love for Julia is quite lovely--deep and lasting over two centuries.  Nick's sisters are great additions to the storyline and pull Julia into the family circle, which moves the plot along.  

I certainly enjoyed this novel.  What a nice change of pace from the usual historical novels.  This has a great twist, memorable characters, and an ending that leaves you hoping for more.  There's a lot of questions left unanswered about  the Guild, the future, and where Nick and Julia will end up--in 1815 or in 2013.  I could definitely see this as a trilogy.

Rating:  7/10 Great idea and mix of genres.  Nick is a well drawn character; you can sympathize, laugh, and cheer him on in this novel.  And Julia's growth from a clueless young lady to a tough cookie is also part of what makes this  a great story.

Available in hardcover and ebook.

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The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway