All That Is Solid Melts Into Air by Darragh McKeon

All That Is Solid Melts Into Air by Darragh McKeon
Fiction/Literature

When a reactor explodes at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, life changes for hundreds of thousands. A doctor leaves his home to go work the front lines, treating those that are sick. He seems to be the only one that truly understands the impact of radiation and doesn't believe everything that the government is saying about what is going on. A young boy practices almost every day because he has such talent at the piano. Living with his mom and aunt, it becomes hard to make ends meet after the disaster and practices need to be cut short. Then there's the family that lives close to the plant and the father helps clear the forest after the accident. Obviously he becomes very sick and the mom and her two children are left in makeshift huts for their new home.

This book is like a graceful and careful dance, with each character's story touching another. Usually I like character-driven stories and really want to be able to connect with at least one of the characters. For this book, I felt that it was more situation-driven. I think the characters could have been almost anyone, it was about what they were going through and how they managed the disaster. There is a chapter in this book that doesn't have any of the main characters from the story but was one of the most riveting chapters I've read in a long time. It described what happened right after the accident and how actions that seemed innocent actually would have killed the people that did it, knowing what we now know about Chernobyl.

There was a lot of history in this novel that I wasn't aware of about the disaster. Details were provided on how the Soviet Union did not protect their citizens during the disaster time which is interesting to learn about, especially given the current news with Russia.

A fantastically written book about a very interesting subject.

First Line: "He comes to her daily, slipping into her mind between breaths."

Rating:
(4/5)

My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor

My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor
Memoir

Jill Bolte Taylor is a brain scientist and has a deep connection to determining why brains act the way they do for the mentally ill. She wakes up one morning not feeling too well, with a big headache, and tries to go about her day normally. Her ability to function quickly deteriorates and she realizes she is having a stroke. While her body is telling her to rest, her brain is telling her to get help as soon as possible. But getting to the phone and determining which number to dial is an incredible strain. The blood on her brain is affecting the left hemisphere, where things like phone numbers are stored. She eventually calls to work (very surprising that it was easier for her to figure this out than 911) and gets help.

When she arrives at the hospital it is confirmed that she has had a stroke and she must undergo extensive surgery to fix and remove a clot. The path to recovery is extensive but the whole journey gives Taylor a chance to reflect on how amazing our brains are and what they can overcome.

The descriptions of what it feels like when you lose function in part of your left brain is amazing. We all know that we are solid human beings, but apparently this is partially an understanding from the left hemisphere of our brain. Taylor thought she was a fluid being, at once with the universe, for a long time before her left hemisphere was brought back to normal functionality. I can't imagine what it would be like to think that. The right hemisphere seems much kinder than the left, which is more calculating. I very much wondered throughout the book what Taylor would have been like if the right hemisphere had experienced the bleed rather than the right.

This is a very interesting look in to before, during, and after a stroke. The last couple of chapters I could have done without as they were a bit repetitive and I felt them rather preachy, but I would still recommend this book.

First Line: "Every brain as a story to tell and this is mine."

Rating:
(4/5)

Under a Silent Moon by Elizabeth Haynes

Under a Silent Moon by Elizabeth Haynes
Mystery

DCI Louisa Smith gets called for her first case as lead when young, vibrant Polly is found dead in her home with blood completely surrounding her. Lou starts investigating and soon learns that Polly had a very busy social and sexual life and there are many suspects. However soon after, a car is found in a quarry with the body of Polly's neighbour. Could the two cases be connected? Lou makes use of many fellow officers, including one she has just finished a relationship with, and an Analyst. The book is written by time over the course of about a week from a variety of character's perspectives.

I find that for mysteries, there are two components that are the most important to me: the characters and the mystery itself. In this case, the characters are quite engaging and interesting. This is Lou's first case as lead and there are some insecurities about that. She is also dealing with personal problems, like an affair she had with a colleague before she found out that he was married and called it off. Even though none of the characters were perfect, they felt real and you wanted to know what was going to happen to them.

The mystery was gripping until a clue about 60% of the way through the book was given that allows the reader to easily figure out who the murderer is. Despite this, I still wanted to learn the motive and was interested in continuing to read. The main differentiator of this book was how the investigation was described. It is very procedural and explains how the use of analysts work during a case. Being a math-inclined logical person, I could really appreciate this approach and enjoyed reading about it.

At the back of the book, flow charts were included to show how characters connected to each other. These really should have been brought in to the book itself rather than hidden at the back! They would have added a lot more context to what the analysts were doing and were pretty interesting to look at how everything connected together.

I haven't read anything by Haynes before but I would pick up the next book in this series once it's out.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for including me in this tour!

First Line: "In years to come, Flora would remember this as the day of Before and After."

