Falling Free

If you've never read science fiction, but are curious....Lois McMasters Bujold is a great start. After a recommendation from a friend (thank you Cathy!) I read Falling Free and instantly became an addict of the "Miles Universe" as I come to think of it. Falling Free is technically the first in a not-so-chronologically-written series about Miles Vorkosigan Naismith. Miles is a wonderful character, and yet Falling Free is set about 300 year before Miles is born. This book is about an engineer who is working with a large group of "quaddies"--people who were genetically engineered to work in space, and therefore do not need legs. Instead of legs, quaddies have arms, their second set, of course. The plot is exciting and the characters are interesting, but the best part of the book is that it stages the questions for the rest of the series to continue to explore. Questions about who we value and how we show value to others are only a few that are implied. Ms. Bujold is a fantastic writer and I don't think a person has to be a sci-fi geek to appreciate her. My only caveat....don't look at the cover of her books because they are as corny as most other sci-fi novels.

Me Talk Pretty One Day

The phrase that keeps coming to mind is "Crap that guy is funny!" David Sedaris' part memoir, part short story compilation made me laugh out loud quite a few times. I am especially fond of the first chapter which chronicles his time in speech therapy. It made me think "Do I do that to kids?" I laughed the most at the chapter about his younger brother and how rules changed in his family. Too too much.

The chronicling of his time in France is timely and fun, but the picture he continues to paint of his dysfunctional family is, again, the best of the book.

Girl Meets God

In this memoir Lauren Winner tells of her spiritual journey from Reformed Jew to Orthodox Jew and then to Christian. She was raised in Virginia by a Jewish father and a backslidden Baptist mother. Her personality drew her to convert to Orthodox Judiasm in college. Her accounts of how she was treated by some Orthodox Jews and her boyfriend's family (Levi tribe) was fascinating. She related her slow conversion to Christianity while keeping a very respectful tone towards her Jewish friends and family. Throughout the book she challenges other Christians to rethink their views of Judiasm and the Old Testament.