L'Île mystérieuse (1875)

I loved this book! The French is at a 3rd or 4th grade level and easy to read. The themes are reminiscent of Alex de Tocqueville's De la démocratie en Amérique  in its celebration of the frontier spirit, American ingenuity, the triumph of hard work, grit, and technology over nature, and enlightenment ideals. The characters are well-developed archetypes and colorful in Verne's unique style.  The story is unpredictable with a wonderful mystery and slow reveal. I think this one is my favorite Jules Verne book now. 5/5 Stars. (I started writing this review in French but realized I could not express myself well.)

To Challenge Heaven (2024)

Fun series. This one rambles a bit. 4/5 Stars.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1875 - 1878)

Another book from one of my kids' bookshelves that I added to my backlog because I had never read any major Russian literature and was curious.  My preconception of the story was that the main character was a charismatic, beautiful, good-hearted person (Anna) who was ostracized and destroyed by the evil oligarchical 19th century Russian society.  And I thought that the book covered  themes of hypocrisy, jealousy, faith, fidelity, family, marriage, society, progress, carnal desire and passion, along with the agrarian connection to land in contrast to the lifestyles of the elites in the city.  After riding along the 1,000-page slow, rambling roller coaster, I now think the story is almost completely psychological. The main characters experience acute schizophrenic episodes, triggered by the "trauma" of silly expressions and "feelings" or thoughts they project onto other people.  The details of farming, the social norms, and some of the philosophy is mildly interesting but not worth the slog. 3/5 Stars. I don't recommend this one.

The last dangerous visions by Harlan Ellison (2024)

Some of these stories are good; none of them is as "dangerous" or controversial as the critics claim. 3/5 Stars.

Exodus: The Archimedes Engine by Peter F Hamilton (2024)

It's really wonderful that Peter F Hamilton is writing such fun space opera.  I enjoyed this story. 5/5 Stars.

Into the light by David Weber & Chris Kennedy (2021)

This second book in the series provides a much-needed enhancement to the magic system with the introduction of more awe-and-wonder background mysteries. The characters, events, combat are not that great and the book spent too much time on poorly-written inconsequential details. 2/5 Stars.  I shall finish the series but I am disappointed.

A short stay in hell by Steven L. Peck (2012)

My youngest daughter told me to read this one, so I dropped what I was reading and read it in two days (it's short).  I claim to understand Georg Cantor's infinite orders of infinity and I also claim to understand the set theoretical difference between finite and infinite. I normally don't consider subjectively what it is like to live for a googolplex of years, before going on to a different existence for eternity.  This novella goes into enormous detail of one such experience.  I was obsessed with the story's concepts and even dreamed about the events in the story for a few days after reading it. The writing is not particularly good, but the ideas are well presented. 5/5 Stars.

Vortex by Robert Charles Wilson (2011)

The rich characters in this two-book story are well-developed and compelling. I also like the inscrutable awe-and-wonder magical forces and slow reveal towards the end of the story and the epilogue that wraps everything up with the cosmological end of time of our universe. 5/5 Stars.

Reentry by Eric Berger (2024)

I read Eric's articles and weekly column in Ars Technica. So I had low expectations that much new material would be in his book.  I was therefore thrilled that everything in the book was never published before.  The details of the people and events at SpaceX (not Elon), at Nasa, Spaceforce, and US regulatory bureaucracies are exciting and enlightening.  There are many deep biographical sketches of the real heroes behind the company and their successes. The book is gripping, well-written, extremely interesting for any space nerd, and highly recommended. 5/5 Stars.

Out of the Dark by David Weber (2010)

The story starts out as a standard alien invasion archetypal structure with the usual tropes of the scrappy preppers, the hero's journey, and interesting space aliens. The magic system is a typical David Weber galactic space travel until the end that I did not enjoy.  The ending and abrupt change to the magic system ruins the world building. 2/5 Stars.