Rating:
(4/5)

Summers of the Sisterhood: The Second Summer by Ann Brashers

Summers of the Sisterhood: The Second Summer by Ann Brashers
Teen

The travelling pants are back for another summer, passing between four friends: Bridget, Carmen, Lena, and Tibby. Two of them are in town this year, but Tibby heads up to New York for film school and Bridget heads down south to her grandmother and to try and find herself again. Each of the girls has a bit of a meltdown and for the most part it involves their moms. Carmen doesn't like that her mom is dating, Lena knows her mom is hiding something from her, and Tibby is tired of being ignored. As the pants travel around, they seem to get less usage than last time because each of the girls is in poor spirits. But eventually things look up and the pants provide their magic.

This book was nice, light fluff. It's a good book to read in the spring/summer time. It's not award winning literature by any means but it suits its purpose as a fun read.

First Line: "Once there were four girls who shared a pair of pants."

Rating:
(3.5/5)

Pandora's Clock by John J Nance

Pandora's Clock by John J Nance
Thriller

A man gets on a flight bound for the USA from Germany and the flight attendants realize right away that he is not feeling well. Before they can even exit European air space, the passenger collapses and a doctor is called to help. They perform CPR on him but he is just hanging on to life. Captain James Holland requests the ability to land in England to assist the passenger but is denied because the British government has learned from the Germans that there could be a Level 4 pathogen on board. This is a bug that, if brought to a city, could wipe out the entire population. Each government learns about Holland's flight and subsequently denies him entry to their airspace. The US government gets involved but they are just as concerned as the Europeans. Meanwhile, the passengers and crew are just doing what they can to survive, scared that they only have 48 hours to live.

I've read a few of Nance's books in the past and really enjoy them. They are great thrillers and a bit of a change of pace from normal thrillers because they always take place on a plane. You would think there are limited things you can do on a plane but Nance gets very creative.

This book leaves you thinking about what if. We know that in current times, viruses and bugs travel across continents due to air travel. I'm sure it's possible that someone carried aboard a deadly virus that could spread easily. What would governments do? Would they go as far to shoot the plane down? Very interesting questions were asked from this book.

First Line: "Professor Earnest Helms had returned to the starting point of the snowy forest trail just in time."

Rating:
(4/5)

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Science Fiction

Ender Wiggin is a young boy who is considered to be Earth's hope at defeating the buggers who, years before, had almost destroyed Earth. Children are now to be trained at a young age to determine if they have what it takes to fight the buggers so that once they return to Earth, defeat is guaranteed. The kids are placed in very stressful situations and due to Ender's promise, the teachers alienate him so that he knows he can't depend on friends or teachers to help him out.

I had read this book as a teenager in high school and remember really enjoying it. I vaguely remembered what had happened so the ending wasn't too much of a surprise for me but getting there was still really enjoyable. I sailed through this book because I was so engaged in what Ender was going through.

I don't think it matters too much if you're not a fan of science fiction, I believe you can still enjoy this book. There are science fiction elements but they aren't the primary focus of the story and they don't overshadow the character development.

I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.

First Line: "I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one."

Rating:
(4.5/5)

Mind of Winter by Laura Kasischke

Mind of Winter by Laura Kasischke
Thriller

Christmas morning, Holly Judge wakes up with a single thought: Something has followed them home from Russia. Holly checks in on her adopted daughter from Russia, Tatiana, but everything looks ok and she goes back to sleep. Her husband wakes up a few hours later in a panic that no one has woken up yet and he needs to pick his parents up from the airport. He rushes out in to a snow storm to get them, leaving Holly and Tatty alone. Tatty is acting odd, even for a teenager, and Holly starts to get calls that her guests aren't coming over because the weather is getting so bad. Holly remembers the time she and her husband spent in Russia before bringing Tatty home, as Tatty acts more and more bizarre as the day progresses.

This whole story takes place in less than a day and starts with the repeated phrase of how something followed them home from Russia. This phrase was repeated to the point where I was actually getting annoyed with the author. After the 4th or 5th time I wanted to say I get it! Something followed them home from Russia! I seemed to maintain this level of annoyance with the book throughout the whole thing. In addition to the upfront repetition, I think the additional annoyance was because I'm not a patient reader and you definitely need to be one for this book. Pages were dedicated to discussions and thoughts that could have happened in a paragraph. Should Holly answer the phone when the number shows up as Unavailable? It takes multiple pages to decide.

Despite the underlying annoyance I felt with this book, I couldn't put it down. Rarely does a book annoy me but capture my attention in such a way at the same time. I wanted to know what was going on because everything about this book felt off and you knew that the explanation was waiting at the end. While I had some idea of what the ending was going to be like, there were still surprises that left me feeling satisfied.

Really, the only other item that had me scratching my head a bit was the character Holly. She very quickly descends in to madness and I was left wondering what her real personality was. It's hard to gauge how much someone is losing it without knowing what their base line is.

Despite the few items that I've pointed out, I would still recommend this book to thriller fans. I would only advise to try and be more patient with the book than I was and you'll probably enjoy it more!

Thanks to TLC Book Tour for letting me be a part of this tour!

First Line: "She woke up late that morning, and knew: Something had followed them home from Russia."

Rating:
(3.5/5)