Oakland Library Book Review: The Martian by Andy Weir

July 14, 2015 Leave a comment


 By Rosa Schmidt, Oakland Public Library Director 

 The Martian by Andy Weir grabs the reader the instant you begin. The story is told from the perspective of Mark Watney, an astronaut for NASA. He and a crew are collecting samples on MARS when a dust storm causes them to do an emergency evacuation. During the process, Watney is injured and presumed dead. His captain, in an effort to save the rest of the crew leaves his body on MARS. Only Watney is not dead and the tale that unfolds is incredible.

As the story progresses we get narratives from key NASA members, media and Watney’s crew, further drawing us into the suspense. Will Watney be saved or will he die alone on MARS?

Weir is a masterful writer, from his descriptions of MARS, the equipment involved, to the character depth. Despite all of the technical jargon the story flows enough that even non-science fiction readers will enjoy “The Martian”.

The son of a physicist, and with a background in computer science, Weir researched to make the story realistic; studying orbital mechanics, astronomy, and the history of manned spaceflight.      

Director Ridley Scott brings “The Martian” to theaters this October, starring Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristin Wiig and Kate Mara. Do yourself a favor and enjoy this amazing story by reading the book first. You know the book is always better!

Rosa Schmidt, Oakland Public Library Director. Photo Credit/Denise Gilliland, Editor and Chief, Kat Country Hub.

Rosa Schmidt, Oakland Public Library Director. Photo Credit/Denise Gilliland, Editor and Chief, Kat Country Hub.

Filed under Opinion Tagged with , , , ,

Book Review: All the Light We Cannot See

June 17, 2015 Leave a comment


By Rosa Schmidt, Oakland Public Library Director

Anthony Doerr’s winner of the 2015 Pulitzer for Fiction, “All the light we cannot see”, deftly weaves the story of Marie-Laure LeBlanc and Werner Pfennig during World War II. Marie-Laure, valiant and inquisitive, lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When Marie-Laure is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris, and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, tow-headed German orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s collide.

I know, I know….there are so many stories set during WW2. However, the stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors make “All the light we cannot see” one that deserves to be read. Much more than a war story, Doerr’s novel illuminates the miraculous impact that seminal events have on the rest of our lives.

Rosa Schmidt, Oakland Public Library Director. Photo Credit/Denise Gilliland, Editor and Chief, Kat Country Hub.

Rosa Schmidt, Oakland Public Library Director. Photo Credit/Denise Gilliland, Editor and Chief, Kat Country Hub.

Filed under Opinion Tagged with , ,

Book Review: Still Alice

June 2, 2015 Leave a comment


By Rosa Schmidt, Oakland Public Library Director

Yesterday I watched the movie “Still Alice” starring Julianne Moore. Moore plays Alice Howlan; Harvard professor, gifted researcher and lecturer, wife, and mother of three grown children. At only fifty years of age, Alice has begun to forget words and become disoriented. She has, what is fast-becoming as frightening a diagnosis as any Cancer… Early-Onset Alzheimer’s disease.

This movie is based on the book, “Still Alice”, by Lisa Genova. Genova gives us a hauntingly accurate portrayal of a young woman’s slow but inevitable loss of memory and connection with reality. Told from Alice’s perspective, her story is at once heartbreaking, inspiring and terrifying. Connection with the characters; Alice, her husband John and their three children, is much greater when reading this book than the visual interpretation of the movie allows. I personally felt more inspiration from the characters while reading the book than I did viewing the movie.

“Still Alice” was published in January of 2009, the movie was released in January of 2015. The Oakland Public Library has both the book and the DVD available for check out.

“Still Alice” is both a moving novel and an important story to tell. Interest in this story is timely as the month of June is Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month. 47 million people are living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. @ https://www.facebook.com/actionalz and https://mybrain.alz.org you can learn more about this disease and ways that you can raise awareness.

1619420_919639781429989_5778473258282124284_n

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed under Opinion Tagged with , ,

Book Review: 50 Shades of Grey

February 12, 2015 Leave a comment


By Rosa Schmidt, Oakland Public Library Director

Love it or hate it, 2011 novel “Fifty Shades of Grey” made author E. L. James more than just a household name it also fulfilled a childhood dream of being a writer of stories that readers would fall  in love with. And that they seem to have done, to the tune of $60 million.

E. L. (Erika Leonard) James novel is noted for its explicitly erotic scenes that feature numerous elements of sexual practices which involved sadism/masochism, bondage/discipline, and dominance/submission. When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own
terms.

Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success, —his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family—, Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey’s secrets and explores her own dark desires.

Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy (Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, and Fifty Shades
Freed) can obsess you, possess you, and stay with you or it may just leave you with the desire to go read a good book.

Filed under Opinion Tagged with , , ,