The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton

Yep, still no picture because I read this book in one day, and am therefore still in Prague with the still not so good internet connection. However, if the fact that I read this book in a day (less than 24 hours actually) isn't enough to tell you how amazing it was, let me tell you, it was absolutely amazing! I have never read Michael Crichton before, but of course I have heard about him and seen his endless array of books at multiple book stores. I am so glad that this book was on this list - I NEVER would have thought to read it otherwise.

It starts with government officials looking for a satellite that they had sent out to space. It has landed in the small town of Piedmont, Arizona. Unfortunately, they are sure that the locals have already located the satellite and it is in one of the many homes in the city. And so, as they enter the main street, they encounter an amazingly odd thing. The street is full of people who are dead, just dead. There is no blood or anything. These two officials die almost immediately after entering the city.

The reason the satellite was sent out to space in the first place is because the government is afraid of the possibility that aliens could attack us with biological warfare. They could send a virus into the earth that we as humans are completely unexposed to and it would wipe us out near immediately. The satellite was supposed to collect extra-terrestrial viruses so we could study them and prevent this. (Un?)Fortunately, this satellite was successful. The citizens of Piedmont took it to the doctor when they found it, and he opened it, allowing the virus to spread throughout the city, killing the entire town almost instantly.

Well, the entire town but two people, an old man who suffers from multiple ailments and a young infant you has a clean bill of health. When the government began sending satellites into space for this purpose, they collected a group of 5 scientists who, if they found a virus, would be locked away in a completely sterile facility in order to study the virus. They would try to prevent any illness, if possible, or cure illness, if it had already infected anyone. Unfortunately, the citizens of Piedmont were incurable. If the virus didn't kill them, it got into their brain and caused them to go crazy and kill themselves.

Now these five scientists, members of Project Wildfire, are in this sterile environment. The virus is to be contained in boxes, the scientists using those cool glovey-thingies to study it, along with a wide array of instruments and computers. Along with them, the old man and the infant who survived the virus. They have no idea how this spreads, or how long it would take to spread beyond the city limits of Piedmont. If there is a malfunction, they could instantly die. If the disease spreads, others will instantly die. Will Project Wildfire save the nation, the world? Read it - really, read it - and find out!

There are many things I like that Mr. Crichton does in this book, besides the amazing plot. He has obviously done immense amounts of research. He has illustrations and facts and numbers that I don't understand for the life of me, but definitely make you feel like you are right there, locked underground, trying to solve this case for yourself.

This book easily earns FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS! Remember, this is purely personal opinion. I'm sure some super smart scientist could read this and find a number of problems and malfunctions, but for someone like me it was exciting, realistic, and suspenseful. I highly suggest everyone reads this!

Reading Next:: The Adventures of Augie March, by Saul Bellow

Hard Times, by Charles Dickens

First of all - no picture for this book right away because I am in Prague and the internet connection isn't quite good enough to search for and attach a photo. But - this book is interesting to say the least. Charles Dickens is an amazing writer, as I'm sure you all know, and has a very magical way with words. His sentences flow and her can use the most bizarre words and have them make complete sense. It is amazing. It made reading the book much more enjoyable, because if you love writing, you usually enjoy being able to appreciate someone who does such a fantastic job at it.

However, the plot is boring up until the very end of the book. Unfortunately, the beginning of the book is important to pay attention to, or else the end of the book is not entertaining. You see, these random fact and happenings that happened in the beginning of the book turn into a hilarious bout of literary irony in the last 70 pages. I slowly read through this book until the end, when everything FINALLY pulled together and made sense.

While reading the book, I often asked myself why Dickens had added this character when they disappeared so soon after he added them. Luckily, they all came back in the end to add to the irony, but you often had forgotten who everyone was by that point and so I'm positive that some of the humor was lost on my lack of short-term memory.

Another slight problem about this book that the end - while ironic and humorous - was COMPLETELY predictable. As soon as something happened you were sort of like, 'Oh, I totally bet that she will fall in love with him." or "It's so obvious that this guy robbed the bank." And then at the end, you got the satisfaction of knowing that you were right! Ego boost, yes. Enhancing the plot, no.

I usually like to give a slight summary of the plot here, but to be honest, I'm still not totally sure what I read. I know the book is about the terrible nature of our world changing into an industrialist style, and so at least it has a message that it carries out. However, the way it accomplishes this is confusing and anti-climatic. Perhaps this is to help enhance the idea of how terrible this sort of lifestyle would truly be.

