Bookstores. They are an issue

I went in to buy one book today, I came out with four. I know I will read them all but can't decide which first!

Ahhh, so many books, the best problem to have

"Spin" - Robert Charles Wilson

Published in 2006 by Tom Doherty Books

Spin is the first of a trilogy of books about the distant future where biotechnology has come to play an incredibly important role.  While earthlings are going about their daily lives, one night the stars go out.  Over time, it is discovered that there is a protective bubble around the planet but outside of it time is speeding by.  Inside the bubble a minute passes, while the rest of the universe ages 100 years.

Unlike the last book I read, I loved the characters in this novel.  They were all thoughtfully constructed so that they were likable but human.  The way Wilson writes intertwines the present (4 x 10⁹ AD) and the past (the childhood and adolescence of the three protagonists) is done beautifully and never feels confusing or broken.

At 450 pages, this book is neither short nor terribly long, but it flew by. I found myself reading it while walking or in the 6 minutes it takes to make vegetables for dinner.  I just couldn't put it down.

Rating: ****

Quotes:
"An absurd position, I know, but if critics insist that he showed us how to live and think and love, then surely he taught us how to run an efficient terror-based revolution and how to commit genocide, too."

"busy hands don't tremble, busy minds don't panic"

"Don't be upset. The world is full of surprises. We're all born strangers to ourselves and each other, and we're seldom formally introduced."

"next" - Michael Crichton

Published in 2006 by Michael Crichton and Harper Collins

I read my first Michael Crichton book in one night while I was dog sitting for Chelsea back in high school. It wasn't really an option to sleep as her puppy Chevy wanted to go in and out every 5 minutes and I was afraid she would have an accident (which still happened) so I stayed up through the night and read.

Sadly, Next was not quite as engrossing as Prey and I felt that his characters were too many and too underdeveloped. It was hard to keep track of who was doing what and what was happening where.

Still, it was a very interesting look at the relationship between the law and genetic material. Especially how we can patent things that aren't really understood and in so doing, mess up real beneficial science that could help people.

Rating: **

"The Art of Racing in the Rain" - Garth Stein

Published in 2008 by Bright White Light LLC

Movies have never been able to make me reach an emotional level where I need to cry for he characters.  But books, books get me bad sometimes.  Especially when they are about animals.  This is a book narrated by a dog who loves Formula One racing and driving in the rain.  He loves Aynton Senna, and He loves Denny (his owner).

This novel is about Enzo, a wonderful dog who helps his family through hard times and good and his final choice to help them by letting him go.  I read it in 2 days (well one day and then night time until 2am) and although it may not have been the best literature written ever, it was a moving story.  Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, Garth Stein took a dog and gave him a human soul.

Quotes:
"Monkeys have thumbs.  Practically the dumbest species on the planet, next to the duck-billed-platypus, who make their dens underwater even though they breathe the air.  The platypus is horribly stupid, but it is only slightly dumber than a monkey.  Yet monkeys have thumbs.  Those monkey-thumbs were meant for dogs.  Give me my thumbs, you fucking monkeys! (I love the Al Pacino remake of Scarface, very much, though it doesn't compare to the Godfather movies, which are excellent.)"

"To live everyday as if it had been stolen from death, that is how I would like to live."

Rating: ***