Adult Time: Life on Mars

A confession: I missed book club this month. I’ve had a truly ridiculous run of sickness, and much as I had planned to go and hate missing my night with those ladies fiercely, I was just not up to it this month, so I have missed the discussion, and had not quite finished the book, and so I am going to tell you about an entirely different book.

I’m not even going to say a lot about my would-be host, because Lisa is very private for a whole bunch of very good reasons. I will tell you, though, that she is intensely intelligent, in the way of one with a keen mind and no time for stupidness. She can cut to the heart of a matter in a flash, and I would bet that her students, be they high school or college, mostly know enough not to mess with her. This is not to make her sound harsh, though, for she is also fun and lively, with sparkling dark eyes and a great, open laugh, and if I shared with you the picture of her in a tiara for the royal wedding, you’d see just what I mean, because you can read it all over her lovely face.

Now, as much as I hated to miss my girls, I did read an entirely different book for both grownups and teens that I’d like to tell you about, instead.

Life on Mars
ed. Jonathan Strahan
Viking
ISBN: 978 0 670 01216 9
Audience: Adults, teens

I’m not a science fiction reader, nor do I tend to read short stories, which often frustrate me by not going on long enough. I’m not sure, honestly, what drew me to reading this, other than, perhaps curiosity about how life on Mars would be depicted. That, and the fact that the collection is chock-a-block full of authors with shelves full of awards. I mean, even I have heard of several of these, and this is not my usual reading.

I will say, though, that when I was a teenager, I did love the stories of Ray Bradbury, who wrote gripping, poignant little stories about people that often happened to have a sci fi twist. This new anthology of stories reminds me a lot of those. They are stories of life – stories of families moved to new places, of kids running away from home looking for adventure, and of trying to make things right. The fact that they all take place on Mars or the journey there is merely set dressing. What’s more, none of these stories have the abrupt feel of some shorts. In every one, I felt like I had a good sense of the characters, which is important to me, and that we were leaving in a good place.

This collection has a good variety of stories, though there are commonalities in how life is depicted on this new world, as the same practical considerations had to be made.  Still, it didn’t feel like I was reading the same thing twice, and I quite enjoyed each author’s commentary about there story, as well.

This is quite recommended as an interesting and pleasing read, even for those who are not usual fans of the genre.