Hi friends,
October was an interesting month for us. It started out rough as I was still recovering from childbirth and trying to take care of a newborn and the three older kids, but it got better as I recovered physically and Sarah started sleeping for longer stretches. The highlight of the month was Chloe’s baptism. She turned eight and chose to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. Daniel baptized her, and my parents and sister’s family drove from Utah to attend along with all of our family here in Colorado. We got to spend a lot of time with family and loved seeing Chloe be baptized.
On the reading front, I read quite a few good scifi and fantasy books. Let me know if you’ve read any of these books, and if you have suggestions for further reading.
Best,
Tonya
Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age by Eric Berger
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: Everyone in the aerospace industry agrees that SpaceX has revolutionized the launch industry, and in this book Berger explains how they did so. SpaceX developed the most reliable and frequently launched rocket ever for the lowest cost ever by reusing the first stage of their Falcon 9 rocket, bringing in-house much of their supply chain, and constantly driving for cheaper engineering fixes to their problems. This drive was spearheaded by the private company’s CEO, Elon Musk. Musk constantly demands that his team work faster and cheaper, and while they never meet his ridiculous goals, they accomplish amazing things just by trying. Berger makes the case that SpaceX wouldn’t be able to maintain this culture and focus without Musk who has always been willing to take big risks and own the consequences when they do and don’t pay off. He worries that Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and increasingly erratic political moves could negatively affect SpaceX. While Musk’s demands have led to the Falcon 9’s amazing affordability and reliability, they also burn people out throughout the organization. SpaceX goes through a lot of young engineers who are willing to work 100 hour weeks to do amazing things, but find that that pace isn’t sustainable in the long run and then end up moving on. There’s a price to success, I guess. I know one thing for sure though, I never want to work for Musk, but I admire and appreciate the SpaceX team and the incredible things they’ve accomplished. Who knows, maybe in five years Berger will write another book about the development of SpaceX’s fully reusable Starship vehicle that Musk promises will revolutionize the space industry again and be humanity’s ride to Mars. The cynic in me is skeptical, but so far SpaceX has delivered on every promise it’s made, so I wouldn’t bet against them.
We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders #1) by Richard Osman
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: I read all of the Thursday Murder Club books by Osman and loved all of them, so I was excited to hear that he had a new book coming out that would be the start of a new series, and I wasn’t disappointed. As always, Osman’s characters are the best part of his writing. I loved Steve, and Amy, but I think that Rosie is my favorite. She was just so funny, and I honestly laughed out loud several times while I was reading. The mystery was great too and kept me guessing until the big reveal at the end. I love that Osman takes characters from all different walks of life and ages and then brings them together in truly hilarious and entertaining ways. I can’t wait to read more from him.
The Calculating Stars (Lady Astronaut Universe #1) by Mary Robinette Kowal
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: For someone who loves to read about the space program, this alternative history was a perfect fit. Kowal makes a few edits to history and then supposes that a giant meteorite fell on Washington D.C. in 1952 the effects of which will eventually render the planet uninhabitable for humans. This dire need supercharges the nascent space program, and instead of NASA we get the International Astronautic Committee, or IAC, because like the real-world NASA, the IAC also loves their acronyms. The story is told from the first-person point-of-view of Dr. Elma York, a Jewish computer who desperately wants to go to space and has all the “right stuff” except for a Y chromosome. This scifi story is also historical fiction, and it focuses a lot on the sexism and racism of 1950s America. Elma spends a lot of time gritting her teeth and hiding her anger over multiple colleagues’ insensitivities and outright misogyny. There’s also a great plotline about mental health as Elma struggles with social anxiety, which becomes a huge challenge with the press and media attention accompanying her selection as one of the first lady astronauts. At one point, she meets with a doctor and describes her anxiety attack symptoms. The doctor replies that, “My dear lady, your body is not supposed to react to stress this way.” I felt so seen reading that and Elma’s subsequent discomfort with anxiety medication. I highly recommend for anyone interested in the space program and who enjoys historical fiction.
