Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir - e-book, science fiction, fantasy
I really enjoyed Andy Weir's first book, The Martian, but I didn't like this one quite as much, despite the similarities - man marooned alone (this time in space), using his science smarts to solve problems. The difference here was this time he had an alien to help him - and that put the book a little too much in the fantasy realm, as opposed to the old-fashioned pure science fiction of The Martian.
I got this as an e-book so my husband could read it too - he really liked The Martian movie, which was true to the book. He didn't care for this one, though, for the same reasons as me. The alien, although interesting and likeable, made it too much of a fantasy for us. However, I'm glad I read the book and would still recommend it to others as much better than much of what passes for science fiction today.
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The other book I've been reading this month (and last month too) is Hawaii by James Michener. I've gotten more than halfway (page 573) through its 1036 pages. I hope to finish this paperback, the last book on my TBR (to-be-read) shelf that I plan to give away after reading, by the end of next month. It will be the 29th book on the TBR shelf that I read and gave away during the past two years of the pandemic.
Some memorable quotes from Hawaii so far:
page 336: "Isn't it strange," Malama asked. "The little man [Abner] spends so much time telling us how the Hawaiians ought to behave, but it is always his people who do the wrong things."
page 381 - Keoki to Abner - "Your god brings only pestilence."
page 573 - the teacher Uliassutai to his Chinese students: "But you will not leave these islands. You will have to live among Americans, and they despise most freedoms, so conform."
