Annihilation

Annihilation. Jeff Vandermeer. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. February 2014. 195 pages.  Source:  Audio book.

First Sentence: The tower, which was not supposed to be there, plunges into the earth in a place just before the black pine forest begins to give way to swamp and then the reeds and wind-gnarled trees of the marsh flats.

Plot: Area X has been cut off from the rest of the world for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide, the third in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition.

The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything. 

My thoughts: This story is told from the perspective of the biologist whose husband was part of the eleventh expedition.  A lot of the story is her personal history as she ends up being the lone survivor of this expedition.  It doesn't end with her returning to her home.  Leaving it wide open for the next book in the series...Acceptance.  

I'm not a fan of science fiction, which is what is actually shelved as on Goodreads, but I think I would continue on with the series if nothing else but to find out what is actually in the "tower".

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  Douglas Adams. October 12, 1979.  Del Rey. Source: Audio Library.

First sentence: Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.

Plot: Seconds before Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

Together, this dynamic pair began a journey through space aided by a galaxyful of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox, the two-headed, three-armed, ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian (formerly Tricia McMillan), Zaphod’s girlfriend, whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; and Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he’s bought over the years.

Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? For all the answers, stick your thumb to the stars! (Goodreads)

My thoughts: I have to say that I am glad this one is behind me.  Checked off my list and never to be thought of again.  I had a hard time staying with this one because from the beginning it just did not appeal to me.  I finished it because it was on my Classics Challenge for six years now.
Earth is destroyed with only two that escape.  They travel through the galaxy meeting other, ummm, beings...
I guess if you are really into science fiction you would like this one.  I'm struggling with this genre.

Brave New World

Brave New World. Aldous Huxley. Harper Perennial Modern Classics. 2006 (first published 1932). 259 pages. (Source: audio library book)

First sentence: A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories.

Plot: Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order--all at the cost of our freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also our souls. “A genius [who] who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine” (The New Yorker), Huxley was a man of incomparable talents: equally an artist, a spiritual seeker, and one of history’s keenest observers of human nature and civilization. Brave New World, his masterpiece, has enthralled and terrified millions of readers, and retains its urgent relevance to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying work of literature. Written in the shadow of the rise of fascism during the 1930s, Brave New World likewise speaks to a 21st-century world dominated by mass-entertainment, technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the arts of persuasion, and the hidden influence of elites. (Goodreads)

My thoughts: This book was way advanced for the year it was written.  What a wild imagination this author had!!  I did not particularly care for this one but I must give him that credit.

The idea is to show how the world could be controlled through medical advances.  Don't know if this author considered it a warning or not.  The State believes that if it controls the people and they have nothing to worry about then everyone is safe and happy.  Peace abounds.  Really it was a strange read.  Had a really bad ending in my opinion.  Don't know why I continue to try science fiction.   It promoted promiscuity over chastity.  Free living as apposed to the more "oppressed" life of marriage and family.

The Memory of Earth

The Memory of Earth. Orson Scott Card. Legend. 1992. 294 pages (Source: Library Audio)

First sentence: The master computer on the planet Harmony was afraid.

Plot: High above the planet Harmony, the Oversoul watches. It's task, programmed so many millennia ago,is to guard the human settlement on this planet.  To protect this fragile remnant of Earth from all threats.  To protect them most of all from themselves.

The Oversoul has done its job well.  There is no war on Harmony.  There are no weapons of mass destruction.  There is no technology that could lead to weapons of war.  By control of the data banks and subtle interference in the very thoughts of the people, the artificial intelligence has fullfilled its mission.

But now there is a problem.  In orbit, the Oversoul realizes that it has lost access to some of its memory banks, and some of its power systems are failing.  And on the planet, men are beginning to think about power, wealth, and conquest.

My thoughts: So Earth was destroyed by nuclear war form what I gathered.  Their description of what they know is like reading old testament prophesy.  Trying to describe airplanes or missiles moving through the sky.  This is a million years in the future.  The people who escaped Earth went to this new planet called Harmony to start a new life.  There has been no war or violence.  Now the computer or Oversoul as it is know is beginning to mess up.  People are starting to get knowledge of weapons and have greed in their hearts.

But the Oversoul sees this and makes plans for a particular family to keep life moving in the right direction.  One of peace and harmony.  It was a decent book.  One for older teens as there are situations that insinuate sexual content.