ARTEMIS

By Andy Weir.

 

The first city on the Moon is called Artemis. There's not much population there compared to the largest cities on  Earth. There, the inhabitants live inside three huge bubbles. The Oxygen is supplied by a company that gets it form alumina (Aluminium  trioxide) as by-product of the obtention of aluminium

Living in Artemis is expensive but affordable. There Jazz Bashara strives to survive by delivering small  packets and  low scale smuggling-

Her boring and monotonous existence is disturbed by an offer, She is offered one million slugs (Artemis' currency) for sabotaging Sanchez's rovers that collects alumnia on the surface of the moon. After some time considerating the offer she decides to accept it.

Soon, she realises that crime is not as easy as it looks. It's got downsides. And not only by  the Police. Things get  worse when Sanchez's hitmen are after her.

Andy Weir, author of "The Martian", brings us this story on a supposed city on the moon

 

READY PLAYER ONE

 

By Ernest Cline

In year 2045, James Hallaway, a multimillionaire and lonely man, dies without leaving offspring to whom to leave his inheritance worth several billions of dollars.

Hallaway and Morrow owned a programming company that created OASIS, a virtual world in which you can do the same as in real life or even things you can’t do.

OASIS simulated the reality with an outstanding accuracy that many people spent more time inside the virtual world rather in real life. Many teenagers attended their classes in the virtual world. Due to that, people became more and more solitary and social interactions were relegated to a minor role in society.

Hallaway, as I stated before, was a lonely man and spent most of his time alone. The day he dies, an Avatar called Anorak announces his death and the way to get his inheritance.

Anorak, being an avatar adopting the form of a sorcerer, summoned the entire world to the quest of the three keys. One made of copper, another made of Jade and the last and the definitive, the Crystal key. The winner will receive Hallaway’s fortune and the company.

But the quest is far from being easy. In fact, the keys are hidden in the OASIS world. Fortunately, for finding each of the keys, gunters (that’s how the people in the quest are called) have the help of a riddle. Each of them were a clue to find each key. By solving them, gunters will know were to go and what to do to get the key.

When I started reading the book I was a bit disappointed because I thought the author makes a spoiler of the plot. However, in the very first pages you understand the purpose of the spoiler.

I really enjoyed the book because I lived the 80’s and I was very familiar with the references to cinema, music, games and computers of that era you can find in the novel.

THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES

By Ray Bradbury 

Have you ever dreamed about leaving our planet Earth? 

Never wondered what Mars is like? What do the martians look like? Or even, are there martians at all?

This collection of short stories will take you to planet Mars. In this collection of short stories, Ray Bradbury, the author, sets the plot in the red planet, as it is usually called.

After several attempts to colonize our neighbour planet, mankind manages to settle there and mix with the natives.

The starting four stories tell the attempts of some NASA missions to colonize the planet. The visitors (the humans) become shocked because they didn´t expect life at all and much less they expected martians were human-like creatures.

The martians, on the other hand, thought   those visitors, that claimed to be from another planet were insane creatures, and killed the first astronauts.

The Martian Chronicles, a set of short stories but related one to each other.It also describes the contradictions of human society thorugh the looking-glass of the martians standpoint.

I should admit that I started reading this book long ago and And felt reluctant to finish. But, last February, I decided to give it a second chance and now I'm really glad to have made that decision. 

NUMBER THE STARS

 

Denmark has surrender to the german army. In no time the prosecution of the Jews began. 

Annemary who lives in Coppenhagen, is a little girl of 10 when occupation began. Despite she is little in age, she is big in courage. 

She has a friend, Ellen, who is jew, and decides to protect her from the irrational prosecution.

The Nazis grab the names and addresses of the jew comunity and start the "recolocation" of the jews. 

Annemary, her sisters and Ellen, walk to school everyday. One day, during the way they find a pair of german soldiers. Then, Annemary starts realizing whats going on around her.

Peter, a member of the resistance against the occupation, organises the escape of many jews, including Ellen's relatives, to Sweden.

 

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME

By Mark Haddon

One night, the corpse of Wellington, a little white dog, appears in the park with a fork pinned. Christopher Boone, a fifteen year-old boy, is decided to find the murderer. For that purpose, he begins an investigation to determine who the killer is.

Christopher is a boy with an outstanding interest in maths, however he is unable to understand people. He never catches irony or jokes.

He decides to write in a book  his findings about Wellington's killing.

His father, worried about him, finds his manuscript and destroys it. This leads Christopher to argue with his father. After the argument, he finds some letters written by his mother who he was told she was dead of a stroke. Moreover, his inquiries leads him to the conclusion that Wellington has been killed by his father.

This discovery, and the argument at home, makes him go find his mother who lived in London. After a few hours travelling by train he arrives at his mother's home.

In the mean time, due to his interest in mathematics, he passes the A-level test and enters in the University.

THE MARTIAN

By Andy Weir

Mark Watney takes part in an expedition to Mars.  He is a botanist and a mechanical engineer. His duty there is to study the conditions needed in mars for growing crops.

During the works on the planet, an unexpected storm bursts and the crew is forced to come back to the vessel and take off. The team is safe — all but one. Mark is not able to reach the safety of the space vessel and considered dead.

On planet Earth, the homages and praises to Mark’s memory begin. The  President lauds his sacrifice. Everybody considers Mark to be a fallen hero.

Meanwhile, in Mars, Mark recovers consciousness and decides to struggle for surviving despite the fact he thinks he will never be back on planet Earth, and he will appear in the Wikipedia as the first human who died in Mars.

But Mark’s spirits are high. He uses his knowledge in Botany for growing a crop of potatoes and gets wáter from the hydrogen he finds. Mark gets energy from solar panels that he installs on the HAB’s roof.

As well as he provides himself his daily ration of food (basically the potatoes he manages to grow), he writes a diary so that future expeditions take profit of his stay in Mars. Nevertheless, he never loses the hope of being rescued for he is a fighter.

But the goddess Fortune favors him.  NASA realizes he is alive and the world’s media echoes this. Now Mark is considered as a living hero.

NASA prepares the rescue operations. Meanwhile, in Mars, Mark renews his hopes and fights harder for surviving.

Andy Weir, a computer programmer by trade, wrote this novel with acknowledged accuracy about this spatial Robinson Crusoe. 

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS

By John Boyne

the year 1943 runs when Bruno, a young nine years old boy, has to move from his comfortable house to live far from his friends.

Bruno's father, a nazi officer, has been posted to be in charge of the Auschwitz Camp, He is a strict officer that is never satisfied with Bruno's behaviour despite the fact that he is always doing his best to please him.

The new house is in the middle of the countryside and has a very beatiful garden and a lot of space for playing. But there isn't anybody to play with. 

Sourrounded by soldiers and officers, he is puzzled about the things he sees. There, among the soldiers, there are some people who dress with clothes that are like pyjamas and they obey all the orders and allow to be humiliated.

One day, dead of boredom, he finds a way at the back of the house.that leads to a strange place. There, behind a fence, he meets Shmuel, a boy who lives there and wears a  striped pyjama, 

Bruno understands nothing about what's going on. 

John Boyne narrates with mastery the most dreadfull  events of  WWII through the eyes of a naive nine years old boy.