Readin'

You may not believe it but being a librarian isn't all about learning how to use the current social media technology, helping people apply for jobs online and blogging about video games. We also find time to read occasionally.

I've started and stopped a couple of books recently. I was getting antsy because I was having trouble find a book to really focus on. I started one the other day that had been sitting on my desk for a few weeks and it has really grabbed me. The book is a science fiction novel called Orbital Resonance by John Barnes. It's the story of 13-year-old girl living on a space station that has been fashioned out of an asteroid. Asteroid space stations were created to grow food for a planet Earth that has ruined itself through war and disease. The children the book focuses on are the first generation born on the space station and their lives are nothing more than attending a grueling schooling that is preparing them to continue the work of the space stations. I can't believe I've never heard of this book before. There's so much I don't know.

There are two new novels that I am greatly anticipating getting my hands on, Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld and Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. Coincidentally, both books are steampunk. I've read one book by each of these authors in the last couple of years. Westerfeld's Peeps is a vampire novel that truly has a unique take on the vampire story and Priest's Fathom which is a great take on the old gods subgenre of science fiction. Priest has the distinction of being pimped by both Warren Ellis and John Scalzi. It looks like steampunk may soon become the new vampire so this is a good chance to read some good steampunk before every hack in the world starts pumping them out.