Ocean City Free Public Library Book Blog

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton Turning back the clock and resetting time to when dinosaurs once ruled the earth. To witness such a marvel would be considered a moment of pure genius and a great scientific discovery. Should scientists take such power into their hands?   Jurassic Park  is a wonderful work of science fiction that not only captures the imagination of dinosaurs walking among us once again but the frightening idea of everything wrong that could happen. Dealing with dinosaurs, experiments gone wrong, and an over sense of feeling doom when things are not going right are some of the most  exhilarating parts of the book. Also you will love to hate and can't help but agree with an always right and explaining everything mathematician.   We enjoyed the book and talked about how it differed from the movie. We loved and hated some characters. Overall, we enjoyed the book and some of us went to pick up the second book to continue the story....

Melissa  Dark Matter   by Blake Crouch A wonderful fast pace and intense novel. This book is both for the science fiction and suspense fiction fans out there. Those who are interested in alternate world and reality changing stories should pick this novel up. It was unexpected and completely captivating until the end. I really enjoyed this book. Reality is  Not W hat it Seems  : the Journey to Quantum Gravity     by Carlo Rovelli This is one of those books that is great at captivating and tricking the reader in to reading about a subject that many are not interested in, PHYSICS. From not knowing much about physics, this book was a great introduction not only in to the field, but the history and development of the science. It led into what really is quantum physics and not just this grand idea of what it is. It was really engaging and when reading the book you can feel and start to understand Rovelli's excitement and enthusiasm for th...

This book is great for those who love short stories and science fiction. Invisible Planets is a great book to pick up when one wants to escape into the realm of science fiction. Written by Chinese authors and translated into English there is something unique with these stories. Included are essays from Chinese and science fiction scholars including the authors explaining how there is this genre of science fiction that is not only under the radar but  how this anthology is showcasing the uniqueness of the writings and giving us the reader just a glimpse into something buried.  I enjoyed the book and can not pick a favorite story. Each one had some element that I would not have thought about. From ghosts, robots, genetic mutations, to time distortion, that are many elements that were captivating. If you want to get lost in a book, this is a good choice. Pick up Invisible Planets  today at The Ocean City Free Public Library 

      Nimona  is the printed published version of a popular webcomic by Noelle Stevenson, who goes by the screenname Gingerhaze   online. While Stevenson dabbles in webcomic presentations of multiple types (stand-alones, multi-pannel, fanart, etc.) Nimona  was a serial webcomic that she started posting in June of 2012 while attending Maryland Institute College of Art. It doubled as her senior thesis. It was published as a book earlier this year, in May 2015.       Nimona  follows the story of a disgraced knight turned mad scientist, Lord Ballister Blackheart, and his feisty shape-shifting sidekick, Nimona in their quest to overthrow the government through the means of supervillany--all the while being pursued by Blackheart's former friend and now nemesis, Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin. Through the course of the story the alliances and moral codes of the two men begin to warp as secrets, cover-ups, and conspiracies begin to come to light, ...

      Welcome to Night Vale  is a recently published novel written by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. It is a story set in the same setting as the #1 international hit podcast of the same name . Rather than being a novelisation of one of the story-lines that has already happened on the podcast, this novel presents an entirely new story-line that explores the origin and explanation for one of the background characters who was introduced in the early episodes of the podcast; namely: The Man in the Tan Jacket.       If you are unacquainted with the recurring twice-monthly podcast through CommonPlace Books, the first episode aired in June 2012. Source material and inspiration for the stories that happened in the early episodes were drawn from A Commonplace Book of the Weird: The Untold Stories of H.P. Lovecraft and What It Means to be a Grown-up , both originally published by CommonPlace Books. It began slowly gathering a somewhat underground fol...

     What would you do if you could travel through time? Would you change the past or take a daring trip into the future?         The first book of the Trilogía Victoriana (Victorian Trilogy), The Map of Time is a time twisting, fantastic journey of the life of the famous author H.G. Wells and how his novel the “ Time Machine” influenced not only just the people of London but the world. The narrator, a time traveler perhaps or an all knowing being, guides the reader into three different stories that are all interwoven with each other. The snippets of Well’s life gives the reader a different dimension of the writer and the why he wrote the Time Machine. Also, it shows how Wells has gotten himself to be involved in all these lives, even if it was against his will  for some  of those moments.      This book has a little bit of something for everyone to enjoy including an alternate universe, a large dose of stea...

          Assimilation²,  Volume 1  is the first of a two volume crossover story between the universes of Doctor Who and Star Trek: the Next Generation. It presents what happens when the Cybermen of Doctor Who join forces with the Borg Collective of Star Trek: the Next Generation.       The graphic novel begins with the bow-tie wearing, time-traveling alien, (the Doctor) and his human companions (Amy and Rory) as they find themselves landing the TARDIS in what they think is California in the 1940s but turns out to in fact be a holodeck simulation aboard the Starship Enterprise. The reader then follows the adventure as members of both ships realise that the reason the TARDIS was able to slip into this universe was on the heels of Cyberman army (notorious for dimension/universe jumping at this point), which has now joined alliances with the Borg Collective for the mission of converting the universe.       ...

“Some places are too good to be true. Under a pink moon, there is a perfect little town not found on any map. In that town, there are quiet streets lined with pretty houses, houses that conceal the strangest things…” (taken from the Goodreads summary ) ***       American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett follows the story of former policewoman Mona Bright, as she tracks down information regarding her deceased mother and finds herself in the small town of Wink, New Mexico. Suddenly the benefactor of her mother’s old house, Mona decides to temporarily reside in the town of Wink while she decides what to do with the house. The town is strange, mysterious, and dangerous as a whole, and even stranger as individual residents are introduced. The undoubtedly human residents seem quite content to make arrangements and conditions for strange unseen forces while never ever venturing out of their houses after dark; staple community members are unquestio...

  *** The Bone Clocks is the latest novel from David Mitchell, the author who brought the world Cloud Atlas. Set up as a series of six 100 page novella sections, The Bone Clocks follows the life of a teenage runaway named Holly Sykes from her adolescence to her old age; while at the same time following the story of an ancient secret organisation twisting the laws of nature, science, and morality in order to perpetuate the ideals and hunger for eternal youth. *** A foray into the realm of realistic fantasy, this latest novel by Mitchell explores the idea of conscious reincarnation and randomly chosen rebirth--what happens when a select portion of the  population is born with a genetic predisposition to be able to transfer their consciousness from the body they currently occupy to either the body of a currently alive individual (temporary, and usually with the consent of the person) or an individual who has just died (permanent, and with the understanding that the...