© 2012 Book Chatter | Book Chatter

I don’t participate in memes but these “11 Questions” posts are fun to read so here goes nothing.

Rules
1 You must post the rules.
2 Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.
3 Tag eleven people and link to them on your post. (won’t be tagging)
4 Let them know you’ve tagged them! (won’t be tagging)

These questions are from Care, and here are my answers:

1. Tell me about any letters you’ve written lately to a friend just for the heck of it?
I haven’t written a letter to anyone in a really long time. I think it’s been at least 6 months if not longer. I send a lot of emails, but I assume you mean actual, hand-written letters. Nope. I think my hand has forgotten how to write!

2. Do you have a favorite beer?
I am not a beer drinker. The only time I ever craved it, was when I was pregnant with #2. Weird. I didn’t indulge (in case you were wondering). Plus, I am gluten-free now and some beers pose problems for me. If I had to choose one, it would be some kind of honey ale.

3. If you ever write a book (or if you have), which genre would it be/is it?
I do have the workings of a book in my head and if it ever gets written, it will fall into the literary fiction category. It’s the one genre that consistently resonates with me. I could also see myself writing a book for Young Adults. Especially one geared towards boys, since my son (the non-reader) always complains about the lack of books for his age group.

4. What is your favorite dish to cook?
What I make, all the time, is pasta with some kind of sauce but my favorite to cook (and eat) is a huge tray of chicken enchiladas. Chicken, white cheese sauce, freshly made corn tortillas and roasted green chilies. Love!

5. Didn’t Trisha (the person who posted this meme prior to Care) ask some awesome questions?
Yes, she did! You can see them here.

6. What book would you absolutely hate to see get parodied?
Lolita. Can you imagine? In my worse dreams, it’s done as a musical.

7. Do you have a favorite number?
I do have a favorite number. It happens to be 5. I was born on the 5th of September and for whatever reason, 5 has always been good to me.

8. Tell me a nonfiction book idea subject that you think I should write a book on because there isn’t one already?
Is there a book on Curling yet? It’s a sport that always catches my attention, yet I know nothing about it.

9. Did you like my answers to No. 5 for book that should be H.S. curricula? (She answered, The Book Thief and The Wind-up Bird Chronicle)
Since I adore Haruki Murakami, I must say…yes!! However, I never finished The Book Thief. I found myself bored with it. I know I didn’t give it enough time to get into it though, so I plan to try it again at some point.

10. Red or white?
I hope you are talking wine here. If so, RED. Preferably a nice Pinot Noir.

11. Would you be embarrassed to receive a postcard with artwork by Dali? ya know – the erotic variety? I have some if you want one. I’m kinda embarrassed to send.
I wouldn’t be embarrassed to get one, but with the kids in the house and the little one in charge of mail pick-up, I would have to pass on one. However, my favorite of his is Women Forming a Skull.

This is where I am shamefully bad. I don’t mind playing, but I don’t like to tag so I’m not tagging anyone in this post. I figure if you want to answer one of the questions, you’ll do so in the comments, you know… to make it interesting.

The Technologists
By Matthew Pearl
(Random House, Hardcover, 9781400066575, February 21, 2012, 496pp.)

The Short of It:

Mysterious and thrilling. The Technologists is the best kind of historical thriller. Learn a little, enjoy a lot.

The Rest of It:

Boston, 1868. The story opens with a catastrophe that no one can explain. Ships, coming in from the harbor are suddenly unable to navigate with the instruments they have. As the instrumentation goes haywire, vessels of all shapes and sizes crash into the harbor one by one. A sight that is hard to imagine, but even worse to witness firsthand. What caused this? Who caused this? Will it happen again?

This mysterious event piques the curiosity of many. Including the students of The Institute who live and breathe science and know that there must be a scientific explanation for what’s occurred. Except, society as a whole has not accepted science as an answer and in fact, would do almost anything to discredit it. Especially the Harvard boys who believe it’s just a bunch of hooey.

This creates quite a challenge for the students of the Institute, led by Marcus Mansfield and the group called The Technologists. They band together, with the assistance of the Institute’s only female student, Ellen Swallow to solve the mystery of what happened in that harbor on that fateful day, and the other disasters that follow in its wake.

I have a tiny crush on Matthew Pearl. He doesn’t know it, but that’s okay. His name might be familiar to you. A few years back he released The Last Dickens which I reviewed here. I don’t know if it is his writing, the fact that he chooses Boston in the late 1800’s as a setting (love), or what, but whatever he is doing, I am liking. The other thing to note, is that his books tend to cross many genres and they never seem to bore me. That’s always a plus. For example, I love mysterious elements but I am not a fan of mystery as a genre. Somehow, he manages to present the mysterious elements within historical fact which is endlessly fascinating to me.

This book pulls you in quickly and has just the right amount of science to make it interesting. At times, I felt the book a tad too long. In between the excitement of the disasters themselves, there is a great deal of experimentation and let’s be honest here, I couldn’t wait for the next disaster to hit and got a little cranky in-between the events when things didn’t happen right away. However, the practice of science is not a speedy task. There are notes to be taken, results to be reviewed, etc. Had it been written any other way, I’m sure I would have found fault with it. So in the end, these experimental “asides” did not keep me from enjoying the novel.

Overall, the characters are realistically drawn and the events, thrilling. To think that science was at one time compared to black magic is almost too difficult to believe, but Pearl truly gives the reader a glimpse of how it was for that first graduating class at MIT and many of the characters are based on actual students.

If you like to learn something while being entertained, you will undoubtedly enjoy this one. And if you’re lucky, you could win a copy of your own (see details below).

Source: ARC and giveaway copy is provided by the publisher via TLC Book Tours.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Matthew’s website, Facebook page, and book trailer. To visit the the other blogs on the tour, click here.

Giveaway Information

The publisher has offered me one copy of The Technologists to giveaway! Giveaway is open to the US and Canada. The publisher will send the book to the winner and the winner will be notified by me. To enter, complete the form below. Giveaway ends on February 19, 2012.

The giveaway is now closed!

Chatting with friends about books and life…