Overall rating: 9/10
Looking for Alaska follows the journey of "Pudge" as he enrolls in boarding school in search of a "Great Perhaps" or "un grand peut-être." As a coming-of-age story, this book had an immediately enjoyable premise. All of the teenage shenanigans and pranks made this story reminiscent of "A Prayer for Owen Meany," a book I read and enjoyed a previous summer. John and Hank Green were core parts of my high school education with Crash Course, their YouTube education channel, and so reading some of John Green's novels was always on my to-do list. The setting of boarding school was also something close to home as someone who lived the boarding school life, so that gave this book bonus points. This book hit hard towards the end, which makes this possibly a bad vacation read. The sad elements are part of what makes this book so memorable though, so I could not recommend it more.
Overall rating: 7/10
The first of two books I read from Literary Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro. I found this book at my local library while looking for a modern fiction story, and it was very enjoyable. The Buried Giant is a unique blend of fantasy and historical fiction set in post-Arthurian Britain. It tells the story of an elderly couple, Axl and Beatrice, on a quest to find their long-lost son. The book's dreamlike atmosphere is something I have never really experienced in a novel before. A strange fog covers the land *hint *hint (dragon breath), which is causing everyone to lose their memory. The idea of everyone in a medieval society having a dementia-esque infliction was quite creative and led to some extremely interesting topics being covered about the human condition. While the premise was quite fascinating to me, it did end up being quite slow in sections, and this led to the book taking some effort to finish. Despite this, there were some jewels within, as I found the conclusion to be extremely impactful and thought-provoking.
Overall rating: 8/10
As my second Ishiguro novel, I was much more familiar with his style and pacing, which helped me understand and process a lot more of the ideas and themes within. This book was picked up at Barnes & Noble after I read the synopsis and learned that it is told from the perspective of Klara, a robot caretaker with artificial intelligence. As a soon-to-be computer scientist, this felt like a good purchase. This novel helped me process a lot of the opinions I was already forming in regard to the intersection of AI and human society. I think this will be a great one to look back on when our society's technology has advanced to the heights achieved in this story. With the rise of AI in the form of Large Language Models, it seems to be closer than ever. Similar to The Buried Giant, Ishiguro once again plays with the conventional idea of memory and how stories are told, which was thoroughly enjoyable. It also was comparably slow in sections. Eventually, you accept it as an innate part of Ishiguro's prose, and it becomes essential to the delicateness and emotional depth that make this a standout work.
Overall rating: 6/10
Gracekeepers is a novel set in a world divided between land-dwellers and sea-dwellers. As someone who enjoys spending time on land and water equally, this was a fun premise. I picked this book up just before leaving University for the summer, and it caught my eye after finding out it was based on Scottish fairytales, which would end up being part of my own heritage. It follows the story of North, a circus performer who travels from one island to the next, and Callanish, a gracekeeper, as their lives intersect. I appreciated the Romeo and Juliet-esque themes in regards to the idea of two fighting sides, in this case the damplings and the land-lockers, and what happens when they end up on a collision course. Not bad.
Overall rating: 10/10
This book was AWESOME! As a big science-fiction fan, this book was a joy to read. It felt like a series of Black Mirror episodes in literary form. Hyperion is a science fiction masterpiece that weaves together the stories of seven pilgrims on a journey to the distant world of Hyperion. Each pilgrim's tale adds depth to the novel's intricate universe, filled with rich mythology and philosophical questions. Whether it was a time disease causing a character to age in reverse, a forest full of electricity-conducting trees, or a complex inter-planetary portal transportation system, the creativity of each of the tales was mind-blowing. Simmons' imaginative world-building and compelling narrative structure make Hyperion a must-read.
Overall rating: 2/10
Fourth Wing garnered my attention as it was immediately downloadable onto my Kindle and the cover had dragons on it, which are undoubtedly cool. What I came to read was a book full of plot twists and romance elements that were entirely predictable and painful to read. Avoid at all costs, unless you want a crappily written version of Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle.
Overall rating: 10/10
The Martian is a gripping survival story about astronaut Mark Watney, who is stranded on Mars and must use his ingenuity to survive. This was an absolute blast to read and is one of the few books I have read in my life that I found impossible to put down. The author Andy Weir was a software-engineer-turned-writer and so the jokes and storytelling felt entirely catered to fellow science-enthused people. Pairing this book alongside the movie, one of the few perfect adaptations in my opinion, is something to pull the popcorn out for.
Overall rating: 7/10
Robotics, A Very Short Introduction offers a concise and accessible overview of the field of robotics. Winfield covers the history, current developments, and future possibilities of robotics, making complex concepts understandable for a general audience. The book is a great starting point for anyone interested in the subject and was something I would leave on my desk whenever I was interested or needed a robotics topic explained succinctly.
Overall rating: 7/10
TODO
Overall rating: 6/10
TODO
Overall rating: 8/10
TODO