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03/10/2025
profile-icon Dorrie Scott
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February book:

Cover ArtRed Rising by Pierce Brown

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he toils willingly, trusting that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children. But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow--and Reds like him--are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class. Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity's overlords struggle for power.  He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society's ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown received mixed by club members. Many enjoyed it, connecting to themes relevant in today's society, but a few were thrown off by the writing style and/or audio narration. Published with a young adult and/or teen audience in mind, the book may appeal more to younger audiences.

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03/10/2025
profile-icon Dorrie Scott
No Subjects

December book:

Cover ArtAn Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

ISBN: 9781524743444
Publication Date: 2018-09-25
THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Sparkling with mystery, humor and the uncanny, this is a fun read. But beneath its effervescent tone, more complex themes are at play." --San Francisco Chronicle In his wildly entertaining debut novel, Hank Green--cocreator of Crash Course, Vlogbrothers, and SciShow--spins a sweeping, cinematic tale about a young woman who becomes an overnight celebrity before realizing she's part of something bigger, and stranger, than anyone could have possibly imagined. The Carls just appeared.   Roaming through New York City at three a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship--like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor--April and her best friend, Andy, make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day, April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world--from Beijing to Buenos Aires--and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight.   Seizing the opportunity to make her mark on the world, April now has to deal with the consequences her new particular brand of fame has on her relationships, her safety, and her own identity. And all eyes are on April to figure out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us.   Compulsively entertaining and powerfully relevant, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing grapples with big themes, including how the social internet is changing fame, rhetoric, and radicalization; how our culture deals with fear and uncertainty; and how vilification and adoration spring for the same dehumanization that follows a life in the public eye. The beginning of an exciting fiction career, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is a bold and insightful novel of now.

If the name Hank Green sounds familiar, it might be because his brother is international bestselling author, John Green. Hank Green's debut novel, An Absolutely Remarkable Things was well received by the club, though some may have definitely enjoyed it more than others.

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03/10/2025
profile-icon Dorrie Scott
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November Theme: Short Stories

Club members each shared their chosen short stories, including:

  • The Egg by Andy Weir (what can we say, we all LOVE Andy Weir😍) 
  • The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber
  • The Test by Sylvain Neuvel
  • Bloodchild by Octavia Butler
  • The Book of Martha by Octavia Butler

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03/10/2025
profile-icon Dorrie Scott
No Subjects

October Book:

Cover ArtProject Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company. His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it's up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery--and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he's got to do it all alone. Or does he? An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could deliver, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian--while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

Our inaugural sci-fi book club was met with great success. We all thoroughly enjoyed Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, and everyone agreed that Weir's other titles, including The Martian and Artemis, are all great reads! In particular, several of us highly recommend the audio versions of all three titles.

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