A Princess of Mars

You may have seen the film previews for the movie "John Carter," which is scheduled for release in April.  The genesis of this story is from one of the founding fathers of Fantasy Fiction, Edgar Rice Burroughs.

In 1912, at the age of 36, Burroughs published his first novel, entitled "Under the Moons of Mars."  The title was changed to "A Princess of Mars" a couple of years after that.  The story is told in first person from the viewpoint of John Carter of Earth, who in the late 19th century is mysteriously transported from the Arizona desert to Mars.  Carter first discovers that, due to the lesser gravity and thinner atmosphere on Mars, he is tremendously stronger and faster than on earth, accidentally flinging himself several feet through the air while trying to stand up.

Carter journeys through a world full of bizarre species of beasts and "men."  Among these are the Tharks, a tribe of warlike, six-limbed 12 - 15 foot tall with four arms (not forearms - four arms).  From them he learns that the other dominant race of peoples on "Barsoom" are the red Martians, who more closely resemble the humans of earth, although with a coppery, reddish caste to their skin.  The first red Martian he encounters is Dejah Thoris, the beautiful princess of one of the dominant Barsoomian city-states.  Dejah Thoris is of course, the "princess" referred to in the book's title.

While not technically a work of "science fiction," it is interesting to look through the book and find references to many things we take for granted in the early 21st century.  Burroughs depicts flying warships engaged in air to air battles using missiles and bombs.  While the concept of aerial warfare seems commonplace to us now, remember that Burroughs wrote "A Princess of Mars" in 1912, two years before the outbreak of the First World War.  And even at the beginning of that conflict, powered flight was barely out of its infancy, and aircraft were first used primarily for reconnaissance.  Burroughs describes how the Martian aviators are able to set a heading into their craft to keep them on course, even if they were required to make detours.  This was DECADES before GPS technology came in to being.  And a key factor in the story is the Barsoomian's atmosphere processor, the operators of which are responsible for maintaining all life on the planet.

Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote several different Barsoomian novels, and John Carter, along with another of Burroughs' protagonists, made him internationally famous.  The "other protagonist"?  None other than John Clayton, Lord Greystoke.  Better known as "Tarzan of the Apes."  But "A Princess of Mars" precedes the lord of the jungle by a couple of years. 
"A Princess of Mars" is an exciting adventure story, and is viewed by many as the first significant work in the genre of fantasy literature.  I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a fun diversion.  There is violence in the form of hand to hand combat, and muted sensuality (the Martians don't wear clothes, but various combinations of jewelry, belts and harnesses used to help them carry their weapons and other equipment).  But there are no overt descriptions of sexuality.  I first read this when I was about 12 or 13 and, apart from giggling a little when I first realized that these people were naked, it wasn't a big deal.

Burroughs' writing style has always been such a pleasure to me.  His stories are filled with a rich vocabulary, but are nonethless fairly easy to read.  I read the book again in December, and it was like seeing an old friend again.  He made me want to write stories.  He apparently made a lot of others want to write, too.  According to Wikipedia, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Carl Sagan and John Norman are among the well-known authors who cite him as a source of inspiration.

Alan Andrews

The Fault in Our Stars

Hey Readers, as a special treat for you today, we have a second review for you by our first ever guest blogger !  My cousin Allie loves to read and writes reviews for herself of all the books she has read.  She graciously agreed to share her review of "The Fault In Our Stars" with everyone. As you can tell by her expression, she was pretty excited to receive this book.

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green

Rating out of five: 3.8

Summary in a sentence: Two absurdly articulate kids with cancer find love and deal with the ephemeral nature of life.

Loved: -Hazel’s inner monologue and her candid portrayal of illness.
- Hazel’s and Gus’s parents.
-All of the girlish lines that I couldn’t help hearing in John Green’s voice.

Hated: -Peter van Houten’s horribly affected style of writing/speaking. The fact that it was praised by Green’s characters as near-genius was every bit as grating.
- How attractive the main characters are. I’m well aware that beautiful characters are a staple of the YA genre, but the persistence of the motif bugs me.

Favorite line:
“I’m fine,” I said. “Just listening. Hurdlers?”
“Yeah, hurdlers. I don’t know why. I just started thinking about them running their hurdle races, and jumping over these totally arbitrary objects that had been set in their path. And I wondered if the hurdlers ever thought, you know, this would go a lot faster if we just got rid of the hurdles.”

Recommended for: Nerdfighters. Fans of YA with a little more substance than the genre is typically known for.

Reviewed by Allie N.

Deadly Little Voices

"Deadly Little Voices," is the latest book in Laurie Faria Stolarz' "Touch" series. Teenaged, Camelia Hammond has the unique gift of psychometry.  Instead of traditional psychic visions, Camelia receives visions through her art.  She is a potter and often feels compelled to sculpt objects that are clues alerting her to dangerous situations that have helped her save the lives of classmates, friends, and even herself.  In this fourth installment, Camelia finds her visions taking a darker and scarier turn.  Not only is she feeling the urge to sculpt seemingly random objects, she has also begun to hear voices and has frightening hallucinations.  Are these voices and hallucincations foreshadowing of trouble to come and a crime she can prevent ? Or does Camelia suffer from schizophrenia like her Aunt Alexia? As if that isn't enough to deal with, Camelia also struggles with her feelings towards her ex-boyfriend Ben and her maybe more than a friend Adam. 

I love this series, psychometry is a fresh and different take on the usual psychic-crime solving heroine premise. Each book in this series is better than the last and this entry surely is the most intriguing. I don't want to spoil the book by describing the plot too much.  The whole fun of these books is to keep guessing along with Camelia as to what the clues all mean.  If you're looking for an awesome supernatural YA mystery, put your hands of the "Touch" series.  You won't be disappointed.

