Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson

Science Fiction is not my thing but one of my book groups had this on the list.  I warned them off as a final choice but was compelled to finish nonetheless.  Galileo Galili - brilliant mathematician but annoying, selfish, egotistical man - devout Catholic and heretic.  So one day a mysterious man named Cartophilus arrives from one of the moons of Jupiter and provides the intellectual push that leads to the perfection of the telescope that leads Galileo to the absolute proof that the Earth revolves around the sun which Galileo denies to save himself from the Inquisition.  We mostly all know that - except the Jupiter part.  Through the use of the "entangler", Galileo makes many trips through time and space to the moons of Jupiter and meets a whole host of future humans.  Ganymede tries to convince Galileo that he must be martyred to save science from the power of the church.  Hera disagrees although she argues that all possibilities exist together so he will both burn and not burn, although now that he has asked to see those "times" he will bear the memory of both.  And so it goes back and forth with many interesting philosophical arguments and lots of 17th century history.  The last few pages offer an opportunity to think again about the power of scientific discovery and the weakness of humans to control it.  All the good parts would have taken up way less than 515 pages but if you like science fiction....

Time and Again by Jack Finney

When a secret government study group explores the possibility that Einstein's theory of time means history is as much a matter of where as it is of when, Si Morley finds himself with the ability to leave his room in the Dakota of 1970 and walk out into the New York City of 1882.  Hoping to solve a family mystery that has haunted his current girlfriend, Si finds himself caught up in political fallout of the Boss Tweed era.  The time travel adventure is kind of cool but the picture of old New York is wonderful for anyone who knows the city. 

11/22/63 by Stephen King

Everyone of a certain age knows exactly where they were when they heard about the Kennedy assassination.  Many of us may have an opinion about what the world would look like if it had never happened.  King does - and devises an interesting way to change this moment in history.  Jake is a single English teacher living in Maine.  When one of his adult students shares an event that changed his life forever, Jake ponders those moments in any life.  Then in typical King fashion Jake finds himself entering an opening into the past - to 1958 to be specific.  As he goes back and forth in time, he makes changes he hopes will prevent various tragedies.  As he begins to understand the consequences of messing with the events of history, he decides that whatever might happen afterward, he must use this opportunity to change one of the most tragic events in the 20th century - or was it?  After 842 pages, see if you agree with King's idea of the direction history would go.

Son by Lois Lowry

As a librarian back in the 90's, I loved book talking Lowry's Newbery winning dystopian novel The Giver.  It's ending left much for the reader to consider and Lowry insisted that the open-ended climax was intentional. I anticipated endless generations pondering what really happened to Jonas and Gabriel.  Then came Gathering Blue - a "companion novel" - not really a sequel but with the same flavor.  Messenger - the third in the series - seemed to wrap up most of the loose ends in all three novels - but apparently there was more to the story.  Rich in socio-political metaphor, and a page turning adventure, Son is a worthy ending.  Except - I wonder .... did the miraculous ending affect the new characters damaged by the evil Trademaster?  Does Claire return to the healed Einer to acknowledge the love that allowed her to escape?  One can only hope for a book 5.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

This is one of those Sci Fi books that makes you think there is some meaningful notion the reader is left to ponder rather than some futuristic adventure to enjoy.  Three young "people" become close friends while they are attending a mysterious boarding school named Hailsham.  They are in fact clones who are created to be "donors".  What they know to be the truth about their lives is revealed to the reader by Kathy H as she shares the details of the friendship among the three of them.  The style is almost stilted or simplistic making it feel more like reading a high school diary instead of a work of literature.  There are lots of details missing about this odd world and I guess some reason to ponder the meaning of "human".  There certainly is reason to be amazed that this is the same author of Remains of the Day.

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

Middle school and soccer start as usual for Julia but then many things begin to shift.  Friendships change, she begins to see boys differently, but more importantly, the earth itself begins to rotate more lowly.  Minutes are gained in each day, then hours.  Days get longer and hotter, evenings longer and colder.  People divide into those who stick with a 24 hour "day" dark or light and others known as "real-timers" follow the rhythms of sunrise and sunset.  As days and nights stretch longer and longer, the structures of society begin to fail.  Science finds ever more costly ways to cope but can do nothing to stop the slowing.  A strange sickness tied to the slowing begins to affect many people and rumors of government conspiracy abound.  It all begs the question, if the end seemed inevitable, how would you choose to live?

Children of God by Mary Doria Russell

This is the sequel to her book The Sparrow which hardly seemed to need a sequel. However, much of what you believe to be true about who survived and who didn't in the first book turns out to be wrong. Once again Emilio is forced to confront all the challenges that call the role of God and man in question. Once again we ponder, "Is it better to do the right thing for the wrong reasons or the wrong thing for the right reasons?" and "What is right?". It is a worthy sequel but of course I would have changed the ending. Russell makes a great attempt to bring readers who have not read the first book up to speed but, because time and place switch throughout the book, I think they need to be read in order.

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

The is a book group’s dream book. Discussions of the nature of God, the clash of cultures, the right to love, the effect of a butterfly wing on the weather a world away notion … it’s all there. Through a quirky series of events (or the hand of God?) Emilio Sandoz, a Jesuit priest, and a small band of highly trained friends set out to another galaxy in search of the alien culture that produced the exquisite music picked up by their intergalactic radios. They can only understand the culture they encounter through the filter of their own understanding of the way their world works. Sensitive to a fault, the simplest act has unimaginable consequences. The intertwining story style drove me crazy (one story begins in 2016 when they leave earth and the other in 2060 when Sandoz returns as the only survivor) but in this case it was worth it. I can’t wait for our book group discussion.