All in all I give this book 1.5 STARS OUT OF A POSSIBLE 5. Fabulous writing style with an extended vocabulary and a humorous ending. However, the irony of the ending was completely predictable and the rest of the plot was too boring for this to help.

Reading Next: The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton

The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

In case you couldn't tell from how quickly this post came after my next one, this book was an amazingly easy read, and an absolutely fabulous novel! It takes us to a time that never happened, or at least that has not yet happened. We meet the narrator, who we never know as any name other than Offred. (Of Fred - showing she is under the possession of Fred). She, as all the women of the time, has been stripped of all her rights. She is not allowed to read, write, speak unless spoken to, or even look another person in the eye. Her job in life is to bear children. Once a month her Commander engages in the act of procreation with her, in hopes that she will become pregnant. The reason she is given this job is because the Commander's wife is old, and therefore infertile. There is no love involved in the act, it is purely for children.

Everyone has a job. Even if it is just to be a rich wife, everyone has a job. Every job has a title, and every title has a color of clothing, a robe to be exact. Not much diversity in clothing. (At least, for the women). Red is the color of the Handmaids, the position of our main character. Wives wear blue, and Aunts (the 'police' force of the women) wear brown. There is also the job of the Marthas, maids and cooks, but it isn't ever sure what color they wear.

In this new world, money is obsolete. It does not exist because it does not matter. They have a type of food stamp, a type of coupon, known as tokens. Each one can buy the picture that it depicts, eggs, steak, milk. Women are not allowed to read, but they still do the chores, so tokens, as well as shops, are represented by pictures. No words are used anywhere in the system. They walk everywhere. This is one of their freedoms, they can wander wherever they may choose, as long as it is within their preset limits.

Offred used to be married. She had a happy family, a husband and a daughter, and they lived in the city of Boston. Until the terrorist attack. The book doesn't go into too much detail, and I do not want to give away the detail that it does give away (since everyone must read this book), but after that, it all went down hill. In the same day women are stripped of their rights to their money and their rights to work. These two occurrences make them possessions of their husbands. Marriages and families are broken up. Women are divided into their proper positions. That is, those who are not killed for their sin.

Our main character remembers life before the change. She often reminisces of it. No one ever saw it coming. It is a story of pain and suffering, but also of optimism and love. It is of finding joy in even the meekest of situations. It is of remembering, but moving on. It is similar to George Orwell's 1984, and yet it is completely different. There are so many indescribable aspects of this book.

In case you couldn't guess, I give this book FIVE STARS OUT OF A POSSIBLE FIVE! Really, you MUST read this book! It is amazing! It makes you wonder, it makes you grateful, and it makes you humble. There is minimal swearing, and no explicit sex scenes, though a few times where the act is implied. Really - read this book. It is an easy read, with lots of possible breaks, though you won't want to put it down!

Reading Next:: Hard Times, by Charles Dickens

Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides

This book was and is very popular. I doubt there are many people who haven't heard of it (especially after Oprah added it to her book club). It is also a Pulitzer Prize Winner. I had heard about it on a television show about hermaphrodites. However, I never would have read it had it not been for the list. Can I just say, thank goodness for this list! This book was perhaps one of the most amazing books I have read ever!

It is narrated by present day Cal, telling his life of how he started out a typical girl of Greek descent, Callie, and came to be who he is today. He starts from the beginning - the very beginning, which means starting with his grandparents, Desdemona and Lefty. When we first meet this couple, they are brother and sister (and also third cousins), but, as you can tell, later on they get married. This allows them to pass on the mutated fifth chromosome that they have been carrying to their children. However, their children do now experience the deformities.

The gene that causes the hermaphrodite 'syndrome' (for lack of a better word) is not dormant or recessive, but it more picks and chooses when it will rear its ugly head. The fact that Cal[lie]'s parents are first cousins helped the gene pass to Cal. It skipped her brother, Chapter Eleven (yeah, that's really his name, what a crack up!). It just chose Cal.

Now mind you, this story is, in fact, a NOVEL. Novel being a fictional story. However, it is based on true events, sort of. Jeffrey Eugenides did a lot of research when writing his novel, and coordinated with experts all along the way. However, one thing he made certain not to do was associate with any real life hermaphrodites. He wanted to make his own character - without basing any characteristics on any one else.

I believe he did an excellent job! I was so unsure about reading this at first. In fact- I started this one because I had enjoyed A Fairy Tale Of New York so thoroughly, I thought I should read something that I wasn't so excited about. Also - I wanted to read something that was a little more modern in its writing. This was an excellent book! I would recommend it to every adult (There are some sex scenes and drug use that you may want to shield children from). An easy read (530 pages that I read in just 4 days!) and an all around excellent book!