Detectives in Togas

My children and I enjoyed many books in our years of home schooling. This week I am going to tell you about one of the books we read in our study of Rome. Reading books about the different historical periods was(and still is) a wonderful way to learn about history.

This tale of school age boys in Rome and their adventures to solve a mystery made learning about Rome intriguing. As they interacted with their teacher, we learned about Roman education. As they ran around the city, we discovered the make-up  and architecture of Rome. As the boys sought answers to their mysteries, we learned about Roman society. All of this information was woven throughout an interesting adventure as the boys of Xanthos' school sought to rescue their friend and schoolmate. Detectives in Togas is a Middle Grade story of 6 boys and their adventures. Why did they find their teacher bound and gagged? Why were Rufus' clothes under his bed soaking wet, and where did he disappear to? Who broke into their teacher's home? Who implicated Rufus in desecrating a Roman temple? Who desecrated the temple by writing "Caius is a dumbbell" on the temple wall? These are the mysteries that Rufus' five friends must solve in order to rescue him. 

Overall this is well done and I highly recommend it. But there is one thing I have to point out. It is that parents or caregivers talk to their children about name calling. This is never addressed or corrected in the book, nor is it necessary in the context of the story. It is a matter that is for parents or caregivers to discuss. I simply wanted to make you aware.

That's it for this week. I will be back with another review next month. Meanwhile, enjoy good books as a family. Reading together becomes a cherished memory.

Laydown Lowdown

There are two big releases in YA this week. Bestselling authors John Green and Beth Revis both have new books hitting shelves today.  "The Fault in Our Stars," by Green follows terminally ill teen Hazel as she finds love and life in a cancer support group.  "A Million Suns," by Revis is the second book in her "Across the Universe" trilogy.

Today is a great day for Mystery fans as well.  Bestselling authors T. Jefferson Parker and Elizabeth George have new serial entries out today.  "The Jaguar," is the latest "Charlie Hood" novel by Parker and "Believing the Lie," is George's latest "Inspector Linley" novel.

There is a new serial novel available for Romance fans today too.  Kresley Cole's latest, "Immortals After Dark," novel "Lothaire," will lurk on bookstore shelves today.  Meanwhile Jayne Ann Krentz releases her latest romantic suspense novel, "Copper Beach," today.

And with the presidential campaign season heating up, there are several new releases in Politics today: "Greedy Bastards: How We Can Stop Corporate Communists, Bankers and Other Vampires from Sucking America Dry," by Dylan Rattigan; "How Do You Kill 11 Million People: Why the Truth Matters More Than You Think," by Andy Andrews; and "The Obamas," by Jodi Kantor.


And that's the latest in new releases.  Will you be adding any of these titles to your 2012 Reading Challenge?  Happy Reading and remember support your local bookstore whenever possible.  Just because our blog is online doesn't mean your shopping has to be.

2012 Reading Challenge

The start of a new year is a time for new beginnings, second chances, most commonly resolutions.  Lots of people resolve to work out more, eat better, stop smoking or other aspirations for physical wellness.  Bookworms like us however, enter into friendly competitions to read more every year.

Last year, I set a personal goal to read 100 books.  As of December 31, 2011, I had only read 54.  That's practically a book a week.  Not to shabby but I want to do better.  I think everyone should read more.  And with today's economy books are a much cheaper escape than the movies.  Don't get me wrong, I love movies but the recent offerings (with the exception of Sherlock Holmes) haven't been worth the $10.

This year, I've challenged myself to 100 books again and I'm determined to reach it.  I've got one book down so far !

Jess P is aiming to match my goal of 100 while Jess B and Rebecca T are trying outdo us with their personal goals of 150.  Naomi has is aiming for somewhere in the middle with her personal goal of 115.   Finally Rachel is determined to read 75 books this year.  The other booksellers were so busy reading that they didn't let me know their goals for this year !  We'll continue to keep you posted on our progress: how much we've read, what we read etc.  Now, please share your 2012 reading goals with us.

New Girl by Paige Harbison

Becca Normandy has been missing since the final day of classes at Manderly Academy in New Hampshire last May.  She was beautiful, funny, charming, and loved by the entire student body.  She was everything the new girl is not, or was she?   The minute the new girl, whose name isn't revealed until the final pages, arrives on campus, she finds herself the victim of gossip and ridicule.  The entire student body wants the new girl to know that they'd much rather have perfect Becca back then this Florida native.  Meanwhile the new girl just wants to go through the motions and get through senior year so she can return to Florida and attend FSU with her friends back home.

This book flip-flops between both the new girl's and Becca's points of view.  The new girl faces harassment from her roommate, Dana, who was Becca's former roommate.   Dana tells the new girl how close she and Becca were.  However, Becca's point of view reveals ulterior motives as does her point of view on all her other classmates who thought she was perfect.  As the months go by, most of the new girl's classmates don't give up on their hope that Becca is alive and will be found soon.  Others begin to believe she may be dead and there certainly are a number of possible suspects.

I couldn't put this book down. It was a little far-fetched that anyones parents would send a girl to boarding school in their senior year of high school but the intense action and mystery sucks you right in and you forget all about a little detail like that.  Where is Becca isn't just the only mystery here, who is/was Becca is also a mystery as well as who is the mysterious new girl.  If you're looking for a great YA mystery then be sure to pick up "New Girl" when it's released on January 31, 2012.

Speical Thanks to Net Galley for providing me with the digital galley.