'The Book of Doors' by Gareth Brown

 The Book of Doors, Gareth Brown (3.5)

This book is a very imaginative debut novel with a unique take on time travel, which is quite hard to do. I was even surprised by a few parts of the dramatic ending – which I always appreciate! A young woman is gifted a strange book that allows her to travel through doors that she can imagine. She realizes there are other books with magical properties, but people looking for them to use them for bad purposes. She finds others who are trying to keep the books from the bad people. I would have given it 4 stars, if only the evil characters were not so one dimensional. Their actions and dialogue were almost laughable. Also, at times it seemed obvious that the author was a man as the young women in the book have some stereotypical hang-ups. The book is a 4 for plot and 2 for character/dialogue.

'On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service' by Anthony Fauci

 On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service, Anthony Fauci (3.5)

Dr Fauci’s parents must have taught him ‘if you don’t have something nice to say about someone, don’t say anything’. I have never read a book with more glowing things said about everyone he mentions (including every- yes, every- President he works with. Though some with less gusto). And while deserving of praise, in his telling, he rarely takes a wrong step. I enjoyed reading about all the major virology issues he dealt with. Frankly forgetting so many of them during my lifetime. The HIV/Aids epidemic took many pages, similar to the years it took to understand and try to control. I got a little lost in all the detail. I found handling of the workers exposed to Ebola riveting and the handling of COVID frustrating. Overall, much of it was interesting. While I appreciate the hard work many went through, I grew tired of hearing how great everyone was.

 

'Artemis' by Andy Weir

 Artemis, Andy Weir (3.5)

Andy Weir loves a stranded MacGyver-like protagonist! This time it’s a young smuggler, Jazz. She lives on the moon-base, Artemis, with a goal of making enough money to move out of her ‘coffin’ apartment. Weir does a great job at the details of life on the moon – from the basics of everyday to the specifics when something goes awry (i.e. fire at a factory!). The plot moves along well, and the journey is interesting. I prefer ‘Martian’ for the raw fear it induced and ‘Project Hail Mary’ the most for his imagination and the surprises along the way.