ASRC 2021: Week 5

Welcome back. If you need a refresher on the rules, check out our initial blog post. We love hearing about what you're doing, so be sure to drop a comment down below. Once you do, fill out this form to enter for one of our great prizes.

Current Literary Monopoly Board

Elias: I rolled another nine this week, landing me on a nice spot: Write a Review. Since I've been doing that each week for this anyway, I thought I'd review a book I read a while back which still sticks with me rather than a new one. Originally serialized in 20 chapters at onasunbeam.com, where it is still available, On a Sunbeam tells two tales about a young woman: one of her school days and one of her present days as a ruins repairer and excavator. It weaves these two times together, creating a tapestry of a life complete with beauty, hardship, betrayal, loss, laughter, and reunification.

It's a beautifully drawn book with lush but restrained colors and deep shadows, where outlines tell more than the lines themselves, and characters whisper secrets to you without having to speak. Walden has a knack for letting environments breathe and infuses it all with a lot of whimsy and majesty. Were it not for the fish ships, the floating ruins, and the vast galaxies in the backgrounds, one would also forget that this is a sci-fi story at all. This is because, at its heart, On a Sunbeam is about finding - finding artifacts, finding family, finding love. It is about the people we meet in our lives that change us and about the messiness that keeps us all together. It is loving, it is melancholic, and it is contemplative without losing the fun inherent in the setting and locales. You will cry, you will laugh, and you will be unable to put it down, sci-fi fanatic or not.

I give it 5/5 stars, and would give it more if I could.

Elizabeth: This week I rolled a three and landed on Science/Math. I chose to read Elements: A Visual Representation of Every Known Atom in the Universe by Theodore Gray. This was a favorite book of mine when I was in 7th grade and I'm pleased to say it still holds up. Each element on the Periodic Table has at least a two page spread. On one page there is a picture of what the element looks like. On the opposite page there is a description with information about the element including its uses. A few elements have an additional two page spread with pictures of the most common uses. I give this book 4/5 stars.

Check back next week to keep playing!