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This small portion of text I analyzed I really enjoyed the play on of words. It keeps the book on theme as well as makes the plot more unique

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I picked this portion of text I analyzed because I liked the way it made me feel as a reader. It built suspense and there was this tension between characters I really found engaging.

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When I got a couple chapters into this book I got curious as to what other people thought of the book. I also was confused by the plot at the beginning since it does involve time change which can be a tricky thing to read. So this link that I found gives a little bit more information than just the summary the back of the book gives you.

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I mentioned earlier that I was really excited about this new book by Charles Yu, and I'd been planning to save a review until closer to the release date, in September, but since Yu has been generating a lot of positive buzz* I figured I might as well tell you about it now, and then remind you again later.

I got an email from Pantheon Books prior to Comic-Con (note: if you get a press pass for Comic-Con, be prepared to be flooded with PR emails for everything from upcoming books to Elvira's return to television to some guy trying to break the Guinness world record for hot dog eating) about a book titled How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, asking me to stop by the booth and attend the author's panel during the convention. I sort of skimmed the email, made a note to myself to maybe check it out later, and didn't really think of it further. From the title, it sounded like a collection of geeky essays, or maybe tongue-in-cheek, a How To Survive a Robot Uprising type of book.

I stumbled upon the booth during Preview Night, where a friendly publicist named Josefine said she thought the book would be really great for GeekDad, it has a father-son relationship at the heart of it, here's an uncorrected proof to read ... and then suggested that I should read it before Saturday so that I could talk to Yu about it when he came to Comic-Con for the panel. I thought to myself, Seriously? I'm here at Comic-Con and you expect me to read a 200-plus page book in the middle of a huge exhibit hall packed to the gills with stuff I want to see? Riiiight.

As it turns out, Josefine was absolutely right. I took the book with me Thursday and started reading it while I was waiting for the trolley, and within a few pages I was hooked. Here's a tiny taste of it:

When it happens, this is what happens: I shoot myself.
Not, you know, my self self. I shoot my future self. He steps out of a time machine, introduces himself as Charles Yu. What else am I supposed to do? I kill him. I kill my own future.

I didn't finish reading it before Saturday, but I kept it with me all through the con, reading a few pages while waiting in a line or going up and down the escalators. On Monday when my family went to Legoland I read it while standing in lines and finished it in the middle of the day.

How to Live Safely is actually a novel, about a man named Charles Yu searching for his father in quantum space-time. He lives in Minor Universe 31, with science fiction wrapped around an inner core of approximately 17 percent reality (by volume). He's a time-machine repairman, armed with his TM-31 Recreational Time Travel Device, TAMMY the slightly neurotic user interface, and Ed, his nonexistent but ontologically valid dog. Basically he deals with all those people who rent a time machine because they think they can go back and change their pasts and then get stuck in some alternate universe or adrift in space-time somewhere or somewhen they don't want to be. The book is largely narrative, but with short sections interspersed throughout from a manual (titled, of course, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe) explaining things about Minor Universe 31 or time travel or other chronodiegetical issues.

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Review: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

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I mentioned earlier that I was really excited about this new book by Charles Yu, and I'd been planning to save a review until closer to the release date, in September, but since Yu has been generating a lot of positive buzz* I figured I might as well tell you about it now, and then [...]

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Here is another resource I found that provided more depth for me and brought more excitement as I was just getting into the book. Also just another perspective on the book and a genre of literature that is not as popular as others.

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Charles Yu wraps his lonely story of a time machine repairman in glittering layers of gorgeous meta-science-fiction.

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More insight to the author who talks to Google about his book. As well as he provides, context, spoilers, and even more about him and his story and his writing process.

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How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe | Charles Yu | Talks at Google

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One of my favorite paragraphs in the book. I love the way time is described and the way I read it out loud is the way I read in my mind as the character. There is this sense of sarcasm and also hopelessness that is so interesting to me.