The Fated Sky (Lady Astronaut Universe #2) by Mary Robinette Kowals
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: This is the second entry in the Lady Astronaut universe, and on this one we accompany Elma on humanity’s first trip to Mars. One of the things that I loved about the first book was Elma’s relationship with her husband. It was so refreshing to read about a married couple that were very much in love and had a healthy and supportive relationship where they helped each other solve problems and overcome challenges that arose in their personal and professional lives. I wish that more authors would write relationships like this. However in this one, Elma’s husband gets left behind as she heads out on a 3 year round trip to Mars, so that was a bit disappointing for me and them. Unfortunately, humanity brings its terrestrial issues into the celestial sphere as the trip is plagued with issues of racism and sexism. Elma learns how to be a good ally to her Black crew members, and one of our villains from the first book has a satisfying redemption arc. There’s some truly tense moments and some great hard scifi moments as well that I enjoyed. I felt like this sequel was as strong as the first and appreciated the focus on a few different themes.
The Relentless Moon (Lady Astronaut Universe #3) by Mary Robinette Kowal
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: This is the third entry in the Lady Astronaut series, but the story is told by a completely different character. While Elma is on her trip to Mars, one of her best friends -- fellow lady astronaut and governor’s wife -- Nichole Wagner, picks up the story and fills us in on everything that happens on Earth and the Moon. Unlike the first two books, this story is more plot driven as Nichole has to use her old war-taught espionage skills to ferret out a saboteur at the lunar base that’s putting the colonists’ lives and the future of the space program at risk. The story took an unexpected twist that I did not see coming about halfway through that triggered most of Nichole’s character development. Nichole is such a bada**, and I loved seeing that side of her show through whether she was schmoozing with senators and presidents on Earth or threatening suspects on the moon. Nichole also has her own health challenges with anorexia that she struggles with and that materially affect how she acts. I appreciated Kowal’s attention to detail and sensitivity as she ensures that Nichole is not defined by this struggle and the realism that comes through as she describes the condition and how Nichole manages it. I would love to be friends with Nichole if she were real. I also really enjoyed Kowal’s attention to detail and how she always accounted for how movement and action would be different in the partial-gravity on the lunar surface. Details like that make for great scifi reading and bring a sense of realism to the story.
The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: I really liked the Midnight Library by Haig, and I’ve been reading all of his other books, but I’ve not been as impressed with any of them since. This one was pretty good. I would say that it’s being mis-genred. I wouldn’t call this a general fiction book, but more a scifi/fantasy book, which I wasn’t expecting. The story follows 73 year-old widow, Grace Winters, as she leaves behind her incredibly small life in England after a long-lost friend mysteriously leaves her a house in Iberca. All is not as it seems on the island, and Grace soon discovers a mysterious force that immediately and overwhelmingly changes her life. Haig’s prose is comforting and insightful, as always, and he tells an interesting story with great characters. The plot left a little something to be desired, as our villain didn’t appear until more than halfway through the book, and no explanation for his evil motivations was really given beyond greed. It’s a moving story of found family and the purpose and meaning behind living, as all Haig’s stories are, and I’d recommend for anyone looking for a cozy read.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Recommendation: yes
Review: I found it a bit odd that I read two books in a row featuring 70-something year-old widows, who have both lost sons and need to learn lessons about friendship and family. (The other story was The Life Impossible by Matt Haig.) I don't know if this is a new trend in fiction, or something, but I'm enjoying it. In this story, Tora Sullivan is a meticulously neat Swedish widow who does part-time custodial work at her local aquarium on the Washington coast. Marcus is a 30 year-old who’s had more than his fair share of problems in life, but still desperately needs to grow up, and Marcellus is the “remarkably bright” octopus who brings them all together. Seriously, the octopus was far and away the best character in this book, and I enjoyed his point-of-view chapters the most and wished there were more of them. Van Pelt includes themes of loss and grief as Tora continues to mourn her son who disappeared 30 years ago. I really enjoyed her friend group and the random Scottish romantic interest. The characters all felt well-realized and unique, and I would recommend for anyone looking for a cozy read with some good heart-warming moments.