You feel that you're reading a real story, a true account. Also - I love how it switches between modern day Cal and the past, the story that got him there. That way you're constantly trying to find out how and why. You become intrigued with the modern character and want to learn more about him. Also - it includes great information about hermaphrodites. This is a real condition! People live with this every day, but they are too afraid to tell the world about it, they do not want to be viewed as monsters. It's not their fault, it's now they were built. I believe it is important to understand others, and this book I believe gives a realistic account of a hermaphrodite.

This book easily gets FIVE OUT OF FIVE stars! There was not one moment that I was bored with the book! There was not one moment that I wanted to put it down, or that I was iffy about reading it. If you are unsure about the sexual scenes, be assured that they are easily skipped through, but they do contain information that is vital to the outcome of the book, and there is no intense imagery that would force you to skip through it.

Reading Next: A Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

A Fairy Tale of New York, by J P Donleavy

Upon reading the first chapter of this book, I was very doubtful about the classification of 'Comedy' 'by the 1000 books list. We meet Cornelius Christian, a man who has just arrived in New York after a long boat trip from Ireland. During this trip - his wife died, we never find out exactly why. However, life must go on, and after he finds himself a place to stay, Cornelius begins wedding arrangements for his wife's funeral. This is where we meet Clarence Vine, an undertaker who loves his job perhaps a little too much. After giving Cornelius's wife a fabulous funeral, he offers Mr. Christian a job, since the recent immigrant is unable to repay his debts for the funeral service.

This is where we begin seeing the quirky ways of Cornelius. It seems like as soon as the guy gets a decent break, he finds way to screw it up for himself, partially due to his seemingly uncontrollable temper. While working for the funeral home he meets recent widow, Fanny Sourpuss (when I first read this name, I thought Mr. Vine was making fun of the lady - not stating her actual name). She married a rich man who was many years her elder and is now facing the consequences of her actions. However, instead of mourning she chooses Mr. Christian for her first lover. Fanny, we soon discover, is one of the most possesive women in the world, not to mention the toughest. If someone looks at Cornelius the wrong way, she immediately goes into 'protection' mode, and the other person wil not make if out of the attack unscathed.

I must admit, this book was not at all what I was expecting it to be. For one, Mr. Donleavy has a most unique writing style. The book is written like a poem, completely in sentence fragments (excluding dialogue, of course). At first, this is very difficult to get used to, but I actually quite enjoyed it. It gives you the detail you need without all the frufru fillers inbetween. It was written in 1961, so I was definitely expecting a more conservative novel. However, I forgot that this was the beginning of the rebellious era, therefore this book contains more sexual scenes then I would prefer, but these are easily skimmed since they are irrelevent to the outcome of the book. In fact... I'm not sure what is relevent to the outcome of the book. It really misses some of the main aspects of a novel, including a climax.

However, this book has enough humorous parts to keep you reading. There really isn't much suspense, but there are a few times where you want to continue reading just to see what kind of mess Cornelius will get himself into, and how he'll get himself out. There are about as many fight scenes in this novel as there are sex scenes, however, the fight scenes are very entertaining. My favorite part of this book is where a lady gets punched in the face during a bar fight hard enough to knock her eyeball out of it's socket. You have to admit that is pretty darn amazing imagry, not to mention creativity.

If I were to meet Cornelius Christian in real life, I can almost guarantee we wouldn't get along. Though he may be wise to the ways of the streets, he is ignorant in almost all sense of social niceties and common courtesy, not to mention common sense. If someone tries to be civil to him, he has some sort of snide remark to give back. And if someone tries to be rude to them, well t can expect a death threat or a solid punch to the face. These attributes, while amusing to a reader, would not be entertaining to an actual acquaintence.

One of the things I enjoy most about this book is that J P Donleavy only gives a character a name if they are of some importance to the plot. You can tell if a character will only be around for a short while because they will simply get a nickname based on physical appearance. In case you can't tell, I hate when authors add many meaningless characters and make them seem like the star of the book for the entire paragraph they are featured. It is frustrating and confusing.

This book was, in the end, excellent. I will not ruin the ending, but it has a nice rounded and finalized feeling. I find it a shame that, previous to me, it hadn't been checked out since 1975. If you are OK with skimming some sex scenes, and some bad language, it is an amazingly humorous book that has a sense of lightheartedness to it. All and all I give this book FOUR OUT OF FIVE STARS!!

Reading Next